Just As Street Rodder Embraces Cars From The '50s, '60s, And '70s, We Have Two Questions About Ford Falcons!
Q.Mr. Covell, I have several of your videos, and I have enjoyed and learned a great deal from them. Could you recommend a video or book that could help me with the fender in the photo?
A friend of mine recently had a close encounter with a fullsize buck. He was driving at about 45 mph when this buck stepped out in front of his 1963 Ford Falcon. The left fender seems to have taken the brunt of the impact. I feel the fender is workable, but I am not, by any means, the master bodyman. He has been to several swap meets and spent some time on the Internet looking for replacement parts, with very expensive results so far.
I'm interested in finding a good body repair or metalworking manual, and I'd love it if you could offer a few of your magic pointers. Any help would be greatly appreciated!Steve TucholskyMacedonia, OHVia the Internet
A.Your pictures show the damage very clearly-my, but that buck did some damage!
While the damage can certainly be repaired, most body shops would probably purchase a good used fender, since the cost for labor is so high these days. Even though your friend has not yet found a reasonably priced fender, I'd "beat the bushes" a little harder to see if one might turn up somewhere.
If you do embark on repairing the fender, there is a little book titled "The Key to Metal Bumping," by Frank Sargent, which you will find very helpful. One of the most basic concepts is that the damage should be taken out of the fender in the reverse order of how the damage occurred. This means the first hits on the inside of the fender will be just inside the dented area, across the top edge. Once the metal has been bumped out there, another pass is made a little lower, bringing the metal just back to where it came from each time.
Repeating this process, the damage is worked out slowly, moving closer and closer to the ridge area on the side of the fender. I wouldn't work on the ridge until most of the other damage was eased. A great way to work the ridge is by pushing on it, with a Porto Power if one is available, or with a bottle jack. If you use a bottle jack, you'll need to devise a nosepiece for it that has a shape somewhat close to the contour of the ridged area. A shaped block of hardwood could be used for this, and you can drill a hole in it for the shaft of the bottle jack to slip into, so it won't be constantly falling off the jack.
The damage to the hood is similar, except that I'll bet there is a reinforcing panel that will have to be removed, or you could cut a temporary "window" in it. It would be helpful to use a Porto Power, or a bottle jack with a long extension, to put pressure on the front edge of the hood as the damage is being worked out.