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First off - the original post belied how this looks; the pics show that its worse IMO than first described.
I know jack squat about body work, I know 0 x jack squat about paint....let's get that out of the way right off.
I DO know that some have cut a hood hinge down and rewelded it to bring the front edge down; then adjusted the male pin at the rear to get things even along the fender....there is no front pic here so I can't say if that would make the front hood - to surround gap unsightly or the hood-to-cowl gap in the rear unacceptable. That would leave the headlight bucket...I also know that some have glassed around that opening to make the gaps more acceptable...this was done when my car was repaired.
Even with all that done, you might step back and look at the car and see a visible "twist" to the front from these efforts.
Fully acknowledge I'm punching above my weight here and yeah, forking over 1/2 a year's salary for some would prob be the "correct" fix - not all of us can do that... There is no better place than this forum for spending other peoples' money.
I would be tempted to try to remove the PS front hood hinge and rear male pin and use shims to set the hood to match the fender line and step back and see how it looked....but that's how I roll. It will prob not be good but its 45 minutes work to find out.
I'll wait now to have my head kicked in...
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; Aug 10, 2018 at 07:21 AM.
First off - the original post belied how this looks; the pics show that its worse IMO than first described.
I know jack squat about body work, I know 0 x jack squat about paint....let's get that out of the way right off.
I DO know that some have cut a hood hinge down and rewelded it to bring the front edge down; then adjusted the male pin at the rear to get things even along the fender....there is no front pic here so I can't say if that would make the front hood - to surround gap unsightly or the hood-to-cowl gap in the rear unacceptable. That would leave the headlight bucket...I also know that some have glassed around that opening to make the gaps more acceptable...this was done when my car was repaired.
Even with all that done, you might step back and look at the car and see a visible "twist" to the front from these efforts.
Fully acknowledge I'm punching above my weight here and yeah, forking over 1/2 a year's salary for some would prob be the "correct" fix - not all of us can do that... There is no better place than this forum for spending other peoples' money.
I would be tempted to try to remove the PS front hood hinge and rear male pin and use shims to set the hood to match the fender line and step back and see how it looked....but that's how I roll. It will prob not be good but its 45 minutes work to find out.
I'll wait now to have my head kicked in...
and i'm not Mike or Dub, i'm just a better than average Bubba who has been through the school of hard knocks... "I" think there might be ways that don't require major surgery (ie Frank's idea of cutting down the hinge is a good example (had to 'bend' the ones on my 62 to cure the same problem)) a knee jerk reaction of throwing $$$ at it instead of brain power is not the first step "I" would take..
I think it looks good. Nobody will ever notice. I would drive it as is or if there was something that really bothered me, I would sell it and buy a car with less work needed. Don’t let the car become a money pit.
My ‘67 is green. I prefer black. I’m not going to paint the car but I am looking for a black coupe that is also an upgrade in quality.
As Frankie suggested, check the hinges first. That may solve part of it.
If I am correct the body panel line edging the headlight bucket has a lower angle 'inboard' towards the midline of the body versus 'outboard' the passenger side line. So, whatever you do with the buckets, it will be impossible to line them up both sides. That is an indication that the whole front clip and fender assembly was messed up , or that the frame was twisted. Looks as if the passenger side fender is drooping. Check height of a reference point on the front passenger versus driver side.
25k$ is not outrageous, unfortunately....
Last edited by alexandervdr; Aug 10, 2018 at 08:23 AM.
I would like to see a straight on shot of the fender from the side and a straight on shot from the front from a little above waist level that includes the bumpers and lower valence....that would reveal more, I think, than these angled photos...
Putting a front clip on a car is not trivial - its a combination of the right parts, the right materials and talent. To wit, a new front clip put on the OP's car, missing any of the listed components, could be nearly as bad as what he has...
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; Aug 10, 2018 at 08:27 AM.
and what makes you think it takes any less 'talent' to install a full frontend? that's a scary thought too...
