Lots O' rust.. give me some good news.

[Joseph Lavender]

So, I bought a 79 miller meteor fleetwood hearse. It cost me 600.00. It runs. However, its got a good bit of rust...

My intention was to turn this thing into a spiffy ride, with a new paintjob...

The rust however has me overwhelmed.. here's a few videos.. of the main spots.

Some of these spots are near impossible to get to. I need a better analysis of the work at hand.

there's also rust on all 4 doors, some spots rusted through, and in the door jambs. But that, and the top is the worst of it. It is also rusted on the inside of the top, underneath what looks like that truck bedliner stuff. That is indeed a luggage rack on the top, not sure what that was all about.. the guy who owned it had mounted it up there.

I don't know the best way to tackle this without dumping a crap ton of money into it. I had the opportunity at one time to get a different body, and put my engine and such in it.. but I didn't have the money at the time. I don't expect it to last forever, but I wanted to have some fun with it and put it in some car shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMkEbWXhQQo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7x_pQPq2Fs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HewXIPYHXCw

[corpses bride]

Welcome to the club. My wifes 78 M&M it shot also. This winter im pulling the top off her but know i am in for serious problems. Her door jams have rot thru also due to southern heat rotting the seals. Just a labor of love.

[ukdoa]

Phew....! the the tin-worm strikes again... mine is in having back arch and rear door fixed, (like yours it's a bit of a mess) and the only way is cut it out and start with new metal. Start at one point, fix it, then move round to the next bit, don't let it get too overwhelming...

You could always go down the "art car" route similar to Zac's this might not be as expensive as trying to do a restoration. Whatever you decide good luck, and please keep us posted on progress.

[Joseph Lavender]

art car?

[Flymanj3]

art car?

Something totally outrageous, cool as hell, and makes people turn their head.... as they RUN AWAY!!!

Show 'em Zac -

[71endloader]

Been working with some rust myself, I recomend Lab Metal. It's a filler putty that has powdered aluminum in it instead of fiber glass or plastic talc. Applied much the same way as bondo, it dries to a hard, rust resistant aluminum surface that can be sanded, drilled, and shapped. I,ve used it to recover lost screw holes on the body (all that trim), and to rebuild the bottoms of the 71's quarter pannels. It's not so pricey either, considering other options!

[Guest]

that's one hell of a luggage rack

[SmoothNlow]

Geez, this thing is ate all to hell. Id hate to see the frame and floors. That's gotta be a north eastern car. That's crazy. And what in the sam hill is on the roof??? Lol

[Joseph Lavender]

yeah, It was an impulse buy that I found one day at work. I didn't realize that it was a rusty as it was..

I'm not sure what to do.

the luggage rack on top actually had luggage in it when i got the car.. weird.. I know. It also had all sorts of halloween stuff on it.

Actually I'm in GA.. south GA.

and the front floor plan is rusted out as well. The frame looks ok for the most part.

[Joseph Lavender]

yeah, It was an impulse buy that I found one day at work. I didn't realize that it was a rusty as it was..

I'm not sure what to do.

the luggage rack on top actually had luggage in it when i got the car.. weird.. I know. It also had all sorts of halloween stuff on it.

Actually I'm in GA.. south GA.

and the front floor plan is rusted out as well. The frame looks ok for the most part.

meant floor pan...

This would have been my first hearse. not sure if i should just send it to the crusher, and save up what I make from it to buy something thats not so rusty (if i can find it). The reason I bought it was that it was close by, and it was cheap.

[SmoothNlow]

Yea I mean honestly I probly woulda bought it too for 600. No hearse deserves to go to the crusher, in my opinion. I love em all. That's nothin a welder and a 4x8 piece of sheetmetal won't fix. Jus cut out a bad spot and put new metal in. Id rock the hell out of it while I'm fixin it. Lower it as much as you can and ride and fix as you go.

[Joseph Lavender]

I guess I need to find a welder then and get busy!

I had sort of grown attached to her, so was wanting some encouragement.

that lab metal stuff someone suggested doesn't look too shabby either..

my biggest problem is where some of these spots are.. look hard to get to.

[mr x]

looks mainly like it's from moisture getting under the vinyl top. Happens to a lot of cars when you pull of the top. Those things are pure evil. I have seen worse.

[Joseph Lavender]

yeah, I suspected that but for some reason this one didn't have a vinyl top on it when I got it.. not sure if the previous owners pulled it themselves but its a mess. I had fiberglassed the rusted through spots just so It wouldn't get any worse and no water damage on the inside (the interior is in good shape, except for some rust on the inner wall of the top pretty much coinciding to where its rusting on the outside )

I'm gonna try to get a welder/body friend of mine to do as much replacing with metal as we can. I'm just looking to slow the process down so that I can enjoy the car for the rest of "its" lifetime and not feel bad spending money to paint it and keep it up.

[Mohawk Freak]

Sometimes it's cool just to do what you can with what you have and enjoy it. It's easy to get the wheels turning in your head when you see cars that are all tricked out, and dump a ton of money into a junker with big ideas about getting it looking great.
I figure you can transfer wheels, and drivetrain etc. to another car, so it's not a commitment to that particular one so much.
Even suspension parts are like that. It's hours of welding that you can't take with you to the next car. If you get familiar with that body vintage you can get pretty quick at swapping parts over when a new car comes along.
Plus you get some wrenching experience on a car that doesn't mean much in the long run. Try to make it fun and learn as you go. You'll get there.