Why won't Goodmark ind. Make us 71-72 Charger Rear Quarter Panels

[ACUDANUT]

  Goodmark makes Challenger and Cuda Rear quarter panels, why won't they help us out.  Man what I would give to have some nice new rear quarter panels.  Seems like every 71-72 Charger out there needs them.  .

[Silver R/T]

not enough demand

[Bandit72]

not enough demand

how do you figure?

[Ghoste]

I have heard that Goodmark were disappointed with the results of sales for the Challenger 1/4's they started with and that forthcoming Mopar products may be slow because of it.  Don't know if it's true but a better place to ask the question would be at Goodmark.  They won't know what's wanted if people don't bug them for it.

[ACUDANUT]

  I think Goodmark needs to drop their prices some and they would sell more. Kind of like what Walmart does.  As far as demand, are you crazy ??  Everyone who ones a 71-72 Charger around me could use rear quarter panels.  It's a shame to see people get feed up with no parts available like rear quarters being made, and these cars end up rotting away.

[bzzbyu]

Sherman whom also sells the goodmark panels for 73 - 74 chargers told me that goodmark nows has a new owner and that they may stop on the 73- 74 panels. I too was seeking info for 71 panels.....

[ACUDANUT]

  Man, that would be awesome if they did decide to make these.  What is the difference in 73-74 rear quarters.  I have heard that there are some crappy immatations out theere but they are made in taiwan  and are junk.

[71charger_fan]

I think what we really need is for the owner of the company to buy a '71 or '72 Charger with rusted quarters and have him (or her) be unable to find any used or NOS ones.

[Nacho-RT74]

Man, that would be awesome if they did decide to make these. What is the difference in 73-74 rear quarters. I have heard that there are some crappy immatations out theere but they are made in taiwan and are junk.

different sidemarker with 71, different upper body line ( 73/74 pop ups at the end ), quarter window opening higher and different, both stuff  makes also different curvature and not completelly sure but: 71/72 fenders wheel opening cut is a little bit lower, maybe rear wheel openings are too.

I know some ppl has used lower sections from one to another model... NHcharger made it fitting 73/74 kind on his blue 72 and looks pretty easy to do like they could be the same. I'm pretty sure lower half of quarters are the same shape

[twilt]

........Because they can make more money  making/selling stuff for Camaros and Novas..................I know that I`ll probably be of the minority opinion, but I have my doubts on whether 71-72 quarter panels would be a good investment for them.  I honestly don`t think that they would be good enough sellers. Because its a more limited market, the per unit price would be high. In addition, they would have the issue of the difference in the 71 and 72 sidemarker.  I had a extremely nice used 71 1/4 on ebay, complete with inner wheel house and trunk extension.  I think i ran the ad 6-8 times before it finally sold.  Ironic part is that the guy paid for it and never bothered to pick it up. I decided to keep it,  in case I ever decide to get another 71.  I`ve been fortunate enough to find and purchase a half dozen straight/solid spare 72 quarters.
No, they are not for sale.     

[ACUDANUT]

  What is the difference in '73-74 Charger rear quarters??  I know there is a huge difference in the front clips on these cars, But The backs look the same except the quarter windows.

[Nacho-RT74]

Man, that would be awesome if they did decide to make these. What is the difference in 73-74 rear quarters. I have heard that there are some crappy immatations out theere but they are made in taiwan and are junk.

different sidemarker with 71, different upper body line ( 73/74 pop ups at the end ), quarter window opening higher and different, both stuff  makes also different curvature and not completelly sure but: 71/72 fenders wheel opening cut is a little bit lower, maybe rear wheel openings are too.

I know some ppl has used lower sections from one to another model... NHcharger made it fitting 73/74 kind on his blue 72 and looks pretty easy to do like they could be the same. I'm pretty sure lower half of quarters are the same shape

already responsed

[AutoRust]

  I think Goodmark needs to drop their prices some and they would sell more. Kind of like what Walmart does.  As far as demand, are you crazy ??  Everyone who ones a 71-72 Charger around me could use rear quarter panels.  It's a shame to see people get feed up with no parts available like rear quarters being made, and these cars end up rotting away.

Its difficult enough to justify the huge investments needed to produce these in the first place. Its not like knitting a sweater or some kind of cheap plastic product. I speak with Goodmark on a regular basis, and the money they are shelling out is substantial to say the least. They spent close to a million bucks getting the full quarter for the E-body. Retail price on it is $600. Now take into account the dealer discounts for there distributors. Now do the math.
Would you lower the price?
The truth is it needs to be a high end car to do the kind of work needed to install one of them, most of the ones we see a quarter skin is more then enough to repair the car.

