giving my old 51 Chevy a clean up. nothing fancy just a simple "taxi special" paint job. I'm doing do some major repairs very simple and without the use of a welder.
Cave and pave! Screw the ones that complain. They all probably have a 10 year long project they think has to be perfect and miss out on having fun with it!
Thanks Tony, your true fans and followers appreciate this episode. No apology necessary for us,we know what you are capable of. Thanks for the tips and keep doing it for us.
They guys who make do with what they got drive their cars and enjoy them. They don’t waste time pretending it’s something it’s not. You’re my hero Fitzee 👍👍
In the 60''s when I was in High School I worked one summer at a place in Oakland , CA right next door to the Earl Scheib painting , they would literally bring in a 7 car transporter with old Taxi Cabs in the morning and by the end of the day they would be done with all 7 , they painted everything including the tires and then would just paint the tires with tire black , $29.95 , oh those were the days .
I hear about them 1960's Earl Scheib $29.95 paint jobs and I can't believe it but it was really a thing. I was born in 76 been doing bodywork since 1990 and it just sounds insane to me! $499 is the cheapest I can remember from Macco. I used to do $400 in the early 90's to compete with them. Used car specials wham bam thank you ma'am. And that was cheap! Nowadays $29.95 wouldn't cover the masking tape. Unbelievable 😉✌
Tony I know what you mean about the changes in body work over the years. I’ve done body work for 50 years and I’ve smeared 100’s of gallons of filler. I love watching your videos and I’m still learning from you now 50 years later. I wish I had seen your videos back when I was making patches and using gas torch to weld them in. Thanks a bunch and keep up the good work!!!
Some cars aren’t worth fully restoring. Taking something down to bare metal and doing everything correct is an incredible amount of work. There’s a lot of cars out there that cost $30,000 or more to restore and at the end of the day they’re not worth half that. Nothing wrong with just making something look good enough and having some fun with it, as long as you’re not trying to sell it as something it isn’t.
My entire gig in mid Michigan is doing budget rust repairs on (mostly) trucks. Peoole who can't afford collision collision shop prices. So I take these salt damged vehicles, cut out the rust, weld in cab corners with the bed on(figured out how to do that ane have it come out ok) . Lot of wheel arch panels. Rockers, rockers, and more rockers. Tap down welds, fiberglass fill the seams. I pick up a lot from your videos even tho a lot of your work is more restoration and more precise than the daily driver budget junk I am doing. But i'm helping people out in these inflationary times, and they are happy to find someone willing to do the dirty work on the cheap(compared to collision shops) . I appreciate your craft and all he videos👍👍👍
I'm not brave, just being honest. A good tradesmen in any trade can do the down and dirty as well as perfection. That's what makes them a good tradesmen
I’m going say there’s way more of us diy guys doing bodywork like this at home than those doing it “the right way “ besides it’s your car to do as you please
Lol!! " I never thought I would see the day!" Your absolutely right when you said that this method is for certain cars only! (Beaters, cabs, winter cars, delivery cars, ) this is how we did it in the 70s. The cars were so cheap to buy but they always needed bodywork! Nobody back then had a mig welder so it was all rivets and bondo! Its so funny to see you do this because I believe that your work is the best fabrication on U-tube!! Im proud that you are Canadian!!
Tony, I was having flashbacks to brazing rods and steel coat hangers to put patches in if you wanted a good job. sticky back foil tape, screen door mesh if money was tight. One or two pop rivets and a lot of mud filler and then we would finish the top with red nitro-stan putty and if we ran out of primer we would thin the nitro-stan down and spray it, and then finish it off with rattle can paint and the job was done. Ah, The good old days. Thanks for the video and for the memories. Later
I used to scuff up the metal tape while it was still on the roll….some repairs when I sand blasted, then metal taped the holes, then bondo held up for 20 years !
Wow, what a cobble job! But, before getting a wire feed welder we have all have done this but almost none of us will admit to this. Thanks for bringing us back to reality.
Boy did that bring back memories. We used to use a body file and save the filings in a big bucket. We would mix the filings with a batch of body filler and use that to fill large holes. I used to hate friends that just wanted a cheap a job as possible because next year they were going to sell it anyway. No matter how many times you would tell them that it's only will last 2 years at the most, they would be back in 3 years wondering why it was breaking out. We were just a bunch of young kids with no money and could do a car for under $300.00. Those were the days. Thanks, Tony, for the memories. 4
Brings me back to the old days when I did body work for several years in the early 80's that's all we did was sling mud quick jobs in and out the door. You got what you paid for, it was that simple no shame in that, it was the way it was for years. Back then folks didn't have the money, it was just that simple. Not like nowadays where folks invest $50,000 dollars or more in a restoration.
