[Rack776]

1994 - a 17 year old guy decides it is a good idea to repair the rust holes in the body with sheet aluminum (Humm..easier to bend than steel and wont rust)
and pop rivits, covered with bondo, and thouroughly weather proofed with cheap undercoat.


2011 - a 35 year old guy starts to "restore" the car he drove in highschool back in 1994 and finds the dumb 17 year old did not understand that
aluminum & steel corrode and the bondo & undercoat trap water and help speed up the process.

I'd rather have a time machine than a MIG welder right now.

[jmt455]

Such a long list to choose from....

The worst was when I painted the interior of my 57 Corvette. It was the first car I ever painted...ONLY car I've ever painted, as a matter of fact!

The exterior (black) was completely finished. I masked off the front cowl area, all around the passenger compartment and then sprayed the Venetian Red lower dash. Let everything dry, removed the masking and thought everything was A-OK.

Next time I pulled the car out into the sun, I saw about a million little Venetian Red specks on the deck lid, the quarters and the bottom halves of the doors. That red paint went EVERYWHERE! I had to color sand and polish the doors, quarters and deck lid. Only the hood and the front fenders didn't get damaged. Luckily, I had laid on a lot of lacquer so I didn't have to re-paint the black.

[firstyearta]

1. Spent weeks prepping my '67 Firebird for paint (it was a simple repaint). Decided the paint booth in my shop was not adequate and rented one at a local shop. Sprayed all the base coat, masked the stripes (painted as a '69 T/A), sprayed all the blue, sprayed one coat of clear. Just as I finished, I disconnected the air line from the gun and and found out their compressor was leaking oil into the air lines when it sprayed oil all over my fender and hood. Ended up starting over and repainting the entire car.

2. Many years ago I jacked up a car with two floor jacks, one center front center, one rear center. That was fine till I opened one door and sat in the drivers seat and the entire car fell to the left.

3. Paying someone upfront to weld quarters on a '67 Firebird. Ended up picking the car up months later when it was still not done and had to remove the one that was on do to the horrible job. The other hadn't been started.

4. Thinking I could weld in a small floor patch panel without removing the entire interior and almost caught the firewall pad on fire.

5. I think my biggest mistake has been starting on one project and then buying a new one and thinking, "Oh, this will be simple. Let me just whip this one out and I'll get back to the other one" It's no wonder I currently have 5 cars in various stages of restoration. The last car I bought I swore up and down I would not touch it till the other projects were out of the way... and I haven't.... but it's also been sitting there untouched for 8 years. Will I ever learn?

[stucky2947]

Putting the windshield in my restored '62 GP. Had my father in law over helping me. We got the windshield started in the bottom started to lay it back only to notice that it was about 2" too long. Guess it was for a 'vert. Took it out and laid it on the garage floor (on two comforters as to not scratch or break it). We were talking about calling the supplier for the correct one, I stepped back and...............stepped right on the edge of the windshield. I heard the sound and knew just what happened. Cracked the damn thing. So my replacement windshield ended up costing me twice. It is in and looks great.

[gto_ron]

1. Not checking the repairs made by previous owners!!!

2. Not using top quality paints and primer. You get what you pay for.

3. Not fitting the panels on when it's still in primer, fitting them after painting is a pain.

3. Forgetting that NO-One will be as conscientous as you are when it comes to restoration. If you can do it yourself, do it or learn how. It's not brain surgery, it take patience and a desire to have the best looking car around.

you make mistakes and learn from them.

regards

[Matt T]

Quick run down the road, 1-2 shift at full throttle 400 w/th400 spun 4 rod bearings (low <20psi oil pressure--I didn't know what it was supposed to have until after).

Rebuilding your own engine at 16 years old. After numerous calls to the machine shop during assembly to get info that was not in the Chiltons book, everything went great until we tried to start it. We eventually figured out that I had aligned the cam using the Rockwell stamp on the gear instead of the correct timing mark, about 30 degrees off. Did you know a V8 will run (poorly) with the cam this far off if you keep about 1/2 throttle and don't get any sparks near the air fuel popping back out of the carb?

Thank God these old motors aren't interference like most new ones. All it cost me was a new timing gasket set and time to take the radiator back out, pull the cover & gears and put it where it should have been.

The second mistake: buying a camaro in pieces while in college and taking it the rest of the way apart without pictures/notes, figuring I could look at the Firebird if I didn't remember how things went. (I haven't tested this yet; it's been apart for 21 years now.)

[428GTO70]

Putting car in neutral to roll it forward a little bit down a hill after just putting new brake pads in WITHOUT pumping the pistons back out first. Almost rolled over my cousin, lucky for me my emergency brakes were working properly, I was on my way down a pretty steep driveway! lol

[FrankieT/A]

I've got three cars in a slightly over sized 2 car garage. I have a lift which allows this. Ok the problem:

I also have my Harley Roadking in there too. In order to get my bike out I have to pull the third car all the way forward to get the bike by. I'm doing this for YEARS being careful not to hit the front wall. I never had a problem but im getting older. I decide to get that laser lights to help guide me. I hook 'em all up and while testing them guess what? I hit the friggen wall. I haven't used them since.

