Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. I was going to write about the travesty going on in Italy, but my raging thunder was stolen by my other halves, which is fine, as they did the story justice. All I have to say is, the guys at Ferrari need to have a strong cup of wine and remember who they are. Moving on, I decided to update you all on a little project of mine, as I do from time to time. Hit the jump to find out what crazy shennanagins I’m up to this time!

Amateur Body Work!

That’s right, I’ve added a new skillset to my beat up toolbox of handy knowledge. Despite the fact that I’m total nub status at body work, my welding skills are good enough that I felt confident in tackling my brothers’ epic fail. He managed to crash his car after some rain into a parked vehicle, in the process destroying most of the front drivers side inner fender.

Luckily, I found an identical color and only 1 year different car at a local yard, and managed to pillage the replacement parts and body metal. With those parts in tow, I began to cut out the crumpled metal, and reshape as much of the usable metal as I could. From there, I began to trim, fit, and prep the new metal sections for welding.

Action shots! Welded in the new pieces, and tacked in the very last section. Not quite the same quality as a pro body shop but it’ll get the job done! Shows what you can do with an el cheapo MIG welder rig and some self confidence. I’m sure some of you are thinking this was extremely difficult, but it really wasn’t. For anyone who wants to try their hand at work like this, but is afraid to, remember to cut out as little material as possible, and to take your time to think before you make cuts. I spent a few solid hours between cuts, just staring at the metal, viewing it’s shape, and deciding exactly how and what I was going to do.

All in all, I think this is an experience every gear head should have, just so they can get an idea of how its done. If you want to see all the pictures, check out the gallery! Be sure to keep a lookout for the finished ride. So get out there Webriders, and weld some body metal onto an old junker, just for the hell of it! This is Dr. VW- signing off.