How to Spot Bad Body Work

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How to Spot Bad Body Work
http://images.carcraft.com/howto/ccrp_0604_08_z+bad_body_work+inspection.jpgWe're pretty fed up with restoration candidates. We'll go ahead and throw in "minor rust" and "needs TLC" too. We'll get these statements straight-faced from a seller while we're staring at their total piece of garbage. It's not like we've been looking for concours cars or even sheetmetal that would be considered close to perfect by our rapidly dwindling standards. It seems like each time we're presented with a potential project car, we're faced with the rusted reality that either people think they can lie to your face or they really don't know what they're talking about when it comes to bodywork. We fear the latter.
It's up to you to decide whether the car is crap or cool. Because bodywork has the biggest street machine price tag, this is an area where you should ask for help; so we're going to give you some. Consider this an education on finding the hidden damage and hacked-in repairs that can cost you serious rocks to get reworked using a perfect example: This '69 Dodge Coronet R/T. It was sold as a "perfect survivor." It really looked the part to the casual eye, but any pro would notice the signs of trouble. Then we took it apart to reveal some serious crunched, welded, and beaten sheetmetal hiding behind the sheen. Can you see it? Read and find out how.

Photo Gallery: How To Spot Bad Body Work - Car Craft Magazine (http://www.carcraft.com/howto/ccrp_0604_bad_body_work)

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[4re308]

Makes total sense. I used to hand paint pinstripes on cars, and then worked at Flashback Motorworks....so I can pick up on bad body work. Sometimes it can be as easy as mismatched colors, or paint surface condition. If it has too much orange peel, it was probably painted. Most new cars will have a lot of orange peel which can be high speed buffed into looking great!

[Calicoco]

Good post, with Barrett Jackson driving up the pricing and interest of the public, some sellers are doing a quick paint job and not going thru the car, but trying to sell it as they did. Most are trying to only make it look good in pics to sell on ebay. Only takes one uninformed buyer to make them a quick buck and a major headache down the road for the buyer.

[4re308]

Yes that is exactly right. I have seen some nightmare body work in my days at Flashback Motorworks, but I have also seen some bad stuff at Barrett-Jackson. Some auction cars were obviously thrown back together and painted.