Yikes, a warped Brooklin?

Wow! I've never seen one look like that before. Keep us posted. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it. 

John, wha’ happened. Good luck. It is reminiscent of those ‘50’s warped plastic cars!  And it’s a Brooklin!

Good luck with your rebuild, John.   I look forward to your post on the results.

I've had the misfortune to drop a couple of Brooklin bodies over the years (while in the process of taking the model apart to do a "chop"). Although these models feel very solid, the white metal is so soft it can buckle under its own weight if dropped. The roof in particular will simply "pancake", but in one case I discovered the corner of a pretty solid-looking nose was distinctly flattened.

Looks like this one got dropped or stood on. Of course that's no consolation to the buyer, but (fingers crossed) I don't think there is any cause to worry about Brooklins suffering natural warping or metal fatigue.

Mind you, I'm not sure how you can go about straightening this one out, John! The roof (which is a separate glued-on part) might be soft enough to bend back to shape by hand, but trying to force that waistline back to a straight line could well cause cracking or further buckling.

But I'm sure you'll give it a go.

I thinking it may be repaired by moving very slowly in straightening the body. We're all eager to see what you do, John. Can you take photos along the way?

As requested here are some in process photos.  Bending to fix the warp was no problem at all.  This model had led a tough life, upon disassembly there were even two dead bugs under the hood!   The photos show the rear fixed and a card stock mock up of a Galaxie roof which will be made from sheet aluminum.  Tape shows approximate location of the relocated door seams.

@john-quilter 

I did not think you could bend the body back into shape. Good job.  I am very interested to see how this progresses.  I learned to drive in my father's 1960 Ford, four door.  If I can find a Brooklin model like yours, I might want to consider trying this.

@jkuvakas  Another photo of the process.  This shows the sheet aluminum roof fabricated but not finalized.

@john-quilter 

I have two questions. First, did you have to lengthen the body?  Second, what type of tool did you use to scribe the door lines for the rear doors?

Thanks for sharing your progress.

I see that you are making good progress. I once had a damaged Motor City and found that if I left it out in the hot sun that two things happened: 1. The glue for the roof or convertible boot freed up easily and the part could be easily removed and 2. The roof or boot and body became pliable and could be gently bent. The challenge was to bend the parts uniformly lest one wind up with a part that was still mis-shape.

Posted by: @ed-davis

@john-quilter 

I have two questions. First, did you have to lengthen the body?  Second, what type of tool did you use to scribe the door lines for the rear doors?

Thanks for sharing your progress.

Body did not have to be lengthened.  Jeweler saw does the cutting and white metal cuts easily compared to diecast which I work with a lot as well.

Posted by: @ed-davis

@john-quilter 

I did not think you could bend the body back into shape. Good job.  I am very interested to see how this progresses.  I learned to drive in my father's 1960 Ford, four door.  If I can find a Brooklin model like yours, I might want to consider trying this.

Can't even imagine learning to drive in such huge car.   But then I learned at age 10 in a 37 horsepower Morris Minor convertible which I still have.  

Thanks for the updates, John. This is fascinating!

@john-quilter 

Learning to drive in that car had its challenges.  I lived in a part of Chicago, with many apartment buildings.  The one way residential side streets were OK, but ones allowing traffic in two directions with cars parked on both sides meant very careful driving.  You also had to be very good at parallel parking.  Later when I bought my own cars, the largest I ever bought for myself was a Mustang.