There is something satisfying in fibreglassing up rust holes. I have an old book from the 1970's, "how to fix your own car" , explaining how to repair your rusted out rocker panels. Tapping in with ballhammer , fiddling in some chicken wire and fibreglass over it. We always had old beaters in our family, and i remember we fixed a lot of them by soldering on pieces of zinc plate, that worked well also!
This whole video was a great tip! You got to ask yourself at the start of a project... To what level am I going to do this? Knowing this approach is just as important as knowing how to achieve perfection. We all know the level of your metal work. This video shows how broad your skills are. Keep the tips coming. This one of your best.
Back in the late 70's and into the 80's we had 5 guys (including myself) doing bodywork and paint jobs out of our garages...much like what you have shown. Quick acrylic enamel paint jobs and ship em. We all stayed VERY busy in our little town of approx. 2300 residence.
Tony, since both of my cars are Checker Marathon taxis, you made me fully appreciate and understand what is and isn’t important about quick turnaround body work for me to enjoy my cabs on the road!
Fitzee I must say you might be the most real you tuber out there, anyone that works in the trades can relate to the work you do. If i had a penny for every time my boss said "Your not making a swiss watch, time is money now move it" I'd be a wealthy man. I mean what you did here is what goes on in the real world of working class stiffs like me, money is not plentiful and you make do with what you got. I really appreciate your videos and your realism keep it up.
Thanks for showing this, Tony. Love seeing you work perfection but there’s a time when work like this is equally proper. Gets you back to enjoying the car vs watching it sit. Thanks again!
Done similar stuff myself. Did it to an old S10 used fly screen as a backer and used the plastic like you did. Just needed it to pass inspection. It actually lasted for years.
heres my technique....make holes big enough to coat inside walls with oil based clear polyurethane by bendable brush....then coat inner walls with axle grease....fill holes with expanding foam..put thin metal over foam but below outer skin to cover holes loosely.. apply 2 part epoxy over metal patches..sand down to slightly below level.. apply thin coat of plastic filler.....that makes a permanent fix that won t come back ever.. i did that because i cant weld sheet metal replacement panels.
If you're going to restore it, yes, do it right. If you're going to drive the wheels off of it, it isn't going to stay perfect for long anyway, so get it good enough and on the road. I might have left it and kept driving for a few more years TBH because I would have been too dumb to stop and made a 5 (okay, 10) year long project vs driving it the next week. Awesome video, and I appreciate the sentiment behind it. EDIT: Watching how easy you make it look to spread filler smoothly is hypnotizing. 20 year old me certainly took a LOT longer to get it even close.
Oh boy do i remember those days when i was younger that was excellent body work then but thanks to fitz and a few others i dont do that anymore but i do understand exactly what you was doing and sometimes its all that is needed love the videos
LOL! "Mountain Road in Moncton." Yup! Been there... Done that. My wife's grandparents lived out on Trans-Canada (the OLD Trans-Canada, not the new super highway) in Salisbury. We'd often go up over Steves Mountain and then down past Magnetic Hill and into Moncton that way, or Berry Mills Rd. Wife has people in Dieppe, one of whom drove cab for years and years going back to Prohibition. No further comment is needed on that, but he told me of the taxi cab thing exactly as you described. As much as I enjoy your fantastic insight into body work and metal fab and things in general, what I love the most is your "place" narrative. When we were in Newfoundland, among the many things I learned and loved about the place is how much the people there love on where they're from. Like they say; "You can tell the Newfies in Heaven... they're the ones that just want to go home." Carry on my friend.
A good friend of mine is a retired army helicopter pilot. He told me that in Vietnam they patched bullet holes with JB Wwld vs cutting the panel out and replacing the panel with a patch panel. There wasn't time to do that as the combat operational tempo was too high. JB Weld held just fine.
We used to apply body filler in batches, so that by the time we did the last batch, the first batch had set and was ready to sand. It saved a lot of time waiting for filler to set.
