Sheet metal Suppliers

[TylerCharger69]

Has anyone here used body sheet metal products from Sherman and Associates?  A friend of mine said he restored a 'cuda with their products and said they fit perfectly, but he wasn't too sure about the "B" body sheet metal.  The prices are considerably cheaper than AMD or anyone else for that matter.  I'm just curious about the quality.

[Troy]

They've been around forever. Some of the parts are decent but, last time I checked, they didn't have a large selection. They do tend to "trade" with Goodmark (probably where the Cuda parts came from) but there have been some fitment problems with Goodmark parts on a Charger (and E-bodies too for that matter). If Sherman's parts were good and they offered a bigger selection I don't think places like AMD would have had spot in the market. The thickness and sharpness of the lines has also been a problem for many years on parts that were available before AMD.

Troy

[TylerCharger69]

Well...A friend of mine showed me a catalog...and it looks to me like they offer everything AMD does.  They have complete lower quarters (from about 2 inches above the body line down) for 139.00 a piece. He showed me a half lower quarter and it looks to be pretty decent.  The only thing is....they don't have the black coating that is found on other suppliers' parts.  Just bare metal.  I don't mind doing a little bit of extra work to make them fit properly....especially for the price.  I'm looking to buy both lower quarters, dutchman panel, dutchman panel support, rear roof bow, and possibly a new roof skin....even though the roof skin can be easily repaired....I just think it would be easier to replace the whole thing, and probably save time in repairing the notorious "around the windows" rust spots.

[Troy]

Well...A friend of mine showed me a catalog...and it looks to me like they offer everything AMD does.  They have complete lower quarters (from about 2 inches above the body line down) for 139.00 a piece. He showed me a half lower quarter and it looks to be pretty decent.  The only thing is....they don't have the black coating that is found on other suppliers' parts.  Just bare metal.  I don't mind doing a little bit of extra work to make them fit properly....especially for the price.  I'm looking to buy both lower quarters, dutchman panel, dutchman panel support, rear roof bow, and possibly a new roof skin....even though the roof skin can be easily repaired....I just think it would be easier to replace the whole thing, and probably save time in repairing the notorious "around the windows" rust spots.

I'm not sure if the "quarter skins" are Goodmark pieces without the coating or not but the price seems to point that direction. If so, the quality is really bad. Those are all that were available for many years before AMD and CBD. They are actually longer than the factory quarter so don't try attaching it to the door jamb and tail panel (it will bow out around the rear wheel well). The body lines are not very crisp and the metal is very thin (and easy to dent!). When using the whole skin you wil either have a 7' weld above or below the top edge of the quarter which is very hard to get right. The less you have to replace the better so only replace the bad parts - nothing more.

If you can get by with just the lower half or even the rearmost patch panel I'd still go with AMD. If your body guy is super cheap you can get away with it but, the way I look at it is $100 extra on a part is only about 2-2.5 hours of body shop labor. Even a good body guy can't fix sheet metal that's too thin or line up a part with the wrong body lines (or lines that aren't crisp) in less time than that.

If the dutchman panel and roof need replaced how are the sail panels and window edges? The full quarters will include these pieces. It may seam like more work but there are a lot of compound curves around the rear window that are very hard to fabricate.

Troy

[TylerCharger69]

well...these pieces are just the lower quarter halves....from just above the body line down.....not the full quarter.  My sail panels are fine.  My issues are around the window where its rusted the dutchman panel, and also  the roof bow just above the window on top.  My buddy showed me a panel...and it seemed to be pretty heavy gauge sheet metal.  I would only cut out what I need to fix anyway.