How screwed am I?

[Rebelrouser]

you need to find a good old-fashioned body man who knows how to straighten metal and not just replace parts. While I don't call myself a body man I had an uncle that showed me a thing or two. If I was going to try and fix it I would remove the taillight assemble and fabricate a metal plate that would bolt in place of the taillights and have a hook on it to attach a come along, and gently start pulling on the area in question, to see if it would pop out. If it doesn't work, you just have to resort to heat and a dolly which or course means painting that area or the car.

 

[QuickBpBp]

Find your local PDR guy that has a good reputation.

 

[DynaBro]

SOOOOOOOO anyone in this body forum know about this body issue? Closest reputable classics body shop is a half hour drive through nasty road construction guaranteed to chip my paint in a direction I don't want to go just to be told bad news I can get from one of you guys.

 

[eldubb440]

the quarter is a little tweeked, correct?............remove the quarter extension and carefully beat/tap the bent area back into shape from the inside......bodywork is not rocket science

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Are there any shops in your area that do paintless dent repair? That is what they do-what Dubb just said- ^^^

 

[DynaBro]

Nah. I'm not going to mess with this myself unless I find out the pro cost is obscene. I have no experience with it and have a long track record of ******* aesthetic things up. I can't even get the sanding right on drywall patches. The most complicated thing I can draw is a stick man. Mechanical fixes I am good with, but molding, paint, no. Only willing to deal with the anxiety of making this worse if they're going to rape me on the hourly now that the dollar is meaningless.

 

[Coelacanth]

Thinking more on this, again unexpert thoughts...but the bumper got pushed in on the left side and is otherwise straight, because the bumper is much stronger than the sheetmetal. Remove the bumper and compare the bumper mounts to see if the left side is pressed in more; it probably is. Then figure out a way to pull that left side area out slowly and see if that pulls the corner and other pushed-in areas back into better alignment. I'm thinking that's what a body shop would do, and try to perfectly reverse how the damage got done in the first place.

 

[DynaBro]

Thinking more on this, again unexpert thoughts...but the bumper got pushed in on the left side and is otherwise straight, because the bumper is much stronger than the sheetmetal. Remove the bumper and compare the bumper mounts to see if the left side is pressed in more; it probably is. Then figure out a way to pull that left side area out slowly and see if that pulls the corner and other pushed-in areas back into better alignment. I'm thinking that's what a body shop would do, and try to perfectly reverse how the damage got done in the first place.

Bumper isn't the issue at all. In fact it sits out slightly further on the left than the right. I can get a finger in at the seam between the bumper and body on the left and not the right. So, not a problem. The damaged piece is the C shaped corner painted body part that attaches to the upper rear quarter panel. In this photo you can see the trim if slush along the bottom left. In the ones above you can see it has been pushed in. And the panel itself is up a bit, higher than the quarter along the trunk edge. So, yeah, removing the trim using a come along would likely be the first order of business.

 

[eldubb440]

you're not gonna need a come along.......

remove the trim, tail light, and the extension......... and make it all fit, hammer and something to back it up is all you need

not sure if you can get the extension past the bumper, but you may not have to

2 hours may be milking it

 

[Coelacanth]

View attachment 2075294View attachment 2075295View attachment 2075296

Cool, I was going by the two pics on the right side of this post that seemed to show the left side pushed in quite a bit more than the right side.

 

[RR Fan Dan]

You are over thinking everything because your baby got a boo boo. Take it to a body shop if you can’t do it yourself. Don’t half *** it. A body shop won’t charge too much if there is no paint involved.

 

[OneWheelPeel]

I think a lot of PDR guys will come to you which is nice, but they may struggle with an older car that has thicker metal. I'd google for some and call around though.