I just did WHAT ??!!!!!!! son of a b!#ch !!!!!!

A few weeks ago, I backed into one of those damn steel poles filled with concrete and painted BRIGHT YELLOW. You'd think I would have seen it, but noooooooooooo Good thing I know a thing or two about this type of repair. Final primer was finished yesterday. Hope to have it all finished in a couple weeks (work on my house plus customer needs prevent me from working on it every day). Poor 'ol girl
Stay tuned..............

Wow, you didn't just bump it, huh? Ouch.

Nice repair work though!

What amazes me is how fast and invisible those damn poles can be.I am still trying to figure
out how you could hit the post and not at least crack/shatter the tailight.Looks likw you know
a little bit about body work which is good because the insurance company would have totaled
your car.My kid brother gave me one of those back-up alarms that mounts on the license
plate mounts.He has one of those magnetic yellow cameras and its picture is amazing.
Keep us Informed
Jim Gordon

Nice work! Looks really good!

-Mike

I think "ran into" is a bit of an understatement. You creamed that thing.


Nice body work though. I'm envious.

Looks good Steve.................

Wow! Great work!!

Looking good.

Damn fine body work there. Wanna fix my fender?

Luckilly at least 95% of the damaged sheet metal was accessible from inside the car once the plastic panel was removed. I learned from my first body shop boss (about 35 years ago ) how to actually straighten and work the metal. Not one hole was needed, no shrinking, and no mig welding was needed. Took me the better part of two days straightening the quarter before I was confident I'd gotten it as close as I could prior to grinding and filling. Nice to see that the gauge of steel used 15 years ago is considerably thicker than todays vehicles.
Found a GM dealership in Fla. that had in stock a brand new "Roadmaster" emblem for the finishing touch after the repairs are finished. A bit pricy, but even at $51 shipped, this 'ol girl is worth it to me.

Steve

How are you going to re-attach the trim? Will you re-install the studs?

Cannot wait to see it in paint.......

Tim

I'm envious. The dent in our wagon is much smaller, but I'm going to have to find a competent bodyman if I ever try to fix it. Your work looks so good.

I've got a 67 GTO in my garage that needs your talents badly.

Excellent job, sir. Make sure you show us the final product of your workmanship. Are you going to repaint it yourself?

hey steve are you going to do anything else to it when you paint the quarter . it looks like it never was dented. cant wait to see it

Ouch! Nice work though!

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

How are you going to re-attach the trim? Will you re-install the studs?

Cannot wait to see it in paint.......

Tim

A couple of the plastic clips that had held my trim piece in place broke I removed a couple clips from the doner car at the salvage yard. I'll just pop rivet them in place and put a dab of silicone on the rivet's to prevent any water from entering the small 1/8th inch hole.

I too am anxious to see it all blue again !

BigWagon wrote:

Excellent job, sir. Make sure you show us the final product of your workmanship. Are you going to repaint it yourself?

I very much appreciate all of the "pats on the back". I learned about auto body repair after my curiousity got the better of me while watching my Dad's 1971 Impala sedan being fixed after I smashed it up real bad back when I was a punk of 17 A few years later a local familly run shop hired me as an apprentice and put me to work doing the crap jobs no one else wanted to do (like sanding model T frames ) Eventually I got pretty good at fabrication and the repairing of rotted cars from the 50s & 60s as this shop specialized in classic and antique restoration.
I'm good at what I do but am to slow and particular to keep a job working for any one else. I run my own little no frills 2 and 1/2 bay shop just north of Philadedlphia,PA. Never gonna be rich at it, but it's what I'm best at. I'm a 1 man opperation and do everything from writing estimates, filler work ("bondo"), all paint, mig & gas welding, detailing, etc. I'm not one to go around bragging I'm the best bodyman out there, but I have a decent list of repeat customers.

mtrhead79 wrote:

hey steve are you going to do anything else to it when you paint the quarter . it looks like it never was dented. cant wait to see it

I'm going to strip and repaint the bumper cover doing away with the black step area and painting it all blue. Not sure if I'll put the "limited" emblems back on. I had the base color tinted at my supplier, but that's no guarantee it'll be strcitly a panel paint procedeure without blending the color into the adjacent panel. There's a couple minor door dings in the left rear door which I'll fix then paint that section too.
There's always something............

