B Mill

I'm in the beginning stages of restoring my 69 Cutlass convertible. Has anyone had any issues with fitment with panels from Auto Body Specialties (ABS)?

jimvbills

Bill, I'm asking the same questions with a 69 convertible now. Not sure which vendor to go with.
This article was pretty informative.
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ent-again.html

Let me know how your ABS panels worked

cherokeepeople

i replaced the full rockers on my 2002 suburban with ABS rockers they fit perfect,can't comment on the cutlass stuff though.what parts are you planning on replacing?

jimvbills

I'm doing the rear quarter panels. Passenger side had been damaged and filled and the driver side has a patch that is rusting.

TripDeuces

Many moons ago I managed to get a tour of Year One. One of the surprising things he told me was that all patch panels basically come from the same supplier, which is overseas. He went on to say that on a scale from 1-5 with 5 being the best the majority of these patch panels are a 3, including Year One.
No matter who you buy your panel from you can rest assured they all come from the same place. Overall they are decent but if you're going for a concourse build they will have to be body worked for sure. You will find that the lines (creases, corners, etc) are no where near as sharp as the originals and any areas where the metal needs to shrink such as a corner is going to be a nice wrinkled area with plenty of overlap on the folded metal.
Only way around this is a NOS panel and good luck finding that at any price. Look at it this way, you'll be learning and practicing your body working skills a lot.
I just edited this post to show the corners on either end. Folded metal and corners with radii that are far larger than the factory. One corner was just cut and folded over the other. Overall the panel is straight and nice but the little things will require work. Of course I knew this going in so it's something I expected.