Why do some people think they can do body work? My '53 chevy wagon was "restored" sometime in the early 80's. Most of what they did, they would have been beter off just leaving alone. Case in point, the tailgate. Every one I've ever seen has been rusty. Mine looked pretty good, but there were a few small telltale bubbles at the bottom, so I knew there was some rust in there. I did not expect this. As I started grinding away, I found that the entire bottom of the tailgate had rusted away and been repaired by someone filling it with chickenwire and bondo. Here's one chunk I pulled out, but there was a ton of it: Here's what was left of the bottom. This is after I cut it out: I was left with the task of how to fix it. After showing it to Sinister on the board, we figured out that it was an inner and outer skin, with the outer folding over the inner as a bottom lip. I took some measurements and made this drawing, the outer skin is on the left, inner on the right: I took it to the local sheet metal shop and a week and $30 later had two patch panels, each 41" long. I cut out the old metal, welded in the new and folded over the bottom lip with a hammer and dolly. I still need to finish grinding, fill, prime and paint, as well as drilling the holes for the hinge in the bottom, but at least it's solid again.
gotta love that chicken wire, always comes in handy. Looks like you did it right though... nice job!!
Hell, chicken wire is titanium compared to the classic wadded-up-T-shirt and bondo combo. Looks like you fixed it up good.
Well at least its finally right. it has always amazed me the things I've found over the years that have been passed off as professional body work. Maybe better said poor-fessional. Picked up an older rambler wagon once to clean up and drive. When we hit one of the rockers with the DA it just disinigrated. Dug out both rockers they were filled with expando foam and skim coated with mud. I've broken out quarters that were mud over carboard and or mud over duct tape. A friend bought a '65 camino in the later 90s that he said was a little squirrley. So I took it a drive. Yea it was squirrley alright. The back half of the chassis was rusted away just before the front spring hanger and they had smeared bondo over it and painted it. never the less you done good my friend.
HaHa...friend in HS had a '64 Impala SS that he was redoing....the 1/4's and rockers were FULL of old T-shirts, newspaper and bondo.... Oh Oh Oh.....better yet, I know a guy here RECENTLY, that used spray foam . Sprayed it right in the rust holes on the cowl and rockers of a '65 Chevy truck. Once it dried, he filed it to shape and painted right over it....he was acually quite PROUD of it........hahaha!!!!!
When I was building my modified I bought a front end with split wishbones, thought I'd clean up the wishbones with my grinder and a stripping pad, from the tie rod end back about a foot it was all bondo formed around a half inch bolt, looked really good 'till I hit it with the pad, you just never know what you're gonna find.
The guy that "restored" my 54 siliconed metal patches, then put bondo over it. It looks good but I know its there. I am leaving alot of it until I get more time. The bastards!
I found a cheese grader with filler pushed through it to repair the lower right rear quater panel of a '50 Ford I had once. It wasn't fastened at all other then the filler sticking to the body. Somebody did a nice job shaping the filler to look just like the metal of the panel.
Man, that's a GREAT idea! I'm gonna do that to my wagon tonight... not like I can get rockers for it anyway.
wasn't there a thread on here not to long ago about old body work? i thought i read somewhere about people back in the day using chicken wire and filler ALOT
Typical used Car Dealer bodywork.... I once bought what I thought was a very nice Cougar at the auto auction that needed a repaint. When my body guy started sanding the doors, he found the the rust had been filled in with tar..
See! Warped minds must think alike. You know those bondo bastards didn't have a newsletter or message forum to share ideas. They just knew it. Sick sick sick.
I have had acouple rigs that where done with spray foam and bondo, caused more damage then it fixed, and i don't know why people think roofing tar, light guage sheet metal and pop rivits is the way to fix a floor.
Don't forget to drill a couple of drain holes in that tailgate...or the next guy is going to be cursing YOU... R-
Oh, I'll be drilling some drain holes. The problem with the original design became aparrent as I was taking this one apart. First, there were drain holes, but there were rubber plugs in them. Second, sandwiched between the inner and outer skin was a piece of insulation which, of course, held any moisture that got in the tailgate.
The Jalopy Journal
