97coupechuck

I got into slight front wreck last week, just bad enough I need to replace front end. Which way do I go, hand laminated (cheaper) or Press molded?
My car is a driver with not much anything original, pure wonderful driver with late motor and overdrive. I'm actually thinking of going to 67 front end to match BB 67 hood. That'll leave the kids scratching their heads and thinking "what the hell was he thinking?" LOL.
Like 67 look better and I'm keeping this car till the end as I drive the hell out of it and still win show awards.
So I'm not to concerned about originality at all. I heard from one local corvette guy that some one pc front ends used to be hard to get paint to stick. Looking for advice and experience please. thanks, chuck

gbvette62

Normally I prefer the jig assembled press molded nose, but in your case, the land laid should work just fine. This is mainly because of it's effect on resale value. From the sounds of it, your car is never going to be stock, so the hand laid nose shouldn't really effect the future value.

The quality of the press molded parts, is usually little better than the hand laid, if that's a concern. If installed properly, you really shouldn't be able to tell the difference once it is installed.

No matter which way you go, order a nose with the side fender louver panels left off. It's much easier to hang a nose with the sides left off, and then install them afterwards.

65 Pro Vette

If you keep the car a long time or sooner if it is a dark color, expect to block sand and paint the front over if you use a hand laid. The panels get waves in them after some years. Just like boats or any other fiberglass product that is why GM went press mold and then SMC. The fibers stay flat.

OC-1

So if someone after you puts in a dated block and parts, they have a NCRS contender or at least a nice car that appears original as a matter of pride. Adds more value to the car, though you don't really care at this point, why devalue the car further?

Too much work to get a handlaid to fit.

HL can look just fine, if given the choice PM would be the best route.

A 66 BB hood would be killer as the 67 hood is as common as feathers on a bird. Whatever floats your boat. easy enough to change the fender panel down the road, again the 65/66 vents look great.

Not to say a fake 67 wouldn't look nice.

97coupechuck

Thanks for all thoughts and ideas. Still on the fence, I still have a little time yet for decisions. Jeez, it's summer and I was ready to do some long distance cruising, guess I'll write this summer off.

Thomasmoto

Chuck, tried to pm you. Your box is full.

ChattanoogaJSB

Me too. Sorry chuck!!!

Vet65te

97 CoupeChuck - There's a large number of midyears in the Houston area, probably not a bad idea to ask around to find out who's replaced the front clip on theirs and ask some questions of the owners and also see what the results look like. My 65 Coupe needed a lot of work when I bought it in early '85 and I went with the HL version and am happy with the results. Not sure if back then the Semersheim front end was available but even if it was, I probably couldn't have afforded it.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

Mr D.

Press molded would be my choice. The additional cost in getting a hand laid front end to fit and ready for paint will be a wash at the end of the day.

ifitgoesfast

Hand laminated front clips don't have bonding strips, so if you get into yet another accident, how are you going to fix it?

Press moulded jig assembled front clips DO have the bonding strips, so if you have another accident, you'd only need to buy that panel ... not an entire new HL clip.

ifitgoesfast

btw, no one should buy molded or moldy fiberglass. It's a health hazard.