You might find a good tail panel out west. I got one for my 61 at Elfros auto wreckers in Elfros Sask. Panel was good and it was not expensive. They may have one for a 65. You could also try Frankspontiacparts in California. I took the one out of my Catalina to replace the trunk floor. It was not that difficult but you will need a mig welder, clamps, a piece of copper or aluminum for welding and it takes a while.

Mark,

Check out this supplier for rear window and trunk repair channels. <www.beldenspeed.com>.

Bill.

My stomach would have dropped if I removed the seal and found that. If anyone can fix it, you can Mark.

Someone here must have a parts car that would sacrifice a channel with enough solid areas that you could use it to put in sections?

Mark,

The club has a 4 foot box and pan brake that you could use or I could help you use. We do not have a shear so you would need to get strips from somewhere. Just let me know.

Bill.

It's been 4 years since I took these pictures out in Tilley, AB but it might be worth a phone call or email.

The V8 emblems might also still be there.

 

Most of the chrome on these 2 was very decent. I know because I bought one of the sets of headlight bezels.

Thanks for the offer Darryl. Looks like I should be able to make something at least close.

I went over to the small local fab/weld shop, and he actually said I'm free to use his brake myself, but unfortunately had no light material. So I went over to B+D steel and had them shear up some 18gauge galv, in what I thought would allow me to fab up a channel in two pieces. Cost; $11. Grabbed two extra as well for the mistakes. I'm using galv if just for the durability of it, and 18g as it's just slightly heavier compared to what is there.

Cut a small good section out of the channel to have a profile template. Taped along where I think the channel should be cut off, and took some measurements as to how the channel sits as far as height, distance in, and angle to the rear panel.

If I only had a small press brake, I could do the channel in one piece and as an exact copy, and probably make a bunch more up to sell as repair sections. As it sits, it'll have to be done in two parts.

Standard wire and gas is fine. The zinc should be ground away best you can wherever you plan on making a weld.

i have the same problem with my 66 parisienne, youtube has a guy from Nfld. his channel is Fitzees Fabrications and he shows how to fab it up in three pieces. im going to try it on mine. ill let you know how it worked out.

cdnpont wrote:

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That guy is amazing and inspirational Dave. I saw his gutter vid. While the gutter he does doesn't really resemble ours, the techniques are certainly universal. I need to go back and watch more of his stuff to get revved up.

I tried bending my material today in a nice Brown and Boggs brake. And it was pretty much a fail (although I hit it off meeting with a great shop owner!). 18g is probably too heavy and the material too hard to make small bends. It feels like PQ (physical quality). So next I'm going to try to piece up and weld a gutter from the 2 sections I was able to partially bend. I already have some material with 90 degree bends in it as well, so I'll use that as well. I say it's all part of the process having setbacks and learning from them.

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 A fail is still progress Mark. One step closer. 

Make sure you post pictures. Even of the failure showing why it isn't going to work. I'm sure all of us have learned from others trying things and then explaining to us that we can't do it the way we thought it might work. 

I'd love to see this gutter with my own eyes, it looks pretty decent Ted.

Any Alberta members close to this wrecker in Tilley? 

Thanks Bill. I thought I was defeated. But using a couple pieces of heavy plate in a vice, I managed to dolly the two strips into some semblance of shape. 

 

Then cut off one part of the S section, all the way across at the arrow,

 

Cleaned the edge up, ground off the zinc, then butted it into the C channel section at about the right spot and angle.

Holding it in place by hand, I tacked it first in the center, then when happy with that slight back angle, I tacked out to the edges about 6" apart. Then gradually filled it in until complete.

 

Ground the weld down a bit, looks like might do the job at this point,

 

Took a small section of old weatherstrip and tried it in the channel. Nests in just fine, just like the original. You just don't know until you see proof like this.

I'll dolly in a little downward curve to the edge on the right, as to meet the tailpanel at just a wee angle as required.

 

Next up, remove the old section in such a way that the new can be put in without too much fuss,