Question for you 1962 starfire diehards

[59-59-59]

Y E A R S back I thought there was someone ( I think in Canada that advertized in Hemmings ) that was reproducing the anodized aluminum ribbed side panels for '62 Starfires. What ever happened to that guy? And does any other company plan on reproducing the 6 piece set? I'm thinking the only company that would tackle this would be Fusick. Its kind of pointless to buy a perfect NOS piece when you got 5 other pieces that look like crap. Just curious

[rocketraider]

Don't think it's the same guy as before, but someone IS repopping the late design side trim (with the bead moulding).

JWO ad shows it's Steve Westlake, www.jaswest.com . Doing 61-63 cars.

I sure wish he'd do 64 tailpanel. There were two on ebay last week, only ones I've ever seen for sale in over 20 years. One was nice and shiny and missing two letters. Other was complete but cloudy and went stupid.

[59-59-59]

Holy crap!! I thought they were non - existant!! Thanks for the link. If this guy advertized in Hemmings or other mainstream magazines, I wouldnt be asking this question. I never heard of this company before. I'm wondering how much for the set though

[88 coupe]

Originally Posted by 59-59-59

........ or other mainstream magazines ........

JWO is mainstream, if one is an Olds enthusiast.

Norm

[rocketraider]

I heard the Korffs were very pleased with their set. I'm trying to remember if John Kleedorfer's car has these or the earlier ones; he was tickled with them too, and that says a lot for the repros' quality if they can satisfy either of these guys.

Paul, I didn't know he was doing both 1962 versions. I had heard they were all late type.

[Oldskeeper]

To answer 59-59-59's questions:
The guy who was and still is reproducing the aluminum side panels for Starfires is sitting right here. As far as I know I'm the only guy to date reproducing the panels.
I don't remember if we advertised in Hemmings back in 1990.
Oldsfan is correct, Kevin Korff and his father Jerry were very pleased with the final product. John Kleedorfer has an original reproduction set I made in the '90s. I have talked to John recently and he is still happy with his set. I've heard back from several of my customers that they are happy with the panels. I'm looking forward to seeing the panels on the Starfires in Dearborn this year.
I just heard about this forum tonight and decided to join to answer your questions.
I look forward to meeting the Starfire owners at Lansing and Dearborn.
If you have any other questions I'll be happy to answer them for you.

Steve.

[rocketraider]

Steve, we get a lot of Starfire traffic over on the AACA/OCA forums too if you'd like to join over there and let people know you make the panels. Oldsfan, 61Oldsguy and I are all there. www.aaca.org

[Oldskeeper]

Thanks Rocketraider. I'll check out that forum too. I'm new to this as I have been busy developing the tooling required for 61 and 63 panels and making sets for 62. Are you going to either Lansing or Dearborn?

Steve

[rocketraider]

Not looking good for either trip. Between fuel costs and not being sure if any of the cars are roadworthy enough for a long-distance run like that, I'll probably stick around here.

Surprisingly, there was a new post about the trim panels in an older thread on AACA/OCA today.

[59-59-59]

Originally Posted by Oldskeeper

To answer 59-59-59's questions:
The guy who was and still is reproducing the aluminum side panels for Starfires is sitting right here. As far as I know I'm the only guy to date reproducing the panels.

I have to say that it tok a ton of guts to even start a project of this magnitude. I have a question about the panel set to you or anybody else that can answer this - Why does my friends Starfire have the center thin stainless bead ( on the aluminum panel ) running the entire length of the car?? I find it odd since every other '62 I have seen has the stainless bead running from the potmetal chrome block at the door rearwards? Did different assembly plants have their own idea what was right?

[Oldskeeper]

Yes, It took alot of time and energy to get to this point. I'm older, grayer now.

I've had a couple of others ask me this question. To my knowledge, GM had two companies manufacturing the trim. After 1962, they had a couple of subcontractors using the tooling to make the trim. A couple of people have it on their front fenders and I think they just decided to add it. All the information I've manage to dig up about this tells me it's not suppose to be on the front fender. Going through the parts manuals that I have for all the 62s does not have a part number for a fender with bead molding. Looking through cross reference books and manuals covering 1955 - 1970 oldsmobile full size, they only show fenders without bead molding.

If your friend is interested in replacing his panels and would still like to keep the center bead molding on the front fender, I would need a piece to match the hole placement for molding. Whether it's to original factory specs or not, he is the one driving the car and he has to be happy with it.

Steve

[rocketraider]

Bob Librandi's car has bead moulding on the front fender pieces, but we pretty much established it was added. Car was an 11,000 mile original when we first judged it and it was there at that time, and Bob was second owner. Matter of fact he'd had the car only a short time before he brought it to Nats.

It really should have gone in Unrestored class, but Bob wanted to show it with Starfires.

The bead moulding was a quick response to owner complaints about the side trim getting dinged up in parking lots. Seems like October 61 was the changeover date.