1952 Caddy...Poor Body Work

[domer]

Hello everyone,
I have a dumb question to ask.  I am pretty sure I know the answer but I just want to make sure.  On my 52 Fleetwood, I noticed that on both sides of the car there seems to be a partial cut on the metal pillar that runs in between the front and back doors.  The cut was  made just above the rocker panels.  When I first saw this, I immediately figured someone in the past was going to cut the sections out and install a new piece. Well, I was scanning the internet the other night and zoomed in on another 52 Caddy in the exact same spot and noticed it had the same cut marks on it as well.
Could this possibly be something from the factory or is it just poor bodywork by the previous owner?
Thanks
dominique

[Tom Hall 7485]

I don't know the 1952 Cadillac well but I think this is not very good welding and/or incomplete filling with lead by the body factory.  See if you can find a similar defect on 1952 Buicks of the same body style.  If you can, it's probably the factory's incomplete work.

[mgrab]

Its a GM thing.....my Olds has it.....not sure why they weren't filled better by the factory...but guess they weren't...
Mike

[Chris Conklin]

Hi Domer,

I would think it was poor work from whomever re-painted the car. I'm not saying it didn't exist originally to some extent, but during any work performed to re-paint the filler dropped out and wasn't corrected.

[Russ Hobden #1235]

My '50 Cadillac also had the same seams only partially filled.  One side of the car was better than the other side.  My thinking is that they weren't too worried about a seam that low to the ground.  Nobody would notice it down there.  They were more concerned about seams on the roof, fenders, etc. which were properly leaded in or filled with body filler.

Russ Hobden #1235

[Otto Skorzeny]

You are correct Russ.

Contrary to the popular belief that cars were put to together better in the old days and "They don't build 'em like they used to", car makers slapped together their products without much regard to fit or finish.  The object was to crank out as many as possible at the lowest cost. Slipshod construction was the norm from WWII on, reaching an apex in the 1970s.

Cars today, although not much to look at, are superior to these old cars in every way including fit and finish.

[domer]

Thanks for everyone's response. My initial thought was that this was just poor body work by previous owner but, as mentioned earlier, I located a 52 Cadillac on the internet that had the same lines/cuts in the exact same spots.  I really hope that it is a factory blemish and not some poor body job.  I think its actually pretty cool to see the original factory shortcuts there...lol.
I'd love to hear more about this topic so please keep them coming.
Thanks
dominique

[domer]

I had to dig up my initial post concerning this subject.  There is 52 Fleetwood currently on ebay.  Its pretty rough but seems to be totally original.  I zoomed in on a couple of the pics that focus on the exact area I was inquiring about.  The 52 on ebay seems to have the exact indentions or creases in the exact same spots as my 52 fleetwood.  Pretty interesting.