Your opinions on the Bondo Buggy

[Bobbystill]

So my Elco is a little "unique" in that it has the front clip and doors from a MCSS. Unfortunately, the lower body lines from the MCSS doors and the Elco rear quarters are not the same. To fix this, my grandfather (who built the car in the late 80s) cut and welded in the lower half of a second set of MC doors to the Elco quarters in front of the wheel openings. Flash forward to high school me wanting a flashy new paint job, so I took the car to a local body shop who did what they could, but it now seems like they weren't up to the task (see the pics). I recently took the car to a shop that does full restorations and they told me they'd rather not work on it (the shop is full of cars that need less work, so I understand, even if it hurts to hear that. 🤬)
Anyway, I thought I'd share some pics with you all and see what you think. I know there's no way to tell how bad it really is until it's stripped down, but if you assume the worst what would you do with this car? I obviously want to get the body issues fixed but I'm not sure how much work it would end up being. The frame is in pretty good shape, no rot or major issues. Here are the options I'm considering:

1. Fix the car (complete body off frame resto-mod, I've already put a modified 350 and built 2004R in it)
2. Find a clean Elco body and swap that onto the frame during a restoration.
3. Find a more desirable project and swap my engine into it.

The car was last painted 11 years ago.
Here's the body line I'm talking about:

And here are some of the problems:

This is actually a crack in the body filler:

 

[565bbchevy]

I would like to see some pictures of the whole car.

 

[Ribbedroof]

Pretty common for welded areas that are not properly finished before filler/paint.

Ideally, the metalwork would have been cleaned either by abrasion or blasting, primed with an epoxy primer, then filled, primed/painted. Backside of ANY welded are needs protection as well.

Hard to tell how bad without stripping it all off. Also, location plays a role, if that's in a dry climate, it's probably pretty bad underneath. If it's in the rust belt, and 11 years old, that's not terrible.

In this hobby, it's common to overdo things, given the actual usage of the vehicle. Only you can know...does it need to be "forever" good, or are you going to be "over it" in another 11 years? May have some bearing on how to proceed. I don't mean for this to advocate sloppy/substandard work, but too often, things snowball when an issue like this arises.

Personally, my OCD would require removal of all the filler, but that's just who I am.

 

[pontiacgp]

since the bodywork was done close to 40 years ago can't complain about it and I think grandpa did a great job....I hpe he doesn't see his work called bondo buggy if he is still around...

 

[joesregalproject]

I don't mean for this to advocate sloppy/substandard work

I'll advocate for sloppy work Slap that bish with some kitty hair and roll 'er down the road! Otherwise you'll end up like me 🤪

 

[Bobbystill]

Pictures of the whole car. First one is from March, the rest are from a couple years ago. The car was repainted in the Florida Keys and spent the rest of the last decade in Florida near the coast and was kept outside until I got a garage in 2014. It was also my DD until 2014. I'm in Maryland now. I guess I'm just concerned about the comment from the resto shop. This was my first car and it does have sentimental value with the connection to my grandfather, so I would like to keep it forever. I have zero experience with body work but I also don't have anyone I trust to do the job. I want it done right, but I'm not even sure if that's possible.
Other places it has rust are the driver side floor boards and smuggler's box, and the back corners of the bed. As it sits right now I have no problem continuing my plan for bolt on upgrades (brakes, suspension) while I save for body work and frame clean up. I drive it once or twice a week right now and want to go in a pro-touring direction.

I did find a couple pictures from the last paint job too.

I know there isn't much detail here but it's all I've got. It looks like there's a quarter inch of filler there. I'm also really missing the old color now too haha.

 

[Rktpwrd]

I'll advocate for sloppy work Slap that bish with some kitty hair and roll 'er down the road! Otherwise you'll end up like me 🤪

View attachment 155270

Careful there Joe, you’re starting to sound like Bruce...
😁

 

[Bobbystill]

since the bodywork was done close to 40 years ago can't complain about it and I think grandpa did a great job....I hpe he doesn't see his work called bondo buggy if he is still around...

He's still around but he doesn't know who he is anymore. I didn't mean that as a slight to his workmanship. I believe if I hadn't had the car repainted it would still be like he just completed it. This was the third MCSS front end he'd put on an Elco so he had it figured out. My uncle has the first one he built and it's still in perfect condition. I blame myself for this mess honestly.

 

[Bobbystill]

I think I just answered my own question actually. I might just have to modify my plans for body work a bit. Thanks.

 

[Bobbystill]

I'll advocate for sloppy work Slap that bish with some kitty hair and roll 'er down the road! Otherwise you'll end up like me 🤪

View attachment 155270

Honestly I feel like this is what needs to be done lol