If bondo were recycleable

6

68RR383

Well-known member
I'd be rich!
I finally got some time to spend on the RR. I had knocked some paint off of what I knew was the worst panel on my car (driver's rear) a few months ago so I knew there was filler all over the panel but figured it was there to smooth out an old repair. I started there because the lines of the panel just didn't look right to me and the paint had deep cracks all over that panel. I figured start with the worst spot and it can only get easier right? Anyway I sanded and sanded and sanded, still no metal but no daylight either. :huh: I got a razor blade and started shaving chunks of filler out trying to see just how deep it went, then moved to a wire wheel and finally made it to metal. The filler is over an inch thick :eek: but there is metal behind it, a really ugly patch job over the tire well but metal none the less. No wonder the panel looked "fat" to me it's covered in ten pounds of filler. I still don't know why they used so much filler unless there's a huge dent that I haven't uncovered yet. At least the rest of the car is filler free and I already have replacement quarters.

Just had to vent.
 
BootHead said:
good luck on your sculpture. no chicken wire yet?
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No chicken wire but I do expect to find some hammer marks or something when I get up higher. It looks like they made an effort to close the holes up the right way but stopped any metal work after welding the panel in and went straight to the bondo.

I think I'm going to save some of the chunks and carve little RRs out of them with a dremel.
 
I've seen some guys slather the mud to a panel, even when it didn't need it. What their reasoning is for that, i don't know. Maybe a "make work" project?
 
My '72 Charger SE (the Black Bitch) was just like that on both rear quarters, from the wheelhouses back. The wheel openings were rusted out and both quarters were completely caved in, like someone was doing doughnuts into trees. They'd actually installed the RH wheel moulding while the bondo was still wet... I took out the screws, gave the moulding a good yank, and the whole wheel arch came out--about 2" of body all the way around, paint and all. The panels were so caved in, there were places where the plastic was over 3" thick.

Scary thing about the whole deal was that other than one crack, the car looked very straight before I started on it... whoever did the work was a real Mudchelangelo or Plasticasso.

After finding all the dents, we started joking that the car must have been slid onto more poles than Tyrannosaurus Ex (my former wife). :D
 
Dr.Jass said:
the car must have been slid onto more poles than Tyrannosaurus Ex (my former wife). :D
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:bwuhaha: :bwuhaha: :bwuhaha:

I had a 67 Mudstain that the previous owner welded flat sheetmetal onto the lower 1/4s and then formed the body lines with bondo, it was up to 1.5" in some places
 
you should have seen my old ramcharger body...2 inches thick in alot of the front fenders and the entire quarts of the truck from the door seal all the way to the tail gate from the drip rail to the inside of the bed was anything from 2 inches down to 1/4...there was mud around the door posts even...and yes BOTH side of the truck....i think the hood and tail gate were the only muddless sections
 
Dr.Jass said:
They'd actually installed the RH wheel moulding while the bondo was still wet...
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Cripes, that brings back memories. :)

Way back in my formative years, we used to do up the used cars for the real slimeball dealers that way. It was fast and nasty for sure. The trick was to mask the backside of the moldings so the bondo wouldn't stick. Nice clean moldings that fit very well made the car look like it was never touched.


















Crap.
Now I have guilt. :(
 
It looks like restoman was the closest on this one. The panels are braze welded in but apparently someone decided to sculpt with bondo rather than touch the welds with a grinder. I spent 45 mins with an air hammer cutting most of the bondo off. No damage other than the two patch panels that were put in. They could probably bill more for the time spent sculpting body lines into bondo.
 
