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I am contemplating the purchase of this Orange Vette. It has fairly low mileage (70k) and is at a great price. The only thing wrong is this crack on the drivers side back quarter panel. Can this be done myself? How much would you think it would cost to repair either way (myself or at a shop)?
Hi f,
The crack does look pretty involved.
There is a body seam in that area that runs from the front of the quarter panel to it's rear. It could be a problem with that seam.
BUT, I also see a crack running down from the long horizontal crack, and another at the front lip of the wheel arch, and another at the rear. They make me think there's something more serious going on that will take some work by a person with some fiberglass and paint experience.
Not a deal breaker, but certainly needs to be taken into consideration when considering a price for the car.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
Lengthwise crack is the factory bonding strip area. It looks to me like there might have been a previous repair in the area and it was done poorly. The rear quarter is cracked at the wheelwell as also, and perhaps lower and farther back as well. So you have multiple repairs to complete just on this single panel. You can fix all this without (probably) replacing anything, but there will be extensive paint matching and blending to be done after the panel repair. If there is damage of any sort anywhere else on the car you are looking at $$$ for repair so if you want this car I would base my offer on the assumption of a complete strip and repaint... not cheap even if you can do it all yourself.
I'd want to replace the entire section. Not because you have to but I'd want to know what is behind it and if there were any further damage. I wonder what caused it...a blown tire maybe?
If I really wanted the car I'd rather pay a little more and have it already repaired before buying it than to get into unknowns with a new car.
That crack is in the area of the bonding strip, but it is too jagged to be broken at that strip. There are other areas of cracking on that panel. It just looks like that panel was hit enough to crack it (front end of another car hit it at low speed, maybe). Big fix and tough to match the paint when done.