Local shop, sells car, out for a rod test, hits bump, are loses a piece of bondo.
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The car was to be delivered by Weds., they call me this morning desperate.
Good customer, I'm on the job.
That's a lot of bondo for that little area; what's the rest of the car like?
Bondo is a cheap temp fix. An old classic like that deserves sand blasting of rusted areas and proper lead filling for a permanent repair. (Larger rust areas need new metal welded in - not window screen and bondo). There's probably more rust and bondo under that shiny paint job.
Lead's great to work with if you don't mind losing your mind in exchange for bragging rights. There is a whole cult of those guys, and god bless 'em.
Bondo (and similar--I like "All Metal") works great as body filler when applied correctly over clean metal. Not rusted metal--or metal that is likely to keep rusting because it's not been sealed correctly.
And, right: it's not a structural repair. That should not have to be said...
See the existing rust?........ Improper metal prep.
Wrap a magnet in a single layer of Tee shirt and slowly go over the entire car you locate all repaired areas.
Way too much Bondo, I wonder about other similar repairs done, Bondo should only be applied as a skim coat after the damaged metal has been massaged back close to original or, a proper welded metal repair has been done. Then and only then does the repaired metal get cleaned , primer - sealer and final paint. Bondo is not for filling in holes larger than 1/4" or applied in excess of 1/8" thickness.
As much as I have liked the 'early Birds' and have wanted one I learned enough about them over the years...they are notorious 'rust buckets', even ones that have been well cared for over the years.
Like Alan said "Bondo is not for filling in holes larger than 1/4" or applied in excess of 1/8" thickness."
It is amazing when you look in person at a vintage/classic car for sale how many of them are bondo filled, thickly in some of them. A buddy of mine in WA state in '04 bought a "fully restored", frame off, '66 GTO, sight unseen other than from a lot of pictures and some video, from a big national vintage car dealer. When he got it delivered from the Chicago area dealership, it looked fantastic bodywise. About 6mos later is when issues arose, paint cracking everywhere, etc., finally I think it was just the paint and massive amount of bondo used holding the car together, we put it on my lift one day and though the frame looked good it was definitely not a frame off as there was rust showing in some hard to see areas on the frame rails. In '05 he finally took it to a bodyshop and about 6mos and nearly $20k poorer he finally got it back...he learned a hard lesson on that one...He had originally purchased it for $32K, now had $52k invested in a car worth max. about $40k resell.
Alan is completely right about bondo. Is that not the reason why we like glass, fiberglass that is, rather than a metal 356A which I had which needed more metal work. I think if you look at the amount of money spent on body work and metal work to fix rust in a restoration it becomes much easier to love glass.... 
I hate bodywork. I hate rust even more. This was exhibit "A" why I got into replicas in the first place (when original speedsters were selling for $40K).
I'm still glad I did. Rust never sleeps.
Yup! Why my REAL 356 sits in the Garage and I drive my "Glass Speedster" darn near every day!