[OldBravo63]

I'm ready to replace the drivers side front frame rail and radiator support in my 68 coupe. Has anyone used any body parts from them. I'm worried about the parts not matching in size, location of bolt holes, etc. Also any comments about customer service are welcome. The only mail order company I've ever bought from was John's Mustangs but no body parts. Thanks.

 

[tbunker]

As long as it comes from Dynacorn it should be good. Dynacorn appears to be the best. They are the guys making all the body shells for the 60's Mustangs and Camaros.

 

[Icerat]

Everything I ever bought from Mustangs Unlimited sheetmetal wise was junk, too thin, poor fit and made in Taiwan. I would never buy any metal from them again.

 

[danielf]

The last THREE orders ive placed with Mustangs Unlimited were wrong or defected or just got some off the wall stuff. I have lost faith in them and unfortunately not order form them unless i have to. Its sucks because i used them for everything and liked thier prices. Now thier is better compition and thier quilty prdouct is hurting them,

 

[66 restomod]

Give NPD a call. They have the "regular" sheet metal and the thicker higher quality metal. Of course, the better quality will cost more.
Good Luck and Be Safe
Ron

 

[Player]

I've had some bad experiences with Mustangs Unlimited as well. I'd rather pay higher prices for better parts and/or better customer service.

 

[C25sailor]

Try Virginia Classic Mustang -- they seem to have Dynacorn stuff and I have had great service and support on everything I've gotten from them.

 

[Calponycarsmike]

I think it is funny that everyone asks what retailer has the best sheet metal…it is not like Mustang’s Unlimited or California Mustang make the sheet metal. They all source it from overseas brokers that buy it from a factory. How many factories around the world do you really think have completely tooled up to build 40 year old Mustang fenders? When that kind of tool costs about $1 million dollars? From my time in the Mustang industry my guess is that there is really only one or perhaps two factories making the major body panels, and everyone be it Dynacorn, Golden Legion, Jesse Li, or one of the other companies claiming to manufacture all the sheet metal just put it in their box. It is the same with GM, Classic British Cars, and other cars I have restored.

So when you get a dented piece of sheet metal from one of the Mustang retailers please just remember, they did not build the part. They just provide you with the service to buy it. That fender or hood was built in the 3rd world, shipped on a container ship all the way to a port, off loaded, then reloaded on a truck, off loaded at your dealer, then packed and shipped to you. By the time you got it, it may have as a many miles on it as your 40 year old car. Also just because you ordered from one dealer, does not mean that they got all their sheet metal from one source, it does not mean that their supplier even got it all from one source. Many times the broker in Asia will source what is available at the time of the factories production cycle. You could order a fender and get one made by X manufacture and the door you order could come from Y factory, but they both come in a Dynacorn box. A good friend of mine works in the Chevy side of the restoration market, according to him there is one factory per part and very little crossover between factories. What happens in the Chevy world is that Goodmark get the best quality of the run, Dynacorn gets the 2nds, and so on down the line until you get the swap meet budget fenders.

Bottom line even NOS and factory sheet metal was not that good, today restorers build cars to today's standards not 1965 standards and people expect perfect fit and finish that the factory never offered. It seems like the people that complain about a $170 reproduction hood not being 100% perfect and requiring some minor bodywork are the same people that won’t spend $1,200 from Perogie to get an NOS one. Really you guys should be happy that you can in some cases buy a complete replacement body for your car, or at least every part to build one. As someone that has restored some very rare classic cars where there is nothing to order…except flat sheets of steel or aluminum. It can be frustrating and costly to repair a car when you have to have everything made on an English wheel.

Here is a good example of getting what you pay for: (I pulled these prices from regular Mustang websites today)

1967 Mustang Hood

Taiwan $169.00

Ford Tooling $429.00

NOS $1,295.00

So there is a choice….body work….or writing checks…

 

[66 restomod]

Thats EXACTLY why I like NPD. They give you the option and information up front before you get it and are disappointed. If you want Ford Tooling with a better fit and less problems later they have it. If you are trying to cut costs with repop metal, they have that too. BUT they are up front on WHAT you are getting and they give you options.
The owner has also stated on a different forum that he sells many more units of the Repop panels than the Ford tooling...

 

[OldBravo63]

Thanks for the input! Its great to be able to tap into the collective experience of others in the hobby. Calponycarsmike, thank you for your detailed opinion. Of course anyone who knows a thing or two about automobiles or manufacturing does not expect there to exist dozens of competing factories overseas cranking out old body parts. I am simply trying to avoid paying premium prices for the "swap meet" quality parts. The sellers of such parts should be up front about what they are selling. No one expects perfection for $150.00. But the parts should be somewhat close to what you are looking for. I have read about guys getting parts so out of tolerance that no amount of tweaking would make them fit. Its hard to tell what you are getting from a tiny picture in a catalog. Mustangs are my hobby and i enjoy all aspects of them. If it ever gets to the point where I am more frustrated than satisfied I'll find another hobby. Thanks again for your perspective.

 

[MizzouMike76]

In defense of Mustangs Unlimited, I've had nothing but great customer service from them AND NPD. On the rare occasions orders were messed up, it was always corrected right away. The folks at MU especially have always been very nice and patient and helpful.

Sheetmetal quality seems to be a lot better than it was just 5 or 10 years ago, and NPD does give you the options some other vendors don't, or at least makes it very clear in the catalogs.

If I needed to buy, say, a hood today, I would shoot for the original gauge and tooling first, it costs more but how many times do we plan on buying a hood? Hopefully only once every 40 years or so! I think the cheaper bargain stuff is what used to be on the market as the only option not so long ago.

