75regency

Congrats on having your first child. Looking forward to the final product. Great thing your doing..

Allan R

Congrats on your child. Boy or Girl? Hope you all are doing well

caddy

Congrats on the lil 1...

76 Regency

Thanks guys! We're a little overwhelmed but it's so worth it. It may still be a little while before I can finish the test fitting but this is hardly something I'm intentionally pushing off. I'll keep you posted.

caddy

any updates...?

76 Regency

Hey Caddy,

Best I have for you guys is that I spoke with the manufacturer and he said he has already addressed some of the issues I discovered. I still haven't had time to finish up my test fit/evaluation but now that our son is 3 months old and finally sleeping through the night, time is starting to slowly come my way again. I hope to have a better update for you guys in the next week or so.

Please don't think I'm intentionally dragging this on. I got this whole mess started so you all know how much I want this too!

Thanks for the continued interest everybody!
John

76 salon

If you can let me know about fillers for a 76 cutlass salon 4 door so far no dice for me

76 Regency

Hey,

Sorry but I have no info on a Salon. But don't get discouraged. I have been working on a way to get fillers repro'd for '76 Ninety Eights for years. I finally rounded up people that also needed them and got a manufacturer to produce them. If you can round up enough demand, you can probably do the same. I don't know much about cars like yours but if you create a post on here like I did, maybe you can round up a bunch of other owners in the same situation!

Good luck!

John

76 salon

Thanks i really like this site its the only one people listen.

caddy

B and R Auto Parts, Inc. -KOLT USA-TX(Lubbock) Request_Quote 1-800-692-4492 Request_Insurance_Quote

1976 Quarter Extension Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme

CREME, 2DR, SUPREME, LEFT & RIGHT EXT

CONDITION - A

STOCK #040056

PRICE - $20 EACH PLUS S/H

caddy

Thanx for update...

jensenracing77

john, thanks for the work you have put into this. i sold my 76 98 a couple years ago but it needed them also. i am just glad for everyone that there will be something available for this.

76 Regency

Hey Jensen,

Trust me, it is my pleasure to take this on. I am a life-long dedicated owner of these cars and this has been a mission of mine (and some friends) for quite some time. I'm just glad I was able to find somebody that's not only qualified, but willing to reproduce a quality set!

John

76 Regency

Hey guys! Sorry for the delay on an update on these but time has been a bit limited with the baby and all. Anyway, I finally got around to test fitting the driver's side filler and it's actually even better than the passenger's side! As you can see in the pics, I didn't go crazy fitting it perfectly because it's all only going to come apart again anyway once I get a final set and have them painted. So now I have to report back to the manufacturer to let him know what he needs to improve. I spoke with him a few weeks ago and he said he had already taken care of one issue with the passenger's side.

As always, I'll keep you guys posted with any further updates.

Copy and paste the link below to see the updated photo album.

John

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...questid=271731

caddy

[QUOTE=76 Regency;394019]Hey guys! Sorry for the delay on an update on these but time has been a bit limited with the baby and all. Anyway, I finally got around to test fitting the driver's side filler and it's actually even better than the passenger's side! As you can see in the pics, I didn't go crazy fitting it perfectly because it's all only going to come apart again anyway once I get a final set and have them painted. So now I have to report back to the manufacturer to let him know what he needs to improve. I spoke with him a few weeks ago and he said he had already taken care of one issue with the passenger's side.

As always, I'll keep you guys posted with any further updates.

Copy and paste the link below to see the updated photo album.

John

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...questid=271731[/QUOTE

Nice...

75regency

Awesome.. Can't wait till we are actually able to get a set.. Im glad your doing it slowly.. That way everything will be correct when the final product comes out...

76 Regency

Guys! I finally got the final quarter fillers and so far, they look GREAT! I already got one pair painted for my burgundy Ninety Eight and although they took a little bit of body work to get really smooth, it was minimal and didn't cost much to have them painted. I think they look really, really good and I cannot wait to find some time to get them on the car and call it a day already!

Check out the pics in this link...these are just of the fillers themselves fresh from the body shop. Not perfect pics I admit but I was in a rush. You'll get the idea and I'll post more detailed shots as I get them mounted up.

Thanks for your patience guys!
John

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...questid=180808

jensenracing77

looks great!

caddy

looking good sir...

