What makes a Grown Man Cry?

Roadster Rich

Roadster Rich

Senior Member
Yes I did one of the most stupid moves! Working on a garage door and instead of moving the Roadster, I worked from a step ladder right in front of the car. One wrong move and a large 1/2 inch socket wrench with a 6 inch extension and socket fell from the top of a tall stepladder and "bang" right on the top of the driver front fender.

Dent.jpg

This paint job was done by my dad the year after I graduated from college in 1975 and has stayed remarkably well after all these years. As soon as I did this I just thought about him, how stupid I am, and the tears started.

Strange how attached we can be to our cars and our memories.
 
Rich, perfectly understandable. If I were you I'd leave the dent there. You'll think of your dad every time you look at it, and if you have children, they'll think of you every time they look at it. Don't beat yourself up about it. It's a gift.
 
Roadster Rich at car show in 2023: "Hey mister what is this little dent in the fender?"..."Why sonny that's where it was rumored old Henry Ford himself hit this car with a pickax just to show how stout the fenders were...yessiree bob!"
 
Look at the bright side- you didn't slam the garage door down on it. It's just a tiny dent, and the nice thing about black fenders is the ease of invisibly spotting in a paint patch after taming the ding.
 
I,m with 700RPM. I'd just leave it. Your Dad did a great job. Make sure it won't rust, and leave it alone.
 
scratches & dents only add character... or at least that's how I look at it. I don't sweat the small stuff.
 
I have a 1960 Olds convertible that was passed to me from my great aunt. My great-uncle kept the car immaculate. Many years ago, they were driving by a golf course and "pink", a golf ball glanced off the rear quarter panel and left a golf-ball dent. I was a small child, and I remember them being upset about the dent. It is still there and is just adds to the memories.
 
If it was painted with lacquer, it will be fairly easy to spot repair and you can save most of your dads paint. It could have been much worse if you had been backing out the garage with the car door open and the door hit the building, this happened to me once many years ago. I know how it feels!!
 
Roadster Rich, I know how you must feel. But the best way to deal with a situation like that is to realize it happened and there is nothing you can do to make it "unhappen". So, just learn from the incident and move on. I would bet that you won't do that same thing again. It only hurts for a little while! Don/WI
 
Just brought my 54 chevy home from being painted. My 5 year old daughter who LOVES to help me work on cars was holding my power drill against the rear quarter, trigger pulled.

Scratches, yes. I just laughed if off and stressed the importance of being careful with tools to her.

Can't undo it. Not worth getting crazy over.
 
Purdy Swoft said:
If it was painted with lacquer, it will be fairly easy to spot repair and you can save most of your dads paint. It could have been much worse if you had been backing out the garage with the car door open and the door hit the building, this happened to me once many years ago. I know how it feels!!
Click to expand...

LOL:D That's exactly what happened to me.:mad:
My dad had me install a transistor ignition on his 63 Impala wagon. I pushed the car backwards out the garage for more room and light, and the open driver's door hit the garage door opening.
 
I'm not still teary, but still pissed at myself. Brent you mention a paintless fix, is this something I would find at a good collision shop, or is it something special to get those dents pushed back out? It is very good laquer and even with the dent it did not penetrate the paint or cause any cracking that I can see.

For those of you with memories, I guess it would be a memory if someone else had done it, but being me, I think the only memory would be how damned stupid I was. That's one my wife has plenty of, I don't need another!
 
yes, it's fixable.
but I'm on the side of those who recommend leaving it alone.
a little lemon oil twice a year to keep it from rusting........
 
I had a period correct 1920's antique Westclox car clock that my Dad made a special bracket to hold under the dash rail in my Phaeton. While adjusting the bracket I had to remove the clock and I dropped one of the heavy dash rail screws right onto the face crystal. Yeah this happens to everyone once in a while!
 
ayup weve all done it... explains the paint chip on my dads car about 9 months after he got done painted it... pesky rampant stepladders.... chalk it up to a life lesson - always learning new things no matter how old you get :D
 
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