1931 coupe Rear corner repair
 

How can I repair a rusted out rear body corner? The available patch panels don’t fit worth a tinker’s darn. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Re: 1931 coupe Rear corner repair
 

You need to do a little fitting with patch panels usually always. I think do that or start from scratch. Also there are fabricating body shops if you don't mind the cost. Your choice.

Re: 1931 coupe Rear corner repair
 

Possibly a donor car.I just sold the rear corners off one to a guy that said the repros were not available right now.I had a fire damaged coupe but the corners still had the pinstriping on them.

Re: 1931 coupe Rear corner repair
 

Having done my own metal shaping, it is safe to say that parts can be hand formed if a person has the knowledge, tooling, and a lot of practice using all that. Finding the proper materials to form with can be a challenge in the modern era. Just getting some 1008 AKDQ steel in a gauge that is close to Ford's original stuff is not easy depending on logistics. Ford rolled their own so it is always just a bit different than the standard gauges. A person can get close enough though. A lot of stuff is made from commercial grade steel and it's not as easy to form so many patch panels are just not good enough to weld right in. It's basically a matter of either trying to fit one of those or fabricating one from scratch.

Some restoration shops have the equipment to fabricate patches for their customer cars. The Fords have more sheet metal available than than most other makes but there are still restorers that will take in the makes that have little or no support for parts like this. There is no other choice than fabrication. This type of work is expensive since the machines that make the job easier are very expensive as well. It can be done without expensive machines but it takes longer and dollar per hour figures add up.