[njsteve]

The body is finally at the body shop. I dropped it off last Saturday. He started on the paint and bondo removal to see what was underneath. I think we will now retitle this thread: "The Return of the Bonnie and Clyde Car." Take a look at the dent puller/bondo worm holes. I lost count at 167 on the driver's quarter.

Looks like she's gonna need a bunch of hours of metal massaging. No panel replacement plans since it is so rust free, just a whole lotta torch, hammer and dolly work in the future.

Look at photos 2 and 3. Looks like an old "Lite Brite"

[njsteve]

Here's the driver's rear quarter. Very nice shape, no rust whatsoever:

[njsteve]

Driver's and Passenger's side front door jamb/cowl area:

[njsteve]

A little less serious dent puller/bondo worm infestation on the passenger side quarter. There is a small rust area at the bottom of the quarter that we knew was there to begin with:

[njsteve]

The rear valance. This is an extremely rust-prone area on the 70 to 73 Firebirds. No patch panels are available. This one is completely rust free, just dented in below the bumper line and in need of un-denting. The upper area is supposed to look this way (the fiberglass tail panel and tail lights cover all of the area from quarter edge to quarter edge.) The only visible part is the lower valance area with the dent puller holes in it.

[blue71ta]

Wow, looks like some nice sheet metal! Other than the Lite Brite area of course, but I've seen MUCH worse here in the rust belt (WI). Hopefully the body man has strict instructions to keep all of your handy work clean on the bottom side of the car?

[FirehawkTA]

What method was used to remove the paint and bondo?

[keith k]

Originally Posted by njsteve

The body is finally at the body shop. I dropped it off last Saturday. He started on the paint and bondo removal to see what was underneath. I think we will now retitle this thread: "The Return of the Bonnie and Clyde Car." Take a look at the dent puller/bondo worm holes. I lost count at 167 on the driver's quarter.

Looks like she's gonna need a bunch of hours of metal massaging. No panel replacement plans since it is so rust free, just a whole lotta torch, hammer and dolly work in the future.

Look at photos 2 and 3. Looks like an old "Lite Brite"

Steve, wow... that's pretty bad.

I would think it might be easier to just cut out the tortured section and butt-weld in a new piece. You could get the metal you need from any '70 - '81 quarter since the damaged area doesn't extend into the areas that were different amongst the years.

[njsteve]

The bodyman sent me an email today that was titled "ready for primer". For a second there I thought he had all the bodywork finished already!