I bought a 51 Coupe from a member here a couple years ago. It was a mostly done build with a handful of things that needed attention. Let's start off with me admitting that I'm not a body man at all. I'd be happy to pay for repair but no one local wants to touch it. There have been a handful of spots that started cracking pretty soon after buying but they've gotten worse. I need help pointing me in the right direction to repair. I'll share some pics of what I was seeing and where I am at now. Here is the cracking I was seeing around the rear deck where the roof meets.
I took the paint off and was able to pick off a thin layer of bondo. Here's what I'm seeing now. You can see the cracking continuing to right of the photo.
The trunk also was cracking and to my surprise when investigating, the bondo was pretty thick. It's coming off in chunks as I got deeper. I see that the metal underneath doesn't look great. Is that why it's peeling off?
Is it a terrible idea to just address the shallow cracking with layers filler/primer and then finish with dolphin glaze? I'm not in a spot that I can get the car painted and will just have to touch it up. For the trunk, I'm not even sure of a plan of attack. I assume that I need to take it down in a much larger area.
you would have been better off not messing with it at all, until you're in a situation you can completely redo the bodywork on the whole car, and paint it. But that will be more costly than the finished value of the car. Good luck....I'd just fill it and prime it, and leave it alone, and consider it "character".
You can do a few things: ignore or sell off Patch as you go, the best you are able to keep the body protected. Treat this as an adventure and learn how to do bodywork, with this as your project. Take it to someone who you vet as willing and able to repair it right. Take it to a place that says they can do it but isn't, and learn about 'paint jail' and suffer loss. Some are to be avoided, some will cost a lot, some will cost more in time. It's your car, your money and time and your decision.
I was afraid of what might've been going on under the cracks. Wasn't sure if there was cracking welds or rust. The likely plan is to get it back smooth and wrap the car while I decide on final paint plans and find a shop.
I've got a lot of experience with epoxy, fiberglass, and bondo but not in an automotive capacity. I'm going to have to learn but want to make sure I'm using the right materials for this application.
I've got a 51, mine was cracking along the bottom some. I'd leave it alone. If its like mine the filler is going to go from mid rocker side to side along the back, top to bottom.
Well, there are a hundred people making a living by putting up videos to show what to do. Take a look at https://www.youtube.com/user/coldwarmotors/videos and www.youtube.com/@CarterAutoRestyling/videos for down and dirty but good quality restoration. I will say that the first thing to do is determine what is acceptable to you as far as cost and effort. As @JohnLewis showed, a lot of older cars have pretty rough stuff at the bare metal level. Are you going to learn to metal finish after learning patch panel and welding? Is it going to be rough it out and use the best 2020s materials to smooth things out? How much enjoyment is from learning and doing the finest you can muster, or is it driving? Also understand that the moment you start stripping, the value plummets until it's back to nice looking. Stopping at any point until it's finished will make the car worth a lot less.
The @JohnLewis pictures above are horrifying, someone slapped tin over some rot and just let 'er fly, that's some of the worst I've ever seen, and that's saying something up here in Wisconsin. A lot to unpack here, but what you're trying to determine is why the cracks were caused. Sometimes in a custom, especially a chopped one, some bracing was removed or neglected during the build, and now the body has a lot of flex. Or some body mounts are bad, or something else is allowing the body to twist. Even very good body and paint work will have a hard time holding up to body flex. Otherwise, it could be a dirty surface that filler was applied to, sometimes flash rust, sometimes oil or grease got on it and wasn't cleaned off properly (a little bit of penetrating oil on some bare metal and your whole paint job can go sideways). Or it's too thick, if you're forced for some reason to fill in something deeper than an 1/8", generally short-strand fiberglass filler is recommended to get it close. Seams that weren't fully welded will also sometimes flex and cause cracking. Can you get to the back side of the areas that are causing issues and take pictures? That might tell you what you need to know. Trunk hinges flexing at the top could crack the paint below the rear window, especially if the hinges are bent or binding. The bottom of the trunk might be cracking because the holes were shaved but not properly, some bad bodymen will just pound the area inward and fill it in with filler. The quality of the metalwork will be evident from behind.
Appreciate it @RodStRace I'll take a look at those channels and see what I can learn. I'm likely looking toward roughing it out and finishing the best I can. It's a pretty recent build and for a shoebox wasn't cheap. I do have a couple of in process photos and there's a build thread on this forum.
