When I first saw the new body panels clamped to the car it made me nervous.
I guess you could say the body lines and gaps were in the same zip code from part to part but it was more than obvious a lot of massaging would be needed to get everything better than new.
Kevin and the rest of the gang at V8TV didn't seem at all surprised that the trunk lid did not match the tail panel which also did not match the quarters very well.
They first reminded me that in 1969 cars varied from each other when they left the factory plus over 40 years of use and abuse leads to a lot more variations in any one car.
They assured me they have seen worse and that they knew how to cure all the issues we were looking at.
Of course the goal of this build is to make everything fit even better than when the car originally left the factory.
Look at the "new parts just clamped together" body line mismatches between the deck lid, tail panel and quarters...
Here are just some of the tricks Nick and Nathan had up their sleeves..
First the desired deck lid gap behind the rear window was set. (Those miserable corner gaps will be fixed later by reshaping the deck lid corners).
The quarters were clamped on while paying close attention to the door gaps. (The door gaps will be further improved later too).
They decided it would be worth transplanting the rear drip rail from the original tail panel to the new tail panel in order to get the best results. Here it is tacked in place after numerous trial fits.
Since we wanted a tighter than new gap between the deck lid and the tail panel across the back of the car, the corresponding height of each quarter panel had to be adjusted.
To do that, each side was measured and marked where the new folds needed to be in order the effectively "lower" the quarter panels to the height of the deck lid.
A little cutting and notching was then done to allow reshaping things as needed to achieve the proper gap between the quarters and the tail panel.
To make the body lines and gaps between the tail panel and the quarters match up better required similar marking, notching and reshaping was needed.
It all started coming together better and better..
Now that things were looking good the tail panel could be prepared for final welding in place.
After a little more detail work, the quarters will be removed once again, prepared for final welding and then reinstalled permanently.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
It's starting to come back together nicely. Keep up the good work! 
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