Resto By Julius Butchery

This is how "Restorations by Julius" handles bodywork. Backstory: cracking paint, a few polite calls & discussions with Julius, who remembered the car.
He provided no answers or even consistent stories, only "never had a problem".
The bodywork & paint was not tampered with since leaving his shop.
Finally started digging into it, and this is what we found (quick & sucky photos):
Lt quarter lower patch panel barely welded, and beat on apparently with a ball-peen, then over 3/8" of bondo on top.
A few rust spots on the right, a good 1/4" or so of bondo over that.
Other areas with no damage underneath, also 1/4" of bondo.
I'm utterly mystified as to why, let alone the sheer nerve involved in such crap work.
Bonus points: missing parts, incorrect fasteners & finishes, etc found during disassembly.
Rest assured the car is going down to the bone and being re-done.

Are they Used Metal Patchs or repros? Not that it matters, unless those pcs are rare to come by. Nonetheless, did you "follow" the work as it progressed?, to have noticed that work. Still, that welded seam is pathetic, to say the least. And that ball-peen job! Figured: "the bondo would cover it". Some do bodywork with the "reasoning" that "our crappy workmanship will take sometime to surface & by then we're off-the-hook.

That is some real crap work. As you and I discussed, I know the shop where his stuff was painted during that time frame and he paid bottom dollar for quick and dirty finish work. Sorry you had to wind up with one of those steaming piles.

you would think with the reputation you would see better work
quality work takes time and it doesn't look like they invested much of it
into this repair.

I have the receipt from Julius and the lower quarter patch panels were charged out.
It was done when the prior owner had the car.
Oddly, while the right side has the proper contour, the left side went almost straight down from the body line that's below the side marker.
They didn't even bother to look at what they were doing.
But the left side is particularly disgusting.
Anyone who does that kind of work doesn't deserve oxygen.
We're documenting the metal work & repairs with photos - better ones than I posted - as it gets taken down to a proper surface.

Shame on them. No reason to do work like that even for free.

You know, there are a few shops that photo document every step of a restoration. No excuse for work like that, and most likely didn't save the time required to do it the right way.

I thought he died. Somebody different?

I've been down this road with my Duster restoration. Unfortunately, this seems to be an all to often scenario in the car restoration world. I feel sad for the owner of this car. He put his faith and money into the shop hoping that proper work would be done. The pictures make me sick.
Work needs to be taken back to ground zero to see what other shoddy workmanship is hiding under paint and Bondo. In my case, legal action never resulted in any compensation to me. The shop owner filed bankruptcy and I was low man on the totem pole for getting compensated.

Looks good to this guy.

Do you mean "farmed out"? to another shop or previous owner of the shop in question?
Is it fair to say you weren't "around" to witness/observe that work before paint.

Seems to be that to determine IF a shop does "good" body, Check out what/how much "bondo" they have in-house.
If gallon cans >>>>> Run Forest Run.

I heard years ago that this resto shop did not do their own paint and bodywork. What? how do you call yourself a resto shop then? paint and bodywork is most of what a resto is comprised of! If you want a great paint job you need to find someone that is not just a painter but an "artist". You either have the talent or you don't. Same goes with metal work. Now if you hire it out like Julius does and goes with the lowest "bid" then you don't get the "artist level " work on your car. I see lousy paint and bodywork all the time from people trying to go cheap. I'll see orange peel on fresh paint because the owner paid a cut rate price for the job and the laborer didn't feel he wanted to wet sand and buff it for free.

When I say "charged out" I mean he charged the customer for the parts.
I wasn't there for any of this, though I have photos, no doubt just the ones they wanted to see the light of day.
He actually would sublet the body & paint to "his guy"; and it's a line item on his receipt.
The inference was always that it was all his company.

Nevertheless, in my shops (before I retired), if I sublet work, I was 1st in the responsibility line if there was a problem.
And I made sure IF there was a problem, it only happened once (at worst), was corrected, and never happened again.

The west coast "technique" for decades has to been cover the entire vehicle in bondo even if it's not needed, and carve it to shape, personally I'd rather spend some hammer/dolly time to straighten panels, along with time spent to align/tweak panels as well, then block several coats of high build primer to "straighten" the body, but for the majority, time and money is their concern, so bondo, putty/fillers/creams/etc are their short cut to "perfection" to hide hack work...that's a shame when you try to make a name in the hobby, I see it in almost all the "big name" shops/restorers, some more than others

What car is that?

Did you pay to have Julius do it or did you buy the car from the person that did?

Julius used many body shops over the years and the quality of the work varies on the amount of money the customer wanted to pay.

I work at a custom car shop. The body shop we use charges us for metal work, body work and paint work well over $100,000 for a “nice” job. All the big name shops cover the cars in filler and sand smooth. There is no other way to get the body perfectly straight. If you say that is not true then your using you filler primer incorrectly. Every time you strike metal with a hammer and dolly your altering the thickness of the metal making it thinner in spots. That extra metal needs to go somewhere and that is what creates waves. When you sand down the waves you create thin spots in the metal and that is even worse than .015 thick layer of filler.

exactly.

An "arteest" really worked over this 67 Barracuda, I call it the Bondocuda. I ended up parting it out and cutting it up...

