My body panels have dimples

Ok. I have another question..sorry if I am being a pest.

I just got my 100, and if I look down the side of the car I can see many what look like tiny dents. Like if a 20 loose shopping carts came and hit the car. The thing is you have to be looking at it in the right light and in the right angle. 5 feet away you can't see them.

All body panels are original. Is this normal for a car of this age or signs of poor body work throughout the years?

With that said, can I ask what a 1956 100 would be worth? Let's say tip top condition .. not Pebble Beach, but what would look like a show winner to the average person. (Just want to compare)

Thanks again for all your help and I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Here's the car 5 feet away .. looks awesome.

This might help with what I'm talking about. You can't see the little dents in this picture, but if you look at the reflection, the roof line of the building is wavy, because of the small dents.

There is nothing...nothing like a Healey with the windshield folded down... man!!!!!

You're right. It does look nice except for the dents. If they are on the horizontal surfaces only, it could be from hail damage. Also possible is damage from previous sandblasting to remove old paint. If the black is the original color, everything, engine compartment, interior metal, all under fender & panels, frame will be black like the body. Paint, not undercoat.

A "good" body would not have any "dimples". I've not seen one with paint that nice that had dimples.
For info, I have copied the current prices from the NADA guide. They seem to be pretty close to reality.
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Classic Car Consumer Prices
June 3, 2008
1956 Austin Healey 100-4
2 Door Roadster BN2

Original Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Base Price when new $2,985
Low Retail----Average Retail----High Retail
17,100------------30,600-----------50,100

Value Explanations:
Low Retail Value
This vehicle would be in mechanically functional condition, needing only minor reconditioning. The exterior paint, trim, and interior would show normal wear, needing only minor reconditioning. May also be a deteriorated restoration or a very poor amateur restoration. Most usable "as-is".

Average Retail Value
This vehicle would be in good condition overall. It could be an older restoration or a well-maintained original vehicle. Completely operable. The exterior paint, trim, and mechanics are presentable and serviceable inside and out. A "20-footer".

High Retail Value
This vehicle would be in excellent condition overall. It could be a completely restored or an extremely well maintained original vehicle showing very minimal wear. The exterior paint, trim, and mechanics are not in need of reconditioning. The interior would be in excellent condition. Note: This value does not represent a "100 Point" or "# 1" vehicle *.

* "100 Point" or "# 1" vehicle is not driven. It would generally be in a museum or transported in an enclosed trailer to concourse judging and car shows. This type of car would be stored in a climate-regulated facility.
------------------------------
D

It is still a beautiful car, I would agree with Dave and the value guide prices.

The paint would probably be very expensive to fix right, although because you can get behind most of the panels you might ask around and see if there is a good paintless dent removal guy in your area, the good ones can do wonders, but there are varying skill levels.

Hello,
dents are not really a challenge. Deal about the price and fix it.
Check before that it is no bad body work with bondo....
If you want to know how you can repair the small dents. In germany i know many specialists(they are called dent doctor)also you have it in the US who repair this kind of dents whitout new painting. With special tools and many handwork know how. They work with a fluorescent lamp to check the body shape.
They push an pull care with metal-tools and hot air from the backside and pull with plastic bonding sticks.
I can guarantee that you did no see anything with no cracks in your paint.
This is the best invest of your money.

Bye michel- who did work with this guys on this daily driven BMW

Thanks guys. I guess I need to bring to a body shop. That's all I can see now when I look at the car!

A body shop may not do the paintless dent removal if you want to explore that route--they specialize in painting--some do it some don't there are one man operations that pretyy much do that, and car detailing shops that do it as well.

If you know people in the car culture in your area (doesn't matter old or new, make or model) they may have a good lead on who does it well.

Reason I mention the body shops not necessarily doing it I was talking to a guy who owns one, and he said that he didn't like the paintless service (competition) but told me privately that he has seen them do a good job.

Pizzi348 said:

..., but if you look at the reflection, the roof line of the building is wavy, because of the small dents.

Click to expand...

Hummm. Dents? No, but did you notice that someone painted a big red Ferrari on your quarter panel.

The wave on the top of the panel, near the chrome trim, is due to the panel bolts being incorrectly installed/tightened. I have the same issue with my 3000. Drives me crazy when I sight down the fender. But, with a heavy application of the throttle all is temporarily forgotten.

Maybe a few hot laps in the Ferrari or the Healey with the window folded down will help?

Looks stunning by the way,

Dean

Thanks Dean. Yeah maybe I'm being too harsh. Although it's nearly impossible to see in a picture. It's all I can see now .. but you really do have to be looking for them. Man the car is fun .. as is the Ferrari. The throttle response is very different on the two cars (as you probably could have guessed). I'm glad my garage is under construction so I can't stare at the two all day. I wouldn't get any work done!!

Attached is a pic of my two girls.

