I have a 1979 2 door cutlass.

I am doing body work on it now.

when aligning the doors to the rocker arm, I noticed that the bottom edge bows out in the middle i.e. the ends of the door are inward a bit.

Both doors are about the same in this regard.

I've owned the car a long time and stripped the doors, I saw no damage other then door dings.

Seems the stamping is not that good.

is this common?

Was thinking, should I just shim the Door Bottom trim to match the rocker arm trim after paint??

Any ideas what to do.

Fred

 

Fred you must have the uber rare 1 of 1 exp rocker arms with the chrome trim???? Ebay them quickly!

LOL couldn't resist. These cars were far from perfect as far as panel fit in 79. If the door is rust free along the lower seam and the trim and clips are nice I say its normal. Look carefully at the jamb side of the door to see if it was slammed into something and bent that edge. Then see if the adjustment at the hinge side can be maximized to bring it out without bringing out the center of the skin in relation to the fender center line gap. Anything can be fixed with advanced body repair skills.