I picked up a 68 Camaro and most of the sheetmetal needs to be replaced. There are so many companies offering sheetmetal, what are some good sources? Also, is there much of a difference between the original tooling and the reproductions other than price?

 

i sent ya a pm with some info...

 

Year one or goodmark. The aftermarket stuff is usually make with too much material so it wont fit eaxactly like the original. You will need to cut and shape some of the metal.

 

Yea be prepared to put some time into any panels you get..
It just goes with the territory.. But look at it this way.. at least there are parts available for these cars.

 

if you go through Rick's First Generation, they actually rate the quality of their parts so you know what quality you get compared to the money you spend

 

I had to buy a front fender, and an entire new front end (body parts, not frame and suspension) and I bought mine from ClassicIndustries. The parts were decently priced and easy to order from (online and over phone). The problem was that some pieces werent made in America and didnt fit exactly like the old parts, they took some shims and such to make them fit just right.

I imagine the origional will fit better, I just bought reproduction and you can tell the sheetmetal isnt as thick as the old stuff but it looks the same.

I looked at YearOne, ClassicIndustries, Ecklers, and I think Ricks. The first 3 had online catalogs I know for sure and YearOne was the most expensive being at least $50-$100 more per body part

 

ricks is def a good choice i buy all my parts from there. i heard they bought out elkers

 

I havent heard about them buying out ecklers but I also dont recall ever buying from ecklers either but I think it must have been recent because I was on their site a month or two ago. Did they let ecklers keep the name?

 

Ecklers bought out Ricks. And raised prices I heard.

 

Ecklers has been a huge Corvette supply company for many years, now they have a Camaro division too! If you are replacing front sheetmetal, be sure to replace your subframe mount bushings first, otherwise the years of compression and settling of the old ones will just make the fit & finish job of the new body panels that much more difficult, or nearly impossible.