sculpting is an art form......:bwuhaha:years ago i worked in a shop where the boss wanted everyone to bring in news paper. for awhile it was for reading then it was for masking then it was for Push and Fill. and it became push and fill. i remember guy,s putting bondo on so hot you lite a smoke from it.and burn your hand to. i learned how to hot patch fiberglass. we would have 4-6 guys on a car after school and be done body and paint by 10 oclock and we started at 4.. i wouldnt buy these cars. but thats the way the boss wanted it. and cocktail paint jobs got very interesting to.the boss would come back at midnite and ok the cars. never saw them sold here they were all shipped to auctions.i know for a fact the stop sighns were replaced 4 times on that corner:bwuhaha:...you cant do that stuff today. i know i wouldnt . i did prep back then so you cant hang it on me.. sometimes things just got crazy and funny.like the time rear lenses got put on certain cars that were the same models as the cop cars..some things you just have to laugh at later on in life. :bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha:the boss said give it the 40 foot test. that meant if it looked good at 40 feet it was good... things were different back then.funny thing is sometimes a cop would work there parttime. always amazed me.i still see him in coffee shops tho he is retired and he talks about the good old days:bwuhaha:
 
ORVIL said:
sculpting is an art form......:bwuhaha:years ago i worked in a shop where the boss wanted everyone to bring in news paper. for awhile it was for reading then it was for masking then it was for Push and Fill. and it became push and fill. i remember guy,s putting bondo on so hot you lite a smoke from it.and burn your hand to. i learned how to hot patch fiberglass. we would have 4-6 guys on a car after school and be done body and paint by 10 oclock and we started at 4.. i wouldnt buy these cars. but thats the way the boss wanted it. and cocktail paint jobs got very interesting to.the boss would come back at midnite and ok the cars. never saw them sold here they were all shipped to auctions.i know for a fact the stop sighns were replaced 4 times on that corner:bwuhaha:...you cant do that stuff today. i know i wouldnt . i did prep back then so you cant hang it on me.. sometimes things just got crazy and funny.like the time rear lenses got put on certain cars that were the same models as the cop cars..some things you just have to laugh at later on in life. :bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha:the boss said give it the 40 foot test. that meant if it looked good at 40 feet it was good... things were different back then.funny thing is sometimes a cop would work there parttime. always amazed me.i still see him in coffee shops tho he is retired and he talks about the good old days:bwuhaha:
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Jesus ORVIL, I worked for that same guy!

Did he tell you to take it to the carwash and scratch it up slightly to hide the orange peel and dirt? :)
 
restoman said:
Jesus ORVIL, I worked for that same guy!

Did he tell you to take it to the carwash and scratch it up slightly to hide the orange peel and dirt? :)
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:bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha:he had a coffe shop to. i think his son runs it now.the bdyshp- :bwuhaha::bwuhaha:and he has tricks of his own... i saw a van he painted - a full size van.. sprayed it up nice . i asked how much paint he used on it - he told me -- he did it on the cheap.. didn,t do the top - sprayed up the sides and over the top but didn,t all the way over... he said the owners don,t live on a second floor so they,ll never see it.. made me sick. these guy,s stay in bussiness and makes it hard for guy,s like you who do it right. but some of the stuff is down rite funny. and some customers want it that way to. -- ya go ahead and push and fill just make it look good you know it,s just a winter beater.----- then they sell it themselves..crooks is what they are. i,ve seen guy,s load up with bondo on a 4x4 piece of plwood and use a trowel and go around a car--- wait for it to set up use a hacksaw blade to cut out the doors and hood and trunk and go crazy from there.then 6 coats of metal enamel and VIOLA done - shines like a diamond and Bob,s your uncle and people are smilin at the shine.. ------makes you want to shake your head. i shake mine - seen alot :bwuhaha::bwuhaha::bwuhaha:-- private joke----:bwuhaha:
 
ORVIL said:
then 6 coats of metal enamel and VIOLA done - shines like a diamond and Bob,s your uncle and people are smilin at the shine.. ------makes you want to shake your head.
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That's an old trick - big flakes of metal in an ugly colour makes the waves "disappear". Hides the bubbles somewhat when they appear later too. We just finished a Beaumont ragtop that was done that way - more filler in that car than in the local CARQUEST store.
 
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