So, when I got my 1967 442 back from paint and body, I couldn't help notice a pretty large gap between the A pillar and the top of the door. The body guy had remarked about it and said he would adjust as best he could. On further research, it appears a pretty significant gap is not unusual. Is that what is "expected"?!

 

That may be a bit wider than the factory would have let out the door. Has the car ever been hit?

 

Hey BangScreech, the photos were three examples of what I found on the Internet. My car does not differ much from these and to my knowledge has not been hit.

Here are a few more from the Internet that might be a little harder to see! The bronze/gold car with closeup of antenna has some other parts not aligned too well. . . . Note that other bronze car is totally different car, it does not have antenna.

 

Oh. I had guessed that your car was the silver (last one in the first batch of photos) one with the big gap between the DS door and the front fender. That don't look right!

In the second batch, everything looks mostly okay except I do note that the gold (first) car is two different shades ...

Could you possibly post a picture of your car -- you know, the one you have a problem with?

 

Sure, I was trying not to show my car since I didn't want anyone to suggest that I had a problem. I noticed that the fender lines match with the A pillar and with the top of the door as well as the cowl, so I'm not sure there's too much that a person could do. My bottom line was that my car is about average for the couple of dozen cars I found on the Internet! On the other hand, I had supplied 1966 fender extensions to the paint and body guy. He had already sanded and primered the extensions before he noticed that the hood didn't line up with the extensions. That's when I learned that there's an inch or more difference from 1966 to 1967. The 1966 is gone now, so I'm pretty sure the A pillar pieces are from 1967's! But, you guys are the experts, so I thought I'd check to see if anyone else had noticed the gap.


Don't pay any attention to the "gasser" stance -- no engine, interior, spare tire, etc.!!

 

Don't worry about the stance, it'll settle down. These cars seem to like to sit low.

The gap between the windshield pillar and the upper front corner of the door looks about right. I certainly don't think anybody will be pointing and laughing at it if you put the car in a show. And if anything, the cutline between the door and the front fender looks a little tight, but now I'm picking nits. All in all, it looks like your guy has done some really nice work on the car.

 

Thanks for your comments. I was pretty pleased until I saw THE "gap" looking bigger than other gaps, but as I looked at photos online, I began to wonder. Lots of work yet to do to get this thing together!!

 

I agree, it's a great looking car, especially with the color it is sporting (I'm a blues man as one can tell ), and nothing jumps out at me either looking at the picture you provided. Please revisit and post pictures when you get the car together as I'm sure there are many that would appreiciate seeing it completed.

 

Do these photos help? Original untaken apart car.

 

Do you have a better side shot picture of the car so we can see the door gaps at the rocker panel and fender? Alignment starts at the rear of the door following body lines and the door needs to be parallel to the lower rocker panels, then the front fenders align to the door. The fit and finish of body parts were never absolutely perfect on these cars.

 

Thanks -- as usual -- for the comments and insight. I must admit, again, that I was sorta "hiding" my car to keep from getting too much critique. I don't do body work, although I've done most of the chassis and plan to install wiring, upholstery (less headliner), dash, etc. The journey has not been smooth. A good bit of "body work" was being done when the shop doing the work went private -- doing work only on the owner's cars! I was asked to remove my car from the shop in primer. When I found another guy to do the paint and body, the first thing he did was remove pounds and pounds of Bondo! It was not a pretty sight and I did not have the experience to catch the shoddy work at the first shop. Needless to say, by the time this car got to its current condition, it had cost me an arm and a leg! So, I may not want to know about any problems!?!?!

That being said, here are a couple of photos of door "fitment" taken around the two post lift -- still not the best angle.


I'm pretty well satisfied. Looks like rear of driver's side could drop down a little bit to get the "crease" lined up some, but the top looks pretty good! Right now, I don't want to look at how the chrome/SS fits. Doesn't look like the clip holes line up door to rear quarter. Hope if I ignore it, it will solve itself.

Next step is vinyl top.

 

Speaking of vinyl top, I took the first step that really had me nervous! The vinyl shop was supposed to take my car last Monday but his garage was full and he didn't want my car outside with chance of rain. So, we postponed until Thursday. This gave me time to think about whether I wanted him to install the rear pillar trim clips or do it myself. I chose to do it myself, but not without MUCH trepidation. Several of the holes had been filled -- or, maybe more likely, had the clip screws rusted in place. I needed to drill a few holes in the NEW paint. I took pains to put plenty of tape and protective towel in place, and used the tape to pull a line for the center of the holes. Fortunately, for each pair of holes, at least one hole was still open for each clip except one. I could mark the hole position to be drilled by placing the clip itself as a template. I used a punch to keep the bit from slipping and started small -- about 5/64, I think -- then 1/8. I sure hope that worked out OK.




Yep, this is Crystal Blue with black vinyl top -- just like from the factory. 4-speed, floor shift, bench seat, power rear antenna, power/vacuum trunk release, no A/C, no power steering -- a bit of an odd combination of options, but that's probably what intrigued me.

 

Yep, that looks about like I see. . . . Thanks, Hairy.