Yes, Bob, I'm trying to do a correct restoration with minimal cutting. I'm going to bore you guys with the whole story.
This car has been garaged since 1987, only 56k miles. Therefore no rust, except for this spot. It destroyed a transmission, and had front end damage. It was sold to the guy I bought it from in 1990. He took it all apart and never did anything. In 2005, I answered an ad in the newspaper for a band saw. When I showed up to buy the band saw, I saw the car buried under junk in his garage. I said, "if you EVER sell this car, call me first!!!" I bugged him for about two weeks, and then gave up. Seven months later, the phone rang said he was ready to sell. This photo was from 1990 when the previous owner bought it.
In the door cavity, I found an old registration card. I looked up the name in the phone book, and after the third try, I found a previous owner and got the whole history of the car since new. He said that during a blizzard in 1982, they went into the ditch. That's where the damage came from and the only re-paint.
The trunk filler (from trunk floor to lower quarter has very heavy scale internal rust. It has one small spot rusted through. However it is SO solid that I can not poke an awl through it. I will cut it out anyway. Here is a picture of the drop panel from the inside. The rust through is next to that rubber plug laying in there.
The exterior QP has a rust through and some small pin holes.
I spent 8 hours yesterday wielding a BFH making this replacement piece to replace the lower 3" of the QP. I'm not happy yet with the shape and contour. I will also make a new trunk filler piece because I don't want chinese metal on my car. And because I'm dumb enough to try to hammer out a piece that complicated. I haven't cut anything out yet, just trying to make the replacement pieces first.
Crashtech, there is no taiwan metal here! A toronado was gracious enough to be an organ donor for sheet-metal. All OLDSMOBILE steel here!