1969 Chevelle Metal Transplant

The rear quarter-panel patch replacement was performed much in the same pattern as the outer wheelhouse repair. In this shot, Valdivia had already cut a piece of sheetmetal to size, traced the factory character lines onto it, and made the necessary bends. With the piece held in place, he traced the outlines of the factory wheel opening contour onto the metal.

With the shape sketched into place, he then worked the piece on an anvil-in this case an I-beam-to fashion the actual contours. Work like this, creating metal shapes to match the factory pieces, takes metalworking ability and knowledge of the car being worked with-our talent for this case has been at it for 15 years, and it shows.

This is just one of many test-fittings, as he matched the patch panel up to the original quarter-panel then returned to the anvil for minute adjustments. At this point, some minor mods remained to be made on the character lines, but the wheel opening contour is right on.

Once the patch panel met with his approval, he formed the lower curve to match the quarter-panel shape, clamped the piece into place, then MIG-welded it in for good. He then cut out a new quarter-panel lip, which was spot-welded to the new outer edge-recreating the factory structure. The seam between the two pieces was then welded, and just like that, the patch was in place.

The last step was to grind down the welds, being careful not to obliterate the wheel opening contour, and also to shape the overhanging lip to match the original pieces. There's some finishing work to be done in this area, but the bottom line is that this part of this Chevelle is rust-free and looks like new.