i am at wits end with all of this dynacorn vs goodmark vs legion propaganda. how many of you out there can honestly cut through all the b.s. and give me an unbiased opinion about the origin of these panels and their fit? all are supposedly made in taiwan from the same manufacturer. then goodmark and dynacorn slap their names and respective prices on the boxes and ship 'em out. yet the dyancorn quarters and fenders are supposed to have an inferior fit. is this a conspiracy of some kind? i can't get a straight answer no matter how much research i do and searches of past inquires on this site.i need opinions from guys who have experienced first hand and not biased opinions passed down by word of mouth from guys trying to push goodmark.i have had to deal with unsavory characters as of late who tell me goodmark is superior one minute and try and sell me dynacorn the next,claiming that it's all the same stuff. and yet they want goodmark prices for dynacorn panels. i feel like i'm being bent over without a kiss.is there anyone left who cares about helping out their fellow car enthusiast anymore,or is everyone only interested in the almighty dollar? i'm sorry for ranting,but this garbage takes all the fun out of restoring an old chevelle. regards, dave help !!!! graemlins/clonk.gif

Dave, the only experience I have with dynacorn products is with the front feners for a 70 chevelle.

To cut to th the chase the dynacorn fenders :rolleyes: graemlins/sad.gif :( . I truely believe that I could have made better fitting panels by using my knee to hand form them.
Not only did they NOT fit at all the metal was thin, the fenders were all wavy just very poor quality.

Now on the other hand Ive got 2 sets of the retooled GOODMARK fenders and can honestly say they fit BETTER then the OEM fenders that I removed. If you think hell that cant be aftermarket parts fitting better then OEM, just ask some production body techs on how some aftermarket panels fit better then OEM panels on todays current cars and trucks. Chevy trucks come to mind, NO OEM part for chevy trucks fit.

The GOODMARK quarters Ive done both fit great, yes the metal is a tad thinner. Big friggin deal, OEM is 18ga when I measured these it was 20ga. So what the metal is one ga thinner, you know cars todays have quarters made out of 22ga hell Nission has 24ga!!

Maybe Goodmark and dynacorn do in fact buy from the same stamping company( I dont believe they do)but if they did I think goodmark just has a higher quality control then dynacorn. Dynacorn buys all the reject parts where goodmark buys the good stuff, thus the price diff.

Not trying to push goodmark parts(I dont have stock in them smile.gif ) but from what Ive seen from both companies, Goodmark products will continue to be delievered to my doorstep...Eric

I care. smile.gif Heres what i can tell you. I bought a fender for my camaro directly from Goodmark. Fit like crap,sent it back,they sent me another that came in a Golden Legion box. Fit like a glove. I think they all come from the same place and each company may have different levels of quality control. Best advice is buy local if you can from someone who will let you test fit and return if need be. Goodmark was awesome in my case,they ate the freight on the second fender and let me keep the bad fitting fender.(it will make a nice lower fender patch panel,with the brace and all!)

Goodmark was awesome in my case,they ate the freight on the second fender and let me keep the bad fitting fender.(it will make a nice lower fender patch panel,with the brace and all!) I have no first hand experience with any of them but it speaks volumes to me that Goodmark stood behind their product to such an extent. Good customer service is just as important to me as good fit.

Hi Dave,

Had the same questions. I want the best fender possible but don't want to spend money on advertising. I am only a consumer so have no real knowledge as to the true source of these panels. However, from what I can tell both the Dynacorn and Goodmark are made in Taiwan (both boxes had labels indicating this). As to whether or not they are from the same manufacturer I have no idea. We compared both fenders side by side and aside from the lack of a full sail panel, I personally could not find any difference in them (new or same tooling?). We are in the process of installing the Dynacorn now and so far have had zero problems. fender lines up well with pot metal tail-light housing and outer fender well (this is on a '67). Dimensionally accurate when measured against original fender and body lines are well reproduced. The difference in price up here in Canada was $750 vs. $430. Would gladly pay the difference if I knew I was getting a better quality product but not so sure it is. Mind you this is the experience we have had with only one fender. Perhaps we got a good one? Hope this helps.

cheers,
Mike S.

Dave,
This is only from my experience of the Dynacorn fenders for a 67 chevelle. MY dad had rust reforming on his 67 front fenders and decided to get new ones from dynacorn. We had our body man put these fenders on and he had to cut the inner braces on them and use a port-a-power against a pole and push the fender in then weld it up afterwards. Also had to shim them in alot of places where the origionals were not prev. shimmed. The panels were also wavy. I am not bashing this vendor, this is my personal experience on these fenders. I have heard and seen the finished product of dynacorn in other products that seemed to fit fine.