Perfection or at lest to attempt perfection has always been my biggest downfall. As I age, I chuckle at those who demand it. A pleasure to see you do a little down and dirty. Better to drive your project than to look at it in the garage and think about how you need to redo it.
Tony there was a time that I would disagree with your approach to this, but now after a good few years of my project being off the road I can see the logic and am determined to get back on the road soon.
Just quick and dirty and back on the road again. You can always fix everything down the road, because we have seen your work and know that nothing is impossible for you.
I've done my share of this same stuff too! When you make the first layer something waterproof, like your Evercoat short strand, Kittyhair etc., it's surprising how long they will last. I'm surprised you don't use the cheese-grater files! We're about the same "vintage," I thought all of us from the 70s & 80s used them lol! I think the cheese grater really shines on that second coat of filler, because it lets you take it down quick but it won't cut into the first fill coat. I did a bit of this on an old Subaru about 10 years ago. I needed a beater for when my truck was on the operating table. Bought the Subaru for $3000, hit the few spots it had with the short strand filler, undercoated the back side where I could. Surprise! That $3000 car is still going and none of the spots filled that way have rusted out again, and I'm in salty New Hampshire! I like your plastic trick. The Subaru had rotted lower door inside corners - I used waxed paper to fix. First, put the short strand filler over the rotted inside corner. Next, put a piece of waxed paper over it and use your hand/fingers to mould it into shape as it sets up. You could probably use plastic for this too, but I like how the waxed paper works, I get a better feel for it through the paper. Thanks for the video!
A genuine Cave and Pave job. Lots of cars are done this way. Problem is, when people get duped into thinking it's "original " when the sills, floors, and rockers are more plastic than metal, and the seller is asking top dollar. No problem doing it for yourselves, or being honest about a relatively low dollar car. Its just not worth the cost to rebuild. Best part is, you're keeping an old Chevy on the road, and not sending it to the crusher. And after all, it's your car. Do whatever you want with it. Keep up the good work.
I’ve given many ford trucks the taxi cab treatment over the years, make em look good again and ready to use up the rest of their miles. I always tell people…it’s got some mud on it, it’s not gonna look good forever.
Hi Tony. Good start on your old Chev. No explanation needed. It's your car. You know what you are doing, better than most people! A little touch up before summer cruising weather. Sounds good to me.
Thanks for assuaging my guilt as I recall some fiberglass repairs I made in the 70’s and 80’s when gas welding and spot welding were my only metal options. Ones that spring to mind: reconstructed the doglegs and rear quarters on a customer’s ‘54 Plymouth with fiberglass and Bondo, inner rockers on a customer’s 68 Shelby convertible patched with fiberglass, built the panel under the trunk lid on my ‘55 Chevy with Venetian blinds and fiberglass. Ugh!
that poultice tip was great i never thought that the filler wouldn't stick to the plastic. thanks for the tip although I don't do much body work anymore. Buddy it's your car you can fix it up anyway you want. I always watch and like your videos. Keep up the good work.
Wow, love the poultice idea, that’s a great tip. I totally agree with your methods here and for this car. I always struggled with filler falling out of holes and will definitely use the plastic idea. The only other step I’ve added to these types of repairs is to spray the areas good with some rust converter. It just serves to delay the return of major rust a bit longer and ids easy and cheap. Otherwise can’t ever complain about this repair to get you back on the road cousin for the summer.
Roll with it and enjoy it. Working on my be fun but driving it is arguably WAY more fun! Live life and enjoy the battles your willing to fight and enjoy the time of life from projects you can walk away from!
Oh yea, the car you pick up that becomes a 2 1/2 year project. Been there and doing it right now. Doing it the way you are doing it there obviously only delays the inevitable, but you get to drive it! Love the talking to yourself bit Tony... 🤣
Hey thanks for showing me some stuff about how to repair a rusty vehicle I'm doing a 35 Ford truck and it has previously been bonded up years ago and I'm doing it as a favor for a friend and I told him I would put lipstick on a pig and make it look good for a few more years .
22:49 - i used wax paper to form wheel lips on cars that would otherwise be crushed …. glad to see a guy who is a metal magician , proving that it isnt always practical ….
This reminds me of the old cars we had in the 70's and we did exactly the same thing, but we only used body filler and not the long strand Fiberglas. And yes, the hardener was red back in those days.Big holes we just riveted a piece of sheet metal over and then filled. I did this for a few people also. It was a case of just making the car presentable for the registration inspection, because you could not have rust holes in your car. I also did some proper repairs with welding in panels for anyone who wanted a proper job done and not just a patch up for registration. Structural stuff, sub-frames and frames were always welded properly of course.
