Replacement STEEL Fenders with flares?, ...or a pair in good shape Options

[tomeric914]

I know there are flared fiberglass front fender replacements. Just wondering if anyone knows if there are replacement front fenders with flares as an integral part of the stamping?

...or alternatively, does anyone have a pair of steel flared front fenders that have been removed?

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

and if they were going to be made the factory would have made them instead of a stock fender and then a fender flare. Even the GTS that the factory made were cut and the flares welded on!

[JazonJJordan]

A fair point, however- in your extensive experience; I think we can safely say there are a few things the factory did that you would have done differently..am I right? Certainly no successful manufacturer today would choose this method in volume. Prototype, yes. Effective on thousands of vehicles, yes. Difficult for individual owners and as compared to formed fenders- Not the most precise method and technique probably.
George, do you feel this fender has merit- not with-standing cost or actual method?
If so; it is method justified by cost, qualified by market demand present.
But first, a steel formed fender is feasible, is it not? (from a technical standpoint-not cost) Would it produce superior results? Thanks -Jzn

and if they were going to be made the factory would have made them instead of a stock fender and then a fender flare. Even the GTS that the factory made were cut and the flares welded on!

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

Yes if the gts had been done in quantity 100,000 or so WAY beyond the 45 or so the factory produced, they certainly would have done a one piece fender flare.
Considering that there is some guy out there already making reproduction factory look flares for the fenders and that most people who do the conversions have good fenders to start, and the rigor of cutting off the complete fenders and quarter panels and welding on new ones, (believe me it is labor intensive to drill out spot welds and get those things off!) and that the tooling for four quarters would be over 100,000 (tooling for the steel flares was over 50,000) I think that NO ONE would take on a project like this. Would be better to tool up for stock fenders and quarter panels, if someone was going to do it, but the cars are not worth enough yet, and there are still plenty of donors out there.

A fair point, however- in your extensive experience; I think we can safely say there are a few things the factory did that you would have done differently..am I right? Certainly no successful manufacturer today would choose this method in volume. Prototype, yes. Effective on thousands of vehicles, yes. Difficult for individual owners and as compared to formed fenders- Not the most precise method and technique probably.
George, do you feel this fender has merit- not with-standing cost or actual method?
If so; it is method justified by cost, qualified by market demand present.
But first, a steel formed fender is feasible, is it not? (from a technical standpoint-not cost) Would it produce superior results? Thanks -Jzn

and if they were going to be made the factory would have made them instead of a stock fender and then a fender flare. Even the GTS that the factory made were cut and the flares welded on!