Bondo should be outlawed to hillbillies

[riggs626]

Last march I drove thru a blizzard from cincinnati to illinois to pick up this 68 charger well i have been doing the restoration on it since and have progressed a little ways but the hillbilly before me who owned the car Has amazed me by his clever ways of using bondo and expanding foam. This guy has cut so many corners that it makes my head hurt. Ill give an idea of one way he used to fix the rust. By the rear window he sprayed expanding foam on the inside till it filled the hole smoothed it out then proceeded to finish it off with bondo. I have even found papermache on the valance corners to help mold the bondo corners, yet instead of getting frustrated I pretend under each new inch of paint I scrap away awaits another adventure for me. Im afraid if I were to dip the car that it would have the same effect as alcheseltzer tablets do in water

[69bronzeT5]

My '69 has bondo and expanding foam in it too. My dad did it way back when we didn't have much money. But I'm going with full quarters now.

[oldgold69]

at least he spent the extra money on the foam and didnt just use masking tape

[Mike DC]

   
I think we just need to limit the amount of bondo that hicks are allowed to purchase. 

It could work like what they do with cold medicine in meth states.  They would have to show a drivers' license, and maybe produce another vehicle title for each gallon purchased in a single year or something. 

[hotrod98]

Sounds like a northern rust belt method of repair.
I had to quit hiring bodymen that were from north of the Mason-Dixon line. 

[71_Charger_R/T]

Sounds like a northern rust belt method of repair.
I had to quit hiring bodymen that were from north of the Mason-Dixon line. 

HEY, HEY, HEY NOW! Easy does it!  Not all us Yankees are hacks...... but I have seen my fair share of Red hots boxes stuffed in behind a premier Bondo job up here. 

[superbirdtom]

I HAVE BEEN DOING BODY AND PAINT WORK SINCE 1973,I thought I had heard and seen it all until a mexican that worked in a tijuana body shop told me they used to mix dirt small rocks or anything to make it go further, and to thin out paint with gasoline as it is cheaper than reducer.

a skim coat of todays filler is fine to do.

[hotrod98]

I knew a few old painters that reduced their paint with gasoline, but it was the old leaded style that worked the best. Actually made those old acrylic enamels shine up pretty nice.
Oh, and for the record, there are hacks all over the world. 

[Magnumcharger]

I bought my 1968 Charger R/T in October of 1991.
My Charger's previous bodyjob as done on or around March 12th of 1986.

How do I know that?
The corner caps between the lower quarterpanels and the rear valance panel were completely built out of newspaper, wadded into the vacant hole previously occupied by metal, then artfully bondo'd over.

For artistic impression, I'd give it a 10.

[tan top]

I HAVE BEEN DOING BODY AND PAINT WORK SINCE 1973,I thought I had heard and seen it all until a mexican that worked in a tijuana body shop told me they used to mix dirt small rocks or anything to make it go further, and to thin out paint with gasoline as it is cheaper than reducer.

a skim coat of todays filler is fine to do.

Damn ..... dirt & rocks    ..& real Bondo Bandit      

[speedfreak68]

ya i know what you are sayin. My charger had the quarterskins poprivited on and then bondo was smeared over that....

[Mike DC]

 
I've found burlap rags under bondo on my first '69.  And there was also roofing tar slathered all over the floorpans.

[moparstuart]

Last march I drove thru a blizzard from cincinnati to illinois to pick up this 68 charger well i have been doing the restoration on it since and have progressed a little ways but the hillbilly before me who owned the car Has amazed me by his clever ways of using bondo and expanding foam. This guy has cut so many corners that it makes my head hurt. Ill give an idea of one way he used to fix the rust. By the rear window he sprayed expanding foam on the inside till it filled the hole smoothed it out then proceeded to finish it off with bondo. I have even found papermache on the valance corners to help mold the bondo corners, yet instead of getting frustrated I pretend under each new inch of paint I scrap away awaits another adventure for me. Im afraid if I were to dip the car that it would have the same effect as alcheseltzer tablets do in water

Illinois  is this a hans, helpig special 

[terrible one]

My Charger had the same kind of thing done, except the Bondo's support over the holes was aluminum foil! Or maybe it was some kind of metal tape, but it looked like aluminum foil. The Cadillac was full of roofing tar on the floors . . . thankfully the Charger's floors were solid and untouched.

[squeakfinder]

ya i know what you are sayin. My charger had the quarterskins poprivited on and then bondo was smeared over that....

Mine must have been done by the same bodyman. The passenger side was replaced with an almost full quarter. Almost because it was riveted together under the vinyl top trim. But no bondo was used.

[Chad L. Magee]

My /6 Charger was full of bondo in the quarters and rockers, plus they used duct tape to hold it in place where there was no metal present.  I also found some chicken wire mixed in for good measure.  If used bondo was worth something, that car would be a mine.......

[oldgold69]

i bought a 68 charger once  that had a dent in the right quarter  it had bondo almost 4 inches thick

[superbirdtom]

yess bondo what would we do about it. yars ago thee mexican gypsies used do come through my town and see the perfcet victims . someold lady in a cadillac. they would acually follow them home and while the wife kept the old 78 year old lady company the scammer would be grinding away in the garage . I warned my mom to be on the lookout for these scammers, she said" oh this wonderful gentelman just left my elderly friends house after doin a good job fixing her car , now all she hasto do is bring it to the paint shop to get it painted>

I raced over there and discovered he bondoed over chrome glass and it was a 2 inch deep mess. the mexi then used multi colored trunk spatter paint to disguise the whole mess. I was to late as he was on the next ferry outta town, good lord!!

[Steve P.]

The ONLY thing from above that I DIDN'T find in my last 65' was the dirt/stone- adobe build up. They don't make a full 1/4 for my car so the guy bought what he could and riveted it on (OVER THE ROT), and then made his own 1/4 bottom and trunk extensions out of some galvanized heating duct.  I think he personally kept the corned hardware store in business with buying rivets and every length sheet metal screw made.   Then came the 48 gallons of perfectly laid bondo.. (Oh it was straight).... Once I got the car home I emptied the trunk of all the parts and found the SPRAY FOAM that was used to fill the gaps in the well lip.  All was well hidden by the unbelievable amounts of rattle can trunk spatter paint. Oh, and under the spatter was a combo of undercoating and something that I think died in there while he was spraying it....

Moral to the story: Never buy a car during a monster blizzard... AND: Don't trust the weather man...

[Harlow]

Back when I was looking around for my first project I went to look at a 68 charger. The guy wanted 1800 for it. It had nice interior and good running/driving 318, except everything from the top of the quarters/fenders/doors down was sprayed with about 2in. of stucko (spelling?). The rest of the car was then painted with a extremely think latex paint. This was back in 2006. Makes you wonder what was under that stucko, must have been bad if they thought it looked better that way.

[superbirdtom]

yeah there are some very inventive people using every method known to man ,to put a car back to some sort of shape . there was one hick here who hacked the back off the local burrito wagon and grafted the boom to a tow truck onto it .  there was the burrito wrecker coming down the road and it was a site to behold!    thanks to all for your stories.