Well I hope they aren't using "filler (aka putty, bondo,etc)" on the entire car to make it straight!.
OK for a custom (I guess), but not a restoration.

Filler Primer is one thing----Bondo (aka body filler) is another.
Yes: 100% Primer. No: 100% Filler

Hey: one of those West Coast "Technique" jobs !!!!!

This would be my first question as well...Without knowing the circumstances and budget number for the work everything is just speculation for what happened..And this is where you get into trouble...I know plenty of reputable shops that will not take the job before they will "work within the budget" then get flamed after the fact..What's going on here is a perfect example..

Surely you're not suggesting that such hideous workmanship is somehow defensible, based on cost or any other factor.

The body & paint were $16,500 alone, with 2 lower quarter patch panels the only panel replacement.
This was a 75,000 mile dry Nevada car.
Total bill was over $47,000, without drivetrain & suspension, which were handled separately elsewhere.
That's a big ticket in that timeframe, and I'm having to correct some of that as well. Including sourcing missing inner parts.
In 40+ years of working/managing shops, both restoration & high-end collision, we dealt with a lot of folks with tight budgets.
Sometimes you had to turn them away, but to hack the vehicle was unthinkable.
I've never seen or allowed such crap - essentially dishonest & fraudulent work - not once, even if we didn't make much margin on it.
One weld or panel like that, you'd be gone within the hour. And it would be corrected at shop expense.
As for "skim-coats" and filler-primers like Alu-spray or Feather-fill:
I never wanted to see more bondo than required for proper finishing - or certainly anything that appeared beaten with a ball-peen hammer.
Feather-fill or Alu-spray (blocked, obviously) leave a better and more durable surface for paint.
I've seen the cars 30 years later, no deterioration.

It is great to see so many people ride in and claim that they would never allow this sort of work in their shop.
Of course they wouldn't but what boss oversees every step the employees make? I suspect that a lot of work never gets seen. The Boss may ask for a progress report and get one, then go back to answering phone calls, dealing with customers, ordering supplies, etc.

I can tell by statements using featherfill that your body work skills and knowledge are quiet old, maybe not bad but out dated . im out dated as well ,but the products that I use are still available. that being said (jokingly) . After reading most of this I have to ask how you came by the information that Julius did the work ? I believe someone else said it was done by somebody else. I am not defending anyone here or there , but asking the question why do raise so much hell, you did not pay for the "shoddy work". if I understand correctly you bought the car in its current condition . if you bought the car under the impression that the repair work was excellent from the previous owner then ui would think your beef is with him. not all previous owners are 100% honest or accurate. I hate seeing a third party complaint that comes from a second party conversation.
I agree that I probably would have been happy with surprise you received , but I really don't believe its fair to hammer somebody else 's work with out all the facts . the old phrase coms to mind "buyer beware", meaning check it out good .

That is embarrassing.

Something doesn't balance out here...
Southern California has the most stringent air pollution standards anywhere, an average complete paint job for multiple stage base/clear coats (water-based) start @ $25K not counting any prep and/or metal work...
Thats why in SoCal if a car guy wants a cheaper paint job, they go to Nevada and get a single stage paint job for $12K....


Just my $0.02...

Yeah, I use the "featherfill" term like "kleenex" for facial tissue. And I guess I am old.
The loophole for avoiding waterborne is to bring it in from out-of-state.
Before someone attacks, I'm not endorsing that, but it happens and did in this case.
Waterborne materials are much more expensive than solvent-base, not to mention the booth requirements, etc.
Whatever happened here, it's obviously substandard quality vs what's advertised.
We're fixing that by stripping & re-doing the car, but the shock of what we found pi**es me off especially after being BS'd by the man himself.

I hate body shops you just cant be present the whole time the work is being performed,you can stop by from time to time & inspect the work performed but have no idea what lays underneath,this is why rat rods make so much sense.

They should be taking many pics as work progresses!! No Excuses. With digital camera/phones these days; no excuse like older times where 35mm film had to be bought & processes. The only $$ involved would be the few minutes to snap a shot. If they "resist", then walk away, they aren't too proud of their work they do/

I hear ya. Or if I take my daily driver, even my classic, to a garage and they won't let me in the garage for "Insurance reasons", I will walk away as well.

Body shops could install Live stream cameras, so you can watch whenever you want and they think they're always being watched.

complaining about body shops seems to be a regular thing on moparts, and by no means am I in anybody's corner , while I do restoration work also and shody work is not something I do at any price. I always give it my beast whether it be quoted or hourly. as it should be. however when unforeseen issues come up it should be documented and discussed with the customer. way to often that is where the problem comes in ,usually those decisions are based on financial factors established by the customer, at that point the shop has a decision to make ,and that is where the second issues comes in to play. the shop has to decide to compromise his work ethics or stand his ground , and possibilly lose the customer. . in most cases the shop compromises and for financial reasons, (the first sing that your in the wrong shop) its a 2 fold problem that's for sure . as for stopping by the shop everyday that's fine with me, then the customer can see what we have to do , everything is not a ten minute job and just because we do it for a living doesn't mean its easy for us. just like your job , not everyday is a good day. to put things in perspective . How much do get paid for your job and what tools of your trade does it take compaired to the resto shops investment to do his . of course that has nothing to do with shody work .