this is for anyone who owns or plans to own a classic car

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a customer of mine who ive done welding before in the past calls me up about an old mustang that he just bought. its a 1965. pretty nice. or so he thought. this customer made alot of mistakes. to start, the car was listed on craigslist for 6000.00 it was a running car owned by an older gentleman. my customer was the first one to respond to the add, claims he responded within one minute of the posting. so he went over there and while he was looking at the car 6 more people showed up and some phone calls, one guy offered the 6 grand, another went higher offered him 7 and said he had the cash on the spot. so my customer said he was put in a bind, he really wanted that car, so he "had no choice but to offer 8 grand" word for word from him. first mistake. he thought it was a good buy, no visable rust. the car was rotted from the inside out all hidden. so he contacted me. I had to go offshore and he didnt want to wait. so he used his resources. he found a guy off craigslist equiped with a mig welder and willing to replace all the rusted body panels for 1100.00 second mistake. once i returned from offshore he had contacted me and had a wrecker drop the car off to me. the previous welder said he had to go out of town.(i belive it was just an excuse that he didnt want to work on the car anymore) so once i got the car i put it on a flat surface and came to the conclusion that the previous welder F&*Ked up. he had replaced the rear quarter panels, inner fender weld, leaf spring mounts, trunk floor, and rear window panel. well once i leveled the car out i discovered when he did the new rear frame rails that one rail was about 1&1/2 inches shorter that the other rail. it was a big cluster throwing the whole body off. ive corrected most. welded in a new floor pan, new fire wall, new front frame rails, ive been slowly working to get the hood fenders and doors all aligned with each other, but its going to be along process. and after all the work is done the only body parts that will not be replaced is the roof and dash. just goes to show not to jump on deals that appear to be good like this. and be carefull using yahoo's from craigslist
Reply:Sounds like your customer was set up, too.Hobart EZ-Tig newbie.
Reply:Step1: know what you're doing.He should have been able to tap around on all the sheet metal and find signs of rust and bondo.Classis mustangs are bad about holding water in the floorpan if they were outside and the window seals weren't good.Dynasty200DX w/coolmate1MM210MM VintageESAB miniarc161ltsLincoln AC225Victor O/A, Smith AW1ACutmaster 81IR 2475N7.5FPRage3Jancy USA1019" SBAEAD-200LE
Reply:here are a few pictures Attached Images
Reply:here are a few more, pictures with the hood and fender are a teaser, those body panels need to be adjusted for proper alignment. still waiting on a inside panel before i can finish it all out. stupid back order. about 95 percent of these parts came from mustangs unlimited or cj pony parts the other 5 percent from ebay. the cj pony parts were fairly well fitting for the most part. the garbage from ebay... well is just that garbage. Attached Images
Reply:Caveat Emptor-First rule of buying anything.Never fall in love with a turd-Second rule of buying.
Reply:WOW...........unless you are working for free or the car has a unique vin,   he  wil have more in the car than he could have bought a finished machine for.  Im working on a 67 goat now, so i know parts aint cheep.  If i couldnt do a lot of the work myself,  it would be out of my price range to have all the work farmed out.  your friend paid way too much for the car to begin with.  Hope it works out for him.
Reply:I don't know what to laugh at first. Sorry.
Reply:That sucks for him. I made a mistake on a 72 corvette convertible. Could have fixed the frame but to do it right would have been a huge project. Lost on that one. Looks like you are doing it right.HammerFile Big Hammer------------------------------Here, let me Google that for you...
Reply:MY step brother did one like that years ago.Traded a mostly there big block 70 Malibu 'vertible, with the wrong engine,(still a big block wrong #'s), for a 69 "Z28". Idiot should have known Z's were NOT mono-leaf cars and didn't even check the vin.The fake Z was made of duck tape, great stuff expanding foam and bondo.The guy who got the Malibu put n.o.s. sheet metal on it and did a bang up job fixing it. My brother says he saw the guys name and that Malibu in Super Chevy years later. He claims they said it was one of the 10 rarest Chevelle's ever made.70  LS6 power everything: a.c., c.c., pw, pl, etc.., convertible, black on black, I forget if it was a Super Sport, I think it was.Brian LeonardAppalachian Ironworks L.L.C.434 Long Branch Rd, Marshall, NC 28753828 649 9966828 702 [email protected]
Reply:Yea he said when its over that he will have a little over 25,000 into it. I informed him several times that he could have just bought a Ford licenced 65 shell from dynocorn for about 15500. He does grit his teeth a little when I say that. He says he wished he hadn't bought it now. He really has no choice but to finish it now. His mistakes were being in love with the car two quickly, his wife as well. You cut out rust and find more rust. Rust on the inside of the frame, rust under the carpet, cancer just everywhere. Just hidden, covered with undercoating, paint ect
Reply:looks like you are doing good  work!  its easy to get upside down fast in classic carsbobs77vet/37ford4drEastwood digital TIG200HH190Lincoln Invertec 155sLincoln weldpak 100sears/craftsman (lincoln) 50a 240v buzz boxO/A rig Harris gaugesnexion cut 50 dxchicago electric (HF) 240v spot welder
Reply:Yep. I hate the fact for him that he paid 8000 basically for a roof, an engine, trans and rearend.
