RESTORATION OF MY 1972 BC COUPE

When I started the restoration of my car, back in May of 1987, the first part of the job was to strip the car down to the bone. Every component was removed. Aside from the accessible and easily removable metal pieces, the strip down also included all glass, plastic, chrome trim, electrical components and wiring. The first sheet metal to go was the quarter panels (rear gaurds). As you can see, removing the right quarter panel revealed a lot of hidden rust. This was a clear indication of what I had in store with the rest of the car

All pictures during the restoration are of poor quality being that at the time we did not have digital cameras

Fig 1-1              

Fig 1-1: You may notice the small evenly distributed spots were the old quarter panels were welded. The best way to remove them is simply drilling out each spot weld. This way you don’t distort and bend any of the thin body structure when using an air chisel. It will make it so much easier when aligning up the new panels straight before welding

                                                                                    Fig 1-2 a

                                                                                  Fig 1-2 b

                                                                                Fig 1-2c

Fig. 1-2 a, b and c: Right rear inner structure repair. All porous and surface rust has been cut out. All these new inner pieces had to be fabricated by hand.

                                                                                   Fig 1-3

Fig. 1-3: The left inner structure had lots of hidden rust.

                                                                                  Fig 1-4 a

                                                                                     Fig 1-4 b

Fig 1-4 a and b: Left rear inner structure repair. This was in worse shape than the right.

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