Just wanted to show some body work progress on my 69. This shop only does one classic car at a time and are highly recommended for this area but the down side is they only work on it during slow or down time since their bread and butter is insurance work.

So it looks like with the floor pan they left a flange around the edge and laid the new panel on top, then spot welded it through. Looks like an easy way to do it. I'm not sure the purists in the crowd will approve since it will be pretty obvious.

Where are you seeing that Robert? The pic isnt very good so I am not seeing something maybe that you are but I will go back and take a look at the shop. And I am not doing this build to satisfy the purist as this will not be close to a stock build. I dont care what they do with their car and hopefully they will be respectful of how I am doing my car, but I will for sure take a look and try to see what your talking about ssince I dont see it.

Maybe it just looks that way. I could see several, what appear to be spot welds around the edge of the rear foot well panel. I actually considered doing it that way myself. It's probably not the proper way but it seems much easier than trying to get the gaps not too close or too wide. I'm sure it's not easy when working with a big panel. Of course the main thing is to make it a solid repair. One that is sealed against the elements and is as strong as it was originally. It doesn't necessarily have to be undetectable for me either.

Thanks for clarifying what you see Robert. I now think I see what your talking about and will go back to the shop and look at it closer since it does look like spot welds in the picture. I am wondering if it is the picture since I looked at it closer in person and didn't pick up on it, but thanks for sharing! In the end you are correct, getting a solid job in the goal and I do know that these guys come well recommended for the quality of their work. Hell, I waited 2 years and 4 months for them to get to my car so I for one want it to be well worth the wait and a correct solid job.

For the most part, the body appears to be in very good original condition. The only serious spot appears to be the LH rear quarter area.
The accident on the tail end of the quarter maybe the reason your quarter is rusting in other places. Accidents tend
to pull panels around thus breaking the seal and letting moisture in. Hence the floor panel and quarter panel issues.
Need to look at rocker panel as well as this could be plugged or exposed for moisture to get in or be trapped.
It's possible you could have a blockage in rocker and water overflowed into floor panel.
I found no less than 5 rodent nests in my rockers etc. Each nest resulted in a hole that required a patch.

I was able to get a really strong welder for my project. He is an welding inspector and trainer.
He did some pretty awesome work for me. I did some welding myself; engine stand etc. but I left the sheet metal to
the experts. Sheet metal can be very difficult as the metal is very thin.

Based on what I have experienced with my project, I will give some feedback based on how I would do it best practices.
For me the only way is the correct way. Now, grinding every weld and make it smooth and bondo it pretty is left
for you to decide. Basically you want a good solid weld that seals the patch to the body. If you cannot seal
the patch then you have problems.

Here are some observations:

1. Did you get the whole body shell blasted to remove all rust, tar etc.? I tried getting round it but you pretty
much have to do it otherwise you will miss spots to fix. If you have any weak spots the blaster will find them.

2. LH rear quarter. The rear portion of the quarter is beat pretty good already. Going to require a lot of
bondo work time. Bondo is acceptable to do as it won't be that thick but I'm not sure I would put that much $$ into a
rusted panel. Look at the patch he is doing at the bottom wheel well. See the rusted inner wheel well he
will be welding to? The steel has to bend around and attach to wheel well. There are other support panels behind there
he's not seeing. Little chance this is the only issue with this rear quarter. Money better spent on new quarter.
New complete panels will provide you with the best structural bond, rust prevention, lower labor costs and typically will save
you more in the long term.

3. LH Rear floor patch. Patch panel acceptable, but needs to be butt welded. It must be sealed with the weld, don't rely on
seam sealer to seal it.

4. Ask if welder is capable to do butt welds. If he cannot, then don't let him weld your car. Some obvious spots should
be butt welds.

5. IMO, primer I hope is just a quick temp spray and body will be stripped of paint again. Once all paint
etc. is removed you should apply a sealer coat of Epoxy primer/sealer. The first coat of paint is the foundation
of your paint job!

Keep in mind, the shop biggest costs are labor, so they will look for laborious work to bill. Invest
your money in better panels that require less labor and are better steel structure when your done.

Don't know you labor rate but I would expect they will want 30-45hrs to weld, body work to rough primer for just your
rear quarter fixed.

Just my opinions...good luck...look at my pic of my bird below. 7 years in, I'm still working on it.
That's what the car looked like just before I tore it down. Lots of issues can be hidden away for you to find.

Thanks Gus for the hints and opinions.. To answer some questions for you.. I did in fact have the whole shell blasted and primer to hold it over till body work started and body guy is going over ever inch and stripping and making sure body is straight and he is going over it with epoxy primer. I bought a whole right quarter panel and the right whole quarter is going to be completely replace since it has so much damage to it. Also, on the left quarter this is not his repair, that is what he found when he started stripping the primer and bondo off the quarter. This is the work of someone before him and he showed me how some one welded a patch panel onto the rusted area so he will cut out that rust and weld/repair that area and I also bought a left quarter (not the whole one) so he could cut out and replace what ever amount of the rear portion that he needs to replace. He said the same thing that you did that it would save me money doing that vice working out all the crap that someone else did. They are pretty honest and in this very small town if they weren't they would of been run out of here by now since a lot of folks know each other and they have been in business you around 25 years and have been doing restorations for most that time so I trust them for the most part. So I think for the most part they are doing it like you have said, although I still need to go and relook at that LH floor repair in person. Thanks for the suggestion!

That's excellent! The LH floor patch is ok as long as he seals the outside edge. The spot welds are fine but if you look at it underneath you will want to seal patch panel with weld. Then use seam sealer on the side.

