1) Using a razor blade, I scraped off all the old paint on the '57. The junk primer made it a fairly easy job. Fortunately there is only one paint job on your car. There's about 5 pound's of paint on the floor.
2) You can see here the rust developing behind the fin.
3) This is where I started to peel your '57 like an Apple.
4) Here's a better look at the rust. This will need some attention.

1) I decided to start on the trunk. There was extensive rust in the channel underneath the weather stripping. What I decided to do is to replace the damaged channel with a channel cut from a 1967 Mustang.
2) Trial fit.
3) The damaged metal removed.
4) Plug weld holes for the bonding strip drilled.
5) A bonding strip was plug welded into the opening. Once the new channel was fitted, I bonded the channel into the trunk lid. The clamps will stay in place for 24 hrs.
6) After cure time, the clamp's were removed and the plug welds smoothed out.
7) The repair is cleaned up and all that's left is a small void.
8) Body filler is applied and leveled.
9) After the panel was prepped, I sprayed on a couple of good coats of epoxy primer.

1) Starting with the fender, I took a sander with a 36 grit disc and removed the remaining lacquer primer and body filler.
2) Other than some beat up metal, I found this scab patch.
3) The reason I call it a scab patch is because a slab of metal was brazed over the rust in the fender. You can see the original metal at the forward area of the fender. This hack repair only accelerated the rust damage.
4) A new patch was made and flanged, then welded into the fender.
5) There was an uneven gap in between the door and fender. It appears to have happened from the damage done to he fender. To make the gap even, I will insert a steel rod.
6) The rod is in place.
7) Once the rod was tacked in place, I filled the gaps with weld.
8) The mirror holes were welded closed along with the unidentified ones I found on the top of the fender.
9) The pull hammer holes drilled in by the prior body shop, where filled with weld. This will stop any water from soaking into the filler from the back of the fender. This will prevent rust from forming under the filler. There was also a dip on the door edge, so I ran a bead along the edge of the door.
10) All the welding was ground smooth. The panel gap was evened out.
11) Two problem area's at the headlight were cut out and welded up.
12) All the body work is completed on the left side of the Chevy. All the old primer was removed using 100 grit/dry revealing clean metal.
13) The rusty area on the rear quarter was sanded smooth. I then used a metal conditioner and a scotch-brite to clean out the pitting. The complete area was washed down with water and then MEK. When the quarter was dry, I sanded the area again with 100grit/dry to remove any metal conditioner residue.
14) The gap is much better. It still need's some minor adjustment's.
15) I removed quite a bit of filler from the lower rocker. I found a small patch at the bottom of a dent. This must have been a hard impact to put a hole in a rocker panel.
16) Once everything was cleaned off, I applied two coats of epoxy primer.
This complete's the left side of the '57. Plenty left for next Week.

Starting on the right side of the '57 Chevy this Week.
1) What we have here is the fender welded to the rocker. This is a sure sign that the fender bolt has been broken off. I'm sure there are other problem's hidden behind this fender also.
2) I found a repair behind the old filler. I cut out the patch and found an old piece of metal jammed in between the patch and fender reinforcement. I saw no other purpose for the extra piece of metal.... other than causing a rust issue.
3) You can see the brazed in repair and the false panel much clearer now.
4) Using a grinder, I removed the broken bolt and nut plate.
5) A modified "J" nut was welded into place and a new bolt installed. The weld blob was removed from the rocker panel.
6) The fender reinforcement was primed then new metal was welded into place.
7) The old lacquer primer was removed and the fresh metal was prepped for primer. Bodywork finished.
8) Two wet coat's of high build epoxy primer was applied.
9) Who knows what's lurking under here.
10) Close up. Lot's of filler and cracking.
11) The lower rocker has a large rust hole. This area was also patched at one time. (brazed)
12) Using the new panel as a guide, I marked off the area with tape.
13) The area was cut out. That small panel was riveted into place to prevent filler from oozing out the back of the torn panel. Water seeping in from the back of the junk patch made the old filler swell and crack. The dissimilar metals of steel and the aluminum rivet's, also cause a seperate form of corrsion. This also contributed to the failed repair.
14) The old repair removed.
15) The old paint and body filler removed. As you can see this panel is very rough overall.
16) This was a hard hit.
17) The panel was fitted and then tacked into the quarter.
18) The lower part of the panel was off a bit. I scored the rocker fold to fit the rocker panel. Holes were drilled at the pinch weld then plug welded.
19) The stainless steel trim hole's were marked for drilling, then the panel was welded into place. Bonding adhesive would have also worked well in this situation.
20) The weld's were cleaned up and the over all panel was prepped for filler. A lot of areas were reworked to remove warping, high spot's and the low spot's. Any holes drilled for the pull hammer were welded closed.
21) A small rocker panel patch was fabricated and welded in place.
22) The major areas were filled and blocked with 36 grit. Once the panel was level, I skimmed the complete panel with filler to make sure the filler deviation's are removed. I apply filler in forward and aft direction's rather than up and down. This will reduce any distortions made by the spreader in the final finish. The filler is left to dry over night.
23) The old sound deadener was removed from the back of the trunk lid. This stuff was falling apart. It would have really trashed out the final finish.
All the major body work is just about completed. The trunk lid has something lurking under the old paint. I saw a shadow of something earlier on. That is next on the agenda.

