On the way home from a car show on Sunday, a small deer ended up jumping in front of my '70 'Cuda and caused a bit of damage to the lower valance, insert and the roadlamp bracket It obviously could have been much worse, but the car has most of it's original 40 year old paint and I would like to keep it that way. Can this be repaired without destroying the original paint? Hard to believe, but the paint didn't crack at all! I doubt a PDR guy will touch it, any good suggestions out there?

Off of the car...

Atleast its confined to the valance pan. Maybe a good bodyman could repair the damage,and with todays computer matching you could do a straight enamel blend. Just make sure that you leave the original color showing on the edges where it meets the fender. Maybe you could also if it dosen't blend as well as you hoped it would,you could test some clearcoat with a flattening agent,on some testpanels until you achieve the correct sheen that the original finish had. It would be a lot easier to blend the damaged area with basecoat,and then cover the whole valance with the low sheen clear coat.

Man that is a bad hit for sure. I can repair that valance and probably not goof up the paint. You have to remember that once the metal is bent, it is also stretched but I have just the thing for that. I have saved some pretty decent sized dents on show painted fenders and such without busting the paint. Sometimes the paint is too brittle and when you try to move the metal back it will crack. Not always but it is a possibility. I would say there is a good chance that it will come out and maybe just a re-buff? Good Luck! JC.

Yeah, I was going only about 30mph or so as I had a few seconds to drop my speed since I saw it jump out of the tree line. I dragged the poor sob for 20 feet or so under the car as it was caught under the Dana. The trooper had to shoot it twice before it called it quits! One tough little [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean]. Quicksilver- I would love to ship it to you if I can't get a guy that is closer. The '63 Savoy project we have been e-mailing about isn't a rush at all, but I would like to get the 'Cuda back on the road in a week or two.

It Cuda been worse . . .

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