I too have heard this debate many times. I have heard that they all come from the same manufacturer as well. I tend to believe this because of the economics of retooling a metal stamping for our products. Creating a new steel stamping tool for a quarter panel would cost over 1 million dollars. If the manufacturer had margins of around 250 to 300 dollars then it would have to sell between 3300 to 4000 panels just to recoup the costs of the tool, let alone make any profit. Now if several manufacturers had tools and were competing then no one would be in this market because it would be cost prohibitive. GM typically sells their old tooling to overseas markets after they have ceased being of value. I don't know how many tools there were for a given panel, but I wouldn't think there was more than one surviving. That tool is usually refurbished and then put back into production for aftermarket parts or new-old vehicles in under-developed countries. For these reasons I believe that there probably is only one tool for a given panel and just maybe Goodmark has higher quality standards that make their panels better. I have always heard good things about Goodmark (occasionally something bad, but you have to take that with a grain of salt). The others I have heard horror stories. For that matter I do my business with a local rep. and Goodmark.

Guys just to help muddy the waters i loked at both panels different suppliers both goodmark and dyna, the dynas were wavy as hell but one supplier said i got goodmarks here to....just as bad, went to npd got goodmarks they appear flawless. Have been told, are you ready for this the parts come out of the same die goodmark gets the #1's and everyone else gets the seconds, some get mixed once in a while. that seems to why there is a discrepency between the repo's he also told me that the steel itself fluctuates day to day over there and alot of sorting goes on.

Well...had my car all blocked and ready for paint.. went to close the flimsy P.O.S. 67 SS dynacorn hood.. and it buckled in half..keep ya posted as to quality of the goodmark one when i get it , all that $$$ spent on tooling and you would think they could use thicker metal , im sure everyone would be willing to pay more for a quality gauge metal on their parts.

Well...had my car all blocked and ready for paint.. went to close the flimsy P.O.S. 67 SS dynacorn hood.. and it buckled in half..keep ya posted as to quality of the goodmark one when i get it , all that $$$ spent on tooling and you would think they could use thicker metal , im sure everyone would be willing to pay more for a quality gauge metal on their parts.
c'mon you gotta be kidding right? :eek:

Well...had my car all blocked and ready for paint.. went to close the flimsy P.O.S. 67 SS dynacorn hood.. and it buckled in half..keep ya posted as to quality of the goodmark one when i get it , all that $$$ spent on tooling and you would think they could use thicker metal , im sure everyone would be willing to pay more for a quality gauge metal on their parts.


Come on....I have used no less than five Dynacorn hoods, and they are solid...scuff and paint. I find absolutely no weakness in the hoods.

I care. smile.gif Heres what i can tell you. I bought a fender for my camaro directly from Goodmark. Fit like crap,sent it back,they sent me another that came in a Golden Legion box. Fit like a glove. I think they all come from the same place and each company may have different levels of quality control. Best advice is buy local if you can from someone who will let you test fit and return if need be. Goodmark was awesome in my case,they ate the freight on the second fender and let me keep the bad fitting fender.(it will make a nice lower fender patch panel,with the brace and all!)


I had a similiar experience with Goodmark, when it came time to replaced the rt rear floor pan,I needed no less than 30" in length. Goodmarks website stated their floor pan would be 30x30,I called them to verify that would be the actual size before I bought,I was told it would be,needless to say when it arrived, in measured about 29" in length. I called them back,told them the problem,so they went to the warehouse,measured other pans. A short while later I recieved a call back stating they all measured 29",and they would cut a full length rt side floor pan to my desired length at no charge,keep the old one (just sold on ebay). Cant beat that customer service. I have used Golden Leigon panels as well,they have some of the same identical stickers as the Goodmarks do. On a 1-10 scale,I would give the "fit" of the panels a 6-8 depending on the panel,I have not had any experience with Dynacorn yet.

I used the Golden Legion 1/4's (at least thats what was printed on the outside of the box). Had absolutely NO issues with the panels themselves, straight (no waves), test fits and measurements were very nice.

Any issues I had were in my own inexperience of panel replacement during installation. I dropped one, over forced the other and bowed the upper body line in 3 spots. Final Fit was great but now I have some blocking work to do.

I should add, use a local rep when looking for panels. I ordered online and was dissapointed that it took a month for the panels to get from Southern California to Oregon (one state away) with truck frieght @ $235. All I can figure is the driver must have gone to Portland Maine instead of Portland Oregon by mistake.

I would think a local rep could get the freight carges lowered or removed completely, plus there the test fit bonus!

when stuff is mass produced.. you can only get so much qualitly control

Yes I know what you are saying Dave, I feel the same way. I could use both fenders for my 71 but I am so confused on which one to use. I guess nobody makes body panels in the US? I have looked at those Goodmark panels at many shows and guess for me it hard to get passed that made in Twian, man I hate that.

I used Dynacorn 1/4 panels on my 67, one fit perfectly the other needed a little work by the door but all in all I was please with the fit, but the hood leaves alot to be desired it fits like crap, it bows in the center when closing and it seams to be 1/2 short in overall lenght, after paint the 1/4s still look great no wave at all, If any one has any posistive information on a aftermarket hood manurfacture I would love to hear it !!

