72 Mercury Comet GT in Germany

Well I have just read all of the whole thread from start to finish. You are doing a fantastic job of a restoration. Having most likely a1 only in germany, you might as well make people know. Be brave and paint it the factory stock color Hell they will be able to see it 1/2 mile away.If your gonna be different with a auto, might as well do it right. this will match your restoration effort. As you said the car neds tom be done properly this time. JMO

 

the body is nearly done. here's some pics of it waiting for paint, covered in a zinc primer:




i also had a very rude awakening. that was when we inspected the new doors more closely. the bottom is very thin with lots of tiny holes. impossible to weld, as that would only rip up new ones. back to the drawing board, i guess...

 

wow the body looks amazing! congrats . . .
did you have the doors shipped from here?

 

thanks.
i had the doors shipped, but via container. a friend of mine imports cars, mostly dodge rams. there is lots of space in each container to transport other parts...

 

still no paint...
some more things had to be prepared, especially fenders. found another rust hole on the bottom of the driver's side. passenger side is already a later year replacement part. i haven't got a clue what somebody tried to do to the hood scoop - cut a hole in it?






i'll strip down the hood next weekend...

 

Do you media blast cars over there like we do here in the states?

 

yes, media blasting is fairly common. prices are steep, though.

i was quoted 1200€ for the car, so i'm stripping the car with my bare hands (and some nice tools and chemicals). the main problem i faced was that nearly everybody i asked was afraid of blasting large areas like roof, hood and fenders as they thought the metal would twist and bend too easily.

 

It's all looking good, Thomas.

I used those hard sponge looking paint remover pads, with the velcro on the back, made by 3M that go in a drill to get my body to bare metal. Works without so much as a scratch in the metal. That and wire wheels too.

 

I see what looks like a crack. I have the same thing on both sides. Is this common? What do we do to fix it?

 

not a crack, it's the metal brace that is welded to the cowl vent area. here you can see it completely taken apart:
http://mmb.maverick.to/showpost.php?p=565443&postcount=29

 

Hmmm, I guess I will look at mine a little closer. Maybe mine is cracked but not yours. Now you got me hopeing that it's not as bad as I thought

 

It's getting there!

 

started stripping the hood this weekend. only found minor rust spots on the lip, i guess it's an easy fix.



i found no green under all the bondo - it must be a replacement hood, just like the pass side fender. scoop placement is an issue - here's what it looks like in the current location:



shouldn't it be more like this?

 

I agree on the scoop placement needing to be further back. Maybe someone here has the right specs for it.

You got lucky on the hood ... a lot of rotten ones out there.

I have drilled drain holes in the chrome trim on both of my Comets so that it doesn't hold water. I drilled 1/4" holes on the inside corner, at a 45 degree angle, under each location where there is a small bevel. I believe those bevels line up with drain holes in the hood. It has been a long time since I had one apart.

You can not see the holes I drilled unless the hood is open and you are pretty much looking for them.

 

the hood lip is fixed, i will surely look at the chrome trim and modify it like you said!

in the meantime, i touched up my consolette a little. it had a hole in the side, suffered from a sloppy lid and was in a bad shape in general.

filled the hole with fiberglass:



took it apart completely, even cut off the hinge, and painted it:


riveted the hinge back on:


and now the only thing i need is a clock!