'71CS

Hi folks,
Coming home from the local cruise night this past week, sitting at a stop light, waiting to turn left..two cars piled into each other then proceeded to pile into me and the car beside me..wrong place at the wrong time..such is life. Everyone involved was Ok so that was the main thing but now I have to figure out getting this thing fixed properly.
I haven't had a chance to survey the entire extent of the damage yet but just seeing what way to proceed as far as parts go..does repop stuff work in some cases and what stuff should I look for as original parts? Have some resources here a few hours away from me to get original stuff but just seeing how picky I need to be? Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks Guy's.
Trev

'71CS

Pretty good hit I guess.

'71CS

And does a '70 cutlass front fender match a '71 front fender or no? Thanks.

oldcutlass

My worst nightmare. Its not my driving that I worry about, its the other guy. Hopefully your repair goes well.

scottv442

Gut wrenching to see that. Hope everyone is ok.

A 70 fender won't have the "crumple zone ridges" that your 71 had, so visually when you open the hood you will see a difference, but a 70 fender will bolt up just fine.

Allan R

Wow! That's really unfortunate.
On the good side your insurance will cover the cost of repairs. Almost everything that's damaged on your car is repopped except the hood.
Yes a 70 fender will interchange, in fact some early 71's were built with 70 fenders. The repops are a bit hit and miss, so I'd look for a good used one even if it needs a lower patch panel.

The only area that I'd be concerned about is how much damage the rad support took. It might be able to straighten if not badly damaged.

All the other pieces: bumper, braces, stone shield, headlight fillers, bezels are reproduced now. Your repair should be straight forward. Have the wheel opening trim straightened and polished. They are difficult to find and yours doesn't look to be horribly mangled.

dream66

71CS - Pardon the hijack but what is the paint color on your 71? Is it an original 71 Olds color?

'71CS

Thanks for the great input Guy's..as usual!!

Anyone use a repop front bumper? Quality? fit? Some suppliers better quality than others or they all come from the same factory?

Dream 66 - no problem - it is a factory colour called Sienna but I can't open my hood to see the trim tag - if I remember correctly 67 comes to mind for the body colour but can't be sure. I can confirm at some point later if you can't find it and you still want it.

dream66

Got it, thanks

'71CS

Anyone use a repop front bumper? Quality? fit? Some suppliers better quality than others or they all come from the same factory?

garage goat2

Wow , that is one of my big worries also.It's the other guy who can't drive. I have had two cars totaled here.
One was a 1985 442 And that hurt real bad.

keep us informed on the work good luck!

redoldsman

Man, that is painful to look at. You will be able to make it as good as new. It may take a little time. A 72 fender should work on your car also and may be cheaper. The 1970 fenders are coveted by the guys restoring 70's to be totally correct and probably are a little more expensive. I would not use a repop fender from the issues I hear on here about they fit. I don't know about the bumper.

oldspackrat

I have seen a handful of repro bumpers. From what I remember they all seemed to fit pretty well but the metal is DEFINITELY thinner. You can grab the front of the bumper & move it back & forth with just your middle finger. I might consider finding a good straight core & have it rechromed by a reputable shop.

dream66

FWIW - I bought the cheapest 72 repro rear bumper I could find a couple months back and am very impressed with it. Got it from Tamraz on ebay.

anthonyP

From the four reproduction fenders I've seen, they are definitely not worth it. All were out of proportion, including the tops being over a half inch too wide and the radiator support mounts being more than two inches off mark. It would cost untold billable hours to make them fit. Better to find a decent OEM fender and have whatever repairs made. You will have a better quality fender and fit.

cherokeepeople

as you were run into it will be someone elses insurance covering it so make damn sure you get what you want,not what they want.they want it fixed as cheap as possible.so they will want repo parts.don't compromise.it's your car and it WILL be brought back to the way it was.and make damn sure the paint matches perfectly or reject it,until it does.

lshlsh2

I have one repo fender and one repaired oem fender on my car. The repo fender is not to bad for a driver. However if it were my car and someone hit it, they would be replacing it with an original. Hope everything works out and you are back cruising soon.
That sucks the big one.

