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Visited a shop in Phoenix that still uses lead body filler

I was down in Phoenix last month helping a buddy with a classic Mustang resto, and I swung by this old school body shop he recommended. The owner, a guy named Frank who's been at it since the 70s, showed me how he still finishes panels with lead instead of plastic filler on high-end jobs. He said it holds up way better in the Arizona heat, no shrinking or cracking after a few years. I watched him torch and shape a bead of lead on a quarter panel, and the smoothness once he filed it down was unreal. Has anyone else come across shops that still do lead work, or is that mostly a lost art now?

2 comments

2 Comments

knight.taylor1mo ago

Yeah, I've seen a couple old timers in the desert who still do lead work. Frank's not wrong about the heat thing, plastic filler gets brittle and cracks after a few summers out here. It's pretty wild to watch them shape that hot lead with a torch and file, like watching a welder who also does art. Most shops won't bother because it takes forever and you need the right setup, but the finish is just different when it's done right. Kind of sad it's dying out, but I get why.

terry_barnes1mo ago

Yeah I'd probably just burn my own eyebrows off trying that...