Hey guys just recently got into taking my quarter panels down to bare metal and found out they are fully loaded with mud and fibergl*** pretty much all over and not much metal left. I think it would be easier to replace the whole thing then to repair it. I have a 54 mercury 2 door hard top, would i be able to graft 2 door sedan or coupe quarters on? thanks
Yes, you can section a complete quarter panel from a 2 door sedan on to your hardtop. I did the same thing to fix my '54 Ford convertible i.e. I sectioned a quarter panel from a 2 door sedan all the way from the door jam back to the rear body panel below the trunk lid. Good luck, Alan S. Freeman
I am going thought this right now with my 55 Fairlane . It looked OK but when I stripped the paint off what a real mess it was . The last guy must have used a couple hundred rivets to hold the metal in place . I ended up tearing the complete bottom 1/2 of the fender off from the rear bumper to the rear door . I had to make the dogleg for a fordor because there are none made . I found a dogleg panel and just cut the dogleg out because that was all I needed . It's amazing what people will do to a car to hid rusted metal that should have just been welded in instead of the poor things they do to these older cars ! On my dogleg there were 2 very small rusted places that were about the size of a dime . The jerks took a hammer and beat the entire dogleg in and drilled holes in it for the filler to stick to . I did take lots of pictures and will post when I figure out how to make an album ! Everyone just remember to replace or fix a rust place with real 18 ga. metal ! You will be happy you did in the end ! Jim
yeah mine had a 2.5 foot patch that was barely brazed in place, gl*** and bondo 3/4 of an inch, and the patch was also rusted out when installed, so basically it was acting as window screen...that was the worst part of the quarter panel, the rest was holey from the bottom 8 inches up and was just window screened and bondoed,
Yes, section it just below the belt line. The 2 door hardtop and 2 door sedan quarter panels are the same from that point down. Good luck, Alan S. Freeman
re: horror stories when restoring... Although I'm by no means a mechanic(!) but having been a kid in the 60s & 70s and then working dealership parts departments for a few years, I saw my share of low budget hack jobs, intended to fill holes, be cosmetically appealing, and sell cars. Burlap bags or newspapers wadded up & stuffed into rocker panels then covered with 'gl*** or bondo (a quart of bondo at Western Auto was $1.99 or so), scuffed and painted with a $1.00 can of spray paint looked great! For a while. And tar-paper & spray undercoating tucked into wheel wells & trunk floors to cover rust holes, worked long enough to sell a car.... I saw kids with little or no money do stuff to cars back then that nowadays would make many of us cringe. But when one doesn't have the $$$ to do it right, it's what used to happen. Most likely, many of us who are old enough to remember those days aren't surprised by these 'repairs' that are now be rediscovered. Good thing for the restorers who fix them properly, and to the suppliers who provide the stuff to do them corretly as well.
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