Well? We spent 8 hours, with micrometers in hand, yesterday test fitting fenders. This is the first set made so there are some adjustments that need to be made. Very impressed with the pieces, I was surprised with the fitment right out of the box. The areas that need attention are at the top where the hood, fender and door meet. The very end of the fender on the leading edge needs some tweaking and one of the gill insets on either side needs to be fixed. The front end of the car was completely assembled with a valance and grille.

Not shown is an original shaker hood installed and the hood line down the length of the fender was awesome on both sides. We also installed the AMD shaker hood as well.

The fenders are staying here at our shop so any local people are more than welcome to come take a look, plz call me first.

Michael C. Ross - Owner
B/E & A Restoration Parts, Inc.
www.beaparts.com
330-725-3990

ANOTHER

3RD ONE

4TH

Looks promising, thanks for posting.

This means all those "might have been" project 'Cudas are instantly elevated to "possible".
What a wonderful bit of news!

I agree, sounds promising! Thanks for the update!!!!!!!1

From the photos they look great.

Mike,

Will you also check fitment of repo and original wheel lip trim ?
At this point what would be an estimate guess of release of fenders ?

Thanks, Logan426

Are you checking just the 71's? Or looking at other years also? Specifically 70's?

where are the close up problem area pic's???

So are you fitting them to OEM hoods,valances etc?the reproduction valances are flimsy and not accurate at all.Are these new fenders the correct guage metal?I know the new 1/4's and fenders being made are lighter and very easy to dent.Seems they are made of the same thin cheapo steel that the 1/4 skins we all love to hate are made of.If these parts are licensed by Chrysler,why aren't the made of the right guage and quality of steel? I have a pair of Goodmarks new Cuda 1/4's and while the appear to be decent stampings,the certainly are not OEM quality and the thinner metal bugs me.

Reproduction wheel lip molding? There's not a set on the planet that fits. Yea, I put some on the fenders and you'll never guess what happened, that's right your the winner. Nope, they don't fit right. I have several sets of reproduction pieces we tested and all had the same result. Now for the originals I have? they fell on gorgous.

One of the reasons we have not perused making good wheel lip molding is where are you going to find a perfect quarter panel still attached to the wheel house and find both sides not attached to a car.

The molding must be patterned off the part it is being attached to, not a copy of an original which had it's own issues. I have NOS pieces that really don't fit that well.

Now that Goodmark has pretty much all the metal, it's easy to confirm the shape of the reproduction moldings as long as the quarter lip is as good as the fender lip. My thought is to take and mount a set of fenders, weld in braces to hold the lip right where it needs to be as it is mounted on the car. Use that to make the tools required to roll the molding and test fit every single wheel lip molding on the known good shape (TEST? novel idea)

The 70 and 72-74 fenders are at the same stage as the gilled fenders. I really don't have a handle how fast the dies can be modified and when the fenders will be available to the market. My gut feeling is the summer but that's just me talking, I defer that answer to Goodmark.

I will take a set of micrometers to the fenders this afternoon and post later when I'm back in the shop. And yes, the fenders were tested up against OEM sheet metal.

There is one thing everyone must understand, if you insist on absolute OEM and will not settle for anything not exact than don't buy reproduction. I don't mean that in a derogatory way, the only way that can happen is if the parts are made from the same tool as the original.

Even back in the day, if there were 2 different suppliers making the same part with their own tooling there will be differences.

Scott Smith you can jump in here at anytime with your input in this matter and confirm or not this issue in dirrerent tools making the same part.

Looking forward to the results with the micrometers measurments. you will most likely have to check against an original fender that does not have any paint at all ? I am pretty sure that the Black primer on the Goodmark fenders would nearly not be wurth worrying about its thickness as it is usually extremely thin coats and does not have any real body too it like standard paints.

O/T. Congrats on the NEW 70 E-body seat belts you will be releasing soon......... seen them in E-body parts for sale here on Moparts.

Quote:

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There is one thing everyone must understand, if you insist on absolute OEM and will not settle for anything not exact than don't buy reproduction. I don't mean that in a derogatory way, the only way that can happen is if the parts are made from the same tool as the original.

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This statement pretty much sums it up. I haven't seen these new fenders so I am not able to intelligently comment as to how well they fit or not, so far they look promissing.

Regardless of the final fit details they certainly look usable which is a major step in the right direction from what's available now (EXPENSIVE originals or nothing). I'm sure there will be allot of 'Cuda owners out there that can use them and who will be thrilled to see them avialble.

Keep us posted as the areas you are addressing are corrected and new/final versions arrive, nice to see a major new part getting so close to becoming a reallity

Mike,

Thanks for your post and efforts with this fender
project. I appreciate all the efforts made toward
getting these fenders into production. Furthermore
with any aftermarket part fitment varies from car to car.
Sheet metal is an item that can be altered in most cases for
better alignment,by fabrication etc,etc if the basic form is
there to work with. I would be thrilled if they are 80%
correct and rework them from there just to have fenders.
I also know that you will take it to the ten degree to make
sure you get them as close as possible.

logan426

Little confused.....

Are these 71 fenders made by Goodmark same as the Challenger fenders or are these made for BE&A by someone else? Is BE&A now associated with Goodmark? Either way it's looks like an awsomw MUCH NEEDED part