My sensitivities always had issue with this sort of repair, but some decades ago did a similar job on a HQ Holden. That thing was mechanically great but the body was rubbish. Doors, guards, C pillar, everywhere. The guy just wanted it bogged up and tidied up for a year or so. Ground it all out and off, treated all the edges and poohed it up, and pretty sure we sprayed something on the back of the repairs, oil?. Anyway someone who knew him told me he was still driving it years later and apparently was amazed how long the 'repair', (I struggle using that word), lasted.
I love it! This is perfect for driver quality cars and budget builds. It's also perfect for guys getting into the hobby. We can't all afford full restorations and many cars aren't worthy of it. The goal is to have fun and learn!
Nice Tony!!!! That is where I'm at with my 54 Ford. Down and Dirty and get it back on the road. We might go for a restore later. Just want to ride while I'm working on my other cars.
great tips Tony , perfect repair for an every day winter beater , with all the winter salt we have here it will outlast , till the rust eats the chassis away ...👍🏼
Whenever we were looking at buying a used car, we'd take a fridge magnet to check for filler. The fridge magnet won't stick if there's a lot of filler in the panel. Tapping the panels is also a good way to check. A dull sound indicates filler.
I have been doing the same thing on my rusted vehicles, only i just use the long or short strand and finish it with that I don't use the polyester fillers. Those fiberglass fillers are good,and make a very strong patch, better than steel, cause they do not rust out. Great video.
I recall back when it was time to sell our winter cars, we would mix bondo with whatever filings we could sweep up. I thought we were pretty slick back then.
Video is spot on! Back in the 70's-80's everything seemed to have patches of bondo in them. There wasn't mig welders at home, brazing or pop rivets. I picked up a 70 corolla for my brother, it made crusty look like the prom queen when we got her. Pop rivets, bondo and a tremclad paint job. Those were the days.
Oh Tony.. I hear ya. I hated taxis back in the 70s. They wanted their junk looking like a million bucks, pay 10 bucks a week on the bill and want you run along side doing the work while they drove it. Make do with ya got. Preach it, brother! Multiple Fitzys! Imagine how much work you could do. ;) Low crown additive and holebegone. Good times. Thanks for the video!
After watching so much quality work done by you this is seriously throwing my ocd for a serious loop !!! I get it.. I understand.. but it still doesn’t help my ocd..🤣🤣🤣 I know that you know quality work so I’m in my mind trying to decide what’s worse, a guy who knows the right way doing it the wrong way or a guy that doesn’t know the right way and does this.. I love your work sir, but this is seriously hard to watch.. but I do understand it’s your ride and it’s a make up job, not plastic surgery.. and I do understand the difference, love ur content sir !!!
You done the right thing with the Chevy , it was kinda like do what you done with it or part it out and scrap the rest would take a ton of work to replace all the areas with new metal as you definitely know .
I tell you Tony,back in the day our panel shops went through alot of bondo!I would suggest injecting waste oil in the rockers and crevices after it's painted,my tutor always said "have you ever seen a rusty engine sump?"
Thanks fitzee, I’m restoring my first car and if I aimed at doing it all the right way it would never get done.. great to see professional do a “taxi job” gives me hope!
My first car (in 1966) was virtually a carbon copy of this beater, a 52 Chevy 2dr sedan with only the single chrome strip, two Buick hubcaps in back, none in front 53:07 and faded black paint. What a trip!
when i was a teenager we would pickup cars like that for 50 bucks from farmers and drive the snot out of them and didnt care what they looked like and if they where to bad we pop riveted sheet metal over the rust holes and painted them with brushes or rollers....those where true rat rods before rat rods became popular.
Good comment, do what you can, with experience I have always come back and redid a panel or section we needed, still happy how things turned out with my skill set.
I just told my kid this the other day because I totally hacked some rust prevention on his car with a wire wheel, rust paint, and some Crappy Tire base/clear "It's way easier to repair something that is there than to fix something that isn't". At least there's going to be metal there when I go to fix it in a year, as opposed to my truck rockers.......
You’re kinda my metal working hero so it hurt a little to watch you commit butchery like this 🤣 but I totally understand, we’ve ALL done this to some extent and not all cars are worth a full restoration 👍
