Filler and Finesse

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@xxxxxxxxx>]

John Hertzman is skeptical, not of my discovery of filler under the
original factory paint on my '67 GT Junior, but of my interpretation of
it as a standard practice in the Sixties.

For the record, the panels in question were the two sections between the
rear edge of the door and the rear wheel arch, on both sides -- areas
where lining up would be a critical visual cue to a new purchaser of the
car's build quality.  The steel underneath was unmarred, showing no
signs of repair by hammer or torch.

I've been assured by a number of experienced restorers -- most recently
Andy Schank, an ARA member who has probably painted more old Italian
sports cars (I'm particularly fond of his Abarth Allemanno coupe, for
example) than I've had hot dinners -- that this was in fact the case.  I
certainly didn't deduce it on my own; it was a puzzlement to me when I
stripped off the factory's pale blue to find a thick layer of terra
cotta under it, and it remained a puzzlement until I spoke about it with
Andy at the time.  By the way, his suggestion, which may be of value to
another Alfista, was that unless there is serious reason to pull the car
down to the steel (such as to find the extent of rust), it's best to
simply block the car down with 80-grit sandpaper, or better yet to let
the paint and body professionals do that if you're going to wimp out
anyway (as I did) and have someone else spray the color.

A couple of other specific points, just to clarify:

John describes the then-new Arese facility as "every bit as up-to-date
as anything in Stuttgart, Munich or Turin."  In that case, they most
certainly would have used filler under certain body panels, at least in
the case of the Germans.  (I will leave it to our ardent New Zealanders
to detail the Torinese factory's habits.)  Body filler was used under
the original color coat at Porsche through at least the early 1980s, to
ensure the correct line-up of all apertures in the body.  (And does
anyone else remember that, in the early 1970s, Porsche charged an
additional $300 for cars painted black?  This was due to the extra body
preparation required for black cars.)

I also seriously doubt that my car "was the victim of fraternity pranks
or an irate wife with a hammer, hailstorms or some other accidents," for
the simple reason that the steelwork under the thin layers of filler
were smooth, straight, and correct; in most cases there was printing (a
part number or shipment number? Wish I'd taken more pictures during the
process) on the steel, clearly visible when the paint was removed. 
These gave every appearance of being proper panels, fitted correctly,
but just a bit off the spec, right at the doors.  The only evidence,
hidden under the paint till it was removed, of body damage was the
replaced front clip.  All other damage (mostly minor parking-lot dents
and the like) was visible when I bought the car, with its purple-brown
metallic paint that had faded and chipped. 

Finally, he closes with "Your car may be different; prudent buyers 
will still check Bondo with magnets."  That's *always* good advice,
whether it gives you a potential insight into Italian manufacturing
processes or a clue about how hard your vehicle may have been hit in the
past.

- --Scott

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