[First Bird]

1) Not putting on the hood when I mocked up body panels before paint. I only fit the doors and fenders. If I had fit the hood, it could have tipped me off that the subframe was misaligned.

2) Not using gage holes to align subframe. I trusted only diagonal measurements. I believe the Competition Engineering solid subframe bushings shifted out of the hole in the subframe . They are just one piece, not two pieces. And they have only a small ridge in the bushing to keep it centered in the hole.

I'm nearing the end of a three year frame-off resto of my 1968 Firebird. Till now, I thought I'd been careful enough that I wouldn't have a doozy to contribute to this thread. But now I'm going backwards fast. I find myself having to cut welded subframe connectors to re-align the subframe. Exhaust will probably have to be refit some too.

After installing the painted fenders, I installed the hood and found its front edge is ahead of one fender and behind the other fender. The front body work is shifted toward the passenger side. I have ruled out the radiator support being off center and realize the only possibility is subframe misalignment. It's not that I didn't try to align it. I actually went to great lengths to ensure the frame and subframe were straight because the car had collision damage. Before disassembly, a frame shop pulled the rear frame and verified the subframe was straight. When I installed the subframe I measured diagonals between points on the front and rear frame. These points were the lower ball joints, LCA mounting bolts on the subframe, and several places on the rear axle. Diagonals were within 1/8" so I felt confident the subframe was on correctly.

Oh well. That's amateur car building for you. Sometimes going backwards comes with the territory.

[zeebo]

Originally Posted by gto_ron

1. Not checking the repairs made by previous owners!!!

2. Not using top quality paints and primer. You get what you pay for.

3. Not fitting the panels on when it's still in primer, fitting them after painting is a pain.

3. Forgetting that NO-One will be as conscientous as you are when it comes to restoration. If you can do it yourself, do it or learn how. It's not brain surgery, it take patience and a desire to have the best looking car around.

you make mistakes and learn from them.

regards

amen to number 3 brother! from reading these posts 80% of the blunders mentioned involved shoddy bodywork/repair by a "good body man" notice a trend/red flag here? lol..if you know of a good body man, id love to get his name and contact info!

and my advice: buy the most rustfree and cleanest car you can afford; if you cant afford it, save the money until you can! changing engines is easier than changing body panels, and you never get all the rust anyway, it does a great job of coming back....

[67droptop]

Originally Posted by chuckmnv

Oh, that's easy: starting!
cm

AMEN!!!!

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by First Bird

1) Not putting on the hood when I mocked up body panels before paint. I only fit the doors and fenders. If I had fit the hood, it could have tipped me off that the subframe was misaligned.

2) Not using gage holes to align subframe. I trusted only diagonal measurements. I believe the Competition Engineering solid subframe bushings shifted out of the hole in the subframe . They are just one piece, not two pieces. And they have only a small ridge in the bushing to keep it centered in the hole.

I'm nearing the end of a three year frame-off resto of my 1968 Firebird. Till now, I thought I'd been careful enough that I wouldn't have a doozy to contribute to this thread. But now I'm going backwards fast. I find myself having to cut welded subframe connectors to re-align the subframe. Exhaust will probably have to be refit some too.

After installing the painted fenders, I installed the hood and found its front edge is ahead of one fender and behind the other fender. The front body work is shifted toward the passenger side. I have ruled out the radiator support being off center and realize the only possibility is subframe misalignment. It's not that I didn't try to align it. I actually went to great lengths to ensure the frame and subframe were straight because the car had collision damage. Before disassembly, a frame shop pulled the rear frame and verified the subframe was straight. When I installed the subframe I measured diagonals between points on the front and rear frame. These points were the lower ball joints, LCA mounting bolts on the subframe, and several places on the rear axle. Diagonals were within 1/8" so I felt confident the subframe was on correctly.

Oh well. That's amateur car building for you. Sometimes going backwards comes with the territory.

I think we have a winner. That sounds like a nightmare.

[hpbongers]

Buying my 69 Firebird at night in the rain. Pick it up the next morning only to find later the can had been run over a median. Bent frame and lower control arm. Lucky i know how to fix this myself and a shop letting me use the frame straightener. Of couce no liability on their part.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by NeighborsComplaint

A local body shop said "Don't even start messing with it, we'll block, prime, basecoat and clearcoat, wet sand and buff the whole car for $1200 if we can tape off the jambs. That's sounding really good right about now.

Took the shop up on the $1200 deal. The shop was a local Maaco who did some specialty work out of the back. The shop owner showed me a couple cars they were doing "mini-restorations" on and the work looked really good. They metal patched my hood pin holes, straightened the kinks in the hood, block sanded and primed the whole car. It looked great in primer. Then they painted the car with a base/clear and it was not so good. Lots of orange peel and some obvious prep flaws. They left chips in the paint on the edges of the hood and did a sloppy cut-in with masking tape along the lower window bright moldings and left the surface very rough pn the doors from the body lines up where they couldn't machine sand. They drop filled the chips and shot some kind of "speed-clear" over the rough paint and buffed it out.