I have been dealing in Goodmark products for just over a year now. I have used nothing else on my Chevy II. Can't say that I've had any problems myself and have had only minor issues with the parts going to my customers.

Alot of people will say that all the sheetmetal comes from the same place, which is not totaly true. Goodmark has been slowly getting away from using "others" panels and have been making more and more for themselves. I'm pretty sure the same goes for DII.

As far as customer service goes Goodmark is always on the ball. I've had issues where the trucking company has been playing games and Goodmark will always remidy the situation at "their" cost. They are a top notch company and have well earned their reputation.

I have had two sets of fenders and hoods from dynacorn on both of my 71's and they were flawless.NOW! With that said, this is a big ****ing match. You will get good sheetmetal from goodmark and dynacorn you CAN and Sometimes will get crap sometimes from the aforementioned suppliers and others. When dealing with overseas manufacturing you"ll get an ocean container with hundreds of pieces, some better than others, wrapped in cardboard ready for shipping.
Once they are sent to your favorite supplier(i.e. OPGI,Danchuk,NPD etc.)
they are probably recieved by a non-car guy who's making minimum wage and unless there is something obviously wrong it goes on the shelf and eventually shipped to the customer. Now lets retrace our steps. Part is made in Tiawan,shipped to U.S., shipped to retailer then to the customer. By this time the part has traveled 10,000 miles and handled and mishandled by all kinds of people. AND then the customer gets majorly ticked off and rips the sales reps head off when the part doesn't hop out of the box and installs itself.These people need a different hobby like stamp collecting.
When a production run starts with new tooling things should be cool,but as the run goes on the tooling wears and quality diminshes.THATS why quality varies.The people of this forum should be Car CrafterS Not plastic model builders. When Chevy built these cars they weren't perfect and when GM made replacement panels they weren't always perfect either. Remember the panel your removing and replacing was fitted to your car not the one you are replacing it with. so take this with you when panel replacement is involved,
SOME FITTING REQUIRED!!
Goodmark makes good stuff and so does Dynacorn end of ARGUMENT.
I do agree you take a chance when shipping something and its always best if you have a local supplier that you can go to and inspect the parts first, but thats not always possible and with Diesel at 3 dolars a gallon truck freight items such as quaters, fenders and hoods are not cheap to ship.
Deal with a reputable shop, ask questions regarding returns etc.. In most cases you will have to pay to get it back, but if you have a legitimate claim/problem a good shop will refund the freight. This hobby has chalenges and obsticles and its suppose to be fun. When and if you do get a bad part take it in stride. There will be setbacks,but don't think the guy on the phone went out of his way to send you a bad part,whats the point in that, he's just trying to help.

I applaud your additude Pro Tour, but I have to tell you, most of this stuff is beyond "shipping damage". I have installed my fair share of repro metal, both vintage and late model, some of it is just plain unusable in my opinion.

I don't want to highjack this thread, but just on the subject of repro parts in general I would like to make a few comments. First, GOD BLESS the repro parts!!! I can not say that enough, GOD BLESS them. They keep these cars and the hobby alive. I have to quote a good friend of mine as I have many times here on the forum. He was restoring a 65 Vette at the time and upon opening the box with a new part from some repro supplier he made a very profound statement about repro parts:

"If they wanted to be honest, in the catalog instead of saying Exactly as original They would say Similar to original, can be used if nothing else is available".

I think that says it all, if you can't find an original in decent shape, well, THANK GOD you do have the repro available.

I recently had a 67 Mustang in the shop that got repro inner fenders, rad support, fenders, hood, headlamp buckets, etc. I won't mention the manufacturer because apparently it doesn't matter but it is one from the original thread starter. These parts were SOOOOOOOO bad, in my opinion, they were UNUSABLE if it were my car. It was NOT "shipping damage" it was poor dies, poor welding of componants, poor design with holes in the wrong place, poor assembly with nuts welded on the wrong side of rad support, they were JUNK. The fenders and hood were SOOOOOO wavy, if this car were mine they would have gotten a few coats of polyester primer (sprayable filler) and blocked. The rad support was SOOOOOOOO thin I was afraid it would bend when the hood was shut. I am sorry, they were JUNK.

We also had a 69 Camaro that got a repro fender and hood. Holy crap, that fender wasn't too rough looking but boy oh boy did it take some fitting. I know they didn't fit like a 2005 car back in those days, and even an original would take some fitting, but this was just ridiculas.

A few years ago I was doing my sister-in-laws 65 Mustang Fastback. I got a repro fender from a vender in town, it was JUNK. I was starting to fit it on the car and it was ROUGH. Right at that very moment, I am not kidding, right at that very moment a metal collector came by the shop (I don't know about anywhere else in the country but here in the SF bay area there are metal, aluminum, cardboard, etc. recyclers who buy this material so there are people who go around with with beat all to hell pickups and collect it to make money) and no kidding on the top of that back of his truck was a 65 Mustang fender just like I needed! This thing wasn't perfect by any means, someone had thrown it away for goodness sakes. I paid the guy 20 bucks for it and used it instead of the repro! THAT is how bad the repro was. The hood, well, again, got the repro, it was JUNK. My brother said go with it being the OEM one was about four hundred bucks. A few years later I repainted the car, I took that damn repro hood back to where I got it at a Mustang parts place and traded it for a damaged original hood! The car looks WAY better with that repaired original hood than the JUNK repro.

