AMD quarter panels for 1969 Camaro - Lateral-g Forums

projectsomeday · #1 05-29-2010, 01:05 PM

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.

wellis77 · #2 05-29-2010, 01:16 PM

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.

XLexusTech · #3 05-29-2010, 01:38 PM

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,,,

wellis77 · #4 05-29-2010, 01:57 PM

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

**DOOM** · #5 05-30-2010, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by projectsomeday

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.

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

elitecustombody · #6 06-02-2010, 09:10 AM

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

Here you go :

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

XLexusTech · #7 06-02-2010, 09:45 AM

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

ProdigyCustoms · #8 06-02-2010, 04:33 PM

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.

ProdigyCustoms · #9 06-03-2010, 05:44 AM

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

elitecustombody · #10 06-03-2010, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparky67

Well, I had 67 NOS quarters installed on my 67 Camaro and my friend's dad (Body man with 55 years experience) owns a 69 Z28 with NOS quarters the fit was perfect. Now, he has never used AMD quarter panels, but he has used aftermarket quarter panels on a 67 Chevelle. I think he told me, 20 hours + per side on the Chevelle and he will never use aftermarket panels again. GM used 18 gauge for sheetmetal. I am not sure on aftermaker, but I heard it is 24 gauge. As for cost, NOS sounds high but it does fit. I didn't pay 4k for mine, nor did my bodyman for his 69 Z28. Just looking at the cost though 20 x ($75 average shop rate) = $1500 + 400 = $1900 to fit them per side. I prefer going NOS, and the resale of the car will be much higher than AFTERMARKET from Taiwan.

Jeff

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.