Opinions Please On What's Happened Here

[JMF]

Hi guys, may be buying this 70 Charger and I will be putting it straight into the painters to get some issues on the bodywork and paint sorted, just wanting your opinions on what has happened to the paint here in the picture below? Where it has cracked etc, have you come across this before ?

Also I will be wanting to remove that stainless trim, how many holes are underneath once it's removed ?

Thanks for your help

[six-tee-nine]

There are 4 or maybe 5 holes on each side of the C pillar for that piece of trim.

You should be able to see a facoty seam where the quarter meets the deck filler panel. Looks like thats gone at that car. I dont recall for sure if the seam was hidden under the trim piece or not but I dont think so.

Probably the lower window corners and some of the lower sail panel was rusted out wich happens alot. I guess its just a bad repair. with more bondo than welding.

Dont let that stop you from buying a car, but be very carefull for other half ass repairs. Take a magnet with you to check paint/bondo thickness.
Check the lower rear valence end caps for seams. No seam = Bondo

To repair the lower window channel there are AMD parts and Charger Specialties has a sail panel patch. You can easily weld the holes for the trim shut before repainting wich obviously needs to happen when tackling such repairs.

Just a tip: If you should buy this car have the C pillar seam checked over or redo that one also. Might be a shame to repaint the car and to have the seam crack within 6 months. I'd use lead to fill in the C pillar seam.

[bill440rt]

They may have drilled the holes for the trim after the car was painted & before the trim was installed. The hole edges were left bare metal, subject to moisture which got under and caused corrosion & cracking.
The duct tape is likely covering either a hole or more cracking by the back window.
Any paint/filler would have to be removed to survey the damage, and redone by either repairing & treating the area or replacing what's under there.

[70 sublime]

If the one side has these issues showing through I bet the other side does too but if not it will soon

[JMF]

Thanks for the replies

Don't think the other side shows any sign on this yet, but I will check when I go to view again

The car is an older respray and I think those cracks have been there few years, I believe it was painted over in the US before coming here to the UK about 10 years ago

The good thing is the underneath is solid and the lower areas seem to be ok

It's mainly that sail panel area and the hood that needs attention for corrosion

The bit of tape is just covering a bit of damage to the paint

The car is not going to be a full restoration as such but I will probably be getting a top half respray done on it at least

[JB400]

Could it be that there was too much hardener in the paint?  When they put the vinyl trim on it, they over tightened it, thus causing the paint to crack.  Just a guess.  A family member has a car that has similar problems.

[tan top]

what the other guys say  

also ive seen that  few times , on a car that has been painted too many times  , & had mulitiple coats of high build primer , between  each paint job ,  normaly first place to crack & start lifting    on hoods with depressions  etc ,  
 

could be the sealer split  too under the chrome trim  , water got in there started to rust , & the primer , filler started to swell

[bull]

My guess is a crappy bondo job over the top of rust.

I don't know how you caught it with that piece of duct tape hiding it.

[1974dodgecharger]

My guess is a crappy bondo job over the top of rust.

I don't know how you caught it with that piece of duct tape hiding it.

duct tape hides and fixes everything   

[myk]

Yeah, what's with the duct tape?

[ws23rt]

Yeah, what's with the duct tape?

It looks like there is a lot of fill there.  Whatever it all amounts to it's not following the expansion and contraction of the panels.
An excavator would be in order to find the base metal.

[Finn]

Take a refrigerator magnet with you. If it doesn't stick the bondo is thick.

[JMF]

Thanks for the replies again

[Dino]

For what it's worth, the majority of these cars have issues way worse than that.  If the car checks out fine elsewhere and it speaks to you then don't let the bondo scare you off.  The next one you find may be a whole lot worse.  All these cars need a lot of work, that's just how it goes.

[six-tee-nine]

He's in the UK..... he prolly wont find another one soon

[Dino]

He's in the UK..... he prolly wont find another one soon

Exactly, they don't exactly grow on trees over there.  Not that you should buy the first thing that pops up, but you need to take the bad with the good when choices are limited.

[JMF]

You're right Dino, i've been looking for quite long now, I only really want a black Charger though so that limits my options a little

[Dino]

You're right Dino, i've been looking for quite long now, I only really want a black Charger though so that limits my options a little

Do you want a black car as it came from the factory or do you just want a black one regardless of what the factory color was? 

[JMF]

Yes just a black car, not interested really in what colour it is was from the factory

[Dino]

Although paint is not cheap, unless you buy a car already done, I would not focus too much on the color.  Colors can be changed later and if you repaint it stock or black, the amount of prep is the same.  White was not my first choice either but I don't really care what color it is right now. 

I was going with black as well initially but my daily is black and it only looks good when it's spotless so that plan went out the door fast.  As much as I love the look, I highly doubt I'll ever own a black car again.

[cudaken]

What caused the cracking is not because it was a crappy bondo job over rust, more than likely it looked great when do. But, with black cars they do need a lot of work to get the body to look straight.

What caused the cracking was the filler was to thick. To really see what the problem is, it will need to be stripped. I have done a few cars where the filler split like that for the simple reason the car had been painted a few times. Then they just tired to just repair one spot and had to use to much filler to make it look right.

Plastic filler should never go over a 1/4 inch. If you need more than that, the metal needs to be pulled more or use Metal To Meta by Evercoat.

Sort of a cheap way to fix the crack? (won't help the duct tape Install a vinyl top, it will hide a lot!

Cuda Ken

[rave_12000]

arrow trim has 3 studs...so 3 holes.  it is pot metal

[b5blue]

Get in the trunk with a flashlight. You can work your way under that area somewhat and look up to examine that area for rust damage/repairs. The inner sail panel, rear filler (Dutchman panel), roof frame and package tray frame all "tie in" that area along with the trunk support frames that are attached to the inner wheel wells.
  A trick I use is a digital camera with a flash. You can hold it in areas you can't see and shoot pics "blindly" then examine the shots on a computer. There is a lot going on right there under the body that could cost bunches to fix.

[charger_fan_4ever]

My gut says there is not much if any metal to be found if you hit it with sandblast.

On another note when there are issues like this once the car is painted it requires more work than a project as you got to strip it all down to see where the problem lies. A project in its rusty state there is no guess work.

[Dino]

I agree with b5, crawl inside the trunk.  The metal may be in real good shape.  Like Ken said, if the filler is too thick it will crack.  These b bodies flex like crazy under load and thick feller does not like that.