Bill
Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink
First off - the original post belied how this looks; the pics show that its worse IMO than first described.
I know jack squat about body work, I know 0 x jack squat about paint....let's get that out of the way right off.
I DO know that some have cut a hood hinge down and rewelded it to bring the front edge down; then adjusted the male pin at the rear to get things even along the fender....there is no front pic here so I can't say if that would make the front hood - to surround gap unsightly or the hood-to-cowl gap in the rear unacceptable. That would leave the headlight bucket...I also know that some have glassed around that opening to make the gaps more acceptable...this was done when my car was repaired.
Even with all that done, you might step back and look at the car and see a visible "twist" to the front from these efforts.
Fully acknowledge I'm punching above my weight here and yeah, forking over 1/2 a year's salary for some would prob be the "correct" fix - not all of us can do that... There is no better place than this forum for spending other peoples' money.
I would be tempted to try to remove the PS front hood hinge and rear male pin and use shims to set the hood to match the fender line and step back and see how it looked....but that's how I roll. It will prob not be good but its 45 minutes work to find out.
I'll wait now to have my head kicked in...
Originally Posted by wmf62
and i'm not Mike or Dub, i'm just a better than average Bubba who has been through the school of hard knocks...
Bill
Looks like you answered you own question about talent. Or, FTF did and you agreed with him.
I am short on experience here as I've only put one top surround on a mid year but I've seen plenty of poorly repaired cars that had a droppy nose on one corner, sectioned hood hinge, cockeyed front bumper to align with a cockeyed body, hood standing proud on one or both sides of the headlight panel, uneven gaps at the headlight buckets, seams showing through at a panel splice instead of using a full length panel. And the list of nightmares goes on.
Now, I know you being a frugal type (as I am) would be tempted to take a cheaper way out rather than a full front end. I might/probably would tend to go with a full front end replacement. But it wouldn't be a $25,000 job.
I can't see any of these pictures by the way. Just a little blue box.
Frankie, you know Jack Squat? He's been hanging around my garage lately, and is wearing out his welcome.
Know him well - I also know that, "....perfection is the enemy of 'good enough''"...
The eye and brain are funny things...often, if you can get something to "fool the eye" with bodywork (and woodworking and many other things) the brain will fill in the rest. To wit, something that may not be precise to Six Sigma in actual measurements may look perfectly OK to a spectator... I would play with things as i stated above just to satisfy myself before plunking down $25K -- and, oh by the way, NOTHING gets done for the original estimate!
I've lived through the front clip thing - its no fun..
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; Aug 10, 2018 at 08:44 AM.
FTF's pics of his car should be good enough for most anyone. Take your car to that shop and get an estimate. Second option get FTF to coerce Mike C. to fix it. Third but certainly not last take it to Dub. I just put a front cap on my C1 and I'll tell you it's not like putting a cap on a Camaro. The new parts do not fit and are not shaped perfectly. There's a ton of work and filling to get it where you want.
There are small shops who swap out a damaged front end with the fixture assembled Sermershiem whole front assy in several days. That’s just getting the new glass on. Although $5600 sounds like a lot, a huge amount of body work time can be saved and the final result is beautiful. My front end prior to the deer strike was not as bad as yours but close. My front end swap and repaint including the front end was about 15k.... BEFORE project creep (wasn’t a creep, more like a sprint). Point is the fixture assembled whole front end can actually be a lot cheaper depending how bad it is.... and especially if you know the right small shops. I found several. My car also once had a front accident before the deer. But I will say if it’s just about money, getting another car is probably cheaper. Best wishes
It’s pretty ironic how some folks who have insisted in other threads that it is necessary to spend big bucks on any paint job for a C2 now advocate short cut fixes for body work in this thread. Good luck with getting this car to look right with that approach.
In the pics it looks to me like the curve of the hood doesn’t match the curve of the surround/fender top. Hinge tweaks will not get those to conform.
