The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Fender creased today. What's next?

The neighbor hit my '48 when it was parked on the street. I can't wait until her insurance agent wants to total it out for $100. No way.

Picture of my fender.

Do you think a good body shop can pound this out to look really good? I worry about that vertical crease in the middle of the horizontal dent.

If not, would you go for a junkyard fender or a new replacement? (Are those availble?)

Thanks guys!!

A good body man could bump it out, but it would be very time consuming. Used fenders usually require work. A reproduction fender can be delivered to your doorstep for a little under $500. I don't know you will paint it to match the rest of the vehicle.

Remember that this is a liability. If the other party was clearly at fault, you have a much better bargaining positionn

A good body shop can straighten it without a problem. I'm by nature a bit suspect of repop parts. The quality standards are often lacking.

My '38 before.

During repair.

After repair.

Firstly...OUCH!

I assume the lower cowl panel has survived OK?
As Tiny said a good bodyshop should be able to straighten things out for you.

The beauty of the original stuff is it's made of a gauge of metal you can actually work with....
Good luck.

Estimates from the two best shops in town put the bodywork part at 10 hours and 12 hours for totals (including paint, etc.) of $840 and $930, respectively.

I do love the sound it makes when I slap the fender!

Is that an antenna mounted on your cowl vent?

Yep, that's a radio antenna (aftermarket?) and it has the right cable connection for my modern 12-volt that hides in the glovebox. The old faceplate basically plugs up the original holes and gives an original look.

Radios in my '48.

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The fender can be repaired easily, all you need is a few hammers and dollies and a shrinking disk. I checked Montana craigslist and found a few trucks under $950. What other parts do you need? Fenders should be an easy find in your area and they should range between $50 - $200.

Put a want ad on craigslist, you should be able to get one local.

The reproduction fenders always seem to require tons of work. Try to find an original or have that one fixed.

How fast was your neighbor going and how many drinks? That's a bummer.

The neighbor was driving a big loaner truck from a storage place. She didn't realize that the box on the truck was wider than the fenders when she drove past my truck on the street! The storage place's insurance will pay.

A great body shop in town (does lots of hot rods) will pull, pound and primer for $840. No final coat of paint since my fenders use black Rustoleum (see my web page!).

I'll post the final result.

I would fix it myself.. the crease isnt going to be easy, but practice makes you better at it.

Or you could drink a few beers and have a pro do it! Especially, it the insurance company is paying the bill.

The repop fenders are OK but they are not correct. The rear extreme bottom contour is not correct. 54-55 front repops have a seam that requires filling.

The body shop pulled, pounded and primered for the $840. And they ground down a weld bead line that was already there. The other insurance paid.

They used a 2-part epoxy primer and said it was impervious to the elements. They didn't do the full top coat because what I had there was Rustoleum (so much better than Krylon, I think).

Here's a pic. The "before" picture link is in my first post. Thanks guys.

Finished Fender

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They did a great job.

Yes,

My compliments to the shop

mike

Nice job,considering what they started with,and as I said before the original fenders are of a gauge of steel you can work with.

Not bad, not bad at all. I see you have a side mount antenna. You don't normally see those on that late of a vehicle. Looks pretty good.

Looks great...glad it worked out for you.