Can this GMC 700 Series be saved?

[MP&C]

Jim Hery is a coach builder from Belfast TN, a bit of his work has been seen at Pebble Beach. Here is a 1923 RR Silver Ghost that the Insurance company had written off, but the owner wished to fix.

before
















after






Some excerpts of Jim's recommendation to another in repairing fire damage:

I have been in the restoration business specializing in coachbuilt cars for a few decades. At first glance you may think this job is overwhelming or indimidating however it is not as bad as it looks. The car is definitely repairable, you just have to decide which route you want to take. A repaired original car has more value than a car which has been rebodied so you have to take that into consideration. Everybody has a different way of getting a job done. The first thing I would do if I was working on this car would be to take all skins off the car and sandblast the sheetmetal inside and out extremely well. This will do two things, one, it will clean the carbon out of the pores of the steel or aluminum so paint will stick and to it will give you a much better prospective of what to do. Don't worry about warping the metal. Ha Ha!! After it is clean you will be able to read things alot better. I always sand the metal good with #80 grit on a DA, this will take temper out of the top of the metal so it will be easy to file. The principles are the same for repairing as collison work. A fire job can be a learning and rewarding experience. They never are as bad as they look.