To try and do a quarter for a limited year B-Body would mean another huge outlay of cash to get it perfect, then slowly wait for the $$ to trickle in.
Bottom line is they are a business that needs to make money.

[Nacho-RT74]

I think the money is not a big deal for a while THEY ARE PERFECT AND THE RIGHT GAUGE SHEETMETAL... cheaper as posible but good ones. Just a fair price considering shipping also add some high plus on price to consider.

[ACUDANUT]

 Yes I saw that Nacho, thanks.  I am just looking at the lower rear quarters, not the entire rear clip.  Maybe a 73-74 will work for my 72.

[Nacho-RT74]

as I stated on same reply, NHcharger did it. Ask him directly

[ACUDANUT]

 Who is NHcharger

[andy74]

Who is NHcharger

he is a member here,really cool and down to earth guy too-hung around with him and his dad at carlisle,and we had a few beers,and he knows his chargers!

[Nacho-RT74]

He did it on his blue 72. He has also a red 71 ( SE as I can recall ) that it is being reconditioned and another gold 72 for parts.

Really nice guy

[NHCharger]

Thanks for the kind words Andy and Nacho.
I've had many people over the years look at me in disbelief when I tell them I modified 73/74 quarters to fit my 72. Not sure if they think it couldn't be done or I'm an idiot for wanting to save a 72, 318 Charger. Quite a few members here on the board have seen my 72 in person. It's a nice looking driver, not a #1 show car. I took pics when we replaced the quarters but not with a digi camera. I'm going to scan the pics at my sisters this weekend and post a thread about it. Then you all can decide if I was an idiot 

[Goldfinger71]

 

[BLACKWOLF]

EVEN JUST SOME PATCH PANELS WOULD BE NICE FOR THE FRT AND REAR LOWER HALVES OF THE QUARTERS. AND THE OUTER WHEELHOUSES. WE ARE THE FORGOTTEN GEN.

[AKcharger]

Wow, I never noticed they only had '73-'74! glad mine are in pretty good shape!

[ACUDANUT]

  Chrysler and their CEO's are the one to blame.  They distroyed the die's to make repop's.  What in the hell were they thinking GM and Ford had the hindsight to save theirs.

[Ghoste]

They were going broke at the time.  IIRC, destroying a lot of those dies for the "antiquated junk" was part of the conditions that Iaccoca had to meet in order to get the government to co-sign their bank loan (which is what they did, the feds never actually gave Chrysler a penny and yet got a nice fee for guaranteeing the loans).  Lee had to commit to building small front wheel drive four cylinder economy cars.  In a way, you can blame Jimmy Carter for the Omnicharger.  (maybe not, it's a debatable point)

[shadow]

Hi if you guys want only patch panel for your 71-72 what i did i use a bad front fender only the upper parts from bottom line an i cut 5" an use it for the back quater on the same side first i try the moulding an it was very close so i did it an i am 99% no one will see the difference untill i tell them do the math 71-72 only for 71-72   73-74 only on 73-74 car let me know what you guys think

[ACUDANUT]

Shadow, The hardest part about that, is finding a lower panel that is not rusted that you can use.  This really applies to the rear quarter panels.

[Mike DC]

 
If Goodmark isn't selling the E-body quarters, it's because they waited to make the full panels until damn near every E-body on the planet was already wearing a cheaper set of repro skins.  And we've been watching them slowly make the same mistake with the rest of the Mopars for the last decade.

 

[694spdRT]

 
If Goodmark isn't selling the E-body quarters, it's because they waited to make the full panels until damn near every E-body on the planet was already wearing a cheaper set of repro skins.  And we've been watching them slowly make the same mistake with the rest of the Mopars for the last decade.

 

That is probably true and then there are many people on a tight budget that would rather spend an extra 40hours per side with the partial skins to save the difference. If you are having a shop do the work I bet the full quarters would pay for themselves easily.

I know I would gladly buy a set of the Challenger front fenders if mine were not rust free. I already have a Goodmark Rallye hood to bolt on. 

[ACUDANUT]

  Man, That's a excellant point.  GOODMARK better get the ball rolling on this one. You snooze, you lose.