I always impress upon the importance of quality work. It's always worth doing it right the 1st time.

Good luck!

The 13+ months of metal work & paint jail were by far the most stressful days of the six years it's taken me to get this far. I now know why rat rods are so popular. The more I talked with my guy the better I understood what and why they were doing.
Good Luck!

Only 13 months?? You got by quickly. Closer to 2-4 years here.

I do not know how long my will be but it will be a year next month that they have had mine and still have a lot of work ahead of them.

You are now in the same spot many of us, including me have been and per your post regarding you having to wait to even get in with these guys is all but a shortage of qualified real and trained body men. It drove be absolutely nuts when mine was with my guy, I had to pay him every week, had no control over how many actual hours he actually worked, but was at his mercy. Very few, if any shops will even give you a firm quote on a classic car. The key is be patient, but let them know you're watching and at some point ask for a commitment. You may not get one, but try. After mine was done, I asked around at local car shows and found out its not uncommon to have a classic body restored and taking someone up to 6-8 months full time or $30k plus!!!!!

I told my shop that my my wife had set what I could spend. They went into this and that.... Until I brought her down to the shop! Her performance was amazing. Then I added "come on guys, I want to sleep inside tonight" LOL!!

NICE!!! lol

Congrats on the progress Ordy! Good thread and relevant to us as we'll need to go through some kind of process like this too someday. I'm listening and learning. I'll do an update on our project soon as I've been missing in action this winter.

Continue on man Good luck

Bill V

Thanks Bill, I know you are working on your also and you will get there also, it is just slow progress, but someday we will both be done...lol

Some more progress to show. The last three show why the pass side whole quarter panel is being replace.

All progress may be good, but doing it right far 'more good'. Fixing those old bad repairs was the only call! Best of luck. Keep the photos coming!

Thanks buddy!! Will do.

OK Ordy, time for me to gain more knowledge. I'm presuming the body was media blasted, Right? and that passenger quarter has body filler thick as hell on it, is that what im looking at?

keep moving forward man.

bill v

Yep, you got it Bill. All that body filler and the crappy weld job on the lower back portion of the quarter panel.

I noticed in the photos that you have the same bumper brace in the corner of the trunk as I do. I was unable to find a repop 1/4 without the oval one welded in where our style brace should go. Also had no luck finding an original or repop brace. Did you remove the oval one to use your original on your new 1/4? Also have been told by some that their 69s came with the oval brace. Anyone have the oval one from the factory? Is this just Camaro influence in the repop industry?
Are there two styles?

That bumper brace you see in the pic is original and no it wont be replaced, it will be reused according to the body guy. I also have never seen that same brace sold, just the oval shaped one.

Here is some more pics of the finished driver quarter panel.

Looks good.

Thanks Robert. Hopefully it will all turn out good.

It's gonna turn out great!

Great Cam, looks like its moving along real nice now.

Bill V

Looks awesome man! I’m getting ready to do my body here in the next few years. I do have a question, are you loosing the drip edge? I’m tossing it around but would love to see the pocess done first.

Thanks brother, no I am keeping the drip edge. How's that bird running with the LS?

Ok, here are a few more updates to body work. Getting there and hopefully not much left before the paint.

Looking good Ordy! It's strange seeing them that apart, but things are really starting to take shape!
Good job!

Thank man, I hope it is done soon!! Hopefully it wont be long.

Go Cam Go! My lord, it mazing to see so much of it apart, holy cow.

Lookin good !

bill v

lol, thanks Bill!!

So I have been having to decide on a paint color and I knew I wanted to go silver so I have been looking around at silver colors and I think I found one. I am going to post a couple of pics of some Camaros (I know, but only cars our age that I could find in this color) that have this color silver so let me know what you think. The color is Mercedes-Benz brilliant silver. The last pic is how I am painting it.

Wow, maybe I should have took the odds that you would be done first!
I had a buddy years ago who went with a metal flake Grey (a tad darker than the Camero) and it really looked good.
The car is going to be awesome!

Thanks buddy!

Lol. I almost painted my car orange... I always wanted to paint my car blue but wanted something that I felt matched the car's personality. For two years I looked at every blue car I could find and couldn't find the right color. My body shop was getting close to paint - guy was like you have 4 weeks to decide!! Then I saw a brand new 2016 Camero on the internet in Hyper Blue Metallic.
A dealer search located only one in the region, some highly optioned ultra expensive model. My wife and I went to the the dealer but couldn't find the car. We asked a salesman and he whisked us to the back, fenced in lot. I'm sure he had big sale on his mind because here we were, super cold but crystal clear sunny January day in this lot ogling and taking pictures of this car. Then, much to his dismay, we made up some excuse and walked away. The instant I saw it gleaming in the sun I new that was the color for me.
A few months later, after getting the car back from paint, a friend helped me install the bumpers. We were having a beer at the end of the day and I asked him what he thought of the color. He said it looked sharp but only my opinion mattered. After all, it was my vision. I was taken back by his reply.

I learned two things. First, find your color and see it in person on a real car. See it in different light; sunny & cloudy. There is no way to tell from pictures. Second, it is your vision. Make yourself happy. Most people don't get it. Car guys do.

I like the silver and black. Looks sharp. I really like the stripes but my opinion doesn't matter.

Are you kidding me? Your opinion matters MUCH!!! That why I ask! And I thank you cause you sound like me thinking! All I have to say is Thank you! and just because
I cant find cars...69 Fb's that have the same colors as what want... guess what? your a noob...lol... talk to me goose!!