Old school body work. (video inside)

[tRustyK5]

A buddy of mine has a youtube channel called "Cold War Motors". He does some pretty amazing body work, mostly old cars, resto's etc. He really likes stock, and as original as possible down to the old bias ply tires. I have seen his hammer and dolly work in person and it just blows my mind...so I wanted to share.

This is a video he put up today, and it's an hour long. To see the hammer and dolly work skip right to 47 minutes and watch to the end. He removes a really nasty dent out of a 41 Merc fender that I think most people would have cut out and patched.

If you like that sort of thing go ahead and subscribe. He uploads once a week, but they are longer vids...

 

[Bent77]

Truly the lost art

 

[beags86]

Went to Gene Winfields traveling workshop a few years ago. Pretty fun to watch them old guys work.
I have a full set of hammer and dollys, its not hard. Just got to practice. And stay patient while your working the tin.

Newer cars are harder because they aren't straight steel anymore. They are alloys to allow them to be thinner. Its definitely easier to work old tin.

 

[tRustyK5]

Yeah, the new stuff seems to be either PDR or replace, Scott even mentions there are some truly gifted PDR guys out there.

 

[diesel4me]

Old cars & trucks had virgin steel in them,I remember watching some old time body men take an original fender off a car at the junkyard from the 1940's or '50's vintage cars ,and pound and dolly out dents like it was childs play--a few were experts at using lead instead of bondo too,that is really a dying art..

Anything built after 1980 or so isn't as easy to work with--that's when they started using hi tensile strength steels and adding in more recycled steel..the MIG welders came along right after then,because that steel wouldn't deal well with torches and gas welding or brazing's heat,it warps easy and cracks easier once it's been heated up and cooled..

 

[Bent77]

Yeah, the new stuff seems to be either PDR or replace, Scott even mentions there are some truly gifted PDR guys out there.

Can't be as much fun as trying to lead in a fender though

 

[tRustyK5]

Nope, that is for sure. Just the two extreme ends of the spectrum...and still a need for both. Just cool to me to see good hammer and dolly work...

 

[bp71k5]

A buddy of mine has a youtube channel called "Cold War Motors". He does some pretty amazing body work, mostly old cars, resto's etc. He really likes stock, and as original as possible down to the old bias ply tires. I have seen his hammer and dolly work in person and it just blows my mind...so I wanted to share.

This is a video he put up today, and it's an hour long. To see the hammer and dolly work skip right to 47 minutes and watch to the end. He removes a really nasty dent out of a 41 Merc fender that I think most people would have cut out and patched.

If you like that sort of thing go ahead and subscribe. He uploads once a week, but they are longer vids...

always neat to watch that kind of thing.

 

[beags86]

GMAW or "wire" or " mig" was invented in the 1920s.

Recycled steel had nothing to do with it.
When they smelt steel back down they do Metallurgy analysis on that steel and add the elements back into it to correct it for the product they are making.

Steel mills are not just some guy with a bunch of old car part and furnace. There is a real science to it and it a very precise. I'm talking two decimals of precision.

Steel being high strength alloy in newer stuff is true, but its also not the rule. Some stuff is still just mild steel due to cost. But most is an alloy of sorts.

 

[tRustyK5]

Decibels or decimals? Maybe it's just a really quiet process?

For Bob. The biggest difference between the old stuff and the new is thickness. That's over 90% of the difference anyways...have a good look at any new car that has damage and it's all creases and even tears. Trying to dolly anything like that is about as pointless as trying to dolly tin foil after it's been balled up.

New cars are easily totalled in a hail storm with the steel being so thin. It goes from car to golf ball in seconds. That 41 Merc might need some new glass, but I bet it'd shrug off hail otherwise.

 

[beags86]

Decibels or decimals? Maybe it's just a really quiet process?

For Bob. The biggest difference between the old stuff and the new is thickness. That's over 90% of the difference anyways...have a good look at any new car that has damage and it's all creases and even tears. Trying to dolly anything like that is about as pointless as trying to dolly tin foil after it's been balled up.

New cars are easily totalled in a hail storm with the steel being so thin. It goes from car to golf ball in seconds. That 41 Merc might need some new glass, but I bet it'd shrug off hail otherwise.

I have a legitimate speech impediment. ( i don't like to use as a clutch or talk about it a bunch) I use voice to text alot and it screws it up my text regularly.
It sucks.

I try to proofread but I miss things.

 

[tRustyK5]

Just figured auto correct. My comments were meant light-heartedly, and I hope they were taken that way.

 

[diesel4me]

I just repeated what I had read in a welding book I have,the author claimed after 1980 the car manufacturers started using high tensile strength (AND thinner most likely),metal on car bodies,which in turn made MIG welders a "must" compared to older vehicles steels,that were able to be brazed or gas welded without much problem..

True, MIG and wire feed welding was around for eons before 1980,but were mostly only seen in industrial applications,not your local farmer's fix it shed ,back then practically anything could be repaired with an old Lincoln tombstone buzz box stick welder..
After 1980 or so,you started seeing the "homeowners" MIG welders start becoming more popular..

No doubt the old cars fenders,etc were probably twice as thick as newer cars are--the metal itself was more malleable according to those old time body shop guys I knew,it wasn't until after you pounded out a dent that the metal became harder to work..

 

[beags86]

Just figured auto correct. My comments were meant light-heartedly, and I hope they were taken that way.

No offense taken at all Rene. Just a statement of fact.

Between auto correct not having a f'in clue of automotive related terms. And fat fingers. I'm F'ed. Lol.

I do 100% of my ck5ing from my phone. Hard to remember the good of days of a computer?? Lol.

 

[tRustyK5]

I use my phone if I'm posting pics, because that's what I take the pics with. Other than that it's laptop...

 

[imiceman44]

A buddy of mine has a youtube channel called "Cold War Motors". He does some pretty amazing body work, mostly old cars, resto's etc. He really likes stock, and as original as possible down to the old bias ply tires. I have seen his hammer and dolly work in person and it just blows my mind...so I wanted to share.

This is a video he put up today, and it's an hour long. To see the hammer and dolly work skip right to 47 minutes and watch to the end. He removes a really nasty dent out of a 41 Merc fender that I think most people would have cut out and patched.

If you like that sort of thing go ahead and subscribe. He uploads once a week, but they are longer vids...

Yeah I still do this myself spent a couple of years at a body shop before I came to the states when work was slow, I learned a lot from those guys.
One of the was making 1958 mercedes round fenders from a flat sheet of metal.
One trick with the newer vehicles that is very important to be able to do this is to learn shrinking techniques because that happens almost every time they wrinkle and stretch.
I am decent with the newer stuff but I have seen a guy back home bring back a 2000 Hyundai back from the dead, not replacing a single panel, and the car was hit from 4 sides.
I have not had too much practice here but I did a few in the past 20 years.
I don't like bondo so I always try to make it so I don't have to use much if any, mostly for the hammer marks and scratches.
This guy definitely knows what he is doing, going from the last part that moved to the first point of impact so he doesn't accumulate or stretch any metal that wasn't already.
That crease however needs some shrinking to completely get it out but he had to do what he did and now to get the professional results he needs to shrink it.