Wayne Scraba's Nova Project

KWhiz Ken and a few others have asked about progress on my Nova. It’s slowly coming apart (I’m shooting hundreds upon hundreds of pix for magazine work as I go along, so that consumes a ton of time). When I bought it, I knew there was an issue with the right rear quarter. I was also informed there was previous damage to the right front fender. Sure enough, once the car was home, I used a thin magnet on the sheetmetal and just as I was told, there was damage to the quarter and to the fender (FYI, I just use one of those old thin fridge magnets that everyone seems to have – a good strong magnet can’t detect bondo easily). Anyway, here’s the “Before” – I don’t have a good picture of the right side I can share.



Additionally, here’s a photo of the right trunk quarter.



As you can see, from inside the trunk, the quarter looks good. It didn’t seem molested. But the gaps weren’t very good on the passenger side, especially between the jamb and the door. Further, there was 0.150-inch + or – of shim stock between the jamb and the striker. I figured something was up.

Once the rear quarter trim panel came out, I discovered the previous damage. I think what happened was the car hit an immovable object behind the door, and above the rocker. Keep in mind that the original Owner’s Manual has much of the control sections underlined in red. On the instrument cluster page (14 in the Owner’s Manual), someone has hand written “Right – UP, Left – DOWN”. That’s for the signal lights [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] . I tracked down the last guy on the title, and he tells me the car was owned by your typical little old lady. She used the right front fender as a door feeler for getting in the garage. I’m sure the rear quarter suffered a similar fate.

Unfortunately, here’s the fix:



As you can see, someone pounded in the quarter over the rear wheel house, cut away everything forward of that to (and including) the jamb, then wire welded everything in place. Once the MIG weld cooled, they slathered filler on it and pretty much called it a day. In the process, they fit the repair panel 0.150-inch (or so) two far back. Here's where the damage is on the outside:



See the black line on the quarter? Everything from that line up to and including the jamb has seen damage repair. Everything rearward from that line is perfect (that's why it's impossible to see inside the trunk). The rocker wasn’t touched. The floor pan is perfect. And by the looks of things, the passenger door is pretty much pristine.

The other area where the magnet wasn’t “happy” was the right front fender. As soon as I got it off, I could see the bondo “worms”. It was obvious they pulled the dent with a slide hammer, filled the rough repair with mud and said &quot;good enough&quot;.



On the leading edge of the fender, much of the double seamed paneling was bent and quickly hammered back to more or less fit. The second photo…




…gives you an idea of what the fix looks like.

The only other part of the car that sort of scared me was the vinyl roof. I peeled the skin off to find bare, virgin metal (whew!!!). That was a big bonus, although I told myself I might be cutting the roof off. I actually hate buying vinyl roof cars just for that reason.

Here’s a look at the car today. Shop space is tight because my Buick hasn’t left yet (still for sale…sold several times and for whatever reason, each of the sales fell through….Grrrrr...someone buy this thing? Please?). Aside from the past damage and typical production/insurance body shop repairs, it’s a sweetheart. Down the road, I’ll get you folks some floor pan photos. I’ve had a lot of cars in my day, but I’ve never had one this clean.



So what’s a body to do? The past damage was the bad news. The good news is, I have a friend who is likely the best metal man I’ve ever witnessed in action anywhere (keeping in mind, in my line of work, I get to see plenty of of it). His name is Al Hopkins. He runs a one man shop outside of the Victoria, BC. Much of Al’s work is street rod oriented, but he does do restorations. I’ve seen him make plenty of pieces from scratch if necessary. He just completed a chopped, sectioned ’32 five window. I’ll bet there is little if any filler used in the entire project. It’s just all metal worked – precisely fit, welded, ground, done. One of my past cars was a B/Stick 1997 Firehawk. Pontiac sold me an engineering mule for a small sum (to make it all legal). All I asked for was a clean Firebird with an LT1. What I received was a 1993 Trans Am used for brake development. Apparently one of the experiments failed. The rear quarter was torn apart (amongst other things). To fix it, Al drilled a small hole in the door jamb. Then he picked out the (considerable) dent by way of that hole, filed the fix smooth, welded up the hole and all you could see was the outline of the repair. You couldn’t feel anything. It felt like virgin metal (as a side-note, Tim Bishop of Maryland owns that red Firehawk today, and it has been the NHRA record holder on and off). I’ve also looked at bullet hole repair Al has done. It’s the same thing. You can see the entry wound, but you can’t feel it. And no filler is used. I could go on. He’s just an absolute master at what he does. He doesn’t paint either. Hopkins specialty is just good old fashioned metal work.

Because of this, I think you folks might be in for a treat to see his fix on the Nova (keep in mind I might show some of it in magazines too, so I have to be careful with the pix). Fingers crossed, I have a complete quarter panel on the way from Arizona. Al figures this thing is “an easy fix…trust me…I’ve seen worse”. And I know he has [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/wink.gif[/img] .

Thanks guys. Hope you find this entertaining. I also hope this is the appropriate section. If not, perhaps our moderators can move it?

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

Wayne Scraba

[kwhizz]

The &quot;Perfect&quot; project car...........This is gonna be an interesting project from Professor &quot;Perfection&quot;.........LOL
Thanks for the pic's Wayne and keep them coming...

Ken

[Xplantdad]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: kwhizz</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> The &quot;Perfect&quot; project car...........This is gonna be an interesting project from Professor &quot;Perfection&quot;.........LOL
Thanks for the pic's Wayne and keep them coming...

Ken </div></div>

Agreed...this should be fun!! Thanks for sharing Wayne. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[ORIGLS6]

I love these 'Documented Builds'. I know it takes a ton of time just to do the work; ...... but then to take the additional time to post all the pictures for us to see, ...... well, just let me say I for one truly appreciate it!

I'll be watching. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/worship.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]

[300deluxeL79]

thanks from back east wayne, if this nova turns out anything like your buick, we're in for a treat!
keep the pictures coming! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[x Baldwin Motion]

Looking forward to following this also!! Right after I go for a ride with Ken!