QUOTE(sww914 @ Aug 23 2008, 06:04 PM)
In the 70's, car body panel alignment wasn't perfect. If you go to any car show, look at any of the unrestored cars and you'll see that the gaps on cars were all a little weird. Also, there are countless stories here about 205 or 215 (or whatever) tires fitting fine on one side and not the other.
There's no way that I would cut that quarter panel. You can adjust the decklid fore & aft to split the difference between the R & L rear corner alignment, then tap gently in on the long one, tap gently out on the decklid corner, and tap gently in on the other decklid corner.
Everyone expects Honda style gaps now, dead perfect and even all the way around the car on every single car but that was not the reality when these cars were made. The modern jigs hold every part in perfect alignment and they're then welded together in perfect order with a robotic arm.
I once had to lengthen the door of a Jag XK by 1". WE were restoring an unmolested car but one door was rusted out. We had 6 doors to choose from and they were all different lengths, all 1" to 1 1/2" too short. We cut up 2 doors and sectioned them together to get one to work. The R side door opening was 1 1/4" shorter than the L side door opening on a car that had never been hit. The factory had made 1 door that was long enough to fit this oddball body.
I'm not trying to be anal about it, but when the tail light assembly sits outboard of where it should be and when one looks at the vertical wall between the tail lights, the left rear is angled forward, when in fact it should be vertical, following the curve of the rear (ref: the curve of the truck lid). Something is not right with this corner. I had a 73 before this and it wasn't like this. I am restoring this car after it has sat in my garage for 10 yrs, and I want things to be clean after all of this time. In the past few months I have compared my car to other around my area and none of them have this problem.