I do this stuff for a living, everyday, have been for almost thirty years. These are not the only ones I have used, and yes a few fit very well. I have the experiance to make these junk parts not only look as good, but can even fool the experianced into thinking they are OEM. Sure they "can" be used. But I have to tell you, when I think of the home hobbiest doing his first or second restoration trying to fit these parts I REALLY feel for them. The pushing and pulling and spooning and hogging and filing and hammering and tricks of the trade needed to beat these parts into submission is so overwhelming even for the experianced, I REALLY feel for the guy trying at home.

Again, GOD BLESS the repro parts so they can at least be doing it. But I don't want say to some guy trying to put a repro part on to "suck it up bucky" it is simply asking too much.

Guys, try to buy this parts from someone where you can go and touch the part, look it over VERY well. But most importantly, make sure they are the type of company who will stand behind it and give you a refund so you can go to another supplier if you are not satisfied with the fit. There are some pretty decent parts out there, it just takes time to find them.

If you want to see what it is like for people who don't have the parts available, check out the following link.

http://www.pi.com.pk/work/tailgate/

This is in Pakistan. The guy who posted this link on the Hotrodders.com site has posted others showing the guys making from scratch, hinges, headlamp rings, even plastic lenses with AMAZING results using only common or hand made tools! Check out these links,

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/die-indicator-lights-85297.html

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/custom-plate-85198.html

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/welding-nice-pics-84783.html

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/hand-built-hood-hinges-83979.html

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/hand-making-jeep-rear-metal-fender-flares-83438.html

Keep your chin up, and expect some work fitting those repro parts and thank God you don't have to make them from scratch!

Brian

Man, those pics in those Pakistani posts are darn interesting! What they are doing for next to nothing is really something. I'm impressed :eek:

"Next to nothing" as I remember somewhere in one of those threads he says $10.00 to $30.00 a DAY! I told him they need to make DVDs and sell them on ebay!

Brian

I agree that its sometimes more than shipping/handling damage, thats why I made the reference to the tooling of the part wearing during a production run.
also there can be first,second,third and more versions of a tool that will effect quality. A first run part isn't always the best and changes are sometimes made from one run to the other to improve/fix fit issues or detail.

"Next to nothing" as I remember somewhere in one of those threads he says $10.00 to $30.00 a DAY! I told him they need to make DVDs and sell them on ebay!

Brian

They need to take requests for parts :D! They probably don't realize it, but making something out of nothing that works good and looks good is the true spirit of hot-rodding. For the parts they NEED and then make, the old saying is true- necessity IS the mother of invention! Very impresssive.

I am pretty sure they have been doing stuff like that in Cuba for old American cars since the '50s Revolution. Maybe when Castro finally dies Cuba will have so many craftsman for old car parts that all the repro parts and sheetmetal will come from Cuba instead of Asia!

Next to nothing" as I remember somewhere in one of those threads he says $10.00 to $30.00 a DAY! I told him they need to make DVDs and sell them on ebay!

Brian

I can't imagine making that kind of money, I work on my chevelle everyday, probably runs me that much a day, easy, just to work on it. Heat, lights credit card interest.

Rob

They probably don't realize it, but making something out of nothing that work
s good and looks good is the true spirit of hot-rodding. For the parts they NEED and then make, the old saying is true- necessity IS the mother of invention! Very impresssive.

That is exactly what I told Ehsan when he started posting that stuff at Hotrodders.com. THAT is more "hot rodding" than making a belly button plastic streetrod! I LOVE seeing that stuff, I want to see more of the actual work on how they do it.

Brian

I could not agree more... fitting a panel, transportation damage, wavy sheet metal is everything I expected when using REPO parts, heck I purchased 2 NOS fenders and one of them fits poorly, I don’t think any of us are looking for perfection or even close to the same quality of OEM parts. When you shut your new (repo) hood for alignment and it bows in the middle that’s a little more than I can accept as "car crafter" repair, Unless you have a endless supply of cash and resources to purchase NOS parts, we would not be able to do the things we do without the makers of reproduction parts.. my hats off to ALL of them :thumbsup: , 20 yrs ago when I was trying to restore my other Chevelle parts were not available like they are today, before I brought this last project I was excited to see all the repo parts available now that is the only reason I started my final restoration :)

Yes, thank goodness there are parts being made for the chevelles. I guess what I learned here is their isn't anyone making body panels in the US and it seems all the body panels are made overseas primarily from one source. Depending on the quaility control and luck detemines how good the item will fit and look. Makes alot of sense to buy locally if you can in case the item needs returned. I guess looking at an item say a fender from many different suppliers it really does not matter which one is better because it most likely is coming from the same single source even thought the price varies quite a bit? I was thinking some of those higher priced fenders may have come from the US but I guess that was wrong. Looking at so many fendes from different vendors at car shows they really do seem to be very similar. It is just hard for me to get over the fact of where they are made, it is a shame we do not make some of this stuff here. Thanks for all the reading guys and thanks for the interesting links Martinsr.