Michael

 

[Keving]

I have always used MustangsUnlimited with good success, and use them most of the time, but I have always thought that YearOne has the best body panels. I don't know what manufacturer they use, and like said before, there are surely several other suppliers that are using the same actual manufacturer, but Year One seems to be using the best one whoever that is.

 

[andrewmp6]

I always ask who made there stuff if its ford stamping or dynacorn its gonna be nice anything else is kinda junk.

 

[jspagna1]

As someone mentioned in a previous post, I also only deal with MU when I have to. It's convenient for me because they are located here in CT. And their prices have nver been conpetitive IMO. The only body part I have bought from them was my fiberglass hood and that needed some work like all fiberglass parts.
The key is to shop around and do your homework. I am not dedicated to one Mustang parts dealer,I look for what I need and then ask questions and then make a decision. I have bought from all of them under the sun.

 

[matticus1181]

It actually seems like the NPD sheet metal will say where it was produced. Either Canadian made or US made for thicker stuffer. That's actually refreshing to know that it didn't come from taiwan.

 

[tbunker]

Bottom line even NOS and factory sheet metal was not that good, today restorers build cars to today's standards not 1965 standards and people expect perfect fit and finish that the factory never offered. It seems like the people that complain about a $170 reproduction hood not being 100% perfect and requiring some minor bodywork are the same people that won’t spend $1,200 from Perogie to get an NOS one. Really you guys should be happy that you can in some cases buy a complete replacement body for your car, or at least every part to build one. As someone that has restored some very rare classic cars where there is nothing to order…except flat sheets of steel or aluminum. It can be frustrating and costly to repair a car when you have to have everything made on an English wheel.

I have to agree. Everything from factory back then was far from perfect, but that is part of the beauty and allure of those cars. Those people who restore their cars and demand 97% perfect body lines and panel fits, they claim a factory correct restoration, just because they have the chalk markings and date coded. Not to take away from those "near perfect" restorations but they are not factory correct. Factory wasn't 97% perfect, I don't even know if they were 90% but who cares.

My best example is the body panel that goes around the headlamps on the 64 1/2 - 66 Mustangs. The panels have a lip that are suppose to match up the over hang of the hood. From the factory, they most didn't match as far as I know. I know on mine there is probably a 3/4" difference in height between the lips and the hood and you can tell it is a factory thing. The only Mustang that I saw that the headlight panels were perfect was a concours, high budget resto, and it didn't look natural. Do get me wrong, the car itself was very nice, but it didn't look natural.

People just can't expect perfect fits because your car is not perfect, unless you have had a top-notch body job.

 

[MizzouMike76]

tbunker,

I with you. I think some folks (not speaking of those here) demand absolute perfection from a car that was never perfect to begin with. We can of course pursue perfection, as it IS our car after all.

I blame Barrett-Jackson. The general public seems to think all old cars are or should be perfect diaper buffed trailer babies, and they're not. I drove my Mustang quite often, rain/snow/shine, and the poor panel alignment is just part of the charm.

I remember two rumors(?) from the past; one was around when "Ford" sheetmetal came on the resto market, people said it was simply foreign made and FoMoCo licensed;

The other was that the "original tooling" stuff wasn't as nice as the quality repops simply because the original tooling, after banging out hundreds of thousands of pieces, was worn out and thus the character lines and creases weren't as crisp, tolerances not as tight, etc.

Anyone hear either of those?

btw, I have a Taiwan fender on my '66 and it fits great and looks great. Bought it nearly 14 years ago.

Michael

 

[RF Mustang]

Guy's everyone has had good and bad experiances with all the hundreds of mustang supply house. The key thing is knowing what your actually paying for. Calponymike is absolutley right. If you want concours correct, you pay highly for it. All the taiwan stuff (including a much of the stuff from Dynacorn), is lighter metal. Dont kid yourself. And i dont car who it comes from, your gonna have to fuss with. I call it the "Beat to fit, Paint to match" requirement. My self personnaly when it comes to "exterior sheet metal", I will go to great extents to use existing old sheet metal from salvage cars and do the metal work myself. I know the difference, i can easily see the difference.

For the record, i have bought from about 6 different mustang parts supply houses over the last few years and I am not partial to any. all have pro's and con's but when i had a problem with something at Virginia Classic Mustang. they resolved it with NO Hassle as quickly as possible and with apologies. It's all about trust and customer service !!!

 

[Icerat]

I for one don't mind tweaking or adjusting to make something fit. The problem comes when the import stuff is half the thickness of the original panel or the stamped holes don't line up, something major like that should never be in production. I buy Ford tooling whenever possible. Like MizzouMike said we only need to buy most of this stuff every 40 years or so. I almost refuse to buy NOS stuff only because of the greedy people out there who have it have inflated the market so bad I can almost buy a 2010 Mustang for what they think their 40 year old part in a box in the attic is worth. I know they are getting more and more rare peopel but come on.

 

[68rest0m0d]

I bought my radiator support from mustangs unlimited it had perfect fitment and the price was good as far, as the frame rail I cant vouch for the quality but I have also used a trunk floor quarterpanels and taillight panel and hood from them and have had no fitment issues so far. As far as far as other panels I have bought; laurel mountain mustangs front fenders and a trunk lid (good appearance on quality not yet installed) dynacorn door from them also great pricing great packing on the shipping no damaged parts on delivery fitment I have no clue yet everything is in my kitchen :bigthumbsup