Body restoration advice

Are the older Mopars bodies with a frame easier to restore than the newer unibody cars? Back some years ago, I knew an old timer who had restored a number of cars. He refused to restore any unibody cars. He claimed cars with a frame were easier to restore. Any truth to this belief?

(I'm not real concerned about the drivetrain restoration. If I were to tackle an older car, I'd probably update the drivetrain.)

Depending on what work is being preformed some slightly different techniques might be required, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s any more difficult. Doing a true frame off restoration on an older car will require an additional bay for storage/work while the body and frame are split.

Unless your talking about restoring an Imperial, the Chrysler products were had moved to unibody design during the 1960 and 1961 model years. The Imperials retained a frame thru 1966.

I been looking at some post war to mid 50's mopars. These cars seem to be relatively rust resistant, at least compared to 1957-60 models. Last year, I saw a 1954(?) Plymouth at a car show. It had a 318LA engine. It was attractive and looked like it would be a very nice car to drive.

Another option is the 1965-66 Plymouth Furys or possibly an early B body. To my eyes, the Fury is more attractive than the early B bodies.

My goal, if I choose to "restore" one of these cars, is to create a fair weather driver.

The old man that said he would only restore cars with a frame has passed away. He had a wealth of automotive knowledge! He wasn't the kind of guy who liked to be questioned. He LOVED to talk about his projects though! I listened and learned how and what he did, but usually had to figure out why he did what he did myself!

I haven't been able to figure out the rational behind his "only restore a car with a frame" mantra. So this is the reason I asked the question!

Unibodies incorporate the frame into the body, it maybe that he was old school enough to believe that a unibody was weaker than a body on frame. If you look at the stoutness of the early frames, talking Mopar frames here not anything else, they are substantial. Looking at the portions of a unibody that have equivalency, such as the frame rails the front suspension attaches to, the unibodies look weak. But one has to consider that a large portion of that strength is tied into the inner fenders and cowl that the older design never used. A prime example is the old Airflow video showing it drive off a cliff and keep going.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nug-8jCi8O0

Remember the Airflow was Chrysler's first unibody car.

Unibody cars require different approaches and sometimes different tools. Ror example, a mild front end collision may require pulling a unibody back to shape with a Blackhawk or similar stretcher. It may be easier to repair or replace a separate frame.

Once I bought a 1932 Essex Terraplane coupe body. The floor of the cabin was integrated with the top of the frame rails, can't remember more.

It's still sitting in a slough somewhere in North Dakota, unless subsequent owners have crushed it.

R.

If your thinking a 65/66 Fury, they are unibody cars. At the same time, all Dodge trucks are frame and body except vans after about 69-70.
The reality is nearly any Mopar from the 30s through the early 60s, is probably going to need floors replaced. When you replace floors on a unibody car, you need to be sure the attached structures are in good condition or you may create an unsafe vehicle.

The floors on a car with a frame are usually just floors, but they use portions of the floors with reinforcing to attach the body to the frame with rubber mounts and bolts. Also, the sides of the car, roof supports, and door frames are often built on top of the floor. Those areas often also need to be repaired along with the floors. Unless the car (or truck) is a real rust bucket, most often the frames are OK.

If you are going to look at an old Mopar, be sure to look at the floors where they attach to the frame, and where the sides of the car attach to the floor. Even when the body sits on a frame, the body structure still needs to be good. When you look at this stuff, keep in mind, bubbles under the paint means a rust hole is there, but the paint is still covering it. Paint does not add any structure, bubbles are still rust holes soon to make an appearance. Gene