A Dent, This Sucks!

[peacemaker]

I hope nobody out there has done what I did tonight! I went to a nice local car show with my '69 GTO. My car didn't have a perfect paint job, because it is a regular driver, but it still was really nice overall. UNTIL TONIGHT! After arriving home from the car show, I had to pull around my son's tricycle in the driveway. I normally pull into the garage on a slight angle. The obsticle caused me to pull in straighter and I caught a one foot section of the back quarter on the garage door jamb. So much for just pulling around the bike and into the garage. I have wished a hundred times now that I just would have moved the bike! It didn't sound like much, however it has a dent the size of my fist (from the door, not my hand) and several scrapes and scratches. Given the metalflake and pearl in the paint, I expect it will be expensive and hard to match! I am so depressed that I can't sleep! I guess I won't be investing in the suspension quite as soon as I had hoped! Thanks for letting me share!

[indyjps]

sounds like its time to look into 2 tone paint schemes, pull the dent and shoot the bottom of the car in another color. the pearl will probably never match up.

[ProTouring442]

A REALLY good painter will be able to do a step down sample and MIGHT be able to match it up. It will be tough, but it can be done. I am sure it won't be cheap though. Talk around, worse that can happen is that you can't find anyone willing to try!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
'72 442 "Inamorata"

[indyjps]

throw the suspension on it and drive it, you wont worry so much about hitting the track with it. keep it out of paint jail, its not worth it.

[Bandit]

keep it out of paint jail, its not worth it.

Haha I hadn't heard that term before. It's a good point though--give some of these body shops your car and you might not see it again til you're old and gray!
I was REALLY bummed to hear about this Josh. Your goat really has a top-notch body. Hope you can get it fixed for a reasonable fee!

For what it's worth (not much), stuff happens when you actually drive your hot rod, and I guess we can be glad it wasn't worse!

[peacemaker]

I'm going to take it to a couple of reputable body men in our area and see what the coinage is going to be to make the repair. If it is more than I can justify for now, I will stay focused on the drivetrain. If it can be reasonably done and not stand out saying, "Yea this quarter's been redone, what do you want to make of it?", then I will proceed with the repair. It just makes you sick when you are the one with the kingsized "donkey" picture over your head! Life goes on. Thanks for the advice!

[rocketman]

Don't feel bad I have done something like this before

[Jim Nilsen]

Find a paintless dent repair guy and get the dent out first. You will feel a lot better when it is only the paint that looks messed up. Then take it to some places and have them look at it. You won't know until you find the right person if it is possible to fix it and without pics we can't really say positively so post a pic, we will understand a lot better. But get rid of the body damage while you can see all of the flaws before it gets redone and you still didn't get it right. The shine on a paint job shows it all so much better.

Jim Nilsen

[MrQuick]

just makes you sick when you are the one with the kingsized "donkey" picture over your head! Life goes on. Thanks for the advice!

even a jacka$$ can smile on a bad day! LOL


I've seen dentpro pull off some miracle jobs! see what they say.

[peacemaker]

Thanks for the photo. It made me feel "much" better! Thanks for the advice on the dent removal. I will try to post a couple of pics later today.

[formula]

I put a pretty wicked dime sized dent in my car when i was putting my new seats in...i know how it feels to know you cant blame anyone but yourself. Just remember that all things mechanical can be healed and consider it a memory!

[ponchopwr70]

Just look at it this way, the next time it gets a ding or scratch it won't be so bad, j/k. Thats what I'm affraid of when I get my car repainted. I'm sure you'll be able to find someone to touch it up

[ItDoRun]

Keep driving the wheels off of it. Within a year after my car was finished, which was almost 15 years ago, we started noticing a weld seam where a patch was put in on the driver's side quarter. Not three weeks later, the car got keyed from the quarter all the way to the front of the door IN TWO PLACES! If you come look at the car today, it looks almost as good as it did the day it left the paint booth except for those two spots. We wet sanded and buffed the key marks out the best we could and drove it. Keep your chin up...it could have been a lot worse.

[peacemaker]

Well I met with my paint guy tonight and he figured about $550 would get the whole quarter redone. I thought that was fairly reasonable. However, he said the same thing that you guys have said, "Buff off the worst of it, touch it up a little and drive it until you are ready to repaint the whole thing. Just call it a battle scar!"
I will have to figure out what I am going to do! Like you said, It can always be worse! Again, thanks for the imput.