1) The Hood stripped of junk paint.
2) The Quarter panel blocked out. At least I thought so.
3) Three coat's of epoxy primer was applied to the Hood.
4) The Quarter panel had 3 coat's of epoxy primer applied. This is where I thought I saw something odd in the surface. A second set of experienced eye's confirmed it.
5) The trunk lid stripped and body work completed.
6) Old body filler and rust hiding wrinkled sheet metal.
7) The Roof area stripped of old paint thanks to my Brother in Law, Larry.
8) The wiper cowl also stripped of old paint.
9) The rear Deck area and Trunk channel stripped.
10) Roof area primed in epoxy. The semi gloss finish help's locate minor dent's in the Roof.
11) The rear surround area was sprayed with epoxy primer. Note the wrinkled sheet metal to the right of the Trunk lid.
12) There where some mystery hole's drilled in the Roof. No repair was noted, so I counter sunk the hole's.....
13) ......and filled them in with panel bonding adhesive. Welding would not be a good idea in this area due to the headliner.
14) The Trunk lid installed.
15) The Hood gap's were uneven.
16) I adjusted the latch and that evened out the gap's.
17) Some minor body work completed.
18) A large warp was located in the right Quarter panel. Using a body hammer would have made the warp worse since the metal was stretched. I decided to make a cut down the center to release the tension. I used light pressure to level out the surface,then welded in the cut.
19) Some rust damage was found at the rear Bumper filler panel.
20) I cut a patch from some "Brand X" sheet metal and bonded in the repair. All the repair panel's on the Chevy, except the Quarter panel patch, were sprayed with "E" coat primer on the front and back from the factory. This coating will resist corrosion for many year's to come.

Sometime's you just don't know how big a 57 Chevy is till you block sand one....
1) After the couple of coat's of primer dried on the trunk area,which wasn't very long in this heat, I saw some needed body work. After the filler dried, I spotted in another coat of epoxy primer.
2) The front clip was ready for some more sanding. Using a 6 inch block and 100 grit/dry sandpaper,I blocked out the front fender's and hood. I skim coated all the low spot's with polyester filler and resanded again 100.
3) After some cleaning, I sprayed on three wet coat's of epoxy primer. I use a 2.0 tip for priming.
4) Next was to block out the rt Quarter. I blocked the quarter with 100 grit/dry also, then applied three coat's of primer. Once dry, I blocked the quarter once again, then touched up some low area's with some polyester filler.
5) The rt Door was blocked with 100, and the low area's were smoothed with filler. Both panel's were sprayed with epoxy primer. 3 coat's.
6) Plenty of low spot's on the left side too.
7) Prepped and primed with epoxy.
8) Blocking and filling on the trunk area.
Plenty more sanding to go!

Made a lot of headway this week.
1) Got out the can of Polyester filler and skimmed over the low spot's in the Roof and Trunk area.
2) Three coat's of epoxy filler primer was applied, then the '57 was moved out into the Oklahoma oven, set at 103 degree's.
3) Day two.
4) The corner of the Hood was adjusted down to the Fender.
5) The Hood was removed from the Chevy for prepping. The Hood was blocked with 220 grit and 400 grit sandpaper.
6) The Roof was prepped the same way.
7) The Chevy was cleaned off. The Door's were taped shut since the door latches' were removed when the Door jamb's were prepped.
8) I plan to paint your Chevy in section's. It'll be much easier to manage. The Roof and hood are the first to be painted Torch red. The area's to be painted were prepped and masked off. Once the panel's were tacked off,I applied one coat of reduced epoxy primer(sealer), then the area's were left to dry for two hour's. Next, I applied three coats of Torch red base. After an hour of dry time, I applied three coat's of high solid's Clear coat.
9) The Torch red hood.
There's plenty of blocking left to do. Painting the Roof and Hood really broke up those long hour's of block sanding. Color is a great motivator!

1) I decided to paint your Chevy in section's. The heat was the reason. After a while in the paint room it' get's pretty toasty being in a full suit. I wanted to keep the mistakes to a minimum, especially the danger of sweat dripping into the finish. It takes a bit longer to paint a complete car this way due to the extra masking but so does fixing goof's. So, the front clip was the first to get painted.
2) Front clip.
3) Fender/Cowl.
4) Then came the rear.
5) Last minute work on the Door.
6) .....and finally paint.
7) Jamb's. The fine line tape is pulled immediately after the last coat of Clear. This will prevent a tape line from showing at the Quarter.
8) The Chevy painted.
9) Right side.
10) Lt. rear.
11) Rt. rear.
12) Overhead.
13) Different lighting.
14) The last one for the Week.
Monday I'll start color sanding.

