'65 Front End Damage - Tips?

[nik.grimm]

This has been my project and daily driver for 16 years, and I finally hit a deer the other day. Huge bummer. Does anyone have tips on how to recover?

I think the biggest issue is the fender/headlight extension. It doesn't seem reparable to me, and I'm not having much luck finding any online.

The fender, hood, and firewall will just be body work. Bezels and headlight buckets seem pretty common online. Does anyone have experience with Vegas Rod Parts (found a grill from them https://www.vegasrodparts.com/product-p/3248.htm)?

[poboyjo65]

Where are you located? I may have some of it. other than the grill & light bezel doesn't look too bad from the one pic.

[nik.grimm]

I'm in North Carolina right now and will be moving to Washington state in a few months. Yeah, everything is bolt-on replaceable except the fender extension, I think. And those are cast if I'm not mistaken which would make them difficult to repair.

It definitely could have been worse. There is some annoying fender and hood damage. The hood hinge attachment points on the engine bay tore through the sheet metal, so I'll have to weld in some patches there.

[poboyjo65]

I have a passenger side fender ,it has been damaged & repaired , extension looks good.(& it bolts to fender) Got a couple grills,one is driver quality,one with the cyclone corral . got a hood,may have rust by now ,been leaning against a wall with its side in the dirt.

I'm in NW Tenn.,which would be on your across the country

oh btw headlight buckets & retainer rings are not common, they are one year comet only, & each of the 4 buckets are different,wrong one & your headlight wont clock right.

[Joe Travers]

The hood hinge attachment points on the engine bay tore through the sheet metal, so I'll have to weld in some patches there.

That area is a common problem on most '60s FoMoCo cars. The inner fender sheet metal tore a bit on my first '68 Mustang due to stiff hinges. It was only 10 years old @ the time. It's a weak spot that does need reinforcing.

It's very easy to forget these old cars had some hang ups compared to newer models. I can see a deer tearing it up on impact.
Thank goodness it wasn't worse.

Joe