Wow, that's nice work there. I always wanted to get into body work side of it to round out my skillz, but my corporate gig keeps me from spending too much time working on my cars...

Your not blending the door and the deck lid? it looks like the quarter was already a lighter blue anyway. second pole hit? ha ha just jk. nice work.

Ahh, spoken like a true bodyman! Geez, everyone's a critic Besides,wagons don't have deck lids, they have tailgates Think I'll spray the quarter tomorrow. Still need to finish prepping the bumper cover, so that'll be done this weekend.
'

Steve Smith wrote:

Ahh, spoken like a true bodyman! Geez, everyone's a critic Besides,wagons don't have deck lids, they have tailgates Think I'll spray the quarter tomorrow. Still need to finish prepping the bumper cover, so that'll be done this weekend.
'

you missed a spot,....


Nick

On the road to recovery. Still needs to be lightly wet sanded and polished. At least it looks better than primer!

OK,OK, OK!

I GIVE UP!

This is what I am going to do..... drive up to bill's place and either beg him, or hold him at gunpoint.. to help install the T56, and then drive to Steve's to get the wagon repainted.....

Wife said that If I do this as planned, my keys won't fit the locks anymore......

Decisions, decisions....

She'll take u back i'm sure of it. So go help them out. LOL!

Um, it isn't "them" that needs the help........

I want to row in the wagon and my clearcoat is failing......

LMAO my bad.

Looks GREAT! You have a real talent there, and I have unlimited beer and BBQ. May I send you a plane ticket....please???

Krzdimond wrote:

Um, it isn't "them" that needs the help........

I want to row in the wagon and my clearcoat is failing......

Go pay them both a visit, and invest in a heavy crow bar and your own set of locks. Move back in!

81X11 wrote:

Looks GREAT! You have a real talent there, and I have unlimited beer and BBQ. May I send you a plane ticket....please???

Now that would be an easy job. Good solid body from texas. Gravy work for us northen body men.

It's rusted around the window frames, needs a right 1/4 and a patch on the rear lower left 1/4. Plus needs front floor pans and a new trunk pan.

She needs a lot. Will dive in one of these days!

Happy with the color? I would be if I was a customer and it was my wagon. tricky color to tint too. I bet it takes a lot of 803j. the worst tint on the rack.

I Did not think I was being a critic, sorry. I just get mad because I got a down draft booth at my job, but my boss is a tight butt when it comes to using his booth for my own use. and heat cost money and bla ba. lol

Its a shame to cover up that body line with the molding, came out like it was stamped. It sucks to cover all the hard work. but makes it look finished.

Deck lid!

CarloNYC wrote:

Happy with the color? I would be if I was a customer and it was my wagon. tricky color to tint too. I bet it takes a lot of 803j. the worst tint on the rack.

I Did not think I was being a critic, sorry. I just get mad because I got a down draft booth at my job, but my boss is a tight butt when it comes to using his booth for my own use. and heat cost money and bla ba. lol

Its a shame to cover up that body line with the molding, came out like it was stamped. It sucks to cover all the hard work. but makes it look finished.

Deck lid!