Reply:It was a beautiful 75 degree sunny day and I saw a guy about my age, older, sliver hair, distinguised, with a nice looking gal riding shotgun going down the street the other day. The car?  a Cobra in deep silver, lots of chrome, sounded very healthy.  Could have been a kit ok, who cares, but still it looked so good.  Got to admit the  green envy monster reared up, some guys have all the luck.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:Actually $8000 for a real fastback mustang is reasonable even if there isn't much left(attleast where I'm from it is),but a regular coupe no way... This **** happens way to often. I hope your client learned his lesson to attleast have someone with him that knows what to look for, or has learned what to look for himself. Keep at it,your client will be more than happy when it's done.Lincoln pro mig 180Lincoln Square Wave Tig 300/wp 20/home built water cooler Victor, Purox, Harris, O/A welding/cutting setupsVintage Craftsman drill pressVintage Craftsman/Atlas 12"x 36'' lathe7''x 12'' w/c band saw Everlast 140 st
Reply:I  repaired a '69 Mustang convertible for a shop a couple of years ago, he owner welded in a new floor himself. The guy left both doors open and went at it!. When he finished, (bragged  that he did the whole job in 6 hrs.and never stopped until it was completely welded),both doors were hanging almost 2" ,it had sagged that much. When the roof came up for some reason it was now longer.........dah! We ended up cutting it apart,put it on a frame rack and re-welding everything,took us a little longer .BrianBrian
Reply:Lol. That sucks for that guy. Yea I've been at the car for a little over a week now. It's all about making everything square, level, and the biggest thing is making the body lines perfect. This guys plans on driving it once a week, but showing it. Yes he is very impressed with my work so far, he is talking about wanting a coupe or a convertible as well, and was talking with me about him buying the whole shell peice by piece and me assembleing it. It'll still be cheeper for him than buying a completed shell.
Reply:It may be worth something being a real 65 fastback, I've bought plenty of cars in the same condition for around 1000.00 his car did run and drive, it even had ac. Not mustangs but other cars
Reply:Ya know I find it amazing how much money somebody will spend on a car that is numbers matching. Those two words have created insane payouts for people....My father in law sold a matching numbers camaro to a guy that drove from colorado to idaho to pick it up....Funny thing was he wanted it just for the headlights and assembly.....This car was so rusted out its not even funny. It reminds me of your mustang, he would have to have replaced just about every sheet metal piece there was... But for $5,000 he got his headlight set-up.  My father in law said it was the most expensive turd he ever saw....Last edited by tig_21; 04-12-2012 at 05:16 PM.Miller Dynasty 200Millermatic 211Instagram?.... find me @ WELD_MEDIC
Reply:Originally Posted by tig_21Ya know I find it amazing how much money somebody will spend on a car that is numbers matching. Those two words have created insane payouts for people....My father in law sold a matching numbers camaro to a guy that drove from colorado to idaho to pick it up....Funny thing was he wanted it just for the headlights and assembly.....This car was so rusted out its not even funny. It reminds me of your mustang, he would have to have replaced just about every sheet metal piece there was... But for $5,000 he got his headlight set-up.  My father in law said it was the most expensive turd he ever saw....
Reply:Lol that's how I feel. This one at least still drove. I went to a shop in town today that restores and is kind of a classic mustang junkyard the guy had a 66 mabey 67 I forget. Coupe minimal rust, a little on the underside but nothing a quick blast couldn't remove. Car was garaged for the last 15 years, car is slower to mint and all for 10,000 that's a good deal to me. But of course its not a fastback
Reply:I have 2 classic cars..'66 Falcon Futura..Rebuilt 10 years ago...'81 Chebby Malibu Classic..Cream puff!ALL ORIGINAL!!...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:heres my challenge for the weekend  77 vet number 4 body mountthe "good" one because even though the metal out side braket is gone the bushings are still sitting on top of frame hornthe bad one it has no metal outside bracket and is sitting through the frame hornthe frame bracketand how its suppose to go togetherLast edited by 37ford4dr; 04-13-2012 at 11:01 PM.bobs77vet/37ford4drEastwood digital TIG200HH190Lincoln Invertec 155sLincoln weldpak 100sears/craftsman (lincoln) 50a 240v buzz boxO/A rig Harris gaugesnexion cut 50 dxchicago electric (HF) 240v spot welder
Reply:I wonder about some of these engineers that design cars..........and motors..........and everything else. I've had to walk away from some projects because I just don't understand their intentions.Hey zap do you have pics of the 66' ? Those cars are one of my favorites.Miller Dynasty 200Millermatic 211Instagram?.... find me @ WELD_MEDIC
Reply:so what is that?   kind of looks like a GM Nova, is Holden a GM product line?bobs77vet/37ford4drEastwood digital TIG200HH190Lincoln Invertec 155sLincoln weldpak 100sears/craftsman (lincoln) 50a 240v buzz boxO/A rig Harris gaugesnexion cut 50 dxchicago electric (HF) 240v spot welder