[runningman]

I'm sure this has been discussed many times but looking for comments from anyone who has recently bought and installed first gen quarter skins. I have a 68 conv and not sure who to buy from. Ames states there repro skins need to use a 1/8" shorter louver - not sure I've seen that on other sellers websites even though it may be the same skin.

Also thought of just buying Camaro skins and grafting in my louver section. More work but at this point a little more welding no big deal. Someone on eBay is selling American made "thicker" Camaro skins by Schott Metal Products in Ohio - anyone heard of them?

For what its worth Summit sells Goodmark and Sherman and I'm close enough to go and pick those up at their Ohio location and save shipping cost.

Thanks in advance.....

[68tpls400]

Goodmark fit fairly well. I'd save the shipping and pick those up if you can. Used Goodmark full quarters on four different '68 birds. Skins don't fit as well and are missing some crucial corners you will probably need. So I'd recommend quarters. Just my .02.

[gtobird]

I realize you are looking for skins and I'm assuming that's because you want a good price and possibly have minimal rust to cut out. Some food for thought.....

I started to go that route on my 68 convert before there were stampings available with the Firebird louvers. I cut out the louvers from my original quarter panels and grafted them on the repop Camaro skins. It certainly can be done, but you have to be careful as it's easy to warp that area. The bigger isssue for me is that I wanted my car to have all the correct contours around the edges. Unfortunately the quarter skins that were available didn't have the metal that wrapped all the way under the bottom corners of the tailpanel and my quarters also had rot in that area. In the end, I gave up on repop skins and cut a pair of original GM quarters off of a coupe and very carefully spliced them onto my convertible. It took a lot of work, but in my opinion looks absolutely factory correct. That was a while back and I was living out west, so every now and then a shell would pop up to cut the quarters from. Tough to find used GM quarters today. All of that said, there is no doubt in my mind that if you can't get used GM or NOS quarters and you have substantial rot on your converts quarters where they intersect the tail panel, it will be far easier and a better repair with repop quarters vs skins. True, you may still have to work them for a clean fit, but it's just a lot easier than trying to do skins. The flip side is if you only have rot in the arches, I did one of those long ago with repop metal and it came out just fine with a reasonable amount of work.

Old Joe

[runningman]

Thanks guys for the replies - great comments. Going to take a 2nd look and evaluate but looks like you've convinced me to go full quarter. Chasing where I can get Goodmark now. For some reason the left side is retailing $144 more than the right. Could be due to a backorder status.

[runningman]

Question though on the full quarters - do they accept the original chrome louvers or do you need the shorter ones that Ames sells. Thanks again.

[68tpls400]

I do not recall a difference in louver sizes. Pretty sure new and repop were the same. I have a bunch of decent original chrome louvers if you need any.