1963 Fiberglass Appearance Inner Front Fenders

[Ray C.]

Hi!
I am currently prepping the engine bay on a 63 SWC for black out paint. The fender to inner fender bond (area of the hood ledge) is very rough and looked to be ground with a very course grinder. There were even marks where it seemed the grinder hit the inner fender. Would this be a correct look or has some one altered this area. All bonding strips and body panels seem to be original. The 65 that I restored had a much cleaner look.

Thanks! Ray

[Michael H.]

Re: 1963 Fiberglass Appearance Inner Front Fenders

Ray,

The rough, grinder scared look, is absolutely 100% correct. Just after the front section of the body was glued together, the bond oozed out of that fender/skirt junction and the area was ground off, using a fairly coarse grit disk. It's also very common to see an area on the skirt itself where the edge of the disk cut a path along the rounded portion of the skirt. Takes a long time to remove the original paint from these areas without loosing the texture/grinder scars, but that's genuine "restoration", the way it's supposed to be done. Good luck with your project.

Michael

[mike cobine]

Re: 1963 Fiberglass Appearance Inner Front Fenders

Need some help? I'm really good at producing "grinder scars".

[Ian S.]

Re: 1963 Fiberglass Appearance Inner Front Fenders

Not the inner fender but I think this is an original grinder mark on this survivor '63.

[Michael H.]

Typical Grinding

Ray,

Here's a poor shot of the area that you inquired about. It shows the typical grinder scars at the bond junction of the fender top and fender skirt. Also, the area of bond between the top surround panel to cowl, will show the same scars.

[Ray C.]

Re: Typical Grinding

Thanks! Guys

That is exactly what I have.

Ray