I'm midway thru a body/paint resto of an 86 T-Type and noticed something rather strange over last weekend. Having both fenders off the car (along with everything else) and on the the same bench, side by side; it became obvious after the the final coat of 2K that the LHS fender had an extremely "soft" top body line. This body line carries on to the door and quarter and is quite "sharp" when viewed from most angles...except on the LHS front fender. At first I thought I had received an "offshore" part with a typical soft stamp, but all these pieces are original (used) GM or NOS. Walked outside and looked at my 87 T...same thing, way soft top body line on the LHS fender. Looked at 3 more this week on the way to Edmonton; all the same. This isn't a year issue, either...my 82 SC has it as well. I've been working on/around these cars since they were new, restored 3, pinstriped dozens of them, lettered many Regal drag cars, and I've never noticed this (lack) of a distinct body line! But now that I have, it's driving me crazy! Perhaps a minor issue, and the customer isn't really concerned one way or the other, but I'd like to get some feedback on how other body/paint guys are handling this, or if it's an issue for them? Since this is obviously a stamping issue from a GM supplier, will cutting in a hard line to match the rest of the car cost you some points down the road at a concours level show? Or maybe only the Canadian Buicks got this option! "UPC EH-1: soft body line, LHS fender (top) ONLY; no delete code; mandatory base Canadian equip., guaranteed to NOT match body line on rest of vehicle; will not become apparent/obvious on your 25K Regal/GN/T-Type for 2 decades; N/C; have a nice day" Also, does anyone have a Regal with a hard LHS fender top body line that matches the door? And they said memory was the first thing to go... :Brow:
I never noticed that before. I remember the body line having a curved upper edge to it as opposed to a sharp pointed edge. Can you post some pics? Is it just on the left fender? I've got a buddy with a couple of Hurst Olds and they have the same doors as a GN so I'll check his too.
Bringing Nikon to shop tomorrow to get some good pictures of the body line differences between LHS fender and door...will post 'em ASAP
