Tale of a 71 into the ditch and the full recovery

Well, if you buy a 16 year old boy an excellent driver 71 mustang, there's one cringe-worthy thing you really don't wanna hear (but you might oughta expect), and it's that phone call from him... "ummm, dad?" (yes, son?) "Umm, i was just turning the corner, and I umm, lost control of the car, and umm... I put it in the ditch." (damn..)...

Happened last fall and the story goes from there. We got lucky, no one hurt, no cops, no tickets, no property damage (other than the self inflicted), no insurance issues.

So, onto fixing the car.. The pittman arm bolt into the steering box was sheared off, the centerlink (draglink) was bent into an amazing shape, but other than right side damage to the strut (they found in alignment shop it wouldn't tighten up and needed new bushing kit). Even the tie-rods were still good, no LCA or UCA OR balljoint damage (to my amazement). So we got all that fixed. Pretty damn cheap too, but finding a good centerlink was not easy. If you ever have one you don't need, keep it - they fetch a good price these days. We had a lot of dirt come up into the engine compartment, and some of it came back at the radiator and tore open the 2 bottom tubes. Amazingly, I found a guy in a country radiator shop than fixed up that radiator for $85. Looks almost like new except 2 lower tubes in-op.

But the body damage and recover is the amazing part. There was a small damage on RH front quarter panel, and the front valence was bent badly, but the rocker panels were fine, and only the right rear quarter took the brunt of the hit. Kind of an upwards and inwards hit, there was a good pucker (no crease) right over the wheel-well, and a small crease above the right-rear quarter window, but overall the frame checked out. So how to fix (on a teenagers budget) the body? Front valance was easy - buy a repop for $90, and bolt it up (it will need paint when he can aford it, but it's not too bad in black.

I found a GREAT shop, they able to perform some amazing work, and they actually pulled the original fender back into almost perfect condition! I have been amazed at body before, but never like this. The pass side pocket in the trunk was almost completely crushed (although the inner wall hadn't moved). I figured they would need to cut that panel away, and weld in new, but amazingly, they didn't. I'm attaching some before and after pics of the car. I'm thrilled how it came out, and for how good it is, I feel I got a fantastic bargain. Check it out:









I couldn't even post anything about this story until we had it all fixed. Both he & i have been kinda sick about it, until this recovery. Thanks to the body shop, this story has a happy ending. All that's left is dad holding the line on the monthly payments to pay me back for costs. Summer job is on the horizon for the driver.

PS. Here's a video I shot with an iPhone video inside the rear quarter panel. Just amazing how you can't tell there was body work done even from the inside...

https://player.vimeo.com/video/123742457?app_id=122963

All's well that ends well. Looks great you would never know how bad it was hurt. Thanks for posting.

It looks great.

Old school body/sheet metal guys can do amazing work. I used to know a guy that could take a mangled fender, work it into shape, hammering, shrinking and stretching the sheet metal, and never having to use more than a skim coat of Bondo. The "new breed" only know how to replace panels.

This guy - he's been in business for 37 yrs. On his 5th building (business has just slowly grown over the years). Beautiful stuff in his showroom, some guys with real old-school talent in his employment. Such a relief to find such a great place for our car.

I'll go ahead and plug him for any guys in the Houston TX area. He's definitely got my recommendation. He's in Alvin TX, pretty much straight south of Houston, about a half hour drive.

Gulf Coast Custom & Collision

Rich is the Owner (I worked directly with him)

http://www.gulfcoastcandc.com/

Great experience.

It looks great.

Old school body/sheet metal guys can do amazing work. I used to know a guy that could take a mangled fender, work it into shape, hammering, shrinking and stretching the sheet metal, and never having to use more than a skim coat of Bondo. The "new breed" only know how to replace panels.

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This is so true. I work in a metal Fabrication shop and I've seen some amazing things done with metal. Old school talented fabricators can make almost anything out of steel.

Part of it I think is it's also "old school metal". The stuff is so ductile I can't believe it. I had several guys at some of the "insurance driven" shops I interviewed tell me that the metal they put on new cars is significantly different. One of them said - "I'm not the right shop for you - you need to find a shop that specializes in these old cars." I don't have the skills this needs.

Part of it I think is it's also "old school metal". The stuff is so ductile I can't believe it. I had several guys at some of the "insurance driven" shops I interviewed tell me that the metal they put on new cars is significantly different. One of them said - "I'm not the right shop for you - you need to find a shop that specializes in these old cars." I don't have the skills this needs.

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I deal with the insurance shops daily in my job.

Parts hangers, as they're usually called.

It's hard to find ANYONE honest like your interviewed shop above was, and I applaud his response!

Nice to see... and your car came out great! You got lucky finding the right shop, at any cost, anywhere...

Yup, the old school sheet metal workers are hard to find, but the techniques are relatively easy once you know how to tackle the problem. The key is to work from the edges of the damage inwards to the point of initial contact, working slowly but surely.

You think this work is hard? Try it on a 30's or 40's car! The sheet metal is so thick you have to heat it up with a torch before it can be worked.

By the way, the workmanship of that panel is most excellent. You got your money's worth there!

This guy - he's been in business for 37 yrs. On his 5th building (business has just slowly grown over the years). Beautiful stuff in his showroom, some guys with real old-school talent in his employment. Such a relief to find such a great place for our car.

I'll go ahead and plug him for any guys in the Houston TX area. He's definitely got my recommendation. He's in Alvin TX, pretty much straight south of Houston, about a half hour drive.

Gulf Coast Custom & Collision

Rich is the Owner (I worked directly with him)

http://www.gulfcoastcandc.com/

Great experience.

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Good story with a great ending. I was young once and remember how these things happen. I booked marked that shop since I live in Houston. I just hope I NEVER need them but if I do good info to have!

Thanks for posting the link.