Thank you @Squablow Lots of good info and makes sense. I'm inclined to believe the roof to deck cracks are due to flexing. I've put over 8000 miles on the car. The trunk could be from closing it too hard or flexing at the latch pin. I was just surprised to see such thick filler based on how the seller talked about his body work capabilities. I'm not trying to denigrate the seller. I'll try to update with some pics from behind.
You might consider unbolting the trunk lid and seeing if the trunk hinge arms are binding up. The measurement side to side of the trunk hinge arms should be the same when the hinges are up and when they're down. If you can, measure them in both positions with the lid off (can be tough if it's got springs in it) If the measurements change, at least one of your hinges is out of whack, and that can cause a lot of flex. Also have a look where the hinges mount to the underside of the body below the window. If it's chopped, someone may have cut that out but not put them back in square, or not properly reinforced that area. That'll cause binding or flexing and can crack bodywork.
That filler looks like it was severely under catalyzed unless white hardener was used which is very unusual in itself. If that's the case it never fully cured and being under black paint in has expanded and contracted a lot due to the heat cycle of the sun on the paint which caused it to crack. For a temp fix grind it back to a point where you get a decent feather edge and fix it. For a proper repair it all needs to come off.
Correcting the metal work first then give it the proper finish to hold filler next is determining the correct filler. On locations where you must use a 1/4” or more I would use a fiberglass or All Metal filler first then use a standard filler of your choice to a finish filler. The fiberglass or All Metals filler will give the results more strength and crack resistants but nothing will last forever. Good metal work is a must.
learned that some time ago , never buy anything that is primed or freshly paint as you dont know at what is hiding underneath but we are well past that now . the question now , is what do you feel comfortable doing now ? - willing to learn to play n use body filler ( plenty of references or resource(s) available at hand ) - willing to cut it out , weld in a new piece along w slapping filler on top of it ( can try evening classes in learning welding or read up on it ) - bringing it to someone to address the concern so you dont have to do a thing ( would get several estimate(s) n go from there ) just a few suggestion(s) to consider w the current situation
Yes. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea. Never, never, NEVER put filler on top of old filler, especially if it's cracking. Plastic filler is porous, the thickener is talc and paper fiber, water penetrates and rusts the metal underneath, then the filler cracks, then the paint cracks like your car. Grind it ALL off, fix the terrible bodywork (I'm guessing that's what the filler is covering up), as best you can, skim the areas with short strand fiberglass filler, true that up, then skim it with a topcoat of high quality (not Bondo brand) filler, prime, block and paint.
you should have just fixed the cracked area.... use a dremal and v cut the crack out... then do Frankenstein crosses about 1 inch apart.... then fill it w/ duraglass / kitty hair... then shit brick it to smooth..prime it and call it a day... my son is in the same boat he stripped the car and had to re-chop it...And I would almost guaranty you that they water sanded the bondo and primer
Ne Good luck finding a bodyshop that will touch that car. Most won't, and if you find one that will, get ready to spend $100-$150/hr to fix it. I can see a couple hundred hours work in the few photos you posted, so the math isn't pretty. If you've got some experience with filler, you're going to have a lot more by the time you're done.
My advise to my son was to leave it and drive it....and I'll give you the same...I'd fix the cracks and call it a day.../ 65 mustang s crack the same way....
LOL... theres a reason they call these cars "BONDO BUCKETS"... THERE WAS A GUY IN VEGAS DURING THE VAN CRASE , he put those big ass wheel flares and spoilers on, he'd mix half a can of bondo at a time and put it on with a hawk and trowel.. shit brick it and feather fill the whole van.. I'd say... that shits gonna crack... he'd say "Yeah, and ice cream melts"
I appreciate all the comments and advice. I'm reading them all and absorbing. I'll continue to weigh my options. In the meantime, I'll strip more of the trunk area to see what I'm really working with underneath. I can weld but I've never attempted anything this thin. The car definitely gets very hot in the sun. So much so that it will burn you and leave marks. I can't speak to if it was wet sanded or whether the correct amount of catalyst was added. Maybe the original owner will chime in. I'm not upset, as I've put a lot of miles of daily driving on it and in all weather. My 69 Vette is the fair weather princess.
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