Untold car history

As I started the process of stripping paint from the fenders, I paused for a moment to study the many layers of paint that were revealed. I know very little of this car's history, but the layers told an interesting history.  I found evidence of at least 4 repaints, and 2 collision repairs in the same area. And, no surprise, more poorly executed repairs. 

 

In these layers it can be seen that a collision was banged out, filled with a greenish bondo, and repainted in the original harvest gold. Then another layer of pinkish bondo sits on top of that, and the car was repainted again with a thin coat of harvest gold. Sometime later, the car was painted red. Then finally, there's a light coat of gray primer an another thin coat of red! This last coat of red must have been the cheapest of resprays, as it is super thin.

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also discovered that some of the green body filler had never hardened completely. It was soft and still smelled like resin in places, and a layer of it peeled away with a fingernail. Was this a possible reason for the second larer of pink bondo and second repaint? Or was it a second collision?

Sometimes a ham-fisted body repair causes more damage than it fixes. This fender must have been attacked with random blows from a big hammer until it was beaten back far enough to support the thick layer of bondo that would hide the 'handiwork'. So now I get to fix the damage inflicted by the former zealous hammer-wielder. First step is to grind out the bondo from the divots.  

 

After about an hour of dolly-work it's getting smooth enough to start correcting the overall contours. The wheel arch is another story. Might have to use a puller on that. At least it wasn't rust under there.