Impact

The stress cracks in the fiberglass created by the rear-end collision that years ago also destroyed the rear deck's spoiler and the tail light panel were routed out. A newly purchased Dremel tool worked really well for this.

Corvettes were never coated at the factory with a gel coat as a boat or bathtub is. The cracks aren't in a gel coat but rather in the thick layer of epoxy of the fiberglass.

This makes repairing these sort of cracks easier in some ways and more difficult in others. The repair needs only be the addition of more fiberglass - or fiberglass-reinforced filler. The trouble is, because there is no new layer of gel coat one must apply paint directly onto the repair. This makes it essential to get the repair perfect since it's directly beneath the finish of the car.

So after getting the panels replaced and making this rear clip flat, the car takes a few steps backwards today to make this repair.