You might remember when I posted a few months back about my 73 Eldorado.
Just yesterday I decided to take the vinal roof of the car and get to work
on the rust underneath.  As expected, there were several areas where the
rust had eaten all the way through.  The damage was pretty bad but very
localize.  About a two to three inch strip at the bottoms of the sail panels
and a 1 inch strip around the bottom of the rear window.

Obviously, the only way to fix this kind of damage is to cut out the rusted
areas and weld in a new piece.  This kind of work requires a body shop and a
skilled sheet metal man.  So off I go to get an estimate on how much, first
stop Maaco;  Maaco's excuse 'since they don't make skins for cars that old
it can't be fixed'  It actually took the estimator about 15 minutes to get
this sentence out but that was the gist of it.  Well so much for the cheap
approach.  Next stop Harold's; one of only two body shops in Albuquerque
that still work with body solder.  Now at least Harold was honest, he flat
didn't want to touch it, and said as much, I pressed him though and ask why?
He said the car would take too much time to fix & he would have to charge me
time and a half for his labor.  Ok, says I, how many hours?  100 says
Harold.  So lets work this out, it is going to take him two and a half man
weeks to cut and weld two sail panels and rear deck piece.  What the hell is
he using to cut the steel with, a nail file?  Very disappointed but
undeterred I go to third body shop.  Rather than waste the estimators time I
go to the desk and state bluntly.  "I have a car that two other body shops
don't want to touch.  Would you be interested?"  "No." just as bluntly.

Now all of today's disappointment underscores a distressing trend I have
noticed.  For many years now there has been a tendency for auto repair to be
less about repairing and more about replacing.  I have lost count of how
many people in this news group have replaced their entire alternator rather
than spend the extra time to repair it with the simple replacement of a
$4.00 set of brushes, the same is true for power window motors, electronic
engine sensors or any other damm thing that needs fixing, replace rather
than repair.  What I hadn't realized until today that this lethargy had
worked its way into the body shop as well.  Gone are the days when skilled
body men would use hammer and rasp to pound out the dents and smooth the
paint.  Replaced by a new generation of kids whose idea of work doesn't
include the learning of any skill, the loss of any sweat nor the application
of much brain power.  I can't really see how any nation can long survive if
the new generation of workers idea of work is to always take the path of
least resistance and turn tail and run at the first sign of difficulty.  As
for me, I guess it's time to buy another book and learn autobody repair.