not of the "ooooooooh, thats super rare and worth alot of money" kind. more like "what were they thinking when they built it and let this get out" kinda weird.

about a year ago i was getting my hatch set so i could mount my HAWKS glass wing. i could not for the life of me get the pas side hatch panel to sit down level with the outer body area over the edge of the tail light.

the dr side was right but the pas side looked like it was popped up and i had the adjuster all the way screwed in. so here i am looking at my hatch some time back one night a few months ago and started looking at the hatch a lil closer and looked at how the hatch panel was flat event with the outer body on the pas side but for what ever reason the lip area over the tail lights just didnt meet up.

then i seen it, the outer panel lip over the tail lights is longer than the dr side. this is visible if you are looking directly at the back of the car. i thought the car might have been in a wreck and they replaced one of hte panels but i checked inside the body and both panels have the VIN sticker on them.

i wonder how many other cars have this longer outer edge on one side vs the other?

 

Almost EVERY single firebird I have ever seen has had that problem. The only car that I have seen that does not have that problem is my 15th anniversary.

 

all of the third gens in this area are even where the panels meet, atleast i know my 83 T/A is for sure. i'll observe this a little closer.

 

Hmm. My 87,89 and my 82 all had that uneven passenger side. Which plant is your car from? norwood or van nuys?

 

both of my birds are Van Nuys plan cars.

 

my 83 firebird is exactly like that i thought it was something wrong with the hatch mounts or the rear tail panel and i spent the better part of an after noon messiung with it trying to make it proper and it did get a little better but still not what i thought it should be i guess all firebirds must be like this

 

I've NEVER seen one line up on both sides. If you find one that does, then somebody has "fixed" it. The factory certainly never got it right!

 

being that everything was reasonably lined up at the factory, im suprised something THAT obvious would have gone that long without QC fixing it.
i know that third gens didnt get the best fit and finish but good grief, thats screamin "fix me".

 

Like I said the only car I have seen that lined up good that I thought was factory is my 15th anniversary. Now that it has a new hatch though it has the same problem as the rest. It is fixable by unbolting the metal part of the hatch from the glass and re-sealing it in the proper position.

 

this isnt the hatch i speak of. the lip that hangs over the tail lights, its the area of lip that is over the corner top of the tail light. the dr side is 1 in, the pas side is 1 1/4 in length.

yeah, the hatch itself is almost never going to line up ight.

 

Are you talking about the quarter panel? If so yes that is weird. I have never seen that before.

 

yup,the Q panel. i'll try and get a shot of both panels with the tape next to it to show the difference.