Phaeton repro panel fit question

[Great Lakes Greg]

I am thinking of replacing the large body panel on the back of a '30 standard phaeton. Snyders has them for $163 which would probably be less than repairing the bum piece I have now. Does anybody have comments on the fit of this panel? I am hiring out the body work on a tight budget, so every little bit of labor saved matters. If it requires a lot of reworking like the repro fenders, I don't think it would then be worth it. Thanks experts.

 

[kelley's restoration]

don't do it
repo parts never fit correctly
my dad and i put one on our 29 and it fit like crap
the pannel had no crown to it
the radius wasn't the same to match the body contour
and the reviel was different
if you are building an origional car and you want it to look like it did leaving the production line i would just fix the old one
tk

 

[wrndln]

I agree with the comments above. Most repro sheetmetal items don't look right and don't fit right. If you can, use the original sheetmetal, if possible, even though it requires a lot of work. You know it fits OK. I have the same problem with my 29 phaeton rear panel. I am reworking it. It was pretty dented and half of the top was missing where the wood tack strip fits. The front seat back is even worse than the rear panel and I am going to repair it also. It looks like someone in the back seat loved kicking the front seat panel! I have the rear panel almost repair. It is taking a long time to repair, but it fits correctly.

 

[Dave in MN]

Greg,
I can't speak to the fit of the rear panel for a '30 Standard Phaeton.
kelly's restoration mentioned he had problems with a '29 Phaeton rear panel and this makes me comment. I also replaced the same rear panel on my '29 and it went in with minor work. I had to do the customary metal bumping at the top edges and fold the bottom edge as required but good or bad panel, this work would have been necessary. I installed my panel about 10 years ago...maybe the currently available panels are not the same now. I was very satisfied with the part's fit. I can not tell the difference of appearance from an original panel. Sorry this is not a direct answer to your '30 Phaeton question. Hope someone can speak up as to the fit of a '30 panel...
Good Day!
Dave in MN

 

[kelley's restoration]

ours came out of texas from howell...it was ok at best
it needed a crown put in it
i had to stretch the sides to match the quarter panels
but when you put it into perspective it was better then the cut in half 2 door sedan piece that was in there
also the seat back for the front was ONE HUNDRED TIMES WORSE to fit than the back panel
but its only metal
tk