While crawling under the car I noticed these unusual holes in both rear frame rails. I'm pretty sure that from the factory there was about a nickel or quarter size round hole in this spot, but it looks like someone tore the heck out of it! What do you make of this and should I do anything to repair it?
looks like someone used some chain hooks/binders,maybe to lock it down on a trailer?some would take a hammer and just tap it back into place/shape,and weld it up.but the metal has already been stretched and weak.i'd take a grinder and grind away all the stretched/pulled away metal,and make a little patch,the same thickness as the parent metal.weld it in,and use a dremmel if needed to finish rounding out the hole.prime and undercoat,or paint.pretty easy fix.good luck...chuck.
It looks like it could have been from someone chaining the car down. Another possibility is that the car may have had some frame damage in the past. Someone could have used those holes to hook the chains onto to pull the frame back into place. Those hooks can tear the heck out of metal sometimes.
I agree with Jean...I'm betting it was on a frame machine before and they pulled it too hard. I've seen that happen quite often. I don't think you could do that just chaining it down on a trailer...unless it was chained down and the trailer came to an abrupt (crash) stop.
I'm on the frame machine wagon too. I have seen damage like that before from them. I worked a tow truck in the 70's and pulled many a car out of the ditch. Never tore a frame like that unless the car was attached to something else (like the rear of a semi-truck )
Those pictures look exactly like the rails on my BEATER that I KNOW was wrecked and straightened on a frame machine. I have never seen the metal torn like that except when the body was pulled to fix damage. (But I am only 42 and haven't seen everything....yet.) I would look at the rest of the frame sections to see if you can find other damage. Mine was wrinkled right at the top of the arch over the axle. Once you look closely, you will probably find witness marks that will tell you exactly what was repaired. (It seems that a lot of body men don't worry about making the undercairrage look nice when they repair body damage.)
My '72 is the same way although not quite as bad. It's also wrinkled in the "arch" above the axel on both sides like jayman's. The floor under the rear seat and trunk floor also have some wrinkles here and there. I strongly suspect my car has been hit hard in the rear at some point...
Thanks guys...I feel SO much better now that I know my car has probably been wrecked before. I guess it's ok as long as everything is straight and fitting ok, which it seems like it is. I'm thinking this would also explain why there is a bump in the floorboard behind the passenger seat. From underneath it looks like someone tried to jack the car up from the floorboard.
