69 fenders

[edfury]

I've been looking for a pair of '68 charger fenders.  I have had very little luck and am concerned about the integrity of people these days.  I have a deal set up with a well known reputable mopar business back east who will sell me two fenders with minimal damage for $799.00 each, plus shipping for just under $200.00, and $100.00 to build a crate to ship them in.  It seems like yesterday when any used car fender could be found for around $50.00, oh well those days are gone.  After reading this series of comments on '69 charger fenders I'm convinced that I'm luckey to find any decent '68 fenders at all, and although the price is difficult to accept, it's only a little more than what all of you guys are saying is the going rate.  I might find cheaper fenders from a private party but if I cannot see the actual fenders in person how do I really know what I'm buying, and this is a lot of money to just send to a stranger.  Tomorrow I'm calling back and confirming that I do want to buy those two fenders which if you haven't done the math yet total $1900.00 and I'll bet there will be some reason why it will end up being over $2,000.00 

[Skyview69]

It basically costs a million dollars to create the tooling to stamp one major panel (like a front fender or a quarter panel skin).  That's a lot of repro panels to sell before they make their money back. 

The production numbers are another problem.  Hundreds of thousands of Mustangs & Camaros were made each year in those days.  On the other hand, the 1970-74 E-body Mopars only ever sold about 25,000 of each car per year. 

Fenders are also bolted on from the factory.  So it has traditionally been much easier to get used fenders than used rear quarter skins.  That's why you can buy quarter skins (crappy ones), but not fenders yet.

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The 1968-69 Chargers totalled about 170,000 cars.  That's decent.  We're probably gonna get reproductions of the fenders eventually but the prices of the used ones have to go up some more and the demand has to stay steady.

There's no excuse for why we can't buy reproductions of the 1969 plastic front grilles yet.  That particular part should have been repro'd many years ago. 

.

Figure if half of the 170,000 chargers made need new ones -that's 85,000.  If they sold them for $500 each they stand to make $42,500,000.00!!
That's if you buy one for your car.  DOuble that if you buy two!  I think that the $1million tooling cost is well worth it. Anyone want to invest in this??

[69charger2002]

well that figure looks great just on paper.. but are there really half the chargers left in existence?? umm. i doubt it.. also does every car that DOES exist need fenders? i'd say 1 out of every 3 chargers i own could stand to be REPLACED instead of fixed.. or are already in good shape.. a million bucks for tooling of a fender is a hell of a risky investment for a company.. much as i'd love to do it, i'd be scared of turning a profit doing it.. and let's face it. that's why 90% of companies reproduce parts. to make a buck. of course there are always a few guys that do it simply to help the hobby, and lots of times don't break even., but it's usually a smaller part in comparison
trav

[squeakfinder]

Has anybody here tried the fiberglass fenders available for 68 69 Chargers? What are they like?

[bsakal]

69rt,

I'm not ready to part with it right now. Sorry. I haven't evaluated the condition of my existing fenders yet. I haven't started my restoration yet. And sorry it took so long to get back to you.

Brian

[Mike DC]

       
It's the same old story.

The supply of fenders is drying up.  The sheetmetal is still out there to some extent, but supply & demand is working on them faster & faster now. 
We'll probably hear a lot of people saying "Help!  Nobody has any decent fenders!" in the next few years.  (Which usually really means: "Help, nobody will sell me any decent fenders for half their current value!")

Eventually Goodmark will release the repros.  The repros will fit okay, but they'll be made of weaker metal despite all the published claims to the contrary.  And then we'll make the unpleasant discovery that we'll be paying $1400-$1600 per set just for the repros, an amount which would have been enough to get some clean originals right now.

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I say pay whatever you have to pay, get some decent used fenders this year, get the car built, and get on with your life.