Hi,

I am getting my car painted this up coming fall/winter and was wondering if it's worth spending the money on the Ford Tooling Body? Are these panels thicker then the reproduction ones?

Thoughts?

 

Thicker? Typically, no. But they are straighter, have crisper lines and details, and fit the car better.

 

Depends on the body panel where talking about. I tend to use ford tooling because i think it would be better but in some cases its not. Such as a 65-66 tail panel ive used both and was just as happy with the fit of a repo. Rear valances i havent really noticed a big difference between the ford tooling and repo either. Inner engine bay aprons again doesnt really matter i use repo and it fits good. As for quarters if your doing full i would probably go for the more expensive as they do seem to have crisper lines as said but my father uses cheaper ones and i bet people can not hardly tell the difference if any. Let us know what you plan on replacing and we might be able to help you as im sure between the people restoring cars on here someone has probably used both repo and ford tooling of the panels ur looking to buy.

 

Thanks, I was thinking of going with the ford tooling on my 65 coupe. I just wanted to see what others had experience with them.

 

I just had two new quarters put on my 65 Convertible. I got them from NPD and I spent the extra to get their "better" panels. I don't know if they are Ford tooled or not, but they were off in every dimension. Thankfully they were larger instead of smaller, but I could hear my body man crying each time I came to the shop to check on progress. He told me to get the more expensive ones as it would make his job easier and therefore quicker. Did not turn out that way.

To be fair, the tooling was constantly adjusted on the production line to maintain tolerances. Do the companies doing repro panels strive to maintain those same tolerances? I'd say not since the panels are a relative steal price wise. Or I could have won the prize and got the last set of panels before they adjusted.

Tooling wears out. There is an old story, the truth of which I cannot vouch for. A guy buys the old Jeep CJ5 tooling so he can make stainless jeep bodies. Those of us over 40 remember how those jeeps would rust. Anyway, if I remember the story correctly, he was able to make three bodies before the tooling was worn out. That shows not only how tooling wears out, but just how hard it is to work stainless steel.

 

I bought the cheaper repro front fenders for my 66 and have regretted it everytime i look at the car. The fit is terrible. A huge waste of money. That is the only body part i had to replace. They came from cjponyparts. not sure who made them though. I havent seen the ford tooling fenders but i bet they are better than the cheaper ones.

 

In my post I complained about the panel, but my body shop was able to make a bunch of strategic cuts and the fit turned out great. They complained about the panel, but they were able to make it work. I guess the moral of the story is to get a body shop that KNOWS metal working.