Koda

Ahmad, I should inject a little reality here. That car is totalled. It is dead. That is such a brutal front end impact that anything on the car that is damaged is likely to be damaged beyond repair.

I will use the frame as an example. It is ruined. Sure, you could cut and weld a new section on, but it will never be perfectly straight, it will almost never be as strong, and you will be money and time ahead getting a replacement frame from someplace. So many people who are young and strong and don't have much money feel the need to do things the hard and cheaper way because they think they can, and then they find out the time, labor, and money in rewelding a frame is more than just buying a new frame. So, your thinking here should not be "what can I fix with a lot of effort?" it should be "what parts are saveable as they are now or with a little work?"

It looks like you can save the powertrain. Did the engine get crushed at all? You can save the interior. You can save the top, and the decklid, and all the trim and stuff in the back. Depending on how it wrecked, you might get the front knuckles and A arms. The big question is how is the front of the body tub? To me, that decides is this a car that you are saving that needs some parts, or are you salvaging parts from this wreck to put on another car.

joe_padavano

He's working on it. The last five match, at least.

joe_padavano

He's got a parts car with a good (hardtop) frame and he's already said that he plans to cut the convertible reinforcements out of the original frame (which are likely not bent) and weld them to the hardtop frame. That's all the factory did to make a convertible frame.
As for welding never being as straight or as strong as original, there are a whole lot of front clip swaps that would beg to differ. It's just mild steel, and it was welded together from the factory. Sure you don't have the OEM frame assembly jig, but lots of people have done similar work with careful layout and clamping. As for welding strength, have you SEEN the snotty factory welds? There's probably a 4x factor of safety on weld length on the OEM frames. This isn't a modern car that has to shave every ounce by using high strength steel and carefully engineered spot weld placement.

And while he hasn't provided details, the OP has hinted that he has a shop and "a crew", which may or may not be a real body shop with a frame machine. Admittedly you'll need that puller to get the cowl back into alignment.

Koda

Right, my point was that, if he finds a good convertible frame, he'd be time ahead and have better results than the typical backyard mechanic. If he's got a collision repair shop, that's a different story.

70W-32

I think the previous owner had stock in 3M

Ahmad442

koda that was going to be my plan at first but once I started looking at the car and seen zero rust and so much good parts still in Place I had to try to bring it back to life Jojo just told me that it’s a real 442 with the original motor and transmission. The motor still runs it just had a little damage on the valve cover. The transmission housing was cracked so I don’t know if it’s salvageable so I just use the transmission of the 70 cutlass for right now. I also use the frame from the 70 cutlass but I haven’t welded the support Braces I am going to need on the side. I put the body on the frame and pulled it with a frame machine back square and it seems like it’s sitting perfect. Since I use the 70 frame I had to use a 70 core support which lines up with my 70 hood. I had my guy start working on the body work and they are making progress every day .. I don’t know what other troubles I am going to run into.
The interior and top are in excellent condition
I had to do some work on the front crawl where it got smushed in But that is done now I’ll drop some pictures for you



I’ll keep you posted with the progress as well

Koda

Now that looks a lot better. We're behind you, go for it.

Ahmad442

hey joe joe sorry for the late reply.
it’s been crazy at my shop
we putting a hellcat engine in a 1970 Monte Carlo 😳
but n-e-ways I cleaned the numbers off on the engine and it does match my vin I’m sending you a picture right now what else can we tell off it?

joe_padavano

That's a numbers-matching VIN derivative on the block. Unfortunately it doesn't tell you anything that you don't already know.