Auto Body Repair - Keepin' It Basic

In the world of customizing classic trucks, this is point A, where it all begins, but certainly does not end. When customizing your ride, the first step is learning how to shave something clean. Whether it is a marker light, door handle, tailgate handle, stake pocket, and so on, the process is the same. It's all about learning a technique and following through. From there, it's just a matter of honing in on those skills and adding more logs to the fire to work your way up the ladder. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we'll start off on easy street.

For this type of customizing, we're going to break everything down to the basics. No English wheels, no plenishing hammers, no sheetmetal brakes; just a man, hammers, dollies, sheetmetal, tin snips, and one's imagination, with an emphasis on the latter. We're going to grab a new bedside and tailgate from LMC Truck and work on filling three holes, all with different characteristics. Besides filling the holes, we're also going to go over what it takes to "dress" the work out. Whether your poison is lead or plastic, we're going to expand your repertoire and dig into both.

However, before we got started, there were a few mandatory tools we had to acquire, such as body hammers, dollies, plastic, lead, and various other things. Making things easy for any beginner, or someone looking for new tools, is the Eastwood Company. Eastwood specializes in auto body tools, gear, supplies...basically anything you could want for auto body-related work. To get us started, they sent us a 13-piece bodywork kit and various other items that we'll get to later. But for now, follow Coach Kilmer's words and "stick to the basics, stick to the basics-stick to the basics!" By the way, don't be afraid to try this type of work at home, because it is very doable. Besides, it can only end in one of two ways: A) everything goes as planned, or B) you screw it up, and in that case there is always someone you can pay to fix it! CCT