Thread: Bondo Mobile

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ok so i got this 69 ford galaxie convertable, i know at least one door is made mainly of bondo and that a lot of the body is too... its a pretty sloppy bondo job too with a terrible paint job to go along with it.... would it be worth the money to get the car stripped and the body and paint redone? or should i just drive it a while longer and drop the problem on someone with more funding?

ALL convertibles are keepers in terms of value.

If all you need is a door, you can use one off of a hardtop and graft your window "caps" and vent assembly to it.

If you like the car, the best bet is to strip it down and PROPERLY repair the damage.

I had a '68 Galaxie convertible, Cayman yellow, black interior with buckets and console, 390 2V, C6, front discs. It was a great car and I regret trading it for a '68 Cougar 390 that I parked shiny-side-down.

Certainly, if you're in love with '69 Fords, the convertible is the most desireable, and therefore "valuable" of that vintage and model. That being said, look at the market for '69 Fords..........not very high. If you looked around real hard you could find a cherry one for less than $10k. And unless you're a very skilled metal man who has a lot of time on his hands, or the patience of Job, you're not going to make the car you described nice for that kind of money. As an example of something comparable I offer consideration of the '67 Merc convertible that AHSOM70 just bought for around $4k last week.

Saving an abused drop top is no small task. And after giving you the gloom above I'll tell you about an insane person I know who did just that. It's a '36 Ford roadster. Each door (unique to roadsters) came from a different donor, they both needed patch panels at the bottom. The top of the cowl, and the tulip panel (again unique pieces to a roadster) were taken from another car that had virtually nothing else left worth saving. The lower part of the main body section, with deck lid, came from a '36 five window coupe. Of course it needed patch panels at the bottoms of both cowl sections, both quarter sections, and the tail pan. Oh, and it needed a complete floor. So far I've described pieces from 4-5 cars, plus some aftermarket repair metal, just to make a main body. Several more '36 Fords contributed fenders, hood pieces, grille, windshield parts, etc. Why would someone go to all that trouble. Reference the insane remark above, but also these cars are both rare AND valuable. Not all that is rare is considered valuable. It comes to personal choice. This idiot wanted a steel '36 roadster, and had both the finances and persistance to make it happen. You need to determine if you possess the same desire, financial wherewithall, determination, skill and persistance. Then act appropriately. BTW, you can see pictures of the roadster in my gallery.

Hmmmmm Bob, but is this "insane/idiot" having fun?

Do you have more current photographs of your roadster? It sure looks like it'll be a beauty when you're finished

Dan J

Whether or not a '69 drop top is worth the time and the effort to put a bunch of new skin on is a decision you have to make. Like Bob said, if you're looking at only the $$$ invested vs. potential $$$ returned, it's probably not worth the time. If you like the car and it's on your "keeper list", then why not do it?? Lots of yards over in Arizona would have the needed parts, might take some searching but I doubt the components would be terribly expensive. If you're a good tin man patch panels are easy to do.

I agree that any rag top is worth saving, but if you don't have the finances i can understand not wanting to keep it, however its just a door, should'nt be to difficult to replace it. I disagree with you Bob, your friend was trying to keep an original 36 alive, istead of going for the easy out and getting a repo glass body. I got to give him credit for that. His investment should pay off as he has an original. I could see him going glass if that was his only option being availability or finances, but that did'nt seem to be the issue. I would'nt call him an idiot........dedicated "Car Crazy" as Barry MaGuire would say.