A little brain storming on feasibility and cost is needed.
A 1982 El Camino has rust damage in both quarter panels, one is dented and rusted beyond any patching possibilities, a crashed and rusted drivers door and the floor pan is rusted thin with some holes. The bed is not rusted through and has no visible rust at all. The tail gate appears OK also.
I may have access to a donor car with a crashed right front end and possible bent frame. The remainder of the vehicle, from Nevada, may be rust free.
What about cutting the body of the 1982 El Camino off at the front of the rusted floor area, up to about the pedal area, and below the rear window? Then that whole area would be replaced with the metal, in one piece from the donor car, and welded and brazed into place. The damaged driver door would be replaced. This would eliminate most complicated rewiring, hooking up controls and gauges.
Does this sound feasible, and might a body shop take on such a task for a reasonable charge? Anyone care to venture a guess at the cost, not including painting?

Eric

:? are talking about cutting the two cars in half, through the frame, and welding the two good halve together?? i am no body expert, but if that is what you are saying, i do not think it is very good idea. i have never heard of that done before so i could not even guess at a price tag. if i were you i would replace everything one piece at a time. you DO NOT want to cut you frame no matter what. its late so i may have mis-read your post, but if i didnt, id say to just take off the sheet metal that you need, and the door and replace it like that. im totally confused here.... what does everyone else think?

"Are {you} talking about cutting the two cars in half, through the frame, and welding the two good halves together?? "
No, not the frame. because the 1982 El Camino has a full frame, the roughly rear half a body would bolt right on to the existing frame of the car being repaired. The new section should slide right into place, once the old damaged half is removed. Careful measuring would be critical.
ES

whew!!! i was worrying about you man!! hmmm... so just the back end sheet metal off the donor car? and cut i guess even with the bed to the bottom of the little window? that sounds much better. will you be doing this your self? if you are having some one else do it i cant imagine the price... unless you got a buddy who is a body man. sorry about my ;? confusion :? rough night!

Yeah, unless you have the skills and gear to do it yourself it's prob not worth persuing. I've found that body shops tend to like to do insurance repairs and smaller jobs. Such a major job would tie up a major work area and employees for quite a while and the price would prob be out of site. You might be better off finding a car in better condition because after all that major body work it will also need paint and all that too. My guess is the work would exceed the price of a replacement car.

These comments are appreciated. An alternative plan would be to cut out the rusted quarter panel areas and patch in new metal, and add sheet metal to the floor (I had this floor work done affordably on another car). I am concerned that patching quarter panels could be messy and more time consuming that just replacing the whole area, as well as possibly even more expensive.
In the final analysis, perhaps neither plan is very cost effective now??
Eric

Unless you could do the work yourself, I would avoid this project. At $65.hr body shop rates + materials, you could probably afford a new SSR before the Elky would be finished.
However if I was doing this project I would use the Nevada Body shell from the cowl back, sandblast the good frame and hardware, and rebuild from the ground up. Even then it would be an expensive undertaking.
Maybe try and find a whole "dry state" car that is complete and only needs cosmetics.and part the other cars out.
http://www.cars-on-line.com/elcam.html happy shopping