AMD quarter panels for 1969 Camaro
 

First of all, I want to say that Auto Metal Direct (AMD) offers great customer service.

In my research of quarter panel products, I had narrowed the search down to AMD or Dynacorn. AMD says their R&D group developed their own stampings (so it's not just another Golden Legion knock-off). While the quarters are still made in Taiwan, the stampings are supposed to be crisp, and the quarters are supposed to be original thickness. Their online price is $400/side, but when I placed my order, the price for the new production run was $450/side. I paid it + $125 shipping in hopes that I'd be getting the best of the best.

HOWEVER, the left and right side full quarter panels I received were terrible. The worst areas on both were at the bottom of the sail panel where it curves towards the corner of the trunk sill. The interior surface had several hammer marks that stretched the metal, and the exterior was wavy. The door jamb also had some big gouges.

There was surprisingly little padding in the box but no shipping damage (Georgia to California).

I immediately contacted AMD and emailed them some digital pictures. They said those quarters never should've been shipped. They looked in their warehouse to see if they had something better to exchange, and they realized their whole batch was damaged. In the end, I got a full refund. Their customer service was so good, I wish I could be posting something that says how good their products are too. Their new production run will be available in a couple months.

In the meantime I went to Classic Industries in Huntington Beach and looked at their OER quarters ($380/side). I assume the OER brand is just Golden Legion quarters that are re-packaged with OER labels. I wasn't impressed. While they weren't marred like the AMD quarters, they also had some problems at the bottom of the sail panel. I didn't have a micrometer, but they seemed to be little thin and about the same thickness as the AMD quarters.

Next stop will be Dynacorn. I'm hoping that their quality will be up to par...and I've seen some of their Chevelle quarters that were pretty thick. Unfortunately, they are out of stock right now, so I'll have to post the rest later.

Can't speak on the Camaro stuff but I ordered a pair of full quarters for my Dart and the fit was about perfect. Lines were straight, crisp, beautiful. Mine also showed up packed safely and I saw no problems. I also did not order direct but through a distributor, still shipped direct, and paid less than list price on AMD's website. Everything I've heard about their stuff is it's the absolute best! You may want to wait for their new run and order through a distributor. I've got some other goods I'll be ordering from them as well and expect the quality for those too will be about the same. Just my .02.

I am wodering why someone would take the time to join serveral sites and post this exact thread... here PT.com


Axe to grind? do you sell these parts ?

somthing is fishey about this,,,

I saw the same post on PT.com but didn't think too much of it. Seems fairly common, but maybe there are others?

CUT TO THE CHASE AND BUY SOME GENUINE GM QUARTERS PROBLEM SOLVED!!! AFTERMARKET:question:

Buy NOS $4000 quarters and let us know how they fit :thumbsup:

Here you go :

https://lateral-g.net/forums/show...&highlight=NOS

this is some kind of SPAM BS anyway... request MODs delete....

2 posts then gone... same thing on PT.com but thiers is already history

I got a couple pair of those quarter panels with the wrinkles at the sail panel and you are correct, they were there. And I can tell you I would MUCH rather deal with a few wrinkles a skim coat or Evercoat fixed instead of the other issues with other brands. Even with flaws they are by far the best thing going by a big margin.

I started doing a LOT of hardcore Camaro and Chevelle resoration in 1987. So I had the chance to call the dealer and buy new fenders, hoods, quarters, was pretty easy but even then stuff had already gone disco (discontinued, disco was dead, LOL).


Keep in mind on NOS panels GM ran the dies until they wore out. That is the only reason they stopped making parts is they couldn't use the tooling anymore. We could get both quarters in 88 / 89 for 69 Camaros. We was able to get (can't remember which) until 95 or so. I remember clearly on 70 Chevelle quarters we could only get lefts well into the mid ninty but I never got a right even back to 87. And I can also tell you as the dies got more and more worn, the panels got worse and worse. That is why some of the repro panels built from "the original tooling" we so horrible they had to be re tooled. 67 / 68 Camaro convertible quarters come to mind. They came out, then were pulled out of production. Project Prodigy was the axe on the repro 67 / 68 convertible panels. We could not use them, had to use hardtops and cut of the sail panel. I know those guys, they pulled the parts. You could not get any repos for years after they first came out. They were made from original dies.

With all that said, I just installed a set of NOS 69 convertible quarters a customer supplied with a invoice from 1979, and they were perfect! But ya know what, the door gap still had to be bead welded to make it as nice as we make them today!

So in closing, NOS is not all it is cracked up to be especially since most panels available are late production panels.

Amd is cutting panels of perfect cars and reverse engineering the tooling. they are close as you will get to NOS.

And they are thicker and heavier then Dynacorn or Golden Legion

Jeff, what makes you think that OEM quarters will jump right out the box and install themselves? Looking at Mitchell crash software,most cars require 15-18 hours of labor for R & I,and these hours were based on using OEM sheetmetal,

Have you ever seen or held AMD part? I can tell you that all AMD sheetmetal that I have used is thicker than OEM, couple weeks ago I was minitubbing 69 Dart,I used AMD inner wheelhouses ,let me tell you, they were almost as thick as the frame rails, some of their quarters weigh over 90 lbs compared to OEM 60-70 lbs quarters.I don't have exact numbers, but if I dig ,I'll find them.

Reproduction panels are not 24 gauge. They're much thicker then that. I'd guess 18-20 , I'm sure that information is out there.

