My 1985 Trans Am has a piece that goes down the middle of both doors on the outside. It is an aluminum channel with a rubber insert. I think its purpose is to protect the doors from damage caused by other car doors swinging into it. This piece also extends to the front fenders and just past the doors onto the rear quarter panels. When the car was repainted recently, the rubber insert on one of the front fenders was lost. The body shop hasn't been able to locate another to replace the missing piece. I'm going to call the local salvage yards to see if they have it. Can anyone tell me if this was present on all years from 1982 to 1992? Was it only available certain years? Did the Camaro also have the same thing? Does anyone know where to locate a new piece?

 

Those were not factory. They may have been installed at the dealership but they are not GM. Nearly every body shop and vinyl top or trim shop in the 80's were putting those on. I haven't seen them lately but haven't really looked either. If you have a old trim or top shop in your area you may want to check with them to see if they still have some laying around.

 

Their called Body Side Moldings,their was 2 different types for 85-90 Firebirds, I'm assuming you have Rpo Code B84 that would have had the(19Q) Black rubber insert because I have RPO code B97 that would be just the rubber molding that glued on to the surface and matched the color of the car,that is what I have The P/N for 85-86 is 20509364 and 87-90 had a different P/N 20682914.And they are Factory.You might have to cross reference for updated P/N'S.Good luck,I'm sure their are still some laying around.

 

The rubber bang strip that runs down the center of the fender, door
and quarter panel was indeed a factory option on several years!
Mouldings: Body-side protective

My 84 has factory option B-84 for $55 ....body side mouldings.

I also have the metal door edge guards but can't read the factory
RPO/description or price on the original window sticker.........
Brochure describes them as this:
Mouldings: Door edge protective, black

YES.........Many dealers DID install either the rubber stick on or
metal back (riveted on) bang strips and door edge guards.

 

sonjaab,are your mouldings riveted,I was assuming B84 was because mine are not,I have B97 witch are glued???

 

Manta...........
My body side mouldings are plastic/rubber stick on and are
black. No metal or rivets. My car is red.

My camera is messed up so I can't get a pic.

I note another factory description (from another site) of the mouldings also:
Mouldings: Body-side protective, color-keyed

 

OP, pics would help greatly. I do remember two different OEM moldings over the years, neither had aluminum track. One was narrow, about 1/2 inch or so, usually black (84). The other was wider usually the body color (88). I don't know the option codes for them but I could probably look them up for Camaros as I still have the consoles for my 84 and 88 with the option stickers.

 

I found another rpo code for them,B84,B91 and B97,I have the B97 option witch is the color keyed.I have to do a search on the B91, but I think that is the door edge guard.They all have different P/N's.I have not personally seen the aluminum tracks on any of the cars I've seen in person,but I know I've seen them in photos on this TGO forum.

 

I'm thinking the OP has aftermarket moldings,I've been searching and I found this thread https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...olding.I'm wondering if they can be removed and replaced with the adhesive backed ones with little or no body work.