So, this happened - seeking advice from painters, please!

[moparedtn]

I've described in detail what my dumb *** did to my '68 GTX in my Garage on here, so I'll leave you all to check that out if interested.
Suffice to say, I got into the right side of the garage door opening with the car when pulling in one day and I've hurt the car.
This is what she looks like after Meguires got all the white plasticy weatherstrip off her cleanly. Paint isn't even damaged from what I can see, but hours with a hair dryer got this far, then stopped working:

Hagerty contacted and is sending out a claims adjuster Friday.
I have a couple of friends in the bodyshop owning biz who are strongly urging me not to expect success with color matching, should paint be necessary.

I have the original paint codes and the car has spent 99% of it's life since it was painted 8 years ago inside garages, so there's not much fade from weather, but....

What do you guys who do paint think? A tough color to blend?

 

[747mopar]

Personally I'd start by having a pro at paintless dent repair look at it if the paint isn't damaged. I feel for you, that had to make you sick to your stomach.

 

[XMAN JR]

I've described in detail what my dumb *** did to my '68 GTX in my Garage on here, so I'll leave you all to check that out if interested.
Suffice to say, I got into the right side of the garage door opening with the car when pulling in one day and I've hurt the car.
This is what she looks like after Meguires got all the white plasticy weatherstrip off her cleanly. Paint isn't even damaged from what I can see, but hours with a hair dryer got this far, then stopped working:
View attachment 766558
View attachment 766559

Hagerty contacted and is sending out a claims adjuster Friday.
I have a couple of friends in the bodyshop owning biz who are strongly urging me not to expect success with color matching, should paint be necessary.

I have the original paint codes and the car has spent 99% of it's life since it was painted 8 years ago inside garages, so there's not much fade from weather, but....

What do you guys who do paint think? A tough color to blend?

In my area there is a company called the DENT WIZARD if you have such a place in your area I am sure they can fix that. Any body & paint shop worth its weight can fix it & blend it. At that area they shouldn't have to get into the door. Ive done many restos & blend jobs. The only thing that is hard to blend is single stage metallic colors.

 

[VANDAN]

I know these cars are made with "Real Steel", compared to new vehicles, but is it worth trying the paintless dent removal, to minimize the damage ? You may get lucky and pop it out enough, to a point you can live with ? A small flaw in the quarter may be better than a whole panel that's a shade off from the rest. Kind of like a scar you can deal with, just a thought...

 

[texas69bee]

Paint the just the face of the 1/4 panel, use the horizontal feature line possible for a break. Less noticeable if you stay off the top, then hope it blends well with the door.

 

[Bob Sawyer]

Paintless Dent Repair can work miracles, as they did on my black truck.
My technician has been doing dent repair work for over 20 years. He knows his stuff.
Just be sure to get a seasoned, experienced technician to do the work. Some of the less experienced techs might not know the tricks of the trade.
Good luck with what ever you decide to do.
BTW, that paint looks great!

 

[moparedtn]

Personally I'd start by having a pro at paintless dent repair look at it if the paint isn't damaged. I feel for you, that had to make you sick to your stomach.

Sure did. Still does. Self-inflicted wounds hurt more, I reckon.

For all of you suggesting the obvious, the paintless dent removal industry representatives in the area (there's (3) "major" ones within an hour or so) have all been consulted and had these pics sent to them.
What I've gotten back in response is shall we say....discouraging.
A couple of them seem downright afraid of it and the third turned out to be a douche: "I think it can be done, but you don't understand bodywork, yada yada....that's REAL metal, gonna take a premium to do it, yada yada..."
Hell, all I wanted to hear out of any of them was "hell yes, I want your business!" or some such.

Regardless, I have a 50 year bodyshop owner/multiple Mopar owner as a local friend in my defense, advising me.
He's advising finding a PDR service not afraid of the job, which I've tried (still am looking).
If I insist, he'll take the job on himself, but he doesn't do PDR - and he's advising that paint matching is going to be a bitch, as in "95% sure" it's not going to work.
Of course, that might just be him speaking to his own infinitely high standards, and he's got a hell of an eye for such things.


I've had the inside rear finish panel off and actually laid hand on the inside of the dent, so it is reachable - but being where it is, there's not much room behind it beyond that, so any sort of method requiring hammering or such isn't going to happen.
Probably a good thing or I'd be tempted to heat it up again and try to pop it out myself - and it ain't gonna do that, least not with a single push.

 

[moparedtn]

Paintless Dent Repair can work miracles, as they did on my black truck.
My technician has been doing dent repair work for over 20 years. He knows his stuff.
Just be sure to get a seasoned, experienced technician to do the work. Some of the less experienced techs might not know the tricks of the trade.
Good luck with what ever you decide to do.
BTW, that paint looks great!

