Yet another long boring restoration 37 Ford

I have gotten started on this winters build of someone else's car and not my 52. It is a 37 Ford Club Cabriolet. Going into this one I thought I was going to be building a very rare unique car and was to be doing it right.
Well that all changed when I got most of it stripped and found what someone that wasn't to handy did to it. The owner has taken a total turn in his thinking and has decided to just stuff n buff it. I told him I wouldn't do it that way and he needed to find another shop. After a couple weeks of talking actually me bitching and complaining about what was to come we settled on a 1/2 and 1/2 deal and he is willing to pay so off we go. I will post up the progress if ya want but please don't shoot me for some of what you see as it is NOT the way I would do things as some of you know. So let me know if you want to see a car worthy of being done right being done wrong.
So this is where I started.

The front end looked ok but was in need of some metal work. I cleaned the years of crap out of the inside and took it all to my media blast guy.
After the blasting the chit started to hit the fan. someone had brazed and bunch of patchs on then beat it in and loaded the bondo on. I know that's the way it was done years ago and I did some myself but filler don't hang on to that stuff very long. So I etch primed it all and started reshaping.

After many hours of beating and banging hammer dolly work and some heat shrinking I got the front fenders, hood sides and inner fenders pretty nice.

Nice work. I don't have the patience (or skills) to get tin that straight.

Those are neat cars and deserve to be done right.

Old Iron said:

Those are neat cars and deserve to be done right.

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Yes they are and do. This guy just can't see the value of it or the investment piece he has.
More to come later.

Is this going to be a basic resto or will it be modified?

I would like to see more.

Damn, that's a car I've always wanted as a rod. Is it going 100% stock? They look sweet laying on the ground with 40-ish wheels

What were the problems with the car besides the fenders? I see lots of bondo on the body...

Looks like you're doing a great job anyways.

OK, sorry guys but its a stocker. The front fenders are actually very nice now. The rears are where the real bad stuff starts. They have been patched very badly and again brazed patchs over the rust, not cut out but just covered over.
I can't find the pics of them right now but this is what I found on the body.

OUCH! That body is made out of bondo! I hope you are going to re-skin it with new metal? As rare as those cars are, it needs to be right. That could be a 6 figure car if it's right.

Even I don't put Bondo on that thick. Does the etching primer work over brazing? After hammer and dolly work do you use a body file?

Willowbilly3 said:

Nice work. I don't have the patience (or skills) to get tin that straight.

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What he said! Another reason I like rattys!!! [ddd[ddd

Always admired guys who had the patience & skill to do beautiful work like that!

BoB

Bamamav said:

OUCH! That body is made out of bondo! I hope you are going to re-skin it with new metal? As rare as those cars are, it needs to be right. That could be a 6 figure car if it's right.

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AAA! there in lie's the problem I have with this.
No! some will stay and some will go. I want to redo it all but the owner will not believe that the car has some real value and refuse's to put the money into it. We have even tried to buy it from him but he won't budge.
My only hope is that when I try to get it a bit flatter that the braze will crack and or break and force him into at least getting some patch panels.
The thing that bugs me is the owner is a very well off Dentist. I asked him when you fix and rotten tooth do you fill it with bondo or make false teeth out of wood? His answer was "whats that got to do with this?"

cosmic12 said:

AAA! there in lie's the problem I have with this.
No! some will stay and some will go. I want to redo it all but the owner will not believe that the car has some real value and refuse's to put the money into it. We have even tried to buy it from him but he won't budge.
My only hope is that when I try to get it a bit flatter that the braze will crack and or break and force him into at least getting some patch panels.
The thing that bugs me is the owner is a very well off Dentist. I asked him when you fix and rotten tooth do you fill it with bondo or make false teeth out of wood? His answer was "whats that got to do with this?"

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A lack of common sense is often present in medical professionals, I find.

Too bad he won't pay to have it done properly. Hopefully you can make that happen by accident. That could be a beautiful car!

This tip won't help quite a bit of the problems you have Cosmic, but maybe some. I have a friend that says he doesn't mind painting over brazing,----- as long as he gets to sandblast the brazing first to roughen it up. Then the paint sticks. He's a professional sandblaster and painter.