69-er

A few years after I got my 83 Camaro I noticed that the left and rear fender flares have different radii as they transition to the quarter panel. The left radius is noticeably more gentle than the right. I was side swiped on the left when the car was only a year old and I originally thought the bodywork was the reason. I am now working on an 84 and it's the same as mine.

Anybody have this situation on their cars besides 83 and 84? I bet it was the same on 82's as well. Since I believe that all third gens used the same sheet metal I wouldn't be surprised if they are all like that.

How about the Firebirds?

1989karr

pics?

69-er

Here ya go...

1989karr

Interesting... I will check mine. The quarters on birds and camaros are different thouh. The sail panel, rear and wheel arch are al different

69-er

True about the rear panel although I thought the sail panels and wheel arches would be identical.

1989karr

the sail panel on birds has the crease vs the camaros smoothness going into the quarter

the camaros wheel openings hane slightly sharper edges if i recall

tajoe

iTrader: (1)

I have an 84 T/A, and don't notice anything "un-symmetrical".

69-er

Wellibedamn! I never noticed that! I looked at an 84 Firebird this evening and the difference is quite obvious. I would have thought that area would be identical but if a different stamping has to be made for the two bodies you, (Pontiac and Chevy), might as well do it the way you want as long as it mates up properly with the roof, etc. The radius I have been talking about is also a lot larger/smoother going into the flare on the Firebird.

69-er

Can anybody else please take a quick look at their F Body's to see if the sides are different? The people at Camaro Research Group and Team Camaro would eat this stuff up. 1st Gens are one of the most researched vehicles besides the Corvette.

pirateofms

My 89 Firebird doesn't look different from side to side, both have a gentle roll.

tajoe

iTrader: (1)

I must be misunderstanding. Is the comparison from side to side, or Firebird vs Camaro?

BBCSwap

The sides are different on my 91 Z.

69-er

My original question was side to side on all 3rd Gens. But now that I learned that Firebird quarters are a completely different stamping it looks like it's going to be more of a Camaro thing based on the responses so far.

tajoe

iTrader: (1)

Now that I look at your 2nd post, showing the pics of the wheel well lips, your LHS does look different, from the RHS. But you also mentioned it was refabbed due to an accident? Maybe that's why. And once again, my 84 T/A doesn't show any differences. And I know they're both factory quarters.

69-er

Hey Joe. (I know that song...!)

Once I saw the 84 I am working on was identical to mine I felt confident it wasn't bad body work. So far, it looks like up to '91 based on BBCSwap's car.

tajoe

iTrader: (1)

Are you saying the factory ran out of quarter panels at the plant, and went to the aftermarket? Pretty weird stuff.
(By the way, where you going with that gun in your hand ?)

69-er

No, just a factory design flaw. In fact, I think it was two people designing the Camaro quarter panels, one guy on each side. But they failed to communicate with each other!I was hoping you would catch that!

tajoe

iTrader: (1)

Now that's some funnt ****.

1989karr

I have to look, but I think there is also a slight difference in the lip on the Firebirds front fender lip and the rear quarters lip. That could just be design / limitations they had back the though.



I recall reading somewhere here that the passenger side quarter panels were also...... ever so slightly shorter which caused issues with hatch alignment.
I think more so on Camaros though... so there would seem to be some kind of discrepancy / difference in the 2 sides design wise and the engineers were probably fighting ad not talking to each other when they designed the quarters lol