Patch Panel, Skin, Or Full Quarter--Options Abound For Repairing Your Rusty Flanks
Though our ’66 Mustang hardtop project has been painted for almost two months in real life, in “magazine life,” we’re still working on the bodywork.
Previously, we’ve featured articles on floorpans (with the addition of torque boxes), rear framerails (with trunk floors), radiator core support, and fender apron replacement. This month we’ll head toward third base with our sheetmetal repairs by replacing the rear quarter-panels and outer wheelhouses. After this, the only repairs left for our ’66 are replacing the taillight panel and repairing the rusty cowl vents, which will be featured in upcoming articles. Then we will follow through with preparing the car for painting and showing you how you can paint your own car.
Before we replaced the quarter-panels, we discussed our options with Merv and Pat Rego of Classic Creations of Central Florida. Classic Creations has been ably handling our ’66 up ’til now. Since our quarters were poorly patched when we bought the car, our only option was a full replacement. We’re not saying that using patches is bad—they can be quite cost-effective for small rust problems—but the poor installation by the previous owner and the overall condition of the remaining quarter dictated that we replace the complete quarter surface.
So with the idea of patches out of the way, we were left with only two choices: a quarter-skin or a full quarter-panel. The differences between the two are not major. The skin is literally the outer skin of the quarter (there is no taillight panel end or trunk lip). The full quarter is identical to the original quarter installed by Ford, including a trunk lip, a front weld lip, and the lead-seam channel at the roof. After some thought, we called KS Reproductions for one of each. We decided to install a skin on one side and a full quarter on the other side, so that you could see the installation differences and the good and bad points on both types of quarter repairs.