Reading this makes me laugh because when I got my Spit
it needed some frame work near the rear end. Well a
local weld shop looked at it and *estimated* a price of
$1800-2200 and about a month to wait to get it done. He
claimed to have done it before. I only gave $500 for
the car and thought this price was WAY out of line.
Later on I was telling my bro.-in-law about it and he
gave me the name of a fellow who welds on his
construction companies equipment. This guys shop was in
the seediest part of town.Two Saint Bernards for
protection. He looks at it, thinks for about five min.,
says this is going to run at least $200 and two maybe
three days in his shop. He did one hell of a job. That
frame is as strong as a tank. He used 1/8-1/4" plate
steel with 2" angle iron to "wrap" the frame. MIG
welded everything. Rebuilt the shock gussets, and
fabricated new "arms" for the rear bumper! Boy am I
lucky!
Dave Gebhard
1977 Spitfire
----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff McNeal <jmcneal@ohms.com>
To: Spitfire List <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 3:29 PM
Subject: Body Shop Shopping Adventures
Well, it was a new day and so I set off to go meet
three other body shop
guys that over the phone, said they'd agree to do the
Spitfire. I have a
fourth that I'll visit on Monday. They only work a
four day week, which
should maybe be a red flag right there...
The first guy was an affable older gent who hemmed and
hawed and couldn't
give me a firm estimate. First, he said that to do the
work I wanted was
going to take at leat 50 hours. Then 100 hours. Heck,
maybe even 200
hours! His grown son was a strange duck. Never made
eye contact with me,
never said a word. Looked at the car completely
expressionless. The guy
was scary.
Next, came another older guy, recommended by the fellow
who reupholstered my
seats. After a few minutes, he said that he probably
wouldn't be
interested, since all he wanted to do was sand off the
visible rust spots
rather than weld in new panels in like I want to.
The third guy, Mario, happened to be visiting his
friend at the upholstery
shop and I asked him to give me a ballpark. He said
that to cut out and
weld in new floor panels, both rear quarter panels, and
the valance, along
with any other minor work the bonnet and doors may need
would run about
$2,500, including a two stage paint job. He seemed
like he knew what he was
talking about and gave me a realistic estimate of how
long it would take him
(three months), since he'd be working on my car and one
or two other resto
projects inbetween insurance jobs.
At least I'm making some progress! And, I had another
excuse to drive
around for a few hours and enjoy the ride. I also made
an appointment with
my upholsterer, who's going to fabricate a completely
new RHD tonneau cover
for me and cut it in around the roll bar for $95.
Sweet.
Best wishes,
Jeff in San Diego
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