76olds

Good to hear you are OK Trev! Bad break for the car though. That's some heavy damage, I hope the repair goes well.
Cheers
Eric

'71CS

Thank you very much Guy's for all the input, very much appreciated! Just looking to get her back the way she was before the bang up.
Had the insurance adjuster here today, real good guy..old car guy himself, has three classics of his own..he seems to know what it takes to make this thing right..says it will take a week or so to do his estimate for sourcing parts/pricing properly so that's not a bad thing I don't think. Rough estimate he thought was in the $10000 ball park. It ads up pretty quick I guess and it was a good whack for sure. Anyway's so far so good..also think I found the right body shop to do the job properly as well..look forward to getting it underway..will keep you posted how it all play's out.
Trev

Gary M

Thats hard to look at. can the color be matched? If your front Passenger side fender is original it is very hard to find. You should be compensated for that loss because the insurance company will insist on re pop to save them cash. You were just siting there so you should be fully restored to original or paid the difference. Sorry for your misfortune and praying for your fair treatment by the insurance company to restore your classic car. You have rights, don't let them bully you.

Olds64

That's a bummer.

Glad everyone is ok though. BTW, what insurance company do you have? I suppose your insurance company will go after the other motorist's insurance company since they were at fault.

We look forward to seeing pics when it's all fixed.

'71CS

Gary M - should be able to match I think..it's a factory colour so there is a paint formula for it and hasn't seen a lot of daylight so fading should be minimal..at least I hope.


Olds64 - I have Hagerty insurance which here in Ontario is Lant ins. company - old car specialty insurance essentially.

Gerald Nickels

I bought the repo bumper and weighed both with a scale both weighed the same. The difference is in the chrome as I passed in 2011 OCA Nats. in Reno nobody knew. China is come a long way in repos. Much better that the old ones. If you can find a China bumper not chromed buy it and have it chromed.

'71CS

Thanks Gerald..good stuff to know!!

Olds64

I'm sure Hagerty will make it right. I use them to insure my Olds and I've always received good service. It's definitely a bummer when someone needs to use their insurance.

Allan R

Agreed. I bought from Tamraz for the rear bumper on my car. It's triple plate chrome and you wouldn't be able to tell it from an OEM one. It's that good! I also weighed the OEM and repro bumper. They were identical. Then I used calipers to see if the metal was thinner. Nope, it was identical too.

I don't know why people who haven't used these aftermarket parts, or who have no experience with them bash them like they know better. I will concede that early reproductions were not that good, but the market has dictated what it will accept, and quality seems to be considerably higher now.

cdrod

Here's a NOS GM fender for '71-'72 on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-OLDSMOBI...dZgJq0&vxp=mtr



Hope this is helpful!

Rodney

Allan R

At only $1084.00 Canadian???? and the seller may not ship to Canada as stated in the auction. When I clicked on 'change country' the only option was US.

Other aftermarket examples:

Goodmark - https://www.carid.com/1970-oldsmobil...-61548003.html

Sherman - https://www.carid.com/1970-oldsmobil...-34336665.html

And, there are guys on site who part out these cars who may have what the OP is looking for at considerably less cost.

Fun71

I'm glad to hear that the newer repro bumpers are better quality than they used to be. The one I bought in the 90s was significantly lighter than the original, but the chrome was (and still is) good.

cdrod

I didn't dig into the eBay listing enough to see the shipping restrictions and forgot about the currency conversion (man that sucks for all you guys north of the border trying to buy parts in the US). It's definitely a hefty price tag, but you know it will fit if it's an original GM part.