I know these posts are old and Im not sure if anyone will follow this reply.

I emailed Dynacorn in Oxnard because im looking to replace my 66 Chevelle SS hood and driver side door? (because thats what my body guy recommended).

According to Dynacorn, here's what they stated:
They are indeed stamped over seas but, not by anyone other than us. We own our own tooling for that part and most of the others we sell...The difference between Dynacorn (& Goodmark) is vast. We own almost all of our tooling and are exclusive on a number of items we make, whereas Goodmark are a buy sell company. As to the gauge, I donm't know, but I can tell you it is thicker than the original by at least .0001. (I asked what gauge they used on their 66 Chevelle hood and door panels).

Im surprised they know its .0001 thicker yet dont know the original gauge.

I purchased my first 66 SS and have taken up the task of rebuilding it from the ground up. Im currently in Iraq so I left the vehicle at Anacapa Soda Blasting where they are currently stripping it down for me. Im going to attach a pic from when I first bought it, you can see the wave or arch in the middle of the hood. It became that way b/c the previous owner didnt oil the hood hinges.

Also, take a look at the door. It looks like it can be fixed via patch panel or cutting it out and mig weld a new piece of sheet metal.

Any suggestions?file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Marcos/Desktop/062009%20pics%20369.jpg
http://picasaweb.google.com/Marcos.Ruvalcaba/1966ChevelleSS02#5361683226401932466http://picasaweb.google.com/Marcos.Ruvalcaba/1966ChevelleSS02#5361683226223393682http://picasaweb.google.com/Marcos.Ruvalcaba/1966ChevelleSS02#5361683232704551826

Yes I still follow my old post :) ...... I can give you real life experance I had a pair of fenders from DII (dynocorn) and I was lucky enough to find and purchase a pair of NOS fenders side by side comparision no way they use a larger gauge metal the fit and quality wasnt even close to NOS but nothing ever is... I did put on two quarter panels from DII and even though they were thinner they fit pretty good one no mods at all the other needed a little work but nothing major.. Now for the hood I purchased 2 new hood springs from GM and a hood from DII and when I went to close the hood it bent (kinked) in the middle in the channels that are supposed to give it strenght and support NOT.... it WILL BEND the hoods are a lot cheaper and fit poorly I had to get a pair of old springs to get it to close with out bending again and now I have to push the sides doen to fit it to the top of the fenders. :( so in long some is good some is bad if you can not find or afford NOS metal it might need a little extra TLC but you can make it work... if at all possible stay away from the hood. Hope thos helped

Matt,

There's just no getting around this topic without a bunch of BS!!! Different opinions, different experiences ETC... ETC... As more of us experience this, we too will have our opinions from our experiences. Some good, some bad!! Do like most of us do. (At least for me) While still confused on what's the best....Jump in, flip a coin and best of luck in your project. Remember it's supposed to be fun. Breath deep, shake your head and continue to move ahead! Good Luck! :thumbsup: :beers:

Thanks for the advice Tom. Thats too bad on the hood. I've seen some originals for sale with rust on them, I'm guessing it'd be better to try and grab one of those and slap some elbow grease on it.

i ordered nearly every piece of sheetmetal from the doors back just this past june. some came from goodmark directly, some where from a local place which were dynacorn pieces. From the manufacturing stickers that were on two like pieces, both from different vendors, were exactly the same.
Also, the boxes these pieces shipped in nearly all had golden legion somewhere on the box, even if they were dynacorn or goodmark branded eleswhere on it.
On the quarter panels, the they both fit almost exactly the same, one was a goodmark, one was dynacorn.
all in all, i couldnt tell much of any difference between either companies shipped products.. one company makes them all(legion) and dynacorn and goodmark just slap their stickers on the boxes before they ship them back out once off the boat.

Bob,
Spoken like a true gentleman.
I decided to fix the door and hood myself with some sheet metal work. It'll be fun anyway.

Thanks fellas.

I got new quarters and rear metal for my 65 last year. The quarters came from a warehouse in Tx. I was told by several of the big suppliers that the panels would be drop shipped from Tx. Evidently many dealers don't carry this stuff in their stock. The quarters were in Golden Legion Boxes. At the time this was a new product for 65's. The driver side fit very well, but the passenger side had a very different contour than the door edge had. We sliced it, pulled it out, and added metal to get the contour right. This could have been the fault of my 40 year old door! They also had a completely different line where they met the top of the door and this required more metal work to have the gap right. We added over and inch to them at this point. Where they fit the rear valance a small piece was added on each side. They were arrow straight and fit good with the wheel houses(new) and drop offs. The trunk floor and other parts were also all new, so it all required some pulling and clamping. It was a bit of work, but not bad. Nothing in the car hobby is truly bolt in.