Allan R

Super nice job. Now you must have a good idea of how much time and process it takes to repop parts. Which part of the Ninety Eights are you doing next?

76 Regency

Thanks Allan and you are not kidding about the time frame either. I just looked at my original post to see the date, January of 2011! It's been a year and a half from the start of this post to me having finished products in my hands! Given, we had a baby in the midst of that which slowed my process a bit but a lot of it was finding a company to do this and then work with them through the process. Very time consuming but SO worth it seeing how these parts are a major problem on these cars over time.

As for the next part to repro...the manufacturer actually wants to work with me on the front bumper fillers. These aren't really a problem like the rear because they're mostly protected inside the bumper and not so exposed to the sun and exhaust but it will be nice to see them in ABS as well. I have too much going on right now but I will get to those eventually as well.

76 Regency

GUYS!

THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE FILLERS...I didn't even realize this when I first got the "final" sets but they are not shaped quite right and they don't look right on the car!

The top edge is a full 1/2 inch shorter than the factory fillers! The prototypes were dead-on accurate in this dimension so something went wrong after the fact. I just spoke with the general manager and I was told they just discovered an issue with one of their molding machines which likely caused this. She asked that I send her detailed photos and measurements to show what's wrong and assured me that this would be taken care of. This would of course also mean that the sets I've received will be replaced by correct sets but my problem is that I already had one set painted before I realized what was wrong. Not sure if they'll cover the cost of paint yet but we'll see.

In short, please DO NOT BUY these yet. They need to sort out this issue before selling any more. I know this has been taking a long time but please guys, just wait for me to give the green light and you will be very happy with the end result. I can't tell you how upsetting this was as I was spending some very valuable time getting these mounted on my car this weekend.

I'll post the pics on here so you can all see what I'm talking about. Sorry about this guys but hopefully they'll make good on it and we can move forward very soon.

John

Allan R

John. That really sucks. At least they have acknowledged the problem is with their machine and are fixing it. Kind of doubt they will cover painting. They'll prolly say it should have been dry fitted first? Looking forward to the pics. Better luck on the next batch!

76 Regency

You're telling me Allan! Disappointed would be a major understatement but like you said, at least they're acknowledging the problem and will take care of it. If they cover the paint cost, great but if not I can compensate for the problem by adjusting the bumper and taillight a bit and it will look ok...obviously I want perfection but I can't shell out another $200 right now. When I eventually paint the whole car, then I'll put a new pair of correct ones on.

I have no desire to put these on the black 98 like this. I'm really hoping they rectify if and without any skimping. With these parts being a known problem on these cars, the last thing you want is a part that looks like a cheap knock off repro.

I'll keep you guys posted and hope to have pics on here tonight or tomorrow.

caddy

Thanks on the Word...

76 Regency

Guys,

Here are the pics of the new fillers showing the issues. These are the same pictures that I sent to the manufacturer today. If I don't hear from them by Friday, I'll be following up for sure. I was a little pressed for time in taking the pics but I think I got the point across.

John


http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...1103:853917532

Allan R

John, that's amazing. It went from being a darn near perfect prototype to warped and shorter?? That makes no sense at all. Gotta be more than a machine error on that.

76 Regency

I know and trust me, I'm less than pleased about it. Especially since I jumped the gun and had a pair painted already! Although they're not quite right, I'm going to use them on my burgundy 98 only because I have nothing else to use and I can make adjustments to compensate for the time being. According to the general manager there, I was told that they recently ran a full stock of dashboards in this same machine and they were all ruined. Maybe they fixed the problem and it came back?? Who knows but she really did make me feel like this was something they would not just let slide.

She even told me that they were very happy about me working with them and that the set I sent them helped them make very good molds versus a set they had from years ago. She helped reassure me that this would be taken care of. I wanted to give them a couple of days after sending the pictures before checking back. Hopefully they're already discussing and rectifying the problem in the meantime.

As always, I'll keep you guys posted.

John

caddy

Glad you and the company are on the same page...

76 Regency

Hey guys,

I spoke with the actual shop manager today and he acknowledged the issue and is working with me to help get these as close as humanly possible to the original set I sent him. I carefully went over all of the issues and he took notes as I did. I have to send him all of the pictures so he can see a visual as well. Unfortunately, the Kodak site I've always used is gone and there is a lag on the transfer of photos over to Shutterfly. I'm going to upload the pics myself so they'll be ready immediately.

