Some may remember a thread I had last week about trying to locate the new aftermarket quarter panels for the '68 convertibles.

I deleted the thread until I received some answers back from Dynacorn and Classic Industries. I had let them know that a number of members on the site had these on order and were getting frustrated with not getting clear answers on the availably.

After much prodding of the operator at Classic Industries, I was able to get into contact with the purchasing Manager Vanessa Plescia. I told her about the issue of not getting straight answers about the time frame and she said she would get back to me. Well, she did.

The quarter panels are at least a year away from being available.

She told me that they have received prototypes from the manufacturer, on more than one occasion now, and that each time they were not acceptable. Each time this occurs, there is at the minimum a 6-month wait time for the next prototype to arrive. Even if the next one comes in and it's perfect, it would be at least another 6 months before production could start. So her one-year estimate I think is being aggressive.


I also informed here that it would be nice if they informed their customer service personnel to inform potential purchasers of this time issue. It has been in their catalog for 2 years now, so I don't think it is fair not too. She was going to pass the comments along to the president of Classic Industries.

Just though some here would like to know.

Tim

I spoke to a fellow who has a contact in the Classic industries arena, as This is the LAST thing I'm waiting on to finish my car (except paint) He found that Classic was the one footing the bill for the tooling to make the panels not Dynacorn. This project started several years back. He was told that Pontiac destroyed their tooling when they discontinued the part. The dies that were damaged were purchased and repaired but not repaired very well and resulted in a part that was of substandard quality. Several years have passed from the time the dies were bought and repaired, the quality of quarter panels by other manufactures have gone up (full quarter from skins) and they are pretty decent. Classic was left with money invested into crappy dies making crappy quarters and did not want to sell them. I was also told the money was tight at CI and not to expect them for a long time if at all.
I bought full 67 Camaro quarters and am having the louver area sectioned in in a couple weeks. If you need them soon that's about the only thing left to do I guess...

I recently spoke with Heartbeat city. They already have the convertible quarter panels for the Camaros. He expects to have the Firebird ones ready by late spring. Unfortunatly, his pricing is higher than the ones Classic has listed, but it sounds as if they use better materials and they are US made. That is a plus in my book. A pair of vert panels will be $1,900 They are also the last pieces I need. I will be buying them as soon as they are ready for shipment.

Here is a link to the Camaro quarters now being sold by them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-...1258QQcategoryZ34204QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


I have a set of NOS coupe quarters, but I hate the thought of having to cut them up. I will sell them when the new vert ones are available.

I apologize for the hijack, but why are there full repop 69 conv qtr panels available and not 67/68?

Need you ask? In the Camaro world the 69 rules. Heartbeat City and others know this. They believe the same for the 'Birds.

Anyone familiar with carpartsdiscount.zoovy.com?
I found full 68 quarters advertised there for $330 each.

http://carpartsdiscount.zoovy.com/product/528288

YearOne.com has them advertised for $461 each.

Matts Classic Bowties has Coupe full 68 quarters for $295 on ebay.


If anyone knows any quality concerns with these quarters, please post.

thanks!

the convertible quarters are offered through that site as well!!

They are, but according to Car Parts Discount on March 26 they are out of stock with an ETA date "of at least 8-12 weeks"

They are the same units that will be offered through Classic and I have been informed they will not be available for at least a year.

OK, I am not supposed to post these, but I will anyway. These showed up at my door this past week. Please don't ask where I got them from because I cannot tell. I can also say there will not be any more of them. I have to take a bunch of measurements to see how they will fit. At first glance, they will need some persuasion here and there.

Cat, Whats the big deal?... As to where and how you got them? ... From what I can see they are far from correct esp. on the "rain gutter" top portion as only the convert had that....So tell us,... you got the only ones in the world?...WOW I must be on a Mopar site....Let me check....NOPE ...It's a Firebird site..Well now I am really glad I am getting out of this hobby!

That's the point, they are convertible full quarter panels. And quite frankly, yes, they are the only existing aftermarket ones in the world. (for quite awhile anyway)

Hey, thanks for posting something you can't talk about.

Cat, if you read my reply you will see that I know they are convertible rear quarters, My response to them was and is that they are far from correct as the "rain gutters" on them are not correct and that only convertible cars had rain gutters....So tell us...Someone took the time to tool these convertible quarters for 67-68 Firebirds and made ONE pair?...OR they are making more and only you can buy them?...come on if you take a look at the box they are in and on in your pics you and most people can tell where they came from

That's funny, I did not even notice the box they are sitting on. That is an old box, not from these. It is way to small of a box for them to fit into.

The reason their will not be any more of these for quite a while is the person I got these from has to re-tool due to an error in the top rear of the panel. I am curious about the rain gutter issue you speak of. Can you elaborate? Like I said, I have not had time to do a detailed measurement comparison as of yet.

Tell ya what. Find a set of these for sale and a case of your favorite beer is on it's way...

CAt, no need to send the beer I do not drink....If you look at your car and if it still has the original panels on it, Take a good look at the top of them and compair them to the ones you have on top of the box (BTW, It sure looks like it came out of that box esp. where it has rubbed the same impression on the inside of the box)you will see the difference....In fact you already know the problems with them as you stated "the person I got these from has to re-tool due to an error in the top rear of the panel"...No need to so call argue as the ones you have IMO are not worthy of use on a nice car like yours.....BTW, A quick search revealed that they are selling them, See below.



1968 Quarter Panel Full Convertible Left
$375.00USDCanadian Shopper? Click here for CAD Pricing!


Click to enlarge This is a full quarter panel included is the complete sail panel and door jamb section. This will install just like the original factory style panel.

Our SKU # for this part is FBGLA1066R

*This part's shipping is subject to a custom shipping arrangement. You will be contacted with the exact shipping quote within 48 hours.


This part will fit the following years: 1968


Buy Now!

Not going to argue with you about availability as I KNOW they are not available. If you do not believe me, make a call to any of those showing them.

And yes, they came out of the box shown in the last picture, but that is not the box shown in the others. Those are broken down and laying on the floor.

I absolutely plan on comparisons and measurements as stated.

Heartbeat City just told me that it's going to be "at least a year or more" before they have the full quarter panels that I need to complete my '67 convertible. So instead I plan to use their '67 Camaro panels and have the louvers sectioned in. As their panels are so much more expensive than Asian repro's I would like to hear if anyone has any experience with their quarter panels. Does the quality justify the price?

Keld

Mike,
Definitely not saying you are the manufacturer of this BS but it is BS. They do not have the original GM dies and if they did they wouldn't have a press big enough to use them. The major problem these repro artists are having is trying to press panels with much smaller presses than GM used. That's why they use corners that are rounder and metal that is softer and easier to press. GM used presses that were as big as a two story house to press their panels. These aftermarket companies just don't have them. They use smaller tonage presses and make do.

I have a client with a couple of the old presses. They are definitely something to see when they cycle and shake a solid masonry 2 story building. 200 tons of force, 2 stories high...

I've stood on top while they run... Can you image 20 in one building? They are quite a job to repair. They have 6 foot gears and 12 inch shafts. We wire all the nuts so they will not loosen and fall on someone. They go ten foot under ground for support. Sometimes you have to work in that pit. It's a trip.....

I have a feeling after seeing that monster that my "20 ton logsplitter" with its 8 hp Kohler may be a touch overrated.