Does anyone reproduce the filler panels between the grill and front bumper,and tailgate and rear bumper for 73 El Caminos? I can't find much available in OPGI, Paddock and Ground Up for these cars. The originals on the El camino I just bought apparently got brittle and broke out.

No response to my last post, I guess these '73+ Chevelles don't have the attention the 64-72's have.

Nobody that I've ever heard of reproduces those filler panels.

The REAR filler panel is common to all 1973 GM division A-body wagons with the 2.5 mph rear bumper and ALL '73 - '77 El Caminos. The only difference with the other GM divisions was just the shape of the taillight opening; Olds had 4 trapezoid openings (2 per side) while Pontiac & Buick had a single rectangular horizontal opening on each side.

As for the front, 1973 was unique. Although the bumper style carried through ’75, the front header panel & grille opening was unique to the '73 models, complete with grille extensions that ran below the headlights. The filler panel on the 73’s was designed to work with that style only.

The filler panel was redone in 1974 to work with the new chrome grille shell and header panel. It carried over to 1975 although the grille detail changed. Incidentally the 1974 – 1977 grille shells will interchange despite the different detail.

The front bumper itself was mildly restyled for '76 and carried on through the end of that generation. It uses a 3rd style of filler panel. At that time you could get a 2-round-lamp front style on the base Malibu or a 4-stacked-rectangular-lamp style on the Malibu Classic (corresponds to El Camino vs. El Camino Classic/SS/Conquista). From what I can tell the filler panel for the 76/7 models was the same regardless of headlight configuration.

I hope this helps you in finding a suitable donor. Good luck, and don’t hesitate to post a few pics.

Check with these guys:
www.allamericanclassics.com (http://www.allamericanclassics.com)

Its a wrecking yard up here in the NW that specializes in old cars- I'm pretty sure they have several elkys & chevelles in there that may have those parts...

If they don't, i know they are on some kind of national DB of wrecking yards and can find them somewhere if they don't have em....

Hope that helps!
Ben

Thanks for everyone's help. I managed to find two companies that reproduce these parts through the Hemmings Motor News Cadillac parts section. All those plastic fender extensions on Cadillacs put these two companies on the trail of reproducing all these plastic filler panels GM loved to install in the early to mid-70's Chevelles, Impalas, Buicks, Pontiacs and Cadillacs.

The two companies are Musselman Distributing in Houston, TX (800) 354-3254 and Replica Plastics in Dothan, AL www.replica-plastics.com. (http://www.replica-plastics.com.) They both have bumper filler panels for many GM applications, at $39-$69 each. It appears that they produce them to order from their dyes, as the woman at Musselman told me they haven't actually stocked them for a 73 El Camino in years, but they could ship them within a day or two.

I was looking for filler panels for a 78 Grand Prix. I found them from replica plastics.Then just for the heck of it i called my GM dealer and they located me a pair!Its worth a shot to try the dealer. If you get a good parts guy they should be able to search the inventory of every dealer in the country. The same place(muti franchise dealer) found me a new rear bumper for an 84 Subaru Brat! He said it was probably the last one in the US.