My 1970 442 convertible is really in need (for starters) of a new floor pan. What should I look for in a body shop to make sure that they are up for the job? I'm also open to recommendations, I'm in the NE Florida region, south of Jacksonville.

Thanks in advance
Eddy

 

This all depends on how bad the floor is and how good a job you want.

As a general rule, I would never look to a "crash repair" body shop for a job like this. Those facilities specialize in getting the car in and out as quickly as possible to maximize shop throughput and thus profits.

The bigger question, though, it my first one. How much of the original floor needs to be replaced? If this is just a couple of partial patches, that's not a big deal. If you are looking at the entire floor, including the pan under the back seat and possibly the trunk floor, then the best way to do this is to pull the body off the frame and weld in a one-piece pan using the original spot weld locations at the rockers. Of course, that means welding temporary braces into the convertible body while the floor is out to keep everything in alignment.

 

Joe I'm sorry but that is a huge mis conception about " production collision shops ". I work in one and yes we want the car out within our cycle times but we have to follow pretty specific procedures and really not much corners to cut. Collision shops that are busy wont touch resto jobs because it ties up work flow. On a daily basis I work on 5 to 6 cars at a time. anything from frame, mechanical, metal assembly etc etc. Its all about work flow . But good production collision shops can do work no resto shop can do and good production shops can not accommodate resto work. Its all about flow. If a collision shop will take on a resto I would walk away because its just filler work for down time .


Also IMO buy a welder buy some books and if you have the capability replace the floor your self. Its pretty basic fab work on these cars.