Let's face it, rust is an issue that everyone has dealt with at least once in their life. Even a Corvette guy has at least seen it. So, many years ago, a project car's worth was dependent on the amount of rust that it had. Many parts were not available at the time, and those rusty cars deemed beyond repair were simply left to continue rotting.
Times have changed, and finding a project car means using the available platforms that are left. It's no secret, what's left is ruuuuuuuusty. But, fortunately for us, a lot more replacement parts are available than ever before. That's also a good thing for this rusty Coronet.
When it arrived at the AMD Installation Center, lesser shops might have simply written off the car as not repairable, but Craig and his crew never say never, and dug right in. This back half repair is going to take a while, but thankfully, another Mopar is being saved.
1. Every car that comes into the Installation Center is rusty, but the Coronet definitely brought that to an extreme.
2. As soon as the car comes out of the media blaster, whatever rusty material is survives, is then cut out. As you can see, after removing any questionable metal, there isn’t much left of the Coronet.
3. Convertible wheel tubs are completely different than those of the hard-headed family members. The wheel-house tops are in great shape, but that’s about all that can be salvaged.
4. Since convertible wheel houses are not available, the installation center made a set from coupe versions.
5. Inner wheel house in place...check.
6. The outer wheel house also needs to be made from a modified coupe version.
7. With the wheel houses in place, it’s time to focus on what can loosely be referred to as framerails.
8. The rear frame rails were so bad, that bracing needed to be installed just so the car could be media blasted without it falling to pieces.
9. Since the AMD Installation Center has a get-it-back-together-correctly table jig, removing large portions of metal is possible. The table/jig uses factory locating points to make sure that all pieces are placed correctly before welding.
10. A solid foundation is a must for any car, so the new frame rails go in.
11. As bad as the rust was, we also needed to replace the rear spring hanger pieces. These are not available new, so good, used pieces were located, media blasted, and primed before installation.
12. Temporarily, everything is just positioned and clamped into place. Tune in next month as we continue with our B-Body resurrection by installing the floors, quarters and tail panel.
