The ’03 Bugeye is up on the hoist at the body shop. The car has come so far since that test drive in February. Now in excellent mechanical condition, plated and insured, it’s almost ready to his the road.
Except for the fact that there isn’t a single straight panel on the car! The wax-crayon circles on the doors, fenders hood and trunk identify every dent and sing on the body. Tony at Scarboro Subaru found a new-old-stock OEM fender to replace the rusted out aftermarket one on the car now, while Japan Direct supplied the replacement front and read bumpers. But this car is going to need a lot of hours to make it beautiful again.
Stock, unmodified 2003 WRXs are quite rare in 2021. It’s not just the age of the car that makes them hard to find. It’s that so many have been thrashed and crashed, the number of cars left is dwindling. Some might say that this WRX was not a good candidate for refinishing, being in such rough shape. But the body shop has experience repairing vehicles that there simply aren’t parts for. Sometimes the only way to fix it is to bring out the hammer and dolly and start working the sheet metal.
Or get one of those classics around the shop to teach the WRX the restoration trick from 1983’s Christine.
2 thoughts on “Back at the Body Shop”