Has anyone replaced their rear window (headliner) moldings in their 66 or 67 chevelle? I am helping a friend install a headliner in his 66 GTO and he has moldings that he bought from OPG about 5 years ago. We could not get the molding to fit in the corner area and we tried everything. Having the worn original, we could see that the contour of the corner area on the repro was different. What was actually happening was that the portion that extends toward the window was actually interfering with the window opening before it could reach the metal piece that it latches to. In the end, we tried a heat gun and other techniques and ended up cracking it.

When I got home I looked at the moldings on my '67 chevelle and they are identical. So, my question is: Have these moldings improved from 5+ years ago? Has anyone tried them recently and if so, where did you buy them.

Thanks,
Hugh

Not much interest in this topic yet, so I thought I would post some pictures of our issue described above so it may help someone in the future.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk21/chevelle70ss/70%20Chevelle%20Detailing/1960%20Plymouth%20Convertible/Miscelllaneous%20Pics/DSCN2177.jpg

The top molding is the reproduction - notice that the contour is nowhere close and it does not shape well!

The bottom molding is the molding from my 67 chevelle and I believe it to be original, but it is so nice that I cannot be sure. We painted it blue already!

Here is a picture of the problem that occured when trying to bend, then heat and bend, then pie cut a little on the back. These things are very different from original! Keep in mind that these repros were bought 6 years ago, so I am still wondering if they have improved the repros. Anyone?
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk21/chevelle70ss/70%20Chevelle%20Detailing/1960%20Plymouth%20Convertible/Miscelllaneous%20Pics/DSCN2179.jpg

And here is a pic of the 3 moldings, you can see that the repro has large ridges with significant space between and the originals have very frequent and small ridges. Original to the GTO is on far left. Molding from my chevelle is in the middle, believed to be original. and the repro on the right.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk21/chevelle70ss/70%20Chevelle%20Detailing/1960%20Plymouth%20Convertible/Miscelllaneous%20Pics/DSCN2182.jpg

I can't help you with your question about reproduction parts.

I have a couple Qs myself. These were out of my car when I got it.

How many pieces total are there for the headliner (front and rear)? Are any of the extruded peices trimmed? I have a few pieces and they are cut. I have no idea if they are supposed to be like this.

Well, my friend with the 66 GTO stopped at Ausley's today and had them pull one of the rear window moldings out of the box. It matched his old aftermarket piece identically, so it tells me that these molding have not improved in the last 6 years!

I have searched this site for this topic and have came up empty, so either no one has had to replace these moldings in their cars or they have all been able to find original replacements.

Since I gave up the moldings in my '67 chevelle, I guess I will have to start the search for some original moldings. Anyone have some donors?

These are supplied to the industry by Trim Parts in Ohio. I am not sure but I would bet all dealers sell the same ones from them. Sorry you have a problem but complain to Trim Parts and send them your photos. Maybe the customers can get them to change. We try but sometimes there only answer is, we have sold hundreds of them with no complaints. Yea right.

I have a repro set of these in my 66 and although I had a shop install them when I had my headliner put in, they didnt say anything about if the moldings had any problem fitting. They do look quite nice like they did fit though. This was back in 2000.

Hey Roger, thanks for chiming in. We love your store and always have first rate service! The guys were more than willing to pull the pieces from trim parts out of the box and compare them to the other that my friend Jeff had.

The one thing that I haven't tried yet is to install the repro that we didn't break into my car. In the '66 GTO, the metal pieces that the headliner and trim moldings attach to is fixed...no screws like in the 68-72 chevelles. The GTO has a retainer clip of sorts that fix these pieces to one place. I am not sure about my '67 chevelle as I have not pulled the headliner out all the way, but perhaps screws were used in the chevelles allowing some adjustment relative to the sheet metal window channel. That channel was our interference point.

I will try this other piece of his in my car and post an update. Since others have obviously used these pieces over the years and I can see no complaints in the forums, there might be an obvious work around in chevelles that does not exist in the pontiac line.

My previous headliner experience was always on 70-72 chevelles and a 71 nova, but both of my '67 chevelles need the new headliners, so I have to figure this out.