Hey fellas,

I have been a guest for a little while here and decided to join yesterday after I went to look at my baby (65 coupe). I need to get the rear quarter repleace not cause of rust but an accident. I bought the car as you see it for a price that you will not believe. The motor is seized but was told it ran well at one point. The interior needs work as well.

My question is what is a good ballpark figure for the rear quarter replacement? I already have the patch panel and am just wondering about the labor costs. I have added pictures for your reference.

Thanks in advance.

 

ouch! well, what did you pay for it? you already have a panel to replace it with so your best bet is to grab your phone book and start dialing or go online and google body shops in your area. call at least 3 before you say ok. get prices and try and find people in your area that went to have work done there to find out what kind of job they do.

i just took a real good look in the trunk of my 66 and i had the same panel on mine replaced. i got suspicous(sp) of it when i noticed that there were 2 vertical cracks on the same side. looked in the trunk and there are rivits lining the side of the trunk, it looks like a punk rockers head! gotta sand it down to figure out what the douche did, but i'm willing to bet there is a few pounds of bondo in there instead of a solid weld!

oh, welcome to MF!

EDIT: how are the drip rails and have you seen any other rust spots/cracks on the car?

 

Well the story goes that a guy was working on it and almost killed himself. He had the car running and was doing something under the hood. Well the car somehow slipped into reverse and came to rest on a fire hydrant, that is where the damage came from. After he couldn't figure out what was wrong with the car he took it to a shop that I pass on a regular basis. When he couldn't pay the bill he just gave them the title for the car. When I inquired about the car the owner of the shop just wanted the bill paid and he would give me the title and the car. Well I gave the man $400.00 and had it towed. I have looked at the drip rails and cant really see anything bad going. Have not seen any crack either. I have noticed that a lot of the body panels don't line up but I also noticed that on a lot of older cars. Like I said I am going to need a whole new interior and motor but the owner of the shop said it ran well when they finished working on it. It sat in their yard for about 3 years under the car port so it didn't see much moisture. Besides I live in the desert southwest Albuquerque, New Mexico to be exact and me have been in a drought for about 5 years. I am going to go look a little closer at it over the long weekend and see what I can see.

Thanks for the welcome.

 

At $400 you don't ned to worry about how much the quarter cost. You got such a steal it should nopt matter. Find a construction site somewhere. Look for a guy doing welding. He may help "on the side". Otherwise, what $50-60 per hour for labor. Probably a half day minimum too. So whats that 240-300 bucks! What the heck kinda tires you got on that thing...slicks! They look huge!

 

Naw the tires on the car when I went to tow it were all flat so I had to throw whatever we could find on the car to get it on the truck. Well so far I have gotten quotes from 400.00 to close to $2,000.00. Which is why I am asking here. The range is so large I don't know what to think. Does the $400.00 guy know what he is doing, or is the $2,000.00 guy pulling my chain?

 

I hope you did not take my $400 notation as a quote. I was talking about the $400 YOU gave for the car. Otherwise, $2000 is STUPID and if you got a quote for the $400, it's good...based on average $/hr. You can buy a welder and learn for $2000!

 

well, some say you get what you pay for, and i agree AND disagree. you can find an hosest hard working guy who will only charge you 400 beans and do the job better than all or go with the guy charging 2000 and get it fugged up. like i said, ask around, look into the shops word of mouth value. if someone ripped you off you'd tell more people about them than if they did a good job.

 

I agree! I do custom painting and one of my lines is..."If you treat people honestly and give them good service at a fair price, they will tell thjeir friends. Screw up, drop the ball, or otherwise rip them off and the results are the same...they tell their friends!

 

well, statistacially(sp?) speaking more people will tell their friends if you **** them over than if you do a good job. same moral to the story none the less, do good and you will get work.

 

Well thanks guys. I got a $400.00 quote from a shop that just went out of business so I am sort of taking that as a sign.

I also have a 600.00 quote that looks interesting.

Since you mentions getting a welder................I actually have one in the garage but am not sure if it is a Mig or a Tig. I got if from my cousin that used to work at a supply store. I asked him if I could have it and he said yeah. I don't know the first thing about welding but would love to learn. I am going to have to clean out the garage this weekend and see treasure I have just sitting there. I would try and tackle it myself but like I said I don't know the first thing about welding.