My 65 Olds was totaled by the ins company and I'm in the market for a replacement. I like the 68-72 A bodies and went to look at a 72 Cutlass this morning. I'm going to pass on it as it had issues. The fender to door gap was big but even on the pass side (.298"-.303" bottom to top) but way off on the driver's side (.150"-300"). It was also about 0.100" proud of the door while the pass fender & door aligned nicely. Looking at the fender to hood fit I concluded it took a fairly solid shot to the driver's side at some point in the past. I also found a fair amount of bondo in the bottom of the fenders and some in the rockers.
This leads me to a question. What kind of body gaps should I expect to find on the A bodies from this era? Did they have fender fitment issues from the factory? It seems the common rust points are the bottom of the fenders, quarters, rockers, and the bottom lip of the rear decklid. Any other places I should scrutinize closely?

 

I don't know the answers to your fitment issues, but I would look at your trunk as the rear windows tend to leak in the a body's

Good luck in the search

 

It's not unusual to see erratic gaps on the 70's A bodies. Quality control (Sentinil Program) didn't even start until well into 1972. The factory gaps are spec'd in the Cutlass Assembly Manual.

 

From what I saw on that '72 it looked like they were aiming for somewhere in the 0.300" range. So OE build could have differed from side to side but should be somewhere in the general ballpark?
The trunk is a good point. How about the convertible A bodies? I need to find a link for body tag decoding:

 

.300 is begger than .1/4 in. I have gotten mine with in the 3/16 1/4 in range. The key is to spend countless hours to be honest. I spent 3 hrs to get my dr. side with in the range I am talkling about alone. I had to move my hinges and move my core support back as much as I could. It takes patience and a creative mind.