under the rocker panels or side mirrors, to provide alternate means for opening the doors. The entire process of removing badges, trim, and doorhandles was referred to as "shaving". Grill modifications: the original grill was heavily modified, or substituted with the grill from a completely different make, model, and year car. In the late 1940s and 1950s, plastic body filler and fiberglass did not exist. Instead, bar lead was used as a body filler. A true craftsman pulled and pushed out dents with body spoons, hammers and dollies until the sheet metal was as straight as they could get it. Any sheet metal that was still slightly wavy, the bodyman heated bars of lead and flowed the lead onto the body with an oxygen-acetylene torch similar to work done by a tin smith. The bars of lead were what we today call “solder” but were not the wire material we are familiar with today, typically sold for electrical or plumbing repairs. The lead bars or strips ranged anywhere from a quarter of an inch to one inch in width and several inches in length. Lead craftsman call the process of melting the lead “running lead” and this is a highly specialized ancient trade passed from a master craftsman to an apprentice. An apprentice bodyman typically would remove the body part from the car and place it on a bench so as to have a fairly flat surface to flow the lead horizontally onto the body. In contrast, the master craftsman could control the heat of the lead in a vertical position without having to remove the body part, thereby saving time in performing the repair. An apprentice bodyman most likely would have to grind and hand file the lead to a smooth finish for repainting. The master craftsman on the other hand did not have to grind and only had to hand file, if he had to perform any smoothing at all. The true craftsman controlled the flow of lead with his torch and most times could produce a satin finish without filing. As time progressed, plastics such as "Bondo" were introduced to the market. These plastic body fillers are easier to work with and eventually replaced the use of lead in body repair. Some common late model lead sleds are the 1949 Mercury, 50 Plymouth, 1949 Ford, and the 1959 Cadillac. These late model lead sleds and a play-on-words