Cliffs: Someone rammed the rear end of my 65 mustang at some point in the past, whole center area of rear is compressed, what should I do?

Longer
We've all seen it a million times, 64-67 mustangs with the rear bumper pushed in from a minor impact to the back. In fact, I've ONLY seen it with the slight bend in it in person, on at least 4 different cars (including mine) I think, but I wanted to check with the experts before went weeping and hunting for a hydraulic jack to push it out. I always knew the back end of my car looked a bit goofy, and that the bumper was definitely caved in, but it became appallingly apparent when I tried to put on a reproduction bumper today. There was a 3 inch gap between the bumper and the body on one side where there used to be the normal 1 inch gap. The bumper is a cheap Taiwanese one, but still looks the world better than the rust pitted one I have, so I was worried that the bumper was the part that was mis-made and didn't fit. I also noticed that the clip that screws onto the car below the bumper that holds the license plate didn't fit worth a ****. I think the sad realization is that my car like many others and I've got either some serious labor or serious expense ahead of me.
What does MF think I should do?



Here is a picture of what I'm dealing with right below the gas cap.
The level is flush with the body on the right, so (I'm) assumming that it's supposed to be straight, you can see that I've got somewhat of a problem.

This one has the level resting on the rear light bezels


And here is a picture of below the car looking up to where the bumper is supposed to be. I couldn't very well hold the level, camera and get a good angle so I'll try for something better tomorrow.

 

Yeah the tail light panel should be as straight as possible. Mine was kinda tweaked in like that before, probably was rear ended and fixed before i got the car. My body shop straightened it out perfectly though, most likely with a slide hammer. Might have to get it fixed by the pros

 

can you resize thos pics a little...they're way off the edges of my screen

I'm pretty sure my car is bowed in a little like that at the back. I've got too many other things to spend money on so never worried about it.

 

It is supposed to have a slight bow in it, i have the same one i just installed a new rear valance and it has the exact same bow like that.BTW go look at a 65 66 coupe they will have a bend aswell.

 

I will check mine tomorrow.... Does the bow affect the trunk closing or anything? I gues the question would be how much does it bug you? I suppose you could try pounding it out with the risk of it not fitting right after the pound and having to replace it ....
OR you could tell everyone it is custom

 

My 65 has a bow in it and no indication of any damage

 

The trunk closes perfectly, which I thought was really strange. I always thought the trunk closing properly mostly meant everything was in alignment. How much constitutes a "slight bow" I think my bow is about 1 inch deep at the biggest part. My main complaint is the lower valence doesn't fit right and the bumper doesn't fit right. Actually, it's more than the bumper doesn't fit right, it's danm hideous! I think I'll probably try to straighten it out because now that I know it's supposed to be straighter, It will bug me.

Aussie66Fastback - try right-clicking on the image and click "view image" it should resize it to fit your monitor perfectly, as long as you're using firefox

 

call one of the parts selling places, that sells replacement panels, and ask them. if it is supposed to be straight, take it to a good body shop, and they can probably pull it out for you for not too much $$. shouldnt pop any paint, etc,.............should be a fairly easy fix, if it's supposed to be straight...............