Bob's 57 AGIN is back to the shop (Santini's)

[RICH MUISE]

I'm curious as to how your going to be able to tell if another one is going to be any better fit without having your car in 29 palms to check fit. Does he think a show quality fit can be found on salvage yard parts, or any car for that matter without the special ($1000) tweaking his shop is noted for. Also curious as to why he couldn't tell before you went thru the expense of the blasting and priming. I may be a little off base here, but I think I'd be a little annoyed with the bodyshop.

[57AGIN]

Rich:

I'm with you on the deck lid issue and I may not find a better deck lid.  As for the hood, apparently the owner of the media blasting place had a long discussion with Santini before the blasting was done.  Santini was only going to have him do the bracing on the underside of the hood, as he had previous bad experiences with media doing both sides of a hood.  The media owner said not to worry he would have his technician just do a very light hit on the upper hood surface.  When the job was done the hood was warped and according to Santini the media tech either hadn't listened to the media owner or the owner forgot to tell him.  All in all a bad deal, but not too late to recover from.

Bob
57 AGIN

[JPotter57]

Plus, Rich, Santini is probably the best in the business.  I could never afford him, but his work is second to none, multiple magazine cars to his his credit, multiple show winners as well.  Short version, dude is good.  The media guys should have known, you can't blast metal like that.  The blasting creates heat, even with walnut shells, and it will warp.  Only thing I blast is heavy stuff like wheels, spindles, stuff like that.  Sorry to hear about the delays, Bob, but can guarantee it will be as perfect or better than before.

[RICH MUISE]

Agreed...and Bob's explaination cleared things up a bit..at least with the hood.

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Just got back from Twentynine Palms yesterday.  I got a replacement hood for the one the media blaster warped (Santini says it will be dipped this time) and unfortunately had to pass on a replacement deck lid.  Steve Pierce had one deck lid left that wasn't part of a complete car, but it had issues with the lower passenger side where the skin folds over and attaches to the main structure of the deck lid (see photos 1 & 2).  So Jeff will wind up reworking the deck lid that the media blasting place messed up.  I had a great time talking with Steve and also brought back a 58 Ford steering shaft for Rick, who is working on some kind of project for his 57.  Meanwhile, the media blasting place owned up to the fact that they probably were responsible for rolling the lower lip and one or more of the deck lid dents.  Today I took the replacement radiator core support and the ruined radiator over to Mattson's Radiator in Stanton, CA who built the one that is now ruined.  Jack Mattson is going to use them to design a new even more efficient radiator that can be used on 57 Fords.  The only negative is the the fill tube will have to be relocated to the passenger side which will cause some problems with having a working radiator overflow system due to battery box interference.  And the "beat" goes on and on and on....

Bob
57 AGIN

[JimNolan]

Bob,
Bless your heart, it looks like you totaled the 57 with all the things you're doing to it. I've got 25K of agreed insurance on my 57 and Hagerty would have thrown that at me and took my car before they'd pay for all you're doing to yours. I've gave a lot of thought to this drag racing my car this year and I've about talked myself out of it. I'd hate to tear up my car with it running so good now. It would absolutely devastate me to go through what you're doing now. I watch these videos of drivers like mine being torn up on the track and it puts shivers up my spine. Hang in there, hopefully your 57 will be fixed one day. Jim

[57AGIN]

Jim:

The best thing I've done in insuring my 57 is to do the agreed value to the extent that I could replicate my car if the worst thing were to happen.  Of course taking a car to the drag strip and running it, does tend to void all insurance plans I'm aware of.  I've said it many times, my current 57 is all those things I would have wanted to do to my original 57, but couldn't afford it when I was young.  The car has sentimental value to me as my wife and I dated in my original 57 over 50 years ago.  The money I've invested in it will never be recouped, I couldn't sell it for what's gone into it in its various configurations since I bought it in 1998.  But at least for as long as I can drive it, I'll insure it for an agreed cash value of $100,000.  So the insurance company will definitely think twice before declaring it a total loss.  For about $500 per year I believe it is money well spent.  But, I'd sure like to get in onto a quarter mile just once to see what it will do, but most likely never will.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Back to Santini's again and found Jeff Beck working on my passenger side front fender.  Oddly enough he had it strapped to a Chevy to hold it steady while getting the metal ready for primer coating.  I joked with him saying not even my 57 Ford fender can make that Chevy into a classic.  I noticed that my replacement passenger fender had some mirror mounting holes just above and to the rear of the antennae hole, but those mirrors were long gone and thinly patched before I got the fender from Steve. Oh well, it was good just to see some progress being made on my car.  I believe things will start happening fairly quickly now, as the necessary pieces have been received from EMS for repairing the rear of the car. 

