Has anyone used the fiberglass parts from Vanacor? If so how is the quality and fit of them, particularly interested in the front and rear bumpers. Any pertinent information is helpful.

 

I bought and had them install a fiberglass spoiler rear bumper on my 78 and fit was excellent.

 

I have a Vanacor L88 hood. Not a perfect fit but certainly well worth the money and as with MOST after market parts they take some body work to fit your car. The main reason is our C3s are way more different from one another than the after market parts so finding ones that fit everything perfectly is really hard.

 

Let me tell you about Vanacor's glass

I have held off on being critical of Vanacor's product because it is cheaper than anyone elses, but enough is enough.

I have used Vanacor's rear vert deck, lid and front and rear fiberglass bumpers on my 81. I am well aware that every one of our cars is a bit different from the other and I am well aware that you must prefit every thing before you install it. Installation went fine with all the parts, however I find the thickness of their glass to be lacking and if you sand a bit too deep to make the parts fit you will more than likely hit an air pocket requiring a repair.

That's still ok. What has set me off today is the fact that my side marker lights do not fit in the f'in hole that vanacor puts in the front bumper. What I thought was going to be a simple project has turned into a real pain in the arss and requires some bubba mods that shouldn't ever arise. To make the lights work I have had to sand the edges of the lights and grind down the edges of the trim piece that goes over the top. Consequently, I ruined one of the trim pieces buy cutting too much and I have scratched my new paint job trying to make this work.

I don't think it would be asking too much for the marker lights to fit in the hole; they are all the same. After all where would I get smaller ones.

Needless to say I am pi ed and will never buy from them again.

 

Never had a problem with any parts I purchased with them. Hood, Spoiler, and door skins. IMHO

 

i have a l-88 6" hood and it fits very well. minimal work. front spoiler fit with no work at all. glass thickness on the hood was very good.

 

Do a search on Vanacor, there are MANY threads on them.

 

i agree....here's my experience though...keep in mind I'm comparing alot to the ecklers front fiberglass bumper I bought

I bought some patch panels to convert my 79 front end to an 80's front. They charged me $50 buck to ship them. (box isn't that large and definitely not heavy plus I live 2.5 hours from them)

As mentioned above their parts are very thin and very easy to burn through....which i could live with with and alway add more glass to the back.

Fitment, they were decent...they didn't line up well with the front bumper where the two meet. I've pretty much had to sand off the edges on the front of them and build them up again to make them fit. I'm comparing fitment with stock urethane bumper and ecklers glass bumper.

and this is how they looked when I got them....granted they prob would've been sanded down anyways before being painted, one would think they would have better quality control and not ship these wrinkled looking things out to the customer. You can also see in the pictures that the black primer/gel coat whatever changes colors to a light grey towards the ends....not sure why this is, I would just expect it to be uniform.





now on to ecklers.....the bumper I bought fits great and looks great...the fiberlass is nice and thick and fits well with the little spoiler/air deflector piece that directs air up into the radiator. nothing really negative to say about them except they're expensive compared to vancor.....

This is my experience, take it as you want....others have had good experience with their stuff. As said before, these cars are all a little different and you can't really expect a perfect fit from anything with these older cars. But with myself doing the body work, for me it's worth the extra money to me.

For the most part with glass parts, you usually get what you pay for

 

You should take a ride down there some day. You would be amazed at the conditions they work in.