[BossBill]

Just for the heck of it, I stopped in to my local Mustang dealer
and bought a repop left (driver) fender. It was an experiment to see if the state of the art in repop had gotten any better than the last time I tried (over 5 years ago). I told the owner I was sure he'd by owning it again in a few days after I fit them. Yes, he certainly will.

Here is a pic of the original fender
It is just hanging there with no bolts. Note how it fits where the
eyebrow meets the window. Straight and flat -- pretty good.

Here is the repop
I turned on the flash so you could see how far off the line it is at
the cowl.

Here is the mismatch up close

This is utter BS. This is simply no excuse for this. How long have they been making these -- 10 years? Note that this 'fine piece of Asian tin' also weighs over 2 pounds less.
I'm not sure the people who brought you these 'fine products' did us a favor. Now that they're out there, it becomes the standard. No has to do better than the standard, because people are buying this junk.
The bar is simply too low. It only gets better if the sales go away.
Hopefully this post will help dry up sales, if only just a little.

The estimate I've seen on these is around 15 hours to get it 'close'. (15*$35 hour=$525). If it's a black car I'd double that (for a great paint job). Boy, we sure saved a lot of money buying new tin, didn't we?

I could go down the road to Wild West Mustang Ranch, but he wants $300 for a used Fender, then I pay $40 to media blast, and then who knows how many hours to fix the probable dents.
That's more than a NORS (New Old Replacement Stock or original Ford vendor) fender. And it's probably rusty too.

On my day off next Friday I'm taking a 4 hour (each way) road trip to a warehouse that stocks the NORS fender.
It's either that or I pay over $150 to ship it!
I think I'll just call it "our Sunday drive".

 

[GypsyR]

After hearing so many gripes about shoddy fit, it's nice to finally see some pics of the how and why. Thanks!

 

[sinpac]

bill
i posted this same problem months ago stateing i could stamp this out better with my @ss cheeks. and not to mention i had problems lining it up with my door and the fender extension will not sit on it with out hacking the front of it up. now it sits up in the rafters waiting for when ever i need a piece of metal.
oh and bill glad to see i am not the only one with clutter on there car ::
chris

 

[johnpro]

Amen. I have repro fenders on my '66. I spent over a day on each one in an attempt to get them lined up, mostly for the reasons you state. The repros are PURE crap. I will never again buy a repro fender, until someone tells me that the Tawains have retooled. ::

 

[Lemondrop]

I had good luck with my repops back in 1988 or so . The pass side dropped on perfect , the drivers side took a bit of work to get the hood to fender gap correct . I imagine the problem is they are using the same stamping dies they used in 1988 and thus you know the problem .

 

[yelostang]

That is why I WONT part with any tin that I have squirreled away. A guy calls me asking if I have a left 65 fender. I do but I said no. It's been attic bound for years but it's soon to be on a 66 cv. I paid 75 for that piece thinking I must be crazy to pay that! :: Same thing with doors! OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!! ::

 

[64kcar]

is the tap straitened correctly that raises the rear of the fender up?????? that is nooooooooooo big deal to fix

 

[johnpro]

On the repro fenders, if you straighten the "tap" (I didn't know that's what it's called), then the fender won't move close enough to the windsheild, leaving a gap between the fender and the door big enough to drive a truck through. You have to bend the "tap" out of the way to get the fender anywhere close to the doors (although IME, close means within 200 yards), and now it's too low again at the top.

No, thanks, it's original metal only for me from now on. With original metal you just bolt it on and go. IME, the original metal sells for less than the POS repros, anyway.

 

[wayne50f1]

thats nuthin to worry about
waite till you try to fit the door to it

 

[Mr_Siv]

wow... after experiencing the reproduction fenders first hand, i can attest... they are terrible. after about a week and a half, i've gotten the passengers side to fit pretty nice, although it takes a comealong to pull it into place. I've finaly gotten the gap with the door straightened out; but i can't get it to line up with the hood. oh well. I have an old rusty (beyond repair) original pass fender... wow, its like magic, i just set it on the car and BAM! it fits. no bending, no tweeking, just screw in and go! its amazing.

the biggest problem, imo, with the repops is that the body lines are hard to get to line up... the repops are higher and farther out than the doors, so they don't look right. even on profesionaly done cars (genej's 66 coupe, very nice car) you can tell they don't fit properly. the passengers side is not as bad as the drivers side.

used fenders are worth every penny... to anyone that is planing on getting repops, DO NOT!!! they are not worth the trouble.

oh yeah, not to mention, i can only get 3 of the 4 bolts in my NOS headlight bucket because the boss's in the fender are in the wrong place by 3/8". oh well...

- Jason

 

[sidewinder]

Bill, could you stamp out some 1970 mustang fenders with your butt cheeks also? I'm not sure that I'd want to see the process. How would you cut out for the sidemarker lights (your own form of plasma cutter)?

 

[sinpac]

David :: :: ::

 

[BossBill]

I feel like saying hi to everyone tonight....

GypsyR -- I figure if I'm complaining and moaning and groaning I might as well show people why.
I would show the door gap but they're at the painter's!
Sinpac -- Is your new stamping company called "No Ifs, Ands or Butts"? BTW that's a proper Snap-On ratchet, tape measure, fish scale (accuracy is my name), shock bracket, and some 67 A/C thingy's I'm looking at.
JohnPro -- They have retooled and this is it!
Lemondrop -- too be honest I hear the pax side actually fits better.
Yelowstang -- keep those pieces.
65kcar -- I have no idea what a 'tap' is. Am I missing an 'o'? BTW, I know how to fix it -- I don't think I want to spend between 13 and 36 hours to make it fit. This Not just simple adjustment. It's a POS, pure and simple.
Wayne -- Ah, another Raven...you're right, the last time I tried I cried when I saw the door fit -- it was from laughing.
Mr Siv -- you said it all
Sidewinder -- I don't want to think about about the 'plasma cutter'...

 

[SCJSTU]

Yep, find the real steel and repair it is better every time.I was looking at a radiator core support repo part on a 66 the other day and was amazed at how thin the metal was and how you could easily bend it with your hand!

 

[Columbo]

When my car was in an accident I needed a new driver side fender. I had to pay 1358 Euro's, but I got a fender that went straight on with no work accept getting it painted.

The Dollar price for the fender was $405. I just had to pay so much more because I had to have it in Holland and the parts guys here want to make a buck as well...

As the insurance paid I didn't care about the cost, I wanted the best and I got it.

I just want to say there are better out there. This was not an original fender but supposedly made on fords original molds. Italso was not more then 6 moths old. My parts guy also told me that there are more then 35 companies making the same fenders, so there is also a lot of difference between several repro's. You could notice very little difference between the original and this particular repro. There was one edge that was a bit sharper. And to top it off, all body lines matched simply by hanging it on the car....

Quality costs... So stop buying the POS repros so the good stuff becomes a little cheaper...cause I agree that the price for this repro especially in Holland is simply out of this world!

 

[BossBill]

I agree there are differences in quality between vendors, but without any markings on them how do we tell? That leaves me with having to dump them all into one big bin and call them all bad. We need a vendor map!
I doubt there are 35 makers of fenders -- I suspect less than 5. Is the market big enough to support that many makers? If there are 35 I'd be very, very surprised.

But, maybe the fact that I'm a stubborn Dutchman has something to do with all of this!

Groeten van Wim (uit Haarlem en Amsterdam).