67.5 and 68 Hood to Fender Body Line

[Steve_69]

Because one of my front fenders is not worth repairing, I was given a free one from a local friend. My car is a late 68, 1600 (no side marker lights, but titled as a 69). The fender I received has original paint and the 2000 logo is sun stained into the old paint. What I am seeing is that the line where the hood meets the fender appears to be at a different angle. I am not sure if that could be because it may be a 67.5, or if it has been damaged and poorly repaired. I have tried to research and I see in the parts diagrams that are some year breaks in the part numbers. Can anyone confirm my suspicions that this is a 67.5 fender and that the body line to the hood would be different? Is there any difference between a 67.5 and a 68 fender? I am no expert at the changes between years and most discussion on the topic do not discuss this body line. Also, I have tried to look at pictures, but this is not an angle people tend to photograph. Thanks for any help. -Steve

[Steve_69]

I think I found my answer. I found this on Rallye site, " there seems to be as much difference between one 68 fender to another 68 or from one 67 1/2 fender to another 67 1/2 as there is between a 67 1/2 and a 68! " I guess I will have to cut apart the area and rework it to make the body lines match or find another fender.

[Steve_69]

And, I just noticed that the headlight cowl fit is very different.

[jhayden]

Congratulations on finding your answer, and thank you for sharing the information.

Your post is a good reminder of the wealth of information that Dann and Cynthia Bramhall have left on the Rallye website. New owners in particular are well advised to spend time exploring the site, even though Rallye is no longer on the 311s.org Vendor List.

Jon

[Bwk2000]

Strange. You’d think they would use the exact same mold for each fender they pumped out - At least by production year

[Steve_69]

As it turns out, I have a 67.5 Rt front fender in good shape for use and I need a 68-70 Rt front fender in similar condition. I considered cutting a section of the skin off of the 67.5 and using it, but considering how rare they are, that might not be a good idea. Anybody care to do a swap or make a good deal?

[Gregs672000]

It is my understanding that there were at least 2 different sized flare or wheel archs, but I don't know what years (66-67 same, with 67.5 on the same? Or slightly wider starting in 69?). I believe there is also a difference between a 67.5 fender and a later (68) at the windshield. My car is a mish mash...

[Steve_69]

And now the rest of the story. The wheel flare was correct and I have not had any questions about that. The problem was around the headlight area, the hood body line, and the chrome headlight trim did not match my (2) 68 trims. I believed this to be original paint on this fender and therefore, it must be from a different year model. But that would only leave 67.5 as an option (with the correct flare, 2000 sun stained and no side marker holes). Someone offered to swap fenders with me presuming it is a 67.5 I have, but the shipping was outrageous. Therefore, I decided I would cut a portions of the headlight area off of my crappy 68 and put it onto the replacement with the weird headlight area.

This morning I began wire brushing around the headlight area to determine where I would cut. I found "not original paint" in this area and a ton of body filler, 3/4" deep in some places. There is very little damage to the fender under the filler. My guess is, there was some damage and someone used a different chrome headlight trim and used body filler to totally reshape around the headlight, hood and turn signal area. It is one of those things that you would have to see to believe it! Underneath all of that body filler is a standard 68 fender. I will have some minor metal work to do, but nothing difficult. This is one of those puzzling things that make you wonder why would someone have done this? Anyway, I have a very usable fender that I can make a few repairs and have it ready to go.

[rwmann]

Things that make you go "hmmm..."

[iloveredmeat]

... This is one of those puzzling things that make you wonder why would someone have done this? Anyway, I have a very usable fender that I can make a few repairs and have it ready to go.

That's great news!

Regarding headlight scoop fitment. We've all learned that there are different depths of the rings on the scoops, and I've heard from Mike Young that he believes the factory workers had bins of headlight scoops and would pick through them to find the best fit for the fender.

So, it's been noted and very important to do exactly what you're doing... get the scoops chosen first, (fixed/rechromed etc.), then fit the fenders to the headlight scoops.

I'm so glad I learned on this forum to do just that before getting my bodywork done, turned out that my rechromed scoops fit my original fender perfectly. But my not-original fender (from another 67.5) was a tad different than the original, so my bodywork guy had to do a little metal shaping to get a perfect fit.

Anyway, I'm glad you'll be able to get it all perfect yourself. Good luck!
pm