442_Mustang

There was a post last week about the rusty cowl panel and I had posted about a panel that I had seen that was aftermarket. There was a reply below mine that stated he thought it was for a 68 or 69 El camino and was not correct(Sorry. I forgot who posted it)
Last night we were welding up the cowl area on my boys 72 Cutlass F/85 2 door hardtop and I noticed his car looked different than my 72 Cutlass S 2 door hardtop. Very similar cars. I checked the big stainless trim panel that goes under the wipers and they are different as well. There is obviously at least 2 different cowl/dash panels for these cars. Maybe more. Maybe that repair panel will be the same as one of the factory cowls. Anyone had any positive experiences with these things?

joe_padavano

Interesting. I asume the HT has two speed wipers with the round motor. Does the F85 have a square wiper motor?

68Tom

I posted it. From my experience, that piece wasn't even close to my '68 442. Now, I'm not sure if it will work for yours or not. We actually ended up finding a dash/cowl out of a '68 Chevelle that actually worked quite nicely. It really doesn't seem like they'd have that many cowl area stampings, but perhaps they did.

I guess the worst thing that can happen is, you can order the part and then have to pay for shipping to return it.

442_Mustang

They are both 2 door hardtops. I will have to check the wiper motors. The wiper arm locations are in the same place but the stainless trim panel is even different. The Cutlass S is a lansing car and I believe the Cutlass/ F85 is a Missouri (I believe. We decoded the vin last year and it came up as a 72 F85 but it has just plain Cutlass emblems on the sides with no side trim)car. I can put the vin up later tonight but if nothing else it's kinda odd that similar cars would have pretty different panels. The F/85 is kinda neat because it is a factory radio delete car. I'd never seen that before.

442_Mustang

ooops, I forgot . The wiper motors for both cars are boxed up. I'll have to dig them out.

442_Mustang

The car isn't rusty in the usual places. Quarters, doors and fenders are not rusty. Cowl at the base of the windshield is pretty rough. Crossmember at the top of the windshield where the sunvisors go is pretty bad too. The decklid is swiss cheese too. It's a Kansas car so I figure the dust and moisture got up there and had a fun fest.
I'll put some pix up tonight if I get a chance.