Allan R

Actually that's not true. The production of GM panels, although standardized, doesn't mean it won't need to be shimmed or tweaked as much as the aftermarket ones. I bought NIB GM fenders for my 72 in 1983 because they were still readily available although pricy IMO at the time. Both of them have over 1" of shims on the cowl mounting tab, and need additional shims on the bottom. They also needed to have slight imperfections attended to in the body shop. I've never used Goodmark or Sherman, so I'll be curious to see what the OP actually decides to buy and how the fitment went.

rob1960

Wow that picture makes me cringe!! Glad to hear everyone's ok. There are so many A-holes on the road these days playing with cell phones,doing drugs etc,everything but driving!! I hope you get her back together soon. I used a Tamraz rear bumper on my '68 & was impressed with the fit & quality. I agree with Allen R that even the GM replacement fenders took allot of work to fit nicely. I restored my first '68 442 back in '79-80 & used new fenders(my local Olds dealer stocked plenty of each at the time) They took lots of shims!! At least Fusick is making the special Supreme side moldings now, it looks like your grille survived. Does your bodyshop have the equipment to repair/straighten the frame? Since your hood is bent maybe a nice Thorntons OAI hood for it??? Good luck with the repairs!

35tac

I would be sick and extremelyy angry. Hope the rebuild works out nicely for you.
Wayne

'71CS

The repair shop I'm leaning towards was closed down for this week for holiday's..just spoke briefly to the owner the week before about the situation but have to firm things up when they are back next week. They do really good work, have spoken to a few people about them and have heard all good things in dealing with and the quality of the finished product.

Tamaraz seems to be out of stock for my bumper..according to the website..guess a call is in order to confirm or see when they are expecting some.

That Thorton OAI hood would sure be nice...hmmmmm..something to think about.

Hopefully make some head way next week when the body shop is re-opened.

Junkman

I would send the auction to the adjuster, and have the insurance company arrange the shipping. You should fix the car with as much original GM parts as possible. Why risk that a reproduction might not fit as well as an OEM. Your car is only original once, but when accidents happen, you should try to keep your GM car all GM parts. Yes, it is going to be more expensive, but that is what you pay insurance for. Since you are not at fault, the other persons insurance is going to be paying for the repair. If they can't match the paint to your satisfaction, then they will have to paint the entire car. I was an insurance physical damage adjuster, and I never cut corners with any car, collector or not. It was my job to be fair to both the company and the insured, and to follow up to make sure that the repairs were done correctly, as were written on the estimate.

'71CS

I do have leads on some OEM stuff..real good front fender out of Texas but now local to me..beautiful stock hood about 7 hours away (not quite as local but doable), rad core support, wheel well trim piece etc. Road trip maybe.

'71CS

Thanks for the heads up Junkman - much appreciated!

Junkman

Keep track of the time and mileage traveled to get parts. You can get compensated for some of it, as long as it is reasonable. For the bumper, I would look for a perfect core, and then have it plated.

Olds64

I don't know what the OP will use, hopefully he can find good OE parts for a reasonable price. Just a heads up, I used Goodmark to rechrome the bumpers on my 71 98 about 2 years ago and the back bumper is already starting to peel and show the layers beneath the chrome!

I imagine our regular members get tired of hearing me say it; however, I can't recommend any of Goodmark's products or services. Buyer beware.

Allan R

I'm VERY happy with the Tamraz rear bumper I bought. It's been on the car since 2012 and still looks like the day it went on. Perfect triple plated chrome. And, same weight and thickness as the OEM one that came off. I'm pretty sure the bumpers Tamraz sells are the same ones as Fusick, OPGI, Parts Place, Year One and (shocker) Rock Auto.

OAI hood? Ah hahahahah! No, the insurance company isn't going to pony up that kind of money for an option that wasn't on the car to start with. Your car looks really nice in it's stock format.

Is the rad support damaged that bad?? If you have a good battery tray area, save that just in case the replacement isn't so good. BTW, rad supports for these cars are repopped now too. That wheel opening molding is special because it's for the SX style trim, and very hard to find. It's stainless steel, and can be reworked and polished to new condition. I didn't see it was that badly damaged. I'd keep it and have it reworked.

Sorry to hear that Jesse. Hopefully their fenders won't have problems with the fitment.