Update on the body work

Again it's been a long time since I've had an update on the Chevelle, but Jack at Specialized Collision has been making good progress.  I have been wondering if a sane person would have looked at the Chevelle two years ago and said it was too far gone to resurrect.  We're finding bad rust everywhere and replacing almost every part of the body.  The amazing part is that it is coming back together!  So, far all of you that watch the car restoration shows on TV, what you see there are cars in good shape, with an army of people and a trunk full of cash.  On a budget with a small team, it just takes time. I'm still really excited about having the Chevelle done, but it may take another year or two to put it together.  There isn't a single part or bolt that I can think of that won't be rebuilt, replaced, or repurposed.  The body shop has been affectionately calling it 'the dump truck' due to the accident back in '65.  I kind of like the name.  Maybe it will stick :)

The big holdup for us has been the rear tail panel.  This is the part that has both of the tail light buckets to either side of the deck lid, and that slim piece of metal you see connecting the two sides together along the bottom of the trunk.  It was rusted away, and every place we tried had parts cars with the same problem.  The only solution was for the body shop to make this piece from scratch.  It is small, but has lots of complex curves and sets the position of all of the body panels going forward.  So without this, we couldn't make any progress anywhere.  I think they did an amazing job building this part from scratch; you won't know it isn't original. 

I received a note about a month ago that this panel will start being reproduced in the spring of 2014.  So for those of you doing this job in the future, you won't have to start from scratch.  It looks like the tail light bezels are also going to be available, so I won't have to spend the cash to get mine rechromed.  That will help some.

For comparison, here is a before picture showing where we started.  Just rust holding things together:

With the trunk done, the new rear quarters and doors have been mounted and welded in place.  The door gaps are tight and even, and no more rust!  What is original you might ask?  The dash and a few bits of inner bracing, otherwise all new or replaced at some point in time.  The quarters are such a part of the lines that make the '65 it is good to see them back in place.

The deck lid is a nice example of where you can find rust and how every little part needs to be addressed.  The deck lid looked perfect to me, but they had to peel back the skin at the bottom (right next to that rusted part I talked about earlier), cut away a strip, and replace this before reforming the lip. You can't tell they have done anything here, and that is the point.  Jack is a perfectionist, and that is what you want when going to this level.

 Finally to the firewall, another example where I probably would have left more "character" behind.  We're using an aftermarket air conditioning system, so the big hole for the fan has been welded closed.  I'm also going with MSD ignition, so I won't need to run a big wiring harness through the firewall for the motor.  A close eye will note that they welded and filled the seam across the top of the firewall for a completely smooth look.  If I were doing this in my garage I wouldn't have gone to this level, but they are taking this to show car readiness.  You can't tell the tunnel was enlarged and significant work was done to eliminate all of the bolt holes and seams.  The pictures below give you a bit of an idea of what was changed.  In a couple weeks we will be talking final paint.  We're making progress!