As for resale of custom/pro-touring cars, no one cares if the panels are NOS or repo, just as long as they fit. And either way you go, they'll need work if you're building a high quality car.

Fitting a repo panel is a piece of cake if you have any metal work experience at all. Look at all these cars that have custom metal work done, that's 100x harder then fitting a repo panel. :yes:

I didn't intend for the initial post to come across as spam. I've simply benefitted from all you who have posted your experiences on these sites. Now that I'm underway on my project, I hope to be able to contribute too for those who might have the same questions I do/did...

Frank, thanks for your input. Since the Dynacorn warehouse is only a couple hours from my house, I'm gonna give in to my curiosity and check out their quarters once they have them in stock again.

Anyone experience the OER units? Thickness and fit OK? They look pretty good for complete quarters.

I just proofed the Super Chevy Article on Project Unfair on installing the outer body sheetmetal. The AMD quarters felt so much heavier we weighed the AMD quarters at 27LBS and the brand X at 19LBS! Almost 50% heavier the AMD are.

We have some killer shipping deals on AMD right now to. So today is your day

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...fair/pic21.jpg

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...fair/pic23.jpg

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...fair/pic25.jpg

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/DSC_0581.jpg

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...fair/pic30.jpg
Michaels weighs 181 on this scale, so 19LBS for brand X
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...fair/pic31.jpg
8LB heaviers for AMD. That is a big deal

Has anyone seen or worked with the aluminum AMD panels? I always wondered about that complete front clip they have in aluminum. Weight savings would be how much?

Yup, got those too. We test fit them on another car because Unfair was not ready yet. Pretty awesome stuff. For the entire kit about 115LB to 135LB of the entire car. More can be saved ditching the factory bumber brackets as the flyweight aluminum bumpers will need nomore then zip screw to hold them on, LOL!

Do you think the fitment was better or worse than the steel panels? They are probably made on the same dies I would expect. I wonder how the bodymen would like working with them vs steel.

They are made on the same dies and are indentical to the steel. They are a thick gauge so they won't tin can when you try to block them. They also come with a high quality E Coat so there are no concerns about adhesion to the aluminum for putty work which can be done on the scratched E Coat.

i used two fenders and two quarters from them. all the fit was good, but i was able to go through a few pieces of each before i found the ones i wanted. a few pieces they brought out to the showroom had some creases from them being stacked. easily taken care of with a little bodywork, but i knew they had better. it was my first time fitting quarter, so i really cant compare.

im looking for some doors, and the only thing keeping me from the amd's is the damn shipping. opg is in my backyard.......

Tim

Doors for what kind of car?

my 70 chevelle. the only reason is i shaved the handles and am now wondering if i should have just gotten rid of the locks. it would make it easier with my kids and i wouldnt run into any issues if i wanted to track the car. now would be the time to swap before i invest any more time in working the gaps.

Tim

Does AMD make full quarters for the '69 Firebird? I have not seen any.

No Firebird yet.

They do not make complete doors or skins for your car. The skins they list are not of their manufacturer

anything in the works for the next 6 months or so? have you installed one of the other companies doors? everything needs work, including my original doors so i may give them a shot. skins are only $300 cheaper, and the hours it would take me to swap them has me leaning towards full doors.

thanks, Tim

They list the aluminum front clip as available in anodized and non-anodized on the AMD website. Anyone know what the difference would be?

Getting primer to stick to aluminum is a concern so we choose the anodize. We will scuff the anodize and put some epoxy on that, and do our putty work on top of the epoxy.

To follow up on the original post, I looked at Dynacorn's quarter panels at their Oxnard, CA warehouse. As Frank already said, they weren't nearly as thick/heavy as AMD's quarters, plus they had a few creases/waves/dents. I also looked at some OER quarters. They seemed about the same thickness/weight as the Dynacorn quarters, and they had fewer imperfections. So, I ordered a new pair from AMD, and they look much better than the first pair I originally posted about. I'm very pleased, and their customer service was great throughout.

Would there be any issues with the fitment of the thicker gauge steel quarters vs a thinner gauge panel?

No fitment issues directly related to the thickness of the panels

Do AMD do door skins and taillight panels yet for 69 camaro?

69 Camaro Door Shell Left
Door : Shell
Part No: 500-3569-L

69 Camaro Door Shell Right
Door : Shell
Part No: 500-3569-R

69 Camaro Tail Light Panel
Tail Light Panel : Tail Light Panel
Part No: X900-3569

I read somewhere that the X at the beginning of the PN denotes that it is not made by AMD. I would go w the door shells over skins since the shells seem to have better lines, esp the lower faint line on the 69.

The first door shells that come in get test fit on Unfair, and we do not have them yet.

I went w the dynacorn door shells and they fit OK.

I have AMD door skins for 69 camaro that came in last week. They have nice crisp lines/edges.

That is correct.

Yes I thought I had heard the skins weren't from AMD yet - wasn't aware the tailight panel wasn't AMD either.
Have also heard the panels are in the pipeworks - Frank or Stefan do you guys have any ETA's on when the real stuff will be available?:question:

We are hoping everyday the new doors show up. We are super close now. AMD is doing the test fitting and then we will get a set for Unfair for test fit. As rusty as that POS was the door hinge pillar and rocker jam were perfect. We did all the quarter replacement using a perfect pair of original doors so we will really know how well these work.

Stay tuned!

Just got off the phone with AMD, door shells will be out for about 6 months