Despite the decades-old availability of fiberglass bodies, the vast majority of rods out there still use original steel bodies, and many of them are approaching 90 years of age. With age comes rust as well as fatigue, resulting in stress cracks, split sheetmetal, and thin, brittle steel. One of the more common places this occurs on '32 Ford three-window coupes is in the beltline area where the roof meets the rear quarters just behind the doors. Indeed two people in the R&C office who own these cars report theirs have fatigued in exactly this area.
So when I heard Walden Speed Shop was going to repair an original body that had the same damage, and that the repair panels would be fabricated using nothing more fancy than a bead roller, shrinker/stretcher, and hand tools, it seemed a good opportunity to grab my camera and head out to their shop in Pomona. While the repair panel may seem a tricky shape, it's not that hard to fabricate and will last a whole lot longer than trying to weld up the holes in such brittle steel.
