<VV> Second thoughts

[Chuck Kubin]

Hey gang,
At the end of this I'll ask for advice from those of
you who know body and paint far better than I do.
Starting point: '68 Monza, de-AIRed 140 .030 over,
4sp, Clark's interior, rebuilt front end, Shelby mags,
all rubber & bushings replaced, very solid, 90%
rebuilt but not restored ...in short, a great nearly
rust-free car except it was hit-and-run three times.
The body was stripped and straightened out before but
from sitting needs minor rust repair at the windshield
corners and front doglegs only. Since it was hit, the
left side is toast from the driver's door to the front
of the rear wheel well (H&R #1), the left rear corner
is somewhat crumpled (H&R #2), and the hood, front
panel, bumper and corner of the right front fender all
are damaged (H&R #3). Also, the roof is oilcanned
because I REALLY needed the space above it for
storage. I admit that part is my fault.
Second starting point: with the idea of rebodying the
first car I bought a '68 Monza, 140 PG, with a new
Clark's interior and overall good running gear. Does
everything well except runs hot on the highway, and
I'll get to that soon. This has a solid floor as
viewed from below and tested with the "beat the shit
out of it with your heels" method, but the two paint
jobs it had are both wasted and must be stripped.
Historically, the original owner was an elderly lady
who couldn't pull in or out of the garage without
hitting something and her son did his best to keep up
with it. No major damage (other than I don't know how
you dent in a rocker panel) but every panel needs
minor but extensive work. Doglegs and the bottoms of
two fenders are rusted (about a 3 on a 1-10 scale),
and the rust  at the corners of the windshield are
worse, affecting the dash on the driver's side back to
the VIN tag and a small part of the trunk channel. I
haven't yanked the carpet or probed under the dash
yet, but most of the rust in that area other than the
body seems to be on the surface.
Basically, I screwed up. Instead of getting a highly
workable shell to rebody my original car (Auntie
Christine. I restore it; it destroys itself),  I
bought another good car that needs a body. Now I have
two cars to rebody, and both show tremendous potential
but not without some expense. That's where the advice
part comes in. I'm in for a lot of work and can use
some help deciding how to minimize it.
Option 1: find a donor shell with enough workable body
 panels to weld onto Auntie Christine. I'd need the
driver's door (always fun to find), front panel, hood,
side clip from the door back to the front of the wheel
well, and while I'm at it, a clip from the front right
 wheel well forward. Advantages:  I'm in central
Colorado and I don't need to find a solid floor pan,
so getting a donor might be easier than in the rust
belt. While this is extensive, my son-in-law is a
crack welder.  I wouldn't expect him to work for free,
but he will do this for me cheaper than elsewhere. I
won't have to strip and cut up a good car. My
undamaged panels require very little to get ready for
paint. Disadvantages: I need only a shell, not a car.
I need to find and bring home the RIGHT donor to make
sure everything I need is on one car without paying a
lot for a "valuable restored antique" treasured
heirloom. Also, sectioning and replacing the bodies is
still a lot of work and everything still needs body
and paint.
Option 2:  find a donor shell for A.C. that doesn't
need extensive work, strip and scrap Auntie Christine
and work from the ground up. This was my original
idea. Advantage: finding a worthy '68-'69 manual shift
SHELL would minimize both the body work and mods
needed to change over the running gear and interior.
Also, I can do the work I know as opposed to the
bodywork I'd need to learn to make the process
economical. The great parts I've already bought would
be back on a working car. I can ready and paint the
body, then change parts over at my leisure. 
Disadvantages: if not a '68-'69 manual, there's a lot
of work in converting the car, narrowing my choices
and perhaps broadening my search. Also, I've gleaned
from experience that the overall rebody concept is one
hell of a lot of work. I still need to ready it for
paint.
Option 3: part out Auntie Christine. Advantage: a car
that hasn't moved in 15 years won't occupy a third of
my shop space. The money earned would go to other
things. Disadvantage: too many great parts would go
out for a lot less than I paid for them, and I still
have to spend the time marketing and shipping. Also,
what was a great car would be gone forever.
Prime considerations: neither car is going to
concours, but I do want both to run and look good. Not
senior division good, but good enough to not be a
major embarrassment at a casual car show where I may
or may not enter the lineup. I WILL drive both cars.
For the second car, I'm fairly resolved that I should
strip, pound out and repair the body. I know what I
find under the toasted paint is going to be worse that
it seems, and it may even be a Bondo bomber at this
point, but I can't see taking a car that is this good
off the road. Yeah, new trim and bodywork isn't cheap,
but it beats trashing a good car or having to replace
everything under the skin, of which it doesn't need
much.
For Auntie Christine, parting out is an option but I'd
rather get the car on the road.

Here's where those of you who have the bodywork
experience and have read this far can help me: given
what I've said in the first two options, which path
would you take? Is it easier and possibly cheaper to
find a donor and extensively rebuild the original, or
to find a transplant shell? I'm assuming the shell I
find won't be a pile of junk and won't require major
work to be usable.
Or, if you are somewhere near Denver and are parting
or selling a LM donor body for reasonable, please
e-mail your new best friend at the address above.

Chuck Kubin



	
		
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