Even relatively rust free cars have rust damaged wheel lips. Here’s the best and simplest way to return them to like new.
For probably decades now the Holy Grail of Muscle Car finds would be to travel to a desert state to find a rust free example to restore. The kind that wouldn’t need any sheet metal repairs at all save for the odd door ding and etc. No rust, no accidents, just strip it down, paint it and then reassemble it into your ultimate dream car.
Well, have fun with that fantasy. Not to say that there might not be a few lurking around out there somewhere as there have certainly been a good number of remarkable barn finds that have come to light in recent years but how many have been truly rust free cars?
Precious few probably. Muscle Car Restorations in Chippewa Falls, WI has restored hundreds of cars over the last three decades and there has been only one in recent memory that hasn’t needed new metal somewhere. Oh, a lot of cars come in with claims that they are rust free but the trip to the dip tank always reveals another reality.
In that light, original un-restored cars are likely to be much better to work with as the cars true condition can be much easier to ascertain if it hasn’t been previously restored. That very well may justify the value of some of these finds as it’s easier to see what you are really getting into.
This 1970 Plymouth GTX is just such a car. Involved in a rather serious accident decades ago, it was stashed away waiting for the repairs that never happened. When the original owner’s son finally brought it to MCR, it was pretty clear what it was going to take to bring it back to how it was fondly remembered.
Besides the damaged parts, the only real obvious rust issues were the rear quarters behind the rear wheels. But, if the quarter is bad, then you can count on the fender lip around the wheel opening to be bad also. That area where the outer wheelhouse and the quarter meet always collects moisture in one form or another and has a very difficult time drying out.
So even though this car was stored inside after the accident, it still suffered rust damage along that seam. Fortunately, Auto Metal Direct reproduces an excellent version of that panel.
But since only the extreme edge of it needs work, there is no reason to have to replace the entire panel so MCR will slice off the needed section and splice only that onto the car. This preserves as much of the original car as possible but still produces a perfect repair that will be virtually undetectable.
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