I actually went back to my supplier today and complained about the color match. I only knew of the one paint guy with the discerning eye that is damn good at tinting . Turns out, there is now a 2nd person doing this (much to my surprise!), and he's the one that tinted my mix (poorly ) So...now I'm forced to repaint it. I'll probably be re-painting the majority of the car even though it's not all that bad, because of minor sheet metal imperfections. Problem is, I really want to get started working on my '98 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP again since it's been on the "back burner" now for 4 years! The wagon is my daily driver, but the GTP is a fairly rare equipped,(purple metallic coupe with cloth interior) low mileage ( only 79K orig miles) vehicle with plenty of potential.
The replacement side trim for the wagon's quarter panel is in rough shape and is gonna need plenty of hammer work along with hand sanding and polishing, but it was super cheap from a local salvage yard.
I also need to finish work on the bumper cover, and I'm going to lightly tint my tail lights. Can't wait to install my brand new old stock "Roadmaster" emblem I paid $51 for from a dealership in Fla.
Even though I'm glad to have the work, I wish my across the steet neighbor's Chrysler work could be delayed a week so I could finish my big blue Buick barge

81X11 wrote:

It's rusted around the window frames, needs a right 1/4 and a patch on the rear lower left 1/4. Plus needs front floor pans and a new trunk pan.

Like I said that would be an easy job. The cars I start with sometimes are destine to be melted down and recycled. I prefer to bring there dead lifeless bodies back to life. I hate seeing this cancerous rust take some of the great cars down.

Steve,.. that is without a doubt one of the hardest colors to panel match. It's a guaranteed blend job for me, then again I blend everything. I know you don't have much time on your hands, and this paint mixer just looked at you like a number, but even then that color probably has so many variances to start with and matching an old or repainted surface isn't going to be easy to begin with. Blending onto the door and just the edge of the bumper will make it look so much better.

I rememeber when I went to a Dupont training school we blended blue onto silver and you could barely notice the change, until we put it up against another panel. Blending is an art in my book when done right even a color 3 to 4 shades off will look right.

Steve,.. that is without a doubt one of the hardest colors to panel match. It's a guaranteed blend job for me, then again I blend everything. I know you don't have much time on your hands, and this paint mixer just looked at you like a number, but even then that color probably has so many variances to start with and matching an old or repainted surface isn't going to be easy to begin with. Blending onto the door and just the edge of the bumper will make it look so much better.

Most times my paint supplier will tell me how many variances a tough color has, not this time though. I have no problems with blending, and I'm real good at it, however, I wanted the color a lot closer than it is to at least be a realistic blendable color.

The only time I won't blend is if the customer tells me they aren't worried about an exact color match on their (10+ year old) vehicle, and they can't justify or afford the extra cost .

dig the old keystone wheels,..

white is a bitch to match so is silver,.

Nick

Still got the paint? blend the door. color dont look so different,

I checked with a local outfit that specializes in aftermarket wheels. I asked them if Keystone Klassics were still available brand new, they are! Seems that Cragar now owns Keystone wheels. Mine are in real good shape but will show pits of surface rust when they aren't kept waxed ( the recess area that alligns with the tire stem). Be super nice to have a brand new set but at a cost of $225 per wheel + tax,that's not gonna happen anytime soon

After thinking and re-thinking the wagon situation, pertaining to what my main goal is, I think I'll focus on getting the exterior work finished ( all dents and body imperfections , including no more visible dents in the trim pieces), paint the black roof rails blue, paint the A & B pillers satin black , paint GM "Rally" style stripes on the hood and tail gate (or what one person calls the deck lid in sparkle silver.Then there is the interior carpeting work to finish in the rear of the car ( plastic side panels and tail gate). Tinting the tail light lens darker (but not overly so). Control arm bushings have been squeeking for way to long.
Oh yeah, I've been hanging on to a couple of new old stock metal "GS" emblems ( thanks ebay!) I''ll attach to the fenders.
Not really interested in striving to make her a 14 or even 13 second wagon (although that would be a real blast !!)
The Grand Prix will still get worked on, but I'd rather have one of my cars that's at least 90% finished than 2 cars that are both about 60% done.

So Steve r u going to wagonfest?

1993 Roady-man wrote:

So Steve r u going to wagonfest?

I wanted to, then said I couldn't pull it off, now.........possibly, If I get the wagon finished and sell my motorcycle for the trip money.

Shaving the deck lid? Wait! Rear cargo tail gait outer trunk portal.

Heck, I don't even like shaving my face let alone my car! Does 3M make a shaving cream for vehicles?