Sorry, but I think most of us would want our car to look so good. I don't see the problem unless you are looking for a princess and don't care to enjoy the driving of these magnificant machines.

Ha! Thanks. I can't stop driving it since I got it! I do love it and I don't want to sound like a baby about it. I'm just trying to gauge if these "dimples" are acceptable for the price I paid for it.

Dave Russell said:

Classic Car Consumer Prices
June 3, 2008
1956 Austin Healey 100-4
2 Door Roadster BN2

Original Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Base Price when new $2,985
Low Retail----Average Retail----High Retail
17,100------------30,600-----------50,100

Click to expand...

I thought I would confuse you further by offering this bit of data...

Vintage Racecar just published a price guide for in their June 2008 magazine on page 56 that shows the range for a 100M at 100K - 120K - 135K. Their vaulation criteria is a little more race heritiage focused.

A great variation wouldn't you say? But even at the top of the price band, I would rather drive a Healey for 130K, than a purple Hemi Cuda convertible for 2.4M. Now that is just crazy.

Dean

Hey Pizzi348

Your car looks wonderful. Although I opted for a more modern Healey (BJ8) 9 years ago, in retrospect I wish I had altered my search for a 100/4. It is in my opinion the ultimate expression of the Mark and a true classic. She looks marvelous and you should be very pleased. Unless you are showing the car, I would advise you to try to ignore the body panel bumps. They occur on every car and there's little you can do about it, short of a complete re-paint.

But if you insist on fixing every little dimple I can attest to the fact that paintless dent removal works, and in fact it works VERY well. But the spots need to be in an area that a technician can get to. On this foru we have a fellow who does this for a living (Roger Conte - AUSMHLY). He removed at least 20 significant door dings from my E-type and saved me many thousands of dollars in body shop work in the process. Perhaps he'll jump in here and give you some advise. It's all about the technician and his level of skill, so choose your paintless dent removal guy carefully.

BTW - love your 348!!

Randy
'66 BJ8, '68 E-Type OTS

Hey Randy,

Just got back from a drive .. wow this car is awesome. Yeah the dimples are hard to see .. you really have to be looking for them. I'm very happy with the car. Thanks for you compliments on my cars.

I just can't get over how beautiful this car is. I think I have decided to live with the dimples. I don't plan on showing it ... just driving it.

Pizzi348 said:

I think I have decided to live with the dimples. I don't plan on showing it ... just driving it.

Click to expand...

This is probably very wise, for once you start trying to fix one little thing, you may well soon discover some other little things that need attention, and then while you're at it you find something else that is less-than-perfect, and before you know it, instead of driving and enjoying a beautiful car, you are pouring large bags of money into a project that is off the road for a long time.

Plus of course black is the least-forgiving color since it is the most reflective car color, exaggerating every little imperfection.

I have one perfect Healey and one near-prefect Healey. Guess which one I drive! Quite frankly, if I had it all to do over again, I think I'd opt for two near-perfect Healeys. Then I'd just have to build a garage addition for space to put those large bags of money that I'd still have...

Hey, I was thinking of saying this but didn't want to seem pushy, but since you said you are now leaning towards not getting the dimples fixed I was going to suggest you go that route.

Here are the advantages of leaving it as is:

1. These are beautiful cars in just about any state, looking at yours I wish I hadn't sold mine, the Ferrari is neat to, but my eyes are irresistably drawn to the lovely lines and period look of that black 100. You may know they are there, but the rest of the world will pretty much just look at it like a beautiful car and not notice, and you may get used to it in time (as an aside it is harder to do this, at least for me, if you do your own work, then the imperfections are not only on the car, but a reflection of your work, and that tends to drive me crazy, but I digress)

2. As Reid stated perfection can be very frustrating to pursue, and even moreso to maintian--despite your best efforts in choosing, what if your chosen artisan doesn't do the job to your standards, or gets backed up and keeps the car a long time, or you then notice then next thing that needs to be fixed. And I think even more important us the maintainance, if an 11th ding occurs on the car that has 10 not such a big thing, but the perfect car you are scared to drive (stone chips) park in public (door dings) or maybe even your own garage if you have kids or do other work in there.

I really think you have made the right choice to drive and enjoy as is, you will save money and have more fun. Drive it, enjoy it.

Yeah thanks for the comments glemon. Funny that you said that about the picture of the Ferrari with the Healey. How awesome is it that the Austin Healey is a sexier shape than a Ferrari! I think that just speaks volumes about what an amazing car this is.

I've always wanted these two cars. And with the way pricing is going with these Healeys I figured if I don't get one soon, and I keep waiting, I'll never be able to afford one. Of course, if I don't start working again and stop driving,dreaming, reading about this car I won't be able to keep it! Nah - I could always get rid of the Ferrari first!

I must say, black is a complimentary color for the 100. Very sharp. Don't worry about those dimples and waves…she wears them well.