I am a bit concerned about where the chrome and stainless will be done, as this time the two places that did that work a couple of years ago for me have both closed due to environmental/city pressures.  There are still good places around, but it remains to be seen whether their work will be as good as I had in the past.



Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Everyone:  There is finally some more work being done on the replacement parts obtained from Steve Pierce.  The latest work in progress is on the front splash pan under where the grill goes.  It is interesting to see Jeff work with the hammer & dolly to straighten metal that has been subject to harsh treatment in the past.  His methods are "old school" and when he does use some thinly applied skim coats, he prefers to have a minimum of that material applied and then use successive coats of primer along with block sanding, which he says is less porous and protects the metal underneath for better long lasting results. Jeff tells me that once the basic straightening and body work is done and before any final finishing is done, he will install the radiator core support then hang the fenders, doors, hood, deck lid and rear end pieces to ensure fitment and clearances through out the car.  So right now everything is proceeding slowly in getting the basic prep work out of the way.

One thing I've learned about Santini's shop is that he stands behind the work done there and really doesn't like to have to redo slipshod work.  Besides my 57, his shop is currently working on a mid-60's Pontiac 2 + 2, a Chevelle and a couple of relatively minor insurance jobs along with replacing the entire side of a large pickup truck. There are also a number of other cars at the shop that are awaiting parts or insurance company approvals.  So the body man,Jeff, is kept very busy moving between the various cars in different stages of repair. Pete does all the painting and he has another employee that does lots of buffing, sanding and cleaning. This is the frustrating part for me, as a non-mechanic/do it yourselfer to be stuck looking at slow progress on my project, while other projects come in and go out on a steady basis.  My guess is that the car will be complete well after summer has come and gone and could even take as long as the original restoration.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Well the 57 is still in the process of being repaired.  From Late May until mid August it just sat while other insurance and minor repairs were being done by the shops small staff.  But, earlier this week they got back to work on my 57.  They are starting with repairing the damage to the rear of the car. The first photo shows the car up in the air waiting for the removal of the gas tank.  The next photo is of the Tailpan that was removed, EMS provided a new Tailpan and stiffener.  The EMS pieces were well done, but still required trimming and fitting to get it back to "factory" appearance. The next photo shows, the body and trunk floor areas that required considerable clean-up before the new Tailpan could be welded into place. The final photo shows Jeff in the process of cleaning of all the metal the new Tailpan will be welded to

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Moving on to the actual installation and finish of repairs to the rear end.  The next photo shows the new deck lid gaps by the rear window to be perfect. The next photo shows the gap between the deck lid and the passenger side to be better than that of the original, the same holds true for the driver side. The final photo shows the new Tailpan installed with the seams welded flush.  Also the tail light bezels are going to be molded into the body after being epoxied and bolted.  Unfortunately, the pot metal can't be welded to the steel body, but the finished product will look better and probably outlast me by a long time.  I'm starting to get excited again, now that the work has begun again.  Next week Jeff is moving up to the front end, where the majority of damage was done.

Bob
57 AGIN

[Limey57]

Excellent work, there's nothing that says "quality" more than good, equal panel gaps.

[RICH MUISE]

It (almost?) makes the wait bearable!! It's gotta be tough just seeing your baby sit there so long. Bob...same color scheme when the time comes?

[57AGIN]

James:

Yes, I really like the color and I think it sets the car off really nice.  There is going to be a few minor modifications to what was there before, both on the exterior and interior.  Although, those are still in the preliminary planning stage and will be an out of pocket expense.  The insurance company has been very supportive and good to work with and I'll bear the costs of modifications.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Here is the latest on my 57's rehab.  I decided to have the tail light bezels molded into the rear quarter panel.  After years of looking at Rick's 57 Custom 300 I decided that is the look I wanted for mine too.  Jeff had just finished doing the left rear quarter panel & tail light bezel.  Here is how it turned out.

Bob
57 AGIN