AMC Concord Hardtop 1981

[juhap]

This happened summer 2020...
A quite nice looking black Concord and a crash....

Brought it to new home like this.









Story begins..



"open the door, please..."



Did not help. Had to cut a window to door and unbolt it.



That sill is about 3" in...



...and here it is 1" too much in.



After I took  seats and carpet out, I found these "rust repairs"... Thin sheet metal and corrosion under coat and some adhessive...
Everywhere...all around... 



Windscreen removal... see that new roof line.



This started renovation.





Some damage here, too.



Removed that window frame.



Hornet donated window frame.



 After some drilling and cutting. Nice...



Some gap.



Taking door to pieces. Something to save here?



Fenders off.





More rust and some sheet metal taken from washing machine, that white stuff..



oh no...



Oh, sh..t



More Hornet parts...



Test fitted



Original pillar had some issues... so had to open spotwelds and fix it part by part.



Strated to take all apart...







So, is this the final stage? and then scrap yard...



Crap...



and more...



and more.



Started welding.



First job done



Then it was time to use frame machine, car-o-liner came to garage.



The first pull.



..and the second...



and so on...







Done..



New sills...



Inner part, test fitting...



Had to jack floor up like 1".



After cuttin rust away, there was a gap...



Previous builder had cut these beam ends away. Now I can weld it to a new sill.



mmmmm...nice...



More pulling









Repairing rust damages...



Final welding



Some adjusting needed..



Test fitting, again..



Sill needed some inner structure.



Inner structurer here, too..



Almost ready to welding, but not yet...



Testing door... and pull again...



Jack and port-o-power needed...



And this was end of year 2020.... There were too freezing to work untill next spring...

to be continued...

[juhap]

After cold winter months and some other projects, it was time to continue.

Tried to get old pillar to new door post, but getting it rigt was not easy...



... so I took another.



there was a bad reparation done sometimes.



So...



Perfect fit.





Looks good...



"new" rear quarter... test fit.



This was all for 2021...

[vangremlin]

Thanks for all the pictures. You are very skilled and very patient!

[rmick]

Has to be a labor of love to bring this one back from the dead.

[juhap]

Here in Finland we have two Concords on the road... One yellow station wagon and one Sundancer (mine)... And if all goes well, this is going to be third. That´s why I´m giving it an other chance...

Finnish AMC importer didn´t sell any AMC after 1975-76... Every car after that, are private imports.

[juhap]

Eleven months later...

Removing rust and bondo...



Cutting bad quarter panel.



Testing





New corner...



Inside.



Quarter panel needed new edge.



Looks like a Concord again...



Inner parts.







This area was quite bent and sad looking. Not good.



Found a donor.



This...



This is original Concord part.



And coming together, original and "new"



Done.





Repairing floor.



Found original license plate.



Now it is with finnish plate.



Replaced this wheel well piece...



..using new sheet metal.



And some more...



Side window frame got new metal.



Finished that area with schrinking disc to get it plat and even. Worked well.



I used very simple method to ensure straight line...



There was a bad area that needed welding.



Fixed...



Found rust under bondo. 



Little hammering and sanding made miracles happen.



Left rear quarter tack welded.



It needs that lower part of wheel arch.



Very difficult to made, tried to hammer a couple patch...



Welded and seams grinded down. Used lead substitute instead lead...



First bondo...





Front fenders from a donor Concord that I bought about 10 years ago...

This car came from Netherlands ages ago... and it had some car crash repairs... done with bondo... alot of it...





Found a suitable piece for rear wheel arch. Original right side fender... or what is left of it. I used front part to fix my Eagle fender.



Here is that dutch Concord... a real rust bucket.



Removed that roof panel off it.



To replace original...



Nice corner



Coming together and bondoed.







Almost finished...







One fender finshed.



Rear quarter ready...



And another..



Some black spray.





Fenders got some epoxy primer.



Then it was time to do some rust repairs.



One bad gap...



Fender fits well..



There were some rust... needed cutting.



Frame got first patch.



And then floor..



Under front seat, there were a serious rust issue. Needed some attention and new sheet metal.



Emergency brake cable hole was a only survivor, no rust...



Inner fender area needed some sheet metal too...



And a couple patch more.



But there was a corner in front of the front axle that worried me. A little swollen area. Started cutting...



Removed bumper bracket... Oh no!!!



Opened more... more rust...



First piece welded.



Fabricated the second...



and welded it.



More to come...



And this was end of 2022. Welded new years eve that last...

to be continued...

[juhap]

The first of January 2023 I cut a little bit more. Had to go under suspension...



Started to take all apart. And rust I found...



Removed control arm bumper...



Fabricated springtool...



Now I can weld all...



There were a patch welded. What could I find under it?



Rust rust...



No, no...



There is nothing but weld new sheet metal...



And more...



And as I guessed... rust.



Then I found that it was impossible to weld all... I have to take engine out of engine bay... but not now..



New metal.



And here too.





It needed that..



That small part is now behind that new sheet metal...



New bushings and ball joint



Spring seat sandblasted...



...and welded.



It had rust even here.



All welded.



Painted.



Grinding all smooth.





Last parts.



Done.





Suspension coming together.



OK...



When wheels hit ground, I decided to change my project to next one. So I drove this to another garage.



Next project is going to be my StreetJeep... 1989 Cherokee 2wd  with LM 4 engine...

[djm3452004]

Your work is just amazing and as mentioned by others, you must have the patience of a saint!  A car over here in that condition would be considered by 99.9% of people to be "BER", beyond-economic-repair, and scrapped as a parts car only.


Just astounding work and effort, see 0:05 in video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIE_ITidaKY


David