bodywork progress on the W124 AMG3.6

[s class]

This is the car I'm sorting out for a colleague. The right rear quarter had a couple of nasty dents where his wife had backed up against a tree.

THis is how it looked originally - its not a great photo - unfortunately the best I have - what it doesn't show is that there were a series of dents ahead of the tail light area extending up towards the antenna aperture.

Now here's the catch - the owner has been absolutely adamant that he will not accept any body filler at all. The extreme difficulty is that the area is double skinned - isn't it always when there is a difficult dent?



Some weeks ago I had the paintless dent guys in, and they lifted the dents on the side to about half of their original depth. The 'inverted egg' dent right in the corner was impossibly stubborn. In this photo I've resorted to non-paintless dent removal techniques and made some progress. You can see the remaining depressions down the side of the car. Quite a challenge to complete this without needing filler :



Last week I spent some 4 hours working on the area with levers and 'spoons' that I made specially for the purpose.

Here's some midway shots of the progress. I like to work with the paint in tact as long as possible, and periodically pass a file over the area to check progress.







Coming along quite nicely - here are the final results - I have achiveved the goal - no filler will be needed, only a couple of coats of 2K-HS primer. Yes I'm proud.

 

[BenzBoy]

I can see a career here for you in Sydney as a restorer. It has some real possibilities given the quality of what you do.
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[s class]

Thanks for the compliment BenzBoy. There's no future here - it pays very little here - I do it for the fun more than the money.

 

[BenzBoy]

It's a bit more than a compliment. It falls into the category of possible work. There are some restorers here who are excellent and expensive and some who are expensive and tale short cuts. There is a demand for someone who can do work that is good and at a fair price. I am not sure if you would need to be registered and I am not aware of all the requirements but I do know there is a need for skilled people who work at a fair price. For example, I have a friend who is an expert detailer. He works from home, never advertises, charges a reasonably high but quite fair rate and he is booked for months in advance. He also does limited paint repairs, leather work and woodwork - and sub contracts to quality tradespeople when he can't do a job. He is one of those rare people I trust 100% with work on my cars.
From what I can see, you are much the same.
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[s class]

Yes Benzboy, that is the kind of setup that I have managed to cultivate here - I do about 5 hours a week on other peoples cars (such as this) or other smaller work (like air-cleaner refurbishment etc). Its taken a while to get it off the ground due to the difficulty of finding the right people to do out-work like plating, blasting etc.

It would be brilliant to be able to do something similar once I get to Aus.

Its a pleasure to work on a car like this when the owner wants perfection and understands how labour intensive it is. Not everyone is willing to pay 5 hours labour to have some cosmetic dents straightened.

 

[BenzBoy]

I'm thinking the owners of other marques as well as M-B. R-R, Bentleys, etc. Especially if you are game to take on some of the older stuff.
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[GreaseMonkey]

I agree, there are always enough people who will pay to get the right job done, and do recognise the skills involved.
I would expect a business like that to take about six months to get up to speed, and from there on, never need to advertise.
If the job is done right, no corners cut, no wasting time, then there will always be a market at about $50 an hour.
I do not mind paying the people I trust, and I get value for money.
Chris M.

 

[Michel]

There is definitely a market for you...

Talk to me when you settle here...