It did appear the right quarter was off a little. Maybe the flat metal put on the die was about an inch off. There was not as much metal to weld to the inner door post as there was on the drivers side. I doubt you could notice this until you hung it on a car.

we had very good luck putting my rust bucket back together. The full quarters an door skins were ordered through summit (there is a local summit store here) but still had to be drop shipped. There was only one minor issue on the 1/4s, the left and right side are not perfectly symmetrical. You cant tell looking at one side and then the other, you need a tape measure to measure specific points on the car to even pick up on it. The door skins were great, no issues whatsoever. I ordered the cowl hood directly from goodmark and it is a great hood. Now I am a bit concerned the hood could fold in two lol. I was worried about putting a cowl hood on a 67 but I needed the extra clearance for the big block with victor jr manifold. The hood sets the car off nicely.

My fenders were rusted and at that point we decided to order fenders as well. I couldnt find 67 fenders from summit and ended up ordering them from Year 1. The fenders are great as well. We are in the process of getting ready to paint now. rolling the car to the exhaust shop with the front clip off and will get the caster / camber set as well. I pray that the weight of the front clip going back on doesnt force me to get the caster camber reset, i hate people working on my car and leaning on my fenders esp right after paint.

Once I get it back from the exhaust shop and get the body on the frame I will post some pics of the car ready for paint. Here are some links to the pics if anyone wants to see how the goodmark 1/4s and door skins looked.

I am grateful to find repo parts for this old sedan.
http://ramconsultingonline.com/chevelle/1.jpg
http://ramconsultingonline.com/chevelle/2.jpg
http://ramconsultingonline.com/chevelle/3.jpg
http://ramconsultingonline.com/chevelle/4.jpg
http://ramconsultingonline.com/chevelle/5.jpg
http://ramconsultingonline.com/chevelle/6.jpg
http://ramconsultingonline.com/chevelle/7.jpg
http://ramconsultingonline.com/chevelle/8.jpg
http://ramconsultingonline.com/chevelle/9.jpg

I got new quarters and rear metal for my 65 last year. The quarters came from a warehouse in Tx. I was told by several of the big suppliers that the panels would be drop shipped from Tx. Evidently many dealers don't carry this stuff in their stock. The quarters were in Golden Legion Boxes. At the time this was a new product for 65's. The driver side fit very well, but the passenger side had a very different contour than the door edge had. We sliced it, pulled it out, and added metal to get the contour right. This could have been the fault of my 40 year old door! They also had a completely different line where they met the top of the door and this required more metal work to have the gap right. We added over and inch to them at this point. Where they fit the rear valance a small piece was added on each side. They were arrow straight and fit good with the wheel houses(new) and drop offs. The trunk floor and other parts were also all new, so it all required some pulling and clamping. It was a bit of work, but not bad. Nothing in the car hobby is truly bolt in.

It did appear the right quarter was off a little. Maybe the flat metal put on the die was about an inch off. There was not as much metal to weld to the inner door post as there was on the drivers side. I doubt you could notice this until you hung it on a car.



Matt,

Can you send me some picts of the passenger side quarter where you modified the door opening? I am having the same issue with mine and want to see what you did before I start welding. I would think if you modified it to fit the door contour you would have had problems with the quarter window opening not being consistent. The passenger side quarter definitely isn't as nice as the driver side as you have described. My driver side is on and fit very well although I did add about a 1/4 to the sail panel by the rear glass.

There's no practical way to "cut through the B.S." when it comes to imported reproductions. It's complex, and there's alot of shared and/or competing toolings overseas involving a myriad of small unknown and larger conglomerate entities.

What I can assist in, is debunking some myths, and shedding some light:

1. "Everybody gets everything from the same toolings/manufacturers, and just stick their own labels on it, and certain importers get the best from the batch, and others get the rejects, etc...."... That is far from the case, and it's a great example of the WORST thing you can do when discussing this topic.... GENERALIZING. Any time somebody posts with a blanket-statement, a stereotype, a generalization that places all repro parts into one big "bag", that person doesn't know squat. End of discussion. i realize that may sound harsh, but I cannot over emphasize how counterproductive one-or-two-liner generalizations are with this subject. Anybody who would really know anything about where things come from overseas would never make such statements.

2. There are many factories overseas, some names you're familiar with (Golden Trust "GT", Golden Legion, Corvex), and many names that never show up on the packaging...

3. Dynacorn and Goodmark are first-and-foremost importers, U.S. companies that bring as broad and deep of a product-line as they can to the States, drawing as much as they can from the factories that they have the closest ties to, and then filling the "holes" in their lineup from other factories. These companies do have deep/strong ties to certain manufacturers, and they do help develop, and hold many exclusive rights to, many of the panels that they import and control.

