"Original sheet metal"

[wldgtx]

A friend of mine was selling his Charger and I was at his house when he had a couple of guys who were interested in buying it. The buyer had asked all the right questions, typical stuff about the numbers matching, history, they reviewed the build sheet, etc.

Long story short, the buyer walked away from the car because he had asked if the car had all the original sheet metal. It did not, and one of the quarters were partially replaced, but the work was very good.

My question is if the car was restored and metal was replaced and pictures support the work and you can validate the quality vs. some BS work we have all seen is the car less desirable or less valuable?

 

[RemCharger]

Find a car that has had no metal work?
Good luck.

 

[CHARGERSTEVEN]

TIRE KICKER??

 

[WileE]

If that buyer wants to continue searching for his holy grail, so be it. I've been in the auto industry for many years, I say this to people. "If you were moving furniture, and dented the refrigerator door, would you just unbolt and replace the door, or would you replace the whole almost-new refrigerator ? " Some peoples mentality, oohh if it's dented, it's never the same.

 

[YY1]

Bolt on replacements are completely different than weld on and "mud" replacements.

Almost no question about bolt on's.

LOTS of questions about weld quality, methods, metal supplier and quality, and mud thickness and quality.

However, if done "correctly" (which I know is subjective), and documented, I would be OK.

I did pass on a 66 Coronet that had nearly perfect original sheet metal except for one quarter that had nearly 3" of 'do filling a fairly large dent.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Almost no question about bolt on's.

She seems to like them.

 

[YY1]

Pass.

 

[gkent]

Personally I have yet to see an AMD piece that is an "exact" replica of an original and I think they're the best out there. So unless the shop doing the panel replacement is spending countless hours to correct stamping and/or fitment issues, a replacement panel will be detectable by a good eye. If someone's lucky enough to have found NOS panels or carefully taken an original from a wreck the work might be undetectable. Makes you wonder about all the big dollar restorations ... everything in the car has the right date codes but the only "original" parts are the VIN and fender tag !!

 

[Don Frelier]

He just wasn't the right buyer some guys want everything perfect so they can walk around believing and telling everyone their stuff is better than everyone else's.
I think another good question is:
"Who sells a nice Charger?"

 

[Darter6]

if done "correctly" (which I know is subjective), and documented, I would be OK.

Not that I care about 100% Bloomington Gold show ponies.
I agree with YY1's above statement.

 

[Islandkent]

"Who sells a nice Charger"
^^^ Is there any other kind??

Or "In their right mind"

 

[Fran Blacker]

Guy should buy a solid car that hasn't been "fixed" and do it himself.

 

[WileE]

Bolt on replacements are completely different than weld on and "mud" replacements.

Almost no question about bolt on's.
.

I was merely making an analogy. And back in the day, I could do a quarter panel most people would not be able to tell it was a replacement.

 

[QuickBpBp]

Remember it's ok to put a bunch of "Fake" Chinese parts on an American Muscle car as long as it has an original fender tag on it!!!

 

[chargervert]

My nearly rust free Satellite has been advertised on here for a month with no takers,priced under 10k. Good luck finding a better one! I don't think people understand what is involved with buying 10k in AMD sheetmetal and having to install it verses spending a little more for a car that doesn't need it.

 

[Islandkent]

^^^^ A-men to that! People don't see the big picture. Just the bottom line. And we all know... there is no bottom line.

And if there is a such a "bottom line" it won't be "cheap"

 

[Bb70charger500]

So if we're talking about a huge money car I'd say yeah we want org sheet metal
But as mentioned good luck they all need something . And is very good and unless your going to a freaking invite only show high end it doesn't matter .
Honestly I'm getting tired of the numbers matching crap
I see it everywhere I don't care if your car has its org numbers 318 or /6 it don't matter hemi car 440 6 pack yeah sure that's meaningful

 

[gkent]

My nearly rust free Satellite has been advertised on here for a month with no takers,priced under 10k. Good luck finding a better one! I don't think people understand what is involved with buying 10k in AMD sheetmetal and having to install it verses spending a little more for a car that doesn't need it.

BUT, its a Satellite. And if someone wants a RR or GTX and was to clone it with your Satellite, future buyers would only look at that aspect instead of the originality of the sheet metal. Its a sad reality.

 

[chargervert]

People are asking double for rusty Road Runner project cars. The car I have is probably better suited for a modern Hemi powered resto mod build. Some of those builds are bringing stronger money than matching numbers original high performance models in the current market.