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Beware of fresh paint

GPR

GPR

Active Member
The owner of this car bought it last year and drove it maybe 100 miles and decided he wanted more HP. A shop across from mine built a 347 and changed the rear to a Currie 9" and changed the wheels to Torque Thrusts. This car looked great when he bought it.

Before_zps2csaa0gw.jpg


While the engine was out he decided he wanted us to install a Rod & Custom front suspension. We were removing seam sealer from the cowl and found that the lower cowl had been patched and never welded and also found this rust.

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He wanted us to install a steel bulkhead behind the rear seat and this is what we found

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At first we were going to patch the cowl and he was going to drive it a couple of years before we repaired the cowl and repainted the car.

We also found the front floor pans had been patched and the tack welds were bad. The owner decided to have us fix it right. This is what we found under that beautiful paint and a lot of bondo.

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They had cut out a section and had a couple of pieces of plastic stuck in there with fiberglass mat over it.

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This is what they were covering

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If you are buying a car that was just painted make sure you see a lot of photos showing how it was repaired before it was painted. This was done by a shop that thank goodness is no longer in business.
 
Wow. Is the car even worth salvaging? I know GPR can do it, but does it make financial sense?
 
Its almost as bad as Mike Gardner's Fastback when he discovers that there was a sunroof that was covered up.
 
Well, it looked pretty good before you guys started hacking it to pieces, LOL. I sort of agree with Midlife. The car might not be worth the work to make it right. The best part of the car was that paint job and you guys took care of that. Any suggestions as to how one could avoid being had by a slick seller with faulty repairs? I can't imagine how a buyer could find this sort of thing prior to purchase. Nobody, honest or otherwise, is going to let you tear into a car to verify it is sound prior to buying it. I know about having a magnet to detect filler, but the rust and rot wouldn't be exposed.
 
I guess you can polish a turd! They probably had as much time in hack jobs as it would've taken in actual metal repairs!
 
RagTop said:
Well, it looked pretty good before you guys started hacking it to pieces, LOL. I sort of agree with Midlife. The car might not be worth the work to make it right. The best part of the car was that paint job and you guys took care of that. Any suggestions as to how one could avoid being had by a slick seller with faulty repairs? I can't imagine how a buyer could find this sort of thing prior to purchase. Nobody, honest or otherwise, is going to let you tear into a car to verify it is sound prior to buying it. I know about having a magnet to detect filler, but the rust and rot wouldn't be exposed.
Click to expand...
One could have found some of that had they looked. It appears had anyone looked at the under-structure of the package tray/rear deck area from the trunk they would have seen severe rot. A magnet wouldn't have told them about the fiberglass above the drip rails but it would have indicated there wasn't any metal! You could have also seen the rear panel rot around the tail lights too. Trunk is always a good place to start the probe.
If you know where to look I'm guessing there would have been enough evidence to be cautious. Certain years and or options have their special areas of concern. A vinyl top car should make you wary, for instance.

One of these can also help you see in places that you might otherwise not be able. Cheap enough everyone should take one when shopping

http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-inspection-camera-62359.html
 
Horseplay said:
One could have found some of that had they looked. It appears had anyone looked at the under-structure of the package tray/rear deck area from the trunk they would have seen severe rot. A magnet wouldn't have told them about the fiberglass above the drip rails but it would have indicated there wasn't any metal! You could have also seen the rear panel rot around the tail lights too. Trunk is always a good place to start the probe.
If you know where to look I'm guessing there would have been enough evidence to be cautious. Certain years and or options have their special areas of concern. A vinyl top car should make you wary, for instance.

One of these can also help you see in places that you might otherwise not be able. Cheap enough everyone should take one when shopping

http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-inspection-camera-62359.html
Click to expand...
Can't help yourself, can you?
 
RagTop said:
Can't help yourself, can you?
Click to expand...
I was simply pointing out that some of that could have been seen or detected by someone really looking. All too often we get lost in the shine of pretty paint and miss stuff we should have been looking for is all. Kind of the point of the thread, isn't it?
 
Yikes!

I'm Pretty sure that is what my car will look like if I ever get around to body work. I know I have a lot of hidden treasure under my paint to look forward to.

Can't wait to see what you guys do with it.
 
man, I thought MY car was bad before we replaced all the rotted stuff but I think this one has me beat (barely).

I would like to thinik I am wrong, but this is how I picture half the cars crossing the block at classic car auctions.
 
These are the last photos I will post on this thread. I will start a new one once the parts come in to start the restoration.

The upper and lower cowl came off as one piece only had two small welds close to the windshield pillar on both sides

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I feel bad for the owner, but i am happy for me because i get to see another one of your resurrection builds and i can sit here going WOW, look at the quality of Brians work.
 
While I don't think the car looked good to begin with, I'm sure he spent a decent penny on it. With all that he's facing to spend....I would throw up. He's gonna have 3x the value tied up in that car.
 
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