4. Some of the "larger" retailers in the business import their containers direct from Taiwan, effectively bypassing Goodmark and Dynacorn for most everything except the specific items that those two entities maintain exclusive control over (which is often-times just a 2 or 3 year commitment, not endless ownership). The "smaller" retailers do not sell enough volume to be able deal direct and fill full containers, so they rely upon Goodmark and Dynacorn as their "source" for everything that is imported. It is for that reason that Dynacorn and Goodmark have to reach BEYOND their core-relationship factory, to other sources, so that they can provide their wholesale customers with a full array/selection of product. This dynamic, along with advertising campaigns, is what has created the impression across the hobby that Goodmark and Dynacorn are "manufacturers". They are and they aren't, it's just not a black-white topic.

5. Bottom-line, is that every part, every piece, has its own story to tell. There ARE NO TRUE GENERAL/BLANKET-STATEMENTS to be said about imported parts, just as blanket statements regarding any specific race or nationality is equally pointless and non-educational. It IS A MESS. Some tools sets are shared between many manufacturers and Taiwan-based exporters, and some tool sets are competetive tools between two distinct factories and distribution networks. Sometimes there's as many as 4-5 different tools in-service, for the same basic application, differing in quality and price.

There is no practical way for an individual hobbyist, restoring a single car, can hope to navigate all of the ins-and-outs of what's available with 100% accuracy. Even the big "names" will switch-up the factory they're buying a particular piece from due to tooling issues, or price, or quality, or the fact that they've not paid their bills with the factory they had been dealing with formerly.... It's a mess...

Your best bet is to do what you've been doing, ask around right before you purchase. Try to get TIMELY feedback and reviews of parts. When somebody says "I installed Golden Legion 1/4's 6 years ago and they were...." right there you're off in no-man's land, because all of the tooling has been re-tooled since then.

And deal with a supplier who's got a good reputation for being reasonable should you get something, inspect and test-fit, and you don't want it. Avoid generalizing the big-name importers as if they were factories, and just deal in the present, what they're currently supplying and what factory it appears to be coming from. Dynacorn is pretty good about having the "DII GT" mark on the items they've sourced through their close partner, Golden Trust.

Golden Legion and Golden Trust are NOT the same place. Sometimes one has a better tool than the other. Sometimes they share. Sometimes they don't. The only way you can tell is to compare side-by-side, which isn't a luxury that most hobbyists have available to them, but most larger retail suppliers do. That's why your supplier is an integral part in this mess, you've got to know that they're keeping their eyes peeled on these things, and sourcing accordingly.

Hope this helps, although the Reader's Digest version of this post is "yep, it's a bloody mess, so don't bother generalizing it".

Well, it took 38 posts to finally get here, but it sounds like Rick@NPD finally cut through the proverbial B.S. Thanks, Rick. An excellent explaination/clarification.

My full floor, full trunk, both doors, trunk lid, and LH drop off all came from Dynacorn. The floor and trunk pans fit great. The drop off was perfect. The doors needed some work on the edges as they were not straight, but certainly workable.

My biggest issue was the trunk, where the rear edge was shaped more like a half moon than a slight curve to meet the tail light panel. That took some work.

Overall I am really pleased with the stuff I got from Dynacorn. My LH quarter came from Goodmark and fit great, and I also got some skins at one point from Goodmark and when one was damaged in shipping, they stepped up and made it right. Very good customer service as others have stated here.

What I can say it my LH drop off had a Dynacorn label, and the RH had a Taiwan label, no name. They both came from the same supplier, but the Dynacorn labeled LH was lightyears better made than the RH side. Different metal thickness, all the holes stamped out, well finished etc. The RH no name had no drains stamped, thin, need all kinds of trimming etc. To me, there is no way those both came from the same tooling.

Great article, now for the monkey wrench. Who sells the best product for the money? For my '68: Ground up..$410.00 per quarter panel as compared to Lutty's @$439.00, OPG@ $479.95 and the Paddock @ $549.95. I am leaning to Ground Up as they are a sponsor of the website.

I used GoodMark 1/4's on my car (no sail panels, Cheater 1/4's) and outer wheel houses and they fit extremely good, I was VERY happy with them. One of the first things I do is fit the outer WH to the 1/4 wheel lip and see how the contour matches, These were perfect. I did a Mustang many years ago (Don't remember the MFG) and the fit was so bad around the wheel well that I had to slice the outer WH in 2" incriments to get the to pieces to come together so that is why I ALWAYS look at that first thing.

LK

Great article, now for the monkey wrench. Who sells the best product for the money? For my '68: Ground up..$410.00 per quarter panel as compared to Lutty's @$439.00, OPG@ $479.95 and the Paddock @ $549.95. I am leaning to Ground Up as they are a sponsor of the website.

The "monkey wrench" here is that you're obsessed with the price of the part, with zero consideration toward the SHIPPING FEE for the part. With truck-freight items especially, that's a considerable factor, and often-times a trap where companies "suck you in" with a low price on the part, only to bend you over for exorbitant shipping, "handling" (which is B.S.), and "insurance" (which gives bull poop a bad name).

