How to find a body shop for rust work?

H

Honolulu

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My '73 needs some rust repair at the back of the front fenders and maybe more. You're thinking "some"?! Boy is this sucker in for a surprise. Maybe so. We shall see.

I've asked several body shops about rust repair. They all shake their heads, they want panel replacement and insurance work. They won't suggest anyone else that could do the work, either. Maybe they don't realize that a "3.0CS" is even a car.

I'm in Honolulu. The entire island is 20 miles by 30. I don't have the wider options of those in a continental situation. What are the suggestions of the group to ferret out competency in this area? Any suggestions will be considered.

I've thought of asking the dealer but the body guys that service them took ONE YEAR TO THE DAY to fix my 2002tii. Not going there again, and don't think with the dealer feeding them, they'd even think of working on some "old car".

None of my CCA pals have had much to suggest. Not in touch with the local Benz guys much.

TIA
 
I've had that same problem and I'm in Atlanta.
I do have a guy now and he is very good but also very sloooooowwww.
See if you can find someone that has built some hot rods. They have to deal with this same problem.
Look for older guys who have come up doing this. I would reach out to the Porsche and MB guys and possibly the Datsun 240Z crowd.
They don't know BMW's but there is a lot of info here and other places to have photos to show to someone that will work on your car.
Be prepared to buy metal from W&N. I'm sure I've spent $3000 with them. They have a lot but not everything you need or want.
If I can help let me know. It's a very slow process.
Gary
 
I have 5 cars in at a time at the shop I use.
They order fresh sheet metal in from Germany every few weeks.
Great work

In California

In maui last year the local shop was great until they quit working on it.
Had to tow the car away from them.

Paint and body is tough....
 
Given that you are stuck in a tricky situation, look for some offroad shops. Check online for hawaii offroad forums. It isn't uncommon to find fabricators that are very competent with an angle grinder and MIG/TIG. The same goes for custom motorcycle shops. A momtorcycle shop will likely have better experience with thin sheetmetal. You obviously don't want a hack job on your hands but the fact is that most of your work will be covered by the fenders. As long as they have some visual aids and perhaps some W&N replacement panels I'm sure they can figure it out.
 
You might figure out if there's any welding classes or instructors on the island and see if they know of any good sheet metal guys. The college instructors always seems to be connected with that type of stuff and sometimes they'll have a student that is really good or works for a place that can do that kind of work..
 
I'm sure that you, even at 30mi by 20mi, still have car shows...find the five or six best looking cars that obviously don't have original paint, and stroke those individuals about their car...then ask about the beautiful paint work...Hopefully, this networking will lead to someone with the passion to do the work, do it right, and possibly not require a lien on your house. Best of luck. And as the above have stated, it's tough to find folks today willing to do that work, and you will have to be creative...I do like Dan's idea...
Dave V. in NC
 
I think the approach here is to lure a skilled worker to Honolulu to do the work as part of a visit.
You would need to facilitate the tools at some friendly shop, but given that I am sure I will find a person to go to Hawaii for some money and tourism.
Let me know when you need names :).
 
Arde said:
I think the approach here is to lure a skilled worker to Honolulu to do the work as part of a visit.
You would need to facilitate the tools at some friendly shop, but given that I am sure I will find a person to go to Hawaii for some money and tourism.
Let me know when you need names :).
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good tax write off for the altruistic fabricator...
 
Ship the car to California. Might even be cheaper in the long run given the higher costs of doing work in Hawaii.
 
I would second what Sven and Don say. Priola is becoming very experienced in the E9 space. They have 5+ cars there at present, and one completely stripped down. Their advantage is, with all the cars there, they have multiple templets to follow. They did two cars for me, and were a pleasure to deal with. Tim.
 
Sven said:
Ship the car to California. Might even be cheaper in the long run given the higher costs of doing work in Hawaii.
Click to expand...
Do not give up yet, I am working on getting a person to go work in situ. Give me 3 days.
 
Thanks guys for the suggestions. Some I'd considered, some not.

Shipping to Oakland or LA costs about $1100 each way, x2 = $2200. Nobody said it would be cheap, but interisland shipping is considerably less. I've met a guy on Hawaii who has experience but was hoping that I'd get someone on Oahu. We do have over 80 percent of the population here after all. The last well regarded guy I heard of, two decades ago, discovered recreational chemicals in a big way and thus ended all meaningful participation. Painters can be a wild lot as well.

Doing the work in situ sounds like someone's about to buy airline tickets. I could work with that, let's hear more.
 
Honolulu said:
Doing the work in situ sounds like someone's about to buy airline tickets. I could work with that, let's hear more.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is what I am working on. You would have to help sort out some tools and accommodations. Oh, and keep the person away from recreational chemicals this time...
 
Charlie,

As another option, you might consider 'Hot Rod' shops. Some of them can do exceptional work. I've attended the drag races at the Kauai drag strip, and got acquainted with one of the key guys in that Island's drag community. He said there were drag strips on the other Islands, and at least once a year, there is an inter-island 'big event'. You might check out the Oahu drag guys and see whether any of them recommend a shop that would do 'custom' work.

Good luck, I'm sure it won't be easy.

By the way, we were on Kauai 3 weeks ago when you guys as well as Maui county and Hawaii county were getting dumped on by the tropical storm. Beautiful weather on Kauai during those days!! Hope you didn't have any issues with flooding.
 
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