1940 Ford Coupe - Phoenix ’40

After hours of cleaning and sandblasting, the Hot Rods & Custom Stuff crew could begin saving Stroker’s coupe.

Tackling damage like this is not for the faint of heart. It will require every known metalworking technique to get this quarter-panel back in the proper shape.

Damaged areas with compound curves, like the area around the back window, are particularly challenging to correct.

The cowl vent had been filled previously—the seam in front of the original opening warped badly enough to separate from the firewall.

The heated areas are compressed between a hammer and dolly to squeeze the metal’s molecules back where they were.

To determine the extent of the repairs necessary templates were taken off a pristine ’39 coupe. Note how the trunk opening has sagged.

Cooling the area faster than it was heated causes the area to shrink more than it expanded and “locks” the molecules in place.

It’s ironic that more fire is necessary to make repairs, but small areas approximately the size of a dime are heated cherry red.

Here the low spots in the quarter-panels are being pushed out from the inside.

With pressure applied to the low spot from inside, a body hammer is used on the out to knock down the high spots. At this point an amazing amount of progress has been made. We’ll follow along as work continues.