September 20, 1999 The Finland Gazette Page P6
Body Repair - Replacing the Quarter Panel
I knew right from the beginning that the passenger quarter panel had some bondo in it. It turned out that there was a lot more than expected. After chipping away some of it, the extent of the damage was obvious: the quarter had been hit,58 Ply Quarter Off then a new section had been braised in. But the braising had seriously warped the rest of the quarter. Tons of bondo had been applied to cover up the problem. It became obvious that the whole quarter needed replacement. A salvage yard near Sacramento, CA had a full two door hardtop quarter that was mostly rust free.   The new quarter arrived by truck several weeks later.

Left: Passenger quarter panel has been removed, exposing quarter window mechanism.
58 Ply Removed Quarter

 

Left: The old quarter, headed for the trash. Note area in center where bondo was chiseled away, exposing major brazing repair.
Right: Quarter panel from Sacramento welded in place. Photo shot thru the open driver's door of the 59 Dodge convertible. 58 Ply Finished Quarter
Body Repair - Replacing the Trunk Floor
Ron in Trunk
Left: No, I'm not all scrunched up in the trunk ! The old trunk floor has already been removed and I'm sitting on a seat, wire wheeling some metal before dropping the replacement floor into place and welding it in.

 



Below: Rust free trunk floor now welded in place.

The trunk floor had been popriveted together from various pieces of metal and then covered with lots of undercoating. After removing that mess, I welded in a  rust-free trunk floor from a 57 Plymouth that was found in a salvage yard in eastern Massachusetts.In this part of the country, inner sheet metal on these cars is usually rusted out. The car that donated this trunk was nose down in an embankment, preserving the trunk floor from rusting out.		 58 Ply Finished Trunk
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