The reseller I've been dealing with said people have been ordering them already and nobody has complained. I don't see how nobody else would notice such a change but maybe these people are just happy to have something vs. the crumbling remains of an original set. I'm not settling and I want as close as possible to OEM. Not only for my own cars and satisfaction, but for all of you guys that have these awesome cars and want them to be as nice as possible.

He seemed to think he'd have a new set ready to send me in a week or two.

As always, I'll keep you posted!

John

caddy

Hey John,

Have you heard anything on the fillers...?

bdub217

Is fabbing your own fillers an option? I dont know if you guys have access to the tools for metal shaping, you can always create a mold and fill it with abs resin =/ Idk, im just super DIY.

76 Regency

Hey Caddy,

Here's the latest. I had one set of the "new" fillers painted for my burgundy Ninety Eight about 2 months ago before I noticed that there were issues with them (my own fault for jumping the gun). I posted some newer pics showing the issues but haven't posted any of the fillers on the car yet. Overall, I was able to get them on in a way that doesn't look bad but it took A LOT of modifying and shimming to get them even close. Even with all that I did, they still don't fit right and one major problem is that there's a gap between the filler and bumper on the inside edge. The overall shape is also wrong which is what caused all of the shimming. I'll post some pics as soon as I get a chance.

The manufacturer has looked at the pics and even a video I shot and has accepted that something went wrong. They are actually in the process of making completely new molds and I should be hearing back within a week or so.

Here's the link to the video I sent the manufacturer.


John

76 Regency

Hi Bubba,

I definitely cannot produce a product like this at home. Especially considering how many need to be made to help all of the other Ninety Eight owners out there. Trust me, if I could I would.

John

jock82

I thought I was the only one who had one of these. I have had mine for 37 years come November. bought it new. It is going to need replacements soon. I have not seen another one on the road since July 2003, and I was in Flagstaff, Arizona and saw one there.

76 Regency

Hey Jock!

You are anything but the only one with a Ninety Eight like yours. I own 2 '76 Regency Coupes and as a matter of fact, today I'm going to visit a friend that also has 2. I now know of plenty of other '75-'76 Ninety Eight owners. I've owned one of my for 15 years (as of this November as well) and the other (the black one in my signature avatar) has been in my family since my dad bought it back in '79. That one is a full frame-off restoration while the other is more original and my driver.

Tell us more about your car and post some pics if you can. I've been working on having these new fillers made for quite some time and we're very close to having a quality finished product. As I've told the other guys on here, please be patient, it's in the works!

John

Allan R

John, interesting video. Hope Plastic Parts is able to correct those issues soon. At our last car show I ran into a guy with a 75 Ninety Eight who is looking for these fillers. His are cracked. When you get the finished product I'll tell him to get in touch with you directly.

76 Regency

Thanks Allan,

Where was the show you went to? Please have him contact me in the meantime if you can. I'm always looking to connect to as many other Ninety Eight owners as I can.

I'm pretty sure they can get it right. The overall quality of the ones they made is great but they just have to get them spot on with the dimensions for them to be near perfect.

John

jock82

I live down here in no man's land (Oklahoma) and I have not seen anymore like mine down here in a long, long, long, time. My 76 is a 4 door hardtop Regency, light blue metallic, white vinly top. I still have the window sticker. It have wide white wall tires on it. It came with the wider whites It has most options for that year, air, power seats, power antenna, cruise, tilt and telescoping wheel, cornering lights, door locks, rear window defroster, power trunk, lighted vanity mirror, speed minder, it came with the economy rear axel ratio. I saw a picture of your black 2 door, that is really, really nice, it looks brand new. Mine has nearly 300,000 miles on the original motor. I had the transmission overhauled last October. Mine has not seen a lot of bad weather. I do need to do some restoration to it. Unfortunately, I used it as a daily driver some before I retired. I will try to post pictures later.

Thanks,
Guy (Jock 82 - after my beloved Scottie born in 82 and passed in 96)

Allan R

John, the show was up here in Canada. It was the ALL OLDSMOBILE (exclusive) held at OLDS, Alberta on July 21. I'll send you the contact info. I told him I would get in touch with you and see how the fillers were going. Check your PMs.