For a couple of years now, my wife has been asking me to fix the little blisters over the rear wheel openings on our '51 Pontiac wagon. I've put it off because I have had a couple of other projects going, but mostly I was kind of afraid of what was under the paint. After she got a "Celebrities Choice" award at "AutoRama" in Detroit in March, I figured I owed her the effort to make it right. The car had patch panels already made and on when I got it 12 years ago, and it would be easy to blame that job as not being up to par, but in reality, for the way we've used it, towing, traveling, and just driving it for the past 11 years and 55,000 miles, in Michigan, it lasted as long (or longer) than if we'd bought it new in '51 and driven it the same way. So, here's what I did, what I started with and where it is now. Note that I went up on the fender as high as the original patch, in order to get get rid of all the old work. Otherwise it wouldn't have been quite as big a patch. Not shown because I didn't take a photo, is the repair to the inner fender, which was sandblasted and coated with "Ch***is Saver", similar to POR 15 that's now available in aerosol cans. Both front doors had blisters at the lower corners, those were done the same way. Happy wife, happy life.
Looks good and will last. My own vehicles i spray Krown or any rust prevention product into door panels, quarters, frames etc. These products creep into every crevice preventing further rusting.
You'll do anything to keep from finishing the Square bird! The wagon and your wife deserved the attention, looks nice.
So the rear of the inner fender just drops off? Looks like it should be shut up tight. Is that how GM designed it?
^^^^As jazzl said , oil it up. Dealt with many Mich cars and always notice that areas around the motor, that were naturally treated to oil leaks, were in pretty good shape.
nice job. life in the swamp, those folks west of the Missouri river dont know how good they have it. they call it restoring, we call it maintenance. retirement is in sight, then its "go west young man" for me
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