1) I started out on the front clip and sanded the clear with 800grit/wet. I went in a forward and aft direction. The 800 will remove orange peel and other defect's. The surface will be nice and flat. A perfect foundation for a deep shine.
2) 1000grit/wet was next. This time I went against the scratch that the 800grit made. This will get the surface even flatter and will avoid putting rut's in the finish.
3) 1500grit/wet follows' up to the 1000. Once again, I change directions to the forward and aft. There is less flattening of the surface and now the shine is developing.
4) The last grit I use is 2000. I change direction one last time. You can see the shine is returning.
5) The sanding process is done and the buffing begins.
6) Another look at the stage one buffing using rubbing compound and a wool pad.
7) Before going any further, I decided to clean the dust out the Engine compartment. After cleaning, I sprayed the front radiator area and the hood hinge's with some satin black paint. It look's so much cleaner and the old overspray is gone from the prior paint job.
8) Here's what you've been waiting for. I installed the Hood and did a final buffing.
9) I used a foam pad and a swirl remover compound. This remove's the light haze and give's the paint a deep gloss.
10) Cleaned off the annoying primer overspray that was on the headlight's.
11) Different lighting. I use this lighting to find any defect's I may have missed.
12) When I do, I scrape them out with a razor blade then re-sand and buff.
13) The surface difference between a cut/buffed and non cut/buffed panel.
14) On to the Roof.
15) The roof was prepared and buffed the same way as the front clip.
16) Overhead.
17) I really need to fix the ballast in that light fixture.
18) Last picture of the week.

I've been pretty busy juggling Mustang's around needing minor repair this Week, but I still got some work done on your Chevy.
1) The buffing on right side is completed.
2) Deck lid and Vertical stabilizer area.
3) 1968 Camaro.
4) Right rear.
5) This particular color of red has a unique Glow in low lighting. I would imagine this is what it would look like under street lamp's during a night cruise.
6) Just messing around with the flash.
All that's left to buff is the right rear quarter and right Door, then it's the final cleaning and reassembling.

Well, I won't be boring you much with detail's this Week. The '57 is buffed out and the assembly will start shortly. I changed the combination of compound's and added an extra step. Alway's looking for the ultimate shine.

1) I'll start with the light bar and grill assembly. First is fixing the old wiring harness. One wire had broken at the socket.
2) I cut open the plug so I can get to the connector. I also pulled back the tape and found this worthless repair.
3) The wire's were trimmed and soldered to the plug.
4) Heat shrink was used to protect the connection's. This is only a temporary repair. The harness is very old and brittle.
5) Rustoleum was applied to the back of the Bumper assemblies'.
6) Gold paint was sprayed on to the Grill.
7) The grill was assembled.
8) The headlight bezel's are prepared for paint. Semi-gloss paint will be sprayed on to the unmasked area. Since chrome is very hard to prepare for paint,I use an Adhesive Promoter (Bull Dog) instead of sanding. Think of it as a super glue for paint. Spray it onto the area then follow up with paint.
9) The front of the Chevy assembled.
10) Different lighting.
11) The Belair and the Crest were looking drab so I prepared them for some gold paint.
12) Adhesion promoter was applied followed by gold.
13) I sprayed on white to finish off the crest.
The inserts were attached to the Quarter panel's. Instead of using RTV which the prior owner used, I drilled holes in the proper location's (7) and used sheet metal screw's to hold the insert's in place. The factory hole's had been filled in by the prior owner, so I had to use the insert's as a guide and drill new hole's. I was lucky and nailed each factory hole. That doesn't happen everyday.
14) The body side molding was installed. This was no easy task. The repair I did on the quarter panel presented a problem for the attachment clip's. The repair made the attachment area twice as thick so the clip's could not fully spread. You had some spare clip's that could be used. They have a threaded stud instead of a spring clip. They will work just fine,except that I have to remove the rear interior panel to get a nut onto the stud. So.... the panel was removed and the trim was installed. The left side quarter trim is also an issue. The clip's are worn and won't hold the trim to the Quarter properly, so the same molding clip's with a stud will be used for the left side.
15) Left side.

Now it's time to assemble the rear of the '57.
1) The rear bumper extension's getting prepared for black accent.
2) I followed lines of the area to be painted with some fine line tape. Once the end was masked off,I sprayed on a couple coats of adhesion promoter, then a couple of coats of semi-gloss black.
3) With that completed,I reassembled the back of the Chevy.
4) This is the hardware to install the lower rocker molding. Guess what, it doesn't work. The clip pictured on the left won't fit into the hole's on the lower rocker. The hole's are to large. To the right, is the hardware that was gathered to attach the rocker molding. The clips had to be cut so that the center was opened up. The clips will be held to the rocker with modified Well Nuts, Pan Head screw's and Washer's and a dab of RTV to seal the hardware.
5) The rocker molding hardware installed.
6) Rocker molding installed.
7) Fender skirt's refinished.
8) The side window lower trim installed. The rear quarter molding was fastened down using the threaded molding stud's. The interior panel's installed. Placed and installed the side mirror's. I looked at dozen's of picture's to get the average location of the door mirror. Since the mirror was a dealer installed option,the mounting position was not exact from Car to Car. Every picture I looked at showed the mirror stem about half way pass the vent window glass. I made sure the vent window could be opened before permanently mounting the Mirror.

All that's left is to hook up the tail light wiring, install the weather stripping and a good cleaning and detail.