blunce

How much of the rear quarters on a 4 door '69 Cutlass would be usable on a 2 door?

MDchanic

More or less up to the roof / mid-wheelwell area.





- Eric

69442C

I tend to think it's only the section from the middle of the wheelhouse and back, and only the lower half. The upper section of the 4 door quarter is not angled as steelpy as a 2 door. Also, the wheel flare on the 4 door is more like that of a convertible panel in that it does not extend upward into the C pillar like 2 door panels do. This is visible in the photos Eric attached. 4 door 68/69 models use the same trunk lid as a convertible so the section of the body behind the rear window and thus the tops of the rear quarters is much closer or the same as a convertible body. If you need more metal than to deal with rot behind the wheels, you should look into a repop skin. If it's just the typical rot behind the wheels, the 4 door will be a good donor.

Brian

MDchanic

Rereading what I wrote, I realize I was unclear.

When I said, "to the roof," I was looking a the picture of the car with the vinyl roof and thinking about the line where the vinyl starts - I didn't mean to the roof itself.

I should have said, "to the base of the C-pillar and rear window," which I think is more technically clear.

You can see that the 4-door rear door cuts in about ⅓-way back into the wheelwell, so I would guess you could go just a bit forward of halfway along the wheelwell.

I believe that within this area the sheetmetal is exactly the same, but I will admit I have never tried to paste the quarter from a 4-door onto a 2-door, so it is always possible that I've missed something.

- Eric

69442C

The qtr panel at the base of the C pillar is still different between a 4 door and 2 door. On a 4 door, the wheel flare stops a few inches below where the vinyl top molding is located at the base of the C pillar using the 4 door picture as the reference. You can see the qtr is flat below the vinyl top molding. A 2 door has the flare extend up past the base of the C pillar and therefore it's not flat. More important, the profile of the top of the quarter between the top of the rear bumper and the base of the C pillar is different between the 4 door and 2 door. The 4 door profile will be less angled and the 2 door will angle upward more. These differences are also what makes a convertible panel different from a 2 door in these same areas since the rear section of a convertible is more closely shaped to the profile of a 4 door. The conv is shaped the same above the wheel flare as the 4 door. This is why it's a little bit of a challenge using the repop HT qtr skins on a convertible as the wheel flares are different and the flare profile of the 2 door requires metal shrinking to make it work for the conv wheel flare profile. Metal is also trimmed from the top edge of the HT skin to match the lower conv profile.

Given the question in the OP, the only piece that will match up the same will be the rear section, below the middle of the wheel flare and somwhere into the wheel opening, maybe 1/2 way or even 3/4's. Or to be more exact, draw a level line from the door striker to the back of the panel and what is below that line and from part way into the wheel opening and rearward will be the same. Above that line and you need to be very careful.

Brian

MDchanic

Now that's a definitive answer.

Thanks, Brian.

blunce

Agreed, thanks guys. I didn't realize the trunk lids and very top of the quarters were different between 2 and 4 doors, or convert's for that matter. Hey look! I learned something!

MDchanic

I think the lid is the same, but the angle of the slope from the front edge of the lid to the bottom of the rear window is different.

- Eric

69442C

The 68/69 4 door and conv trunk lids are the same but the 2 door trunk lids are unique to themselves.

MDchanic

Wow. I don't recall that for other A-bodies, but maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

- Eric

69442C

The 70-72 models also use the same deck lid for convertibles and 4 doors. However, there are 2 different deck lids for 2 door cars based on the 2 different body styles of coupe or fastback. My parts book does not have the pre-68 A body models so I can't check them. I gave a look at the 88 and 98 models and there is jut one part number for the deck lid for each model from 69-75. However in 1968, the deck lid is the same for all of the 98 body styles but the 88 models had one deck lid for 4 door and conv and another one for 2 door.

Brian