And does anyone remember that the OPs original question was about the body panel finish/fiberglass/paint? Hinge adjustments ain’t gonna fix that.
Both problems - panel fit and finish - are the result of a bad job of repairing previous damage. The only way to truly fix both problems is to remove, replace, and repaint.
Short of that I agree with those who suggest either leaving it alone and driving it as is, or selling it and just passing the problem along to someone else.
Last edited by tuxnharley; Aug 10, 2018 at 10:36 AM.
It’s pretty ironic how some folks who have insisted in other threads that it is necessary to spend big bucks on any paint job for a C2 now advocate short cut fixes for body work in this thread. Good luck with getting this car to look right with that approach.
In the pics it looks to me like the curve of the hood doesn’t match the curve of the surround/fender top. Hinge tweaks will not get those to conform.
And does anyone remember that the OPs original question was about the body panel finish/fiberglass/paint? Hinge adjustments ain’t gonna fix that.
Both problems - panel fit and finish - are the result of a bad job of repairing previous damage. The only way to truly fix both problems is to remove, replace, and repaint.
Short of that I agree with those who suggest either leaving it alone and driving it as is, or selling it and just passing the problem along to someone else.
There is always the option of DIY too (I went that road for the whole body, including adjusting one fender). That is by far the cheapest, eventually the hardest too. Depends on skillset of OP. I had never done it myself, took a lot of time and patience, result is better than factory 54 years ago (the taxation guy said..). The ingredients are always the same: money, time, expected finishing standards. They go up and down together. The OP is clearly not happy enough with what he has to leave it as is. For 25k$ is would probably be perfect, for less it could be less perfect and depending on expectations (and the shop..) that may be a disillusion. If 25k$ is not what he wants to spend, there are few options left...
Last edited by alexandervdr; Aug 10, 2018 at 10:59 AM.
Drive/enjoy/repeat. There is no financial upside in fixing it. If you can’t stand it but another car.
The car doesn’t look bad and we are generally all owners here. The public at large is even more impressed by your car!
Its ok to leave it be.
My exact take in the situation as well. I would either try to get the hood lined up a bit like FTF said, or leave it completely alone. I wouldn't start stripping it down, etc. If it bothered me I'd get another car and pass this one along to someone who's ok with a driver that isn't perfect.
And people wondered why I asked for photos, from viewing the existing body conditions it appears to be a bit out of wack. It is easy to question body shop prices however unless you have actually done repair on these cars yourself you don't really understand the time and effort it takes to get these cars right. The front head light bucket area is a real bitch to get right. I put a whole new Shermershiem (sp) front nose on my car and two rear fenders. Even when using new pieces there is still a good bit of body working that is required to get it right. Here are a few photos to help you understand what I am taking about. These are of my car when I was doing the work. I also painted the car black so there is nothing that can be out of line any flaw shows up. Bottom line is you need to figure out how nice you want your car to be and then make a plan and stick to it..
And people wondered why I asked for photos, from viewing the existing body conditions it appears to be a bit out of wack. It is easy to question body shop prices however unless you have actually done repair on these cars yourself you don't really understand the time and effort it takes to get these cars right. The front head light bucket area is a real bitch to get right. I put a whole new Shermershiem (sp) front nose on my car and two rear fenders. Even when using new pieces there is still a good bit of body working that is required to get it right. Here are a few photos to help you understand what I am taking about. These are of my car when I was doing the work. I also painted the car black so there is nothing that can be out of line any flaw shows up. Bottom line is you need to figure out how nice you want your car to be and then make a plan and stick to it..
and i'm not Mike or Dub, i'm just a better than average Bubba who has been through the school of hard knocks... "I" think there might be ways that don't require major surgery (ie Frank's idea of cutting down the hinge is a good example (had to 'bend' the ones on my 62 to cure the same problem)) a knee jerk reaction of throwing $$$ at it instead of brain power is not the first step "I" would take..