Thanks, but you haven't seen the rest of it...
Previous owner did the metal and paint on the car and there's places that are downright amateurish - places where he shot it so thin (he obviously ran out of material) it shows it and the roof/quarter panel seam on the drivers' side c pillar is funked up from some sort of contamination under the paint to the point it orange peeled big-time.
Ol' Charlie did like a beer or two when he was workin' on cars....

 

[MarPar]

Like @VANDAN says, see if you can give her a push from the inside with your hand and pop it out. May have to massage it a little bit to get it to go.

 

[gkent]

Like @VANDAN says, see if you can give her a push from the inside with your hand and pop it out. May have to massage it a little bit to get it to go.

That's the first thing I would have done !!

 

[moparedtn]

I know these cars are made with "Real Steel", compared to new vehicles, but is it worth trying the paintless dent removal, to minimize the damage ? You may get lucky and pop it out enough, to a point you can live with ? A small flaw in the quarter may be better than a whole panel that's a shade off from the rest. Kind of like a scar you can deal with, just a thought...

That's precisely where we're gonna go with it if it's possible.
Hagerty has one "preferred vendor" bodyshop in the area. I've spoken with him and he's well versed in these cars (come to find out, he lives here too and owns a few Mopars) and even "knows" the GTX from local cruise-ins.
Key point - he WANTS to work on it.
He "has" a PDR guy, too, so once the adjuster gets done, I'll be taking the car to see him.
Both he and my friend here local are advising me strongly about the paint matching thing, though - so I guess advising me to lobby the adjuster about it. I don't know but I think they're urging me to get him to agree to a total repaint!

 

[91r/t]

If that car is base clear, they won't have to paint the whole panel. They may be able to blend the panel enough where you can't see any color mismatch is their match is a bit off. They could blend that paint in back behind the door on the quarter and never tell it was repaired and shot with basecoat that was off a tad. They will push most of that dent out and metal work it and turn it into a small repair and blend the paint. Clear the quarter up to the top and blend it, and waaaalaaahhh.

 

[747mopar]

If that car is base clear, they won't have to paint the whole panel. They may be able to blend the panel enough where you can't see any color mismatch is their match is a bit off. They could blend that paint in back behind the door on the quarter and never tell it was repaired and shot with basecoat that was off a tad. They will push most of that dent out and metal work it and turn it into a small repair and blend the paint. Clear the quarter up to the top and blend it, and waaaalaaahhh.

I boogered my car up and successfully blended it in but I had left over paint and it was base coat/clear coat. If it comes to painting and it is cleared I'd blend it to where it feathers out close to sharp body lines where lighting will cause a natural difference in color to further hide it. I'm not anywhere close to a body man but fix totals often, you learn how to hide things lol.

 

[Dennis H]

Pisser and no easy fix. Every scratch and dent in the new Challenger and Coronet was put there by me. Trying to get too close on one side to “protect” the other, like in parking lots. Fences, steps, you name it. Then let my body weight fall into a roof panel. Estimates seem high. Fender scratch and roof dents 1500.

 

[68Moparmaniac]

Have you tried the ole shitter plunger? It's been known to work sometimes. Get the panel wet and slap the plunger to it and pull.... aka, hillbilly dent puller

 

[Dennis H]

No pictures, but I remember pushing out a large buckle in the same area. Got lucky. Some drunk at MATSLV looked under the car at the connectors and after struggling to get up he stumbled up against the quarter. Big guy. Can’t even find it now. Made a loud bang coming out. These days they dent, back then buckled.

 

[moparedtn]

Have you tried the ole shitter plunger? It's been known to work sometimes. Get the panel wet and slap the plunger to it and pull.... aka, hillbilly dent puller

Yup, actually had it out there at one point. Got the panel hot with the hair dryer, slicked up the plunger and had at it.
I could get some of the dent to actually pop out, then back in like a tin can. Wouldn't stay out and it became clear the dent does have a sharper edge than I figured; not sharp like creased, but well defined and rounded.
I'm leaving this to the experts.

 

[moparedtn]

No pictures, but I remember pushing out a large buckle in the same area. Got lucky. Some drunk at MATSLV looked under the car at the connectors and after struggling to get up he stumbled up against the quarter. Big guy. Can’t even find it now. Made a loud bang coming out. These days they dent, back then buckled.

Where it is, there's about enough room behind it to get your hand in there with fingers flat and that's about it.
Inner structure gets in the way. :-(

 

[eldubb440]

haven't read thru the thread, but paint suppliers can match it close enough for a skilled painter to work with....... they take a picture of the color with a special camera and a computer program puts it in the ball park

 

[69L48Z27]

I’m all for the PDR approach. They will work the panel out with more finesse and hopefully take less filler in the end. My thought is the metal will be stretched a bit too much for an acceptable PDR repair.

The PDR guy will more than likely need to drill some holes in the door jam too.