When I was prepping my C500 for paint I found a significant hump in the curve of the roof where it met the rear window plug. At the time it seemed right to make it better and I removed a lot of lead with a body file to blend the roof to the plug.
Is that something that is common? Did I have a car that just had a bad day at the off line shop? Or did I mess with something I should have left it alone?
I did a search of the site and was unable to find any discussion about this.
I'm not the expert but these cars were assembled fairly quickly by a subcontractor for nothing more than homologation purposes so poor workmanship on the specialised parts is not unheard of. In fact the standard vinyl top on the Superbirds was to help hide the shoddy plug installation. So I haven't heard of unusual amounts of lead around plugs but it doesn't surprise me at all.
As for improving it, why not?
It did seem ok at the time but in the interest of being correct I wondered if someone/ judge would pitch a fit.
I haven't had the opportunity check out other cars to compare.
Yes I can see your dilemma there. It is a bit of a tough call isn't it? You want it to look good but you want it to look "correct" too. Wish I could help but I'll be interested to see what some of the guys who have restored 500's say.
I doubt if too many people will even notice any changes to the rear plug area that you done, unless you have extensive documentation to the changes that you made. I would just make yourself happy with the work that you're doing to it.