I felt that I got my money's worth and the car looked good for a cruise night driver. The first hot day, the paint blistered in multiple spots. The paint was not adhering and of course the shop claimed claimed no responsibility for "prior body work". Shortly thereafter, the paint begain blistering over the filled in hood pins. I went back to the shop and they were out of business. To make a long story short, I threw away $1200.

I wound up having the car stripped to bare metal and completely redone by a highly recommended independant shop. The paint literally came off in sheets because there was no adhesion between the new paint and the old.

[gtomike72]

Originally Posted by NeighborsComplaint

Took the shop up on the $1200 deal. The shop was a local Maaco who did some specialty work out of the back. The shop owner showed me a couple cars they were doing "mini-restorations" on and the work looked really good. They metal patched my hood pin holes, straightened the kinks in the hood, block sanded and primed the whole car. It looked great in primer. Then they painted the car with a base/clear and it was not so good. Lots of orange peel and some obvious prep flaws. They left chips in the paint on the edges of the hood and did a sloppy cut-in with masking tape along the lower window bright moldings and left the surface very rough pn the doors from the body lines up where they couldn't machine sand. They drop filled the chips and shot some kind of "speed-clear" over the rough paint and buffed it out.

I felt that I got my money's worth and the car looked good for a cruise night driver. The first hot day, the paint blistered in multiple spots. The paint was not adhering and of course the shop claimed claimed no responsibility for "prior body work". Shortly thereafter, the paint begain blistering over the filled in hood pins. I went back to the shop and they were out of business. To make a long story short, I threw away $1200.

I wound up having the car stripped to bare metal and completely redone by a highly recommended independant shop. The paint literally came off in sheets because there was no adhesion between the new paint and the old.

Sounds like the Maaco I used to work at, was it the McHenry one by any chance? Those scumbags still owe me my last months check from 3 years ago!! They would rush us to get the cars in the paint booth when the car still needed more work and could have been done right if an extra couple minutes where allowed. Half the cars we rushed ended up coming back. I guess the owner was ok with that as long as he got the money and if it came back, it came back. No wonder why they went out of business.

[Garry Sr]

I sold a 55 chevy before I finished it. Sounds trivial but I had a ton of time and money into the car and took a massive hit when I sold it. In my defense it was one of those things where I had no other choice.

[Dave R]

#1) Trading a street bike for body work on my 70 TA. I picked the TA up in pieces a year later.

2) Buying a second TA to drive while the first is being fixed.

3) Selling the TA after getting married and having kids. Wouldn't have been so bad but it was in the recession of 92 so it went for 1K.

4) Giving the buyer all the NOS pieces I had bought for it during the 80's plus threw in a complete rebuilt 65 tripower to boot. The buyer complained it wasn't a 66 unit.

5)Leaving the 1st TA outside at my parents until Dad got tired of looking at it and buried it "up back". (He dug a 20 foot hole with his machine)

6)Buying another 70 TA 10 years later for much more money and having it vandalized and all glass smashed with parts stolen.

5)Then giving a body shop (best one around) 3K as a down payment up front for a frame off restoration. This would have been OK if the shop hadn't folded. The car came back stripped to nothing with a big pile of parts, not even in boxes but thrown out back in a trailer. Nothing marked. Ever see what a pile of unmarked window mechanisms does the your general well being.
.
That's just the story of my 70 TA's.

[mikeb]

I was painting a unibody car in my garage and had it on jackstands in order to more easily get to the rocker panels. The car was two tone with a painted area on the doors that aligned with the same color paint on the body. Got it all painted and looking good and then dropped the car off the jackstands. The body drooped as you would expect and then there was about 1/3 inch misalignment between the painted area on the door and the painted area on the body. Whoops.

Some judicious alignment tricks on the door and door striker "fixed" the alignment issues for the most part, but the misalignment is still there.

Another one on the same car - i measured the width of the old stripes and took pictures of the measurement before i sanded the old stripes off. When i went to put them back on i checked the pictures carefully to get the width and then masked off the car and painted the stripes. When i was done i noticed that the stripes were about 1/2" wider than before. Another whoops.

[1966geeto]

Traded a 67 GTO vert for a Kawaski KZ 900
Traded a 69 Firebird 400 for a 69 Riviera dash caught fire 3 weeks after i got it toast..
Traded a 64 Chevell SS highly optioned to my cousin for siding and gutters took the car to NY 25 yrs ago never to be heard from again bahahahaha..

The worst was leaving my 69 GTO vert highly optioned A/C P/W H/H SHIFTER TILT A/M F/M P/S POSI in NY when I moved to Texas my mom was storing it for me she moved to Fla a year later no money to go get the car owner sold it.

Woulda coulda shoulda OH MY!.

[chinquapalian]

ragtop owners: top up when fitting wing vent and door glass.DUH in houston