[hemi-hampton]

I seen the new technlogy used to make these parts, (somewhat) New Technology makes making these parts Chaeper & easy to do then in the Past. Just had a guy at our shop drop of a set of protype 67 Camaro Convertible 1/4's. The Camaro we have is their test subject. The 1/4's are flawless & complete & fit like a glove or NOS 1/4. While both 1/4's were off he set up his Equipment/ Camera to Photograph the Inner Structures behind 1/4's.  Says they are making every Piece of the car. I say dont Dynamax allready make a complete & new 67 Camaro? He say's yeah but ours is going to be better. I say how much to produce that Camaro 1/4 $50,000? $100,000? He says somewhere between there. He say's by the time they have reproduced the entire Camaro they'll have $5 Million into it or something like that? So in a Nutshell what I'm getting at is that if anyone has $50,000 plus to have a 71-72 Charger 1/4 reproduced it could probably been done. If you sold 100 1/4s at $500 each you'd recoupe you funds. LEON.

[Mike DC]

   
From what I understand, it takes a lot more than $50K to do a quarter-sized item.  Try several hundred thousand, even given modern advancements. 

There are other guys here who know a lot more than I do about the whole issue, but I know a lot of the money is just literally carving & transporting a stamping molds that large & heavy.  We're talking about several blocks of high-grade hardened steel the size of refrigerators.

 

[evil1]

I just read something in road & track? about a company that cast their dies, then uses a cnc to finish the surfaces. they would also resurface the dies every so often during use, using the cnc.  supposedly they're cheep to make and use . unfortunately i don't have the magazine, i was reading it at the doctors office. I'm pretty sure it was road & track in the editor's page. the main point of the article was that tooling up for a limited run had become more affordable

[hemi-hampton]

I'll agree with evil. I think nowadays that it's all computerized & a push of the button. Slide a disc in. Reads the measurements, push a ON button & off it goes making a Die. If I see the guy again I'll ask for more specifics. The guy I talked to was the guy that took the pictures & measurments on complicated Camera which is the same Technology/camera that the Government uses on there drone spy planes on secret missions. This guy did not actually make the die or own the co. I dont think. But me & co. owner chit chatted awhile at Lunch. Maybe I could get more info from him. Like how much to Produce a NOS style full 1/4 for a 71-72 Charger? LEON.

[694spdRT]

I would be amazed if $50K even begins to touch doing 71/72 Charger quarters from design to marketable product.

Just curious...how much would you guys pay for a full repo quarter? The repo '68 taillight thread is not fairing so well last I checked.

[Mike DC]

 
A decent, solid Charger or Challenger is often worth $20-35,000 when it's set up right.  Step back, squint your eyes, and look at how much of the entire CAR you're buying with a set of those major panels . . . A set of full quarters & front fenders totals up over 1/3 of the entire car's outer skin.  I don't think $700 per corner is unreasonable at all.  (Of course I wouldn't LIKE to pay that much, smartass!  That's a different question.)


We're paying them to tool-up the stuff from scratch.  And we know damn well that these are much-needed parts and that money is still barely cost-effective to make them at all.  I think we should shut up & pay up if we really want the pieces.  Or we can always spend four weeks of our lives looking for used ones (and probably end up investing more money than the new ones would have cost anyway).

[twilt]

I dont really care if they make em or not. I thought ahead and stowed away all the good used ones I will ever need   On the serious side, I dont believe for a minute that enough people would actually pay $600-$700 for a quality full  1/4 to make it worth the investment.   

[BLACKWOLF]

i am rear clipping my 73 with a 74 se rear clip with decent qtrs. . my 73 had been side-swiped when the previous owner had it. the left frt. inner panel is bent and someone tried to re-weld it to the firewall. the rocker had been replaced(still had the man. sticker on back of it). the left trunk extension was all bent up. the lft. rear qtr. had been replaced. both of my rear outer-wheelhouses are rotted around the wheel openings. no parts avalible, so the only thing to do is use used parts. i have to replace the tail panel also.

[Mike DC]

 
When we're hand-forming full quarters on project cars rather than pay $2000 for a used one, we'll think differently.

(And we WILL.  In the coming decades, we'll probably be more willing to hand-build ourselves some more Chargers than use a 2004 Chevy Malibu for a street rod.)

 

[AKcharger]

AMD makes them now

[ACUDANUT]

  This original post is over 4 years ago.  Problem is now solved...Now they need to make front fenders.

[Als73charger]

  Yes.......FRONT FENDERS!!! I cannot believe there is not enough demand for these!   Al