When comparing anything, especially truck-freight items, the bottom-line of the quote or invoice is where you compare from, all else is just a shell-game being played-out. A perceived $40 savings on the part can instantly go "poof" in the shipping/handling fees.

I think that most everybody is grabbing their '68 quarters through Dynacorn. So your main concern will be bottom-line price, and in-stock availability (many will not have it, and get it drop-shipped from Dynacorn). Obviously, if you have a supplier in close proximity to you, who has it in-stock, you can save money on the freight by picking it up, mitigated with the state sales tax.

Thats the answer I was looking for. I couldn't understand why the prices were so broad without considering freight. Thanks for the info.

Hi Rick,
Who manufactures the American made sheetmetal that NPD carries?
I have purchased a few of those pieces over the years and the fit was excellent.

I just bought quarter skins, door skins and front fenders for my '65 from NPD and so far my body guys (who I talk to on a weekly basis-we're friends), have not had any problems with any of the sheetmetal. Im pretty sure it was all Golden Legion sheetmetal.

I just bought quarter skins, door skins and front fenders for my '65 from NPD and so far my body guys (who I talk to on a weekly basis-we're friends), have not had any problems with any of the sheetmetal. Im pretty sure it was all Golden Legion sheetmetal.
there is a small issue with the left quarter being short in the jamb area (missing metal, not dimensionally short) that V8TV addressed with their 65 build, but other than that they said the fit was excellent

there is a small issue with the left quarter being short in the jamb area (missing metal, not dimensionally short) that V8TV addressed with their 65 build, but other than that they said the fit was excellent

I agree and most all the metal I have purchased has fit well but requires some work to get it to fit perfect. I'm not saying it's not right but I am going for a perfect fit or very close to it. Example: I purchased the 65' fenders and they fit well with a little work. The only panel that needs more than a bit more of work is the passenger full quarter. Both Matt and I have found that it doesn't meet the contour of the door from mid door to the top. I am debating to re-skin my door to meet the contour or split the quarter as Matt has done. BTW...my door matched the original quarter perfectly before I began so I know the quarter is off from repo.

To all those that preach to use or patch your original metal I would agree unless there is considerable rust (which mine had). I could and did patch several panels that came out very good but I knew the rust would probably return (doors in particular). When I am done damn near all my panels will be replaced. Although more work I won't ever worry about rust again! I won't worry five years after I paint it that I will see bubbles in the paint from rust. I've done too much work to do this again....

For the 65's I have had pleased with the replacement panels (Fenders, door skins, floors, rockers, drivers quarter, trunk drop offs, and Wheel houses). If you purchase these and expect them to fit perfect, don't have a welder, patience, ect....you will not be happy just like an original panel. BTW...my original fenders fit like crap....

Having done all the panel replacement work Tim has, I agree about doing it right and not having rust come back. When I was done , I sprayed 3-4 coats of Eastwood Rust Preventitive in the cavities. I sprayed 2 coats and several days later two more coats. I let it flow out the weep holes in the doors, trunk dropoffs, quarter to rockers, pinchweld around the wheel openings. It dripped out for a day before it st up. I also sprayed the rockers from the back end and thru holes under the door sill trim plates. I swear by this stuff. It is not as readily available as it was in the 70's and 80's when rustproofing was in vogue because of the poor factory designs and finishes. Eastwood still sells the same wax/oil based chemical. A cheap undercoat gun will spray it and a piece of brake line will make a long wand and a couple holes in the end makes the spray dispurse in all directions. To me there is nothing worse then seeing someone post a pic of a restored Chevelle that has paint blisters. We all know that is a several thousand dollar repair job and probably a full repaint. The guy selling a car like this doesn't think he needs to discount his price by 4-5 thou to allow for it, though!

htm,

search this section for an old post by MartinSR about adjusting hood hinges. On mine I had to lower the rear of the hinges. Then I put new rubber across the the cowl, now it won't go down flush unless I sit on it. PITA

Old post but what the heck. JFI Golden Legion is a marketing company that sells parts to the us for a variety of Taiwan part manufacturers.
(ie Lioho ) Then our companies market them to us.:) They are like a Goodmark of Taiwan. Some of these companies have many divisions and plants. Whose to say that Golden Legion gets all their parts from the same stamping plant all the time. They buy from quite a few places

"when stuff is mass produced.. you can only get so much qualitly control"

I believe Fisher body mass produced them back in 66 without too much q.c. problem.


CBG
:-)

Call RPC my dynacorn panals were awesome, and prices were the best.

http://www.restorationperformance.com/servlet/StoreFront

I'm convinced some of the other suppliers who will remain unnamed are buying damaged or flawed parts, and selling them as good parts.

Just my opinion and you know what everyone says about them. :D

lol posting on a 3 year old thread.... priceless:sad: