More Oldsmobile

Ouch! See that seam I just made? After all the careful work I am now just welding it shut! And the reason for covering my replacement seam (which I made specifically to reproduce the factory lead seam) is the frustration with lead. I filled the seam with lead (actually lead-free solder) three times, each time the lead seam cracking after bodywork. I also was warping the metal too much with all the heat of three rounds of solder.

It is very possible I could have left it, scored the seam and been fine. But it was driving my susceptibility to paranoia crazy. I kept imagining the flux stained innerds of the new joint rusting fast, pushing a bulge of lead up; which is exactly why I removed the seam in the first place.

The last picture shows the seam totally covered, getting the plastic filler treatment.




Here is the lower driver 1/4 that I fabricated, finally getting filler and some left over urethane high build primer. The little spot just below the emblem holes also got some filler after hammer and dolly work.



Sneek peek above! After selling the '64 Le Mans, I stumbled on this amazing "parts car" for the '64 442. It is in unbelievably excellent condition: virtually NO rust, runs perfect, and the interior is in excellent original shape. I am scared to tear this car apart as a donor for the 442 even though I need almost everything from it. It is just too nice of an original. True treasures still exist!



Here is the whole '62, slowly coming along. Why is it that a car that needs comparably little bodywork still demands so much time, so much decision making?




Passenger rear spot that I replaced sheet metal on is getting filler and blocking.




More filler on the pass. quarter. Lots of dents on this side of the car, forcing me to improve my hammer and dolly methods.




Here is the upper fender lip, showing the painstaking work of stripping without removing the fender. I remove one bolt, strip with a small wire wheel on my die grinder, then replace the bolt and move to the next spot. The plan is to keep the fender aligned.




This last picture is referred to at the end of the first picture's description. Body work is actually a painstaking project! Especially the straightening and forming, the blocking and filing.

And there is still much more to do...