What are the physical differences between the two, if any?

 

What application and model year?

 

70-72 Cutlass

 

My guess is originals fit, and repops don't without extensive mods...
But seriously, I am curious to know, too.

 

A few differences, when you look on the inside edge of the fender where the hood rests the 70 is smooth from the front to the back of the fender, the repos have the crumple zones which is correct for 71/72. The mounting area for the inner fender wells is different form 70 - 71/72. The biggest difference between originals for all years is the gauge is a little thinner and where there are nuts welded to the fender to accept the bolts the repos have 6 sided heads (I think they are six) on the nuts while the originals had the old 4 sided square nut.

Edit - Oh and yes originals fit better!!!!! And are typically more money

 

I have a pair of GM Cutlass fenders I ordered from the Chevy place I worked at in 1987. They cost me 150 apiece. Wish I would have gotten twenty sets!

Will my fenders be the 71/72 version, even though I said they were for a 70? Still have them in the original GM boxes. I'd hate to use them now, they are like antiques or something.


Mike

 

i just recently put a new set of fenders on that i bought off of a guy so i do not know where they came from. with very little tweaking they fit great. i was worried about them since everyone on here says they are so terrible but they worked great for me.

 

Thanks for all the help, the reason for the question was I just bought a pair of 71/72 fenders for my 70 vert that were supposed to be GM factory fenders that were mounted at mockup then removed. When I got home with them, they looked different from my 70 fender (besides the bumps). It had this sticker with a GM part #

 

in very short time the only replacement fenders left to sell by GM were the 71/72s. Those look like factory NOS fenders but even so they most likely are the 71/72 versions unless they were purchased in 1970. I have yet to see a 1970 NOS replacement fender for sale, most of them are the 71/72 - doesn't mean it is not out there just haven't seen it.

 

A tip from my fender replacement experience this summer…. Before you install any NOS 70-72 front fender. Check the location of the A post bracket to your factory fenders. I had an NOS fender where the A- Post bracket was out of position in two direcitons by 1/4" , made installation nearly impossible, fit was off, Thought I could shim it, open up the hole etc.. I ended up just drilling out bracket the spot welds and used my 70 factory fender to established the correct location, then welded it in the correct location. I suspect that there are NOS fenders out there that are seconds…

 

That's what I was hoping everyone would say, they were advertised as 71/72 nos. They never saw the road, but were banged around over the years. They do have the square nuts.
Thanks for the reply.

 

Thanks for the info. I will be installing these over the winter.

 

X2 on that. I ran into the same issue on my fenders. A lot of work had to go in to them. I also had issues with the fender bracket on the front, bottome where they mount. We had to modify that area too. In hindsight I should have just repaired the old ones...

 

So much for buying original.

 

No, don't get the wrong idea. OEM are the best fit. These guys ran into other areas of fitment that caused the fenders to not fit. If you don't have issues with lineup, you're ahead of the game.

The other message that they were trying to get across is that there is a subtle difference between the 70 and 71/72. - mostly in how the inner liner bolts in. If you have a 71/72 car and you bought 71/72 NOS they will fit just fine. (BTW, speaking clinically, if they were even used as a mock up they are no longer NOS, they are now excellent condition used OEM parts)

 

There are probably several aftermarket panel makers around with varying quality, a good fender won't come cheap.

For the UK classic car scene there is a company that bought up the redundant presses when cars went out of production and run off batches of a few hundred when they have enough orders. Even though they are the original tools they are worn and the panels won't be a perfect fit, they make this clear when orders come in.

Roger.