The restoration has begun!

Hey all, its been awhile since I've been of the forum, I hope all is well in everyone's life.

So I got married at the end of last year and me and wife bought our first home, and now were out of the apartment and now I have a two car garage, and you know what that means, its time for tear down!

So my shell is trashed and its just too far gone, so I need a donor shell from the west coast. Now I'm just stripping off everything else and accessing the damage. So I pulled the fenders and wheel wells off the car and I'm not surprised I need patch panels for the bottom fenders. But I'm having trouble finding patch panels.

 

What's the car?

 

The one in my thumbnail photo 1971 Buick GSX Clone(Skylark)

 

Running an oldsmobile engine? Those patch panels used to be readily available. Maybe they were discontinued?

 

How bad is the shell? I have one here just not sure I'd want to part with it yet. They can be fixed. This is an extreme example: https://v8buick.com/index.php?threads/72-skylark-custom-resto.353273/

 

They've been on backorder for quite awhile.

 

No, that’s getting ripped out. Bought the car with it in it. I have two 455s ready for the machine shop.

 

I think this is too far gone, it doesn’t make sense money wise. The whole rear of the car needs replacing, wheel wells, quarters, rear window, trunk. It’s just a mess. A rust free shell is less money.

 

I can understand that. They come up now and again out west. The one I have could use quarter/wheelwell work. I really bought it for the floors which look like brand new.

 

What size is the oldsmobile engine? I was wonder the story behind oddball engine swaps..

 

That’s the best part of the car, the floors are very good, I might cut it out and sell it.

 

Yeah I have no idea, it’s 71 Olds 350, I never tore into it, but I know there’s a mild cam upgrade and an edelbrock manifold, everything else seems stock haha it’s slow.

 

@donny1973 might be interested in the floors and is in FL. Definitely don't trash them. Honestly, if the floors and rear inner wheelhouses are good, the rest isn't too bad to repair.

 

Well when I rip the carpet up next week I will have a better idea of the shape of the floor. But if you saw the car you would say yeah it’s gone..and I know it’s repairable, anything is, but sheet metal alone is like 2500 dollars and then getting someone to do the work is another 2500-3500 dollars. I want to try to do like little patch panels here and there. Like today I kept tearing the car down and the passenger side wheel well is trashed where the battery sits and someone just did the worst back yard hill billy **** and used like sheet metal and bondo to go right over the rusty ass metal. Atleast I can get that wheel well from another A-body or online.

 

Here are some pictures of the rust around the whole car and I ripped up the carpet and 90% of the floors are solid, I have 3 or 4 holes in the floor

 

Yea that tub is toast

 

Yeah the whole thing is toast

 

http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/72-skylark-shell.380155/

 

Thank you Doc!

 

Okay so I ripped all the carpet and insulation out of the trunk to find this…no holes! But wait, what’s that? It’s all fiberglass…

Someone at one point repaired this with fiberglass, I do have to say they did a decent job, but it’s not steel!

and for doors, I have two rust spots on my door skin, the rest of the door and other door is solid! Are there door skin patch panels available? Not seeing any..