ABSTRACT
Vehicles are designed for volume production, not for ease of repair. Most of the large manufacturers produce cars at the rate of about one per minute, taking about a day to produce each car. Every second of production counts in the vehicle’s price, so production methods are very finely tuned. They are not designed to be undone. That means that to replace panels, and carry out repairs, requires special techniques, skills and tools. Specialist tools have been designed to suit the varying contours and shapes of the present allsteel bodies and panels. These tools are made of highcarbon tool steel, which is forged and then heat treated to give long service in the hands of a skilled body repair worker. In a body repair toolkit the basic tools are the hammer and dolly. All other tools have been developed around these, giving us the body repair specialist tools which are now currently available. A repair job cannot be successfully carried out before one has completely mastered the skill of using the planishing hammer and dolly in coordination with each other, as this skill is the basis of all body repair work involving the use of hand tools.
