Has anyone had any luck good or bad with Parts Place quarter panels. They are 199 versus 299 from year one and Fusiks. Same panel or not. Thanks.

 

Many years ago I almost went to work for Year One in GA. While getting the 'tour' of the place we ended up in the body panel room and started discussing the sheet metal they offered. According to them group 1 and 2 sheet metal isn't made by anyone. This is the factory replacement quality stuff.
Everything they sold was group 4 and 5 because that was what was available nowadays through everyone and is for the most part all overseas stuff.
Since then Goodmark has come along and I can't comment on their quality or where it's made.
My point is, don't stress about what you're getting locally. It's probably all the same manufacturer from overseas. Also, prepare to do some tweaking if you want perfection because they all have their flaws no matter who it's from. What you want to spend is up to you.

 

you should probably do a google on the parts place...i doubt you will do business with them...

 

I used the quarters from the parts place. No issues same stuff sold by many many vendors. Is tamraz still around they sold the same stuff as the parts place same price but better dealings with customers. I'm close to the parts place so I pick my stuff up or send my girlfriend in there to pick stuff up for me.

 

Nothing fits like factory parts, they are usually close to perfect.
Aftermarket, I doubt that there are more than one place making those panels, so all suppliers get them from the same place. With some of the more popular cars, there might be a couple sources, usually one is higher quality than the other, but still not factory quality.

 

^^^THIS. Nearly all of the repro sheet metal comes from the same one or two factories in China. "Brand name" vendors are simply increasing their profit. The quarters are about 75% of the thickness of OEM and fit like crap.

Now, having said that, I WILL say that I've been pleasantly surprised with two recent repro panels I've bought. Both came from Autobody Specialties. The first was a front floor pan section that was MUCH higher quality than previous ones I've bought. The stampings were crisp and the metal was the same thickness as OEM. The second was the 1970-72 lower front fender patches. These are advertised as being made with new tooling and again are MUCH better than prior repros and nearly the same shape and thickness as OEM.

 

During the recent restoration on my 66 Cutlass, I did alot of research on sheetmetal pieces. I came to the conclusion that I would be better off with OEM sheetmetal. I bought the rust free back half from a CO member out west and had it shipped. It was the best thing I could have done, the quarters went on with very little tweaking. I spent a little more up front, but got a better finished product.

 

X2! The extra cost of locating and shipping rust-free OEM sheetmetal will be far lower than the labor cost of hand-fitting crappy Chinesium repro panels. Unfortunately, the supply of good desert parts cars is rapidly dwindling.

 

IMO: If you're keeping the car for yourself or are doing a high quality build this is the route to take.

 

Obviously, factory sheet metal will always be the best option.

I just did the quarters on my '70 with 22ga sheet metal labeled as Sherman. Granted, I just sectioned out what I needed but, For Chinese stamped parts they actually fit quite well. I had both right and left quarters and right and left front floor pans shipped to my door in less than a week for $575.00.