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A cousin of mine works for an auto-restoration shop in Northern California that unofficially specializes in unscrewing bodywork that was screwed up by car-owners who thought they knew what they were doing and/or were too cheap to allow a professional to work on their cars.

My cousin said he had the opportunity to work on a Packard about ten years ago that the front doors wouldn't close properly after the owner tried to replace a portion of the front floorboard. (Don't ask what the relationship is between the two.)

He said the "repair" was a colossal disaster. Evidently, when the owner realized the problem he had created, he kept tinkering with his repair job by rewelding, adding all kinds of supports, joints, and make-shift fixes, but to no avail.

My cousin said he had to take the owner's repair job back to the original starting point and completely start over again--at a premium price.

Perhaps it's a matter of pride that some owners simply won't admit that he doesn't know what the heck he's doing. However, my cousin said it's those types owners that keeps his business flourishing.

as always
Garrett Meadows

A fool and his money still applies.
It's easy. Chip Foose does it in a week on TV! You just take this old part out and put this new part in. DAH.

What I don't understand, maybe have contributed to by trying to help occasioanlly, is they all ask questions on these forums rather than seek the correct help. It's appropriate for some things but not all.

Don't forget that's TV magic!
Wes

At SEMA in Las Vegas Chip Foose and his crew do the "TV Magic live and finish the car in a week. They have outside shops/suppliers who are at the ready to facilitate the job getting done in record time. I'd love to see the bills and man hours for the restorations/modifications I've witnesses.

What puzzles me is how Dutch Darrin took in a new 38-40 Packard coupe and in 2 weeks turned out a fabulous Darrin Victoria, Now it takes a year plus to restore one with no TV!

Having new parts doesn't hurt. I knew a guy Jack Nagel who spent years and years restoring an Isotta. But when the car was done it was spectacular.