general ike

Hello all, I went to see a car the other day, a 1970 convertible. Sadly the price is slightly too high for the work that the car needs and the owner refuses to deal, but my question is the door to body fitment on the drivers side. I like to learn as much as can with each car examination. Is this a sloppy GM fitment or has something happened. Not sure what would cause such a gap it seems huge.






I cannot believe that GM would let something like that out the door but I am not well enough informed. And if anything age would have the door sag and close up a gap like that.. The front seam looks OK. Thoughts? GM or PO? Thanks Ike

Tonio

Rear body mounts all rusted away? I've seen a lot of verts like that though. May have been an assembly line thing.

Experts, what say you?

gguillot

I've had two 'verts (a 73 and now a 72) and that gap seems excessive to me.

Easy Mike

Age has taken a toll.

general ike

Any more thoughts???? Anthony so you theory is that the mounts disintegrated and the body has kind of sagged to open that gap?

The car did not look to be in that much of a rusty condition but I did not get a good look at the mounts.

Come on all I would love to know your thoughts!!! Thanks Ike

CanadaGrant

I don't agree with the rest. If you look at the bottom pic (click on it to expand it) the gaps look not bad (not great either) except for that top corner. The car is an obvious repaint (not a good one) and I think there was a chip or fiberglass damage on the top rear corner of the door. I think it was ground or sanded down on the corner and smoothed out to try and make it look right. Look at any C3 and that back edge goes up fairly straight right to the top then curves in. That one doesn't. It starts to curve forward at about 6 or more inches down so the gap is exaggerated at the top then goes back in to almost normal as you get closer to the window glass. I think somebody didn't want to do some fiberglass work, got lazy and used the sander instead.
You didn't say what the other side is like but I would bet you five bucks it isn't like that. That has nothing to do with the frame or body mounts. I think it's just really poor work.

Tonio

Yeah just a theory. Or more likely as CanadaGrant points out, someone didnt go the extra mile to gap the car properly.

Perhaps the door is not original to this car and as such not a great match. They are all a little different.

NONN37

^^I like that theory. it does look like the corner has chipped, and rather than fill in and fix it, they cut down the rest of the upper edge and blended it in.

general ike

CanadaGrant thanks for the thoughts interesting!!!!! I checked my photos of my car but I cannot tell if its the door or the rear quarter. You are correct, the other side is fine. Another question what do you see in the photos that tells you its a poor paint job? I saw this when I looked at the car, there is some cracking around the nose and paint drips on the door jambs, but I am curious what you see in the pics. I am trying to educate my self as best as possible!!! Thanks Ike

Edit, When I compared the pic to my coupe it does look like the doors edge shape is off and rounded. It makes sense. I could not see the body flexing to such a degree but like I say this is new to me!!!!!

OldCarBum

CanadaGrant

What I should have said was bad prep work and not a bad paint job. If you look again at the last pic, the door gaps look ok except for that top rear corner but the front door gap, although even, is slightly larger than the rear gap. I think the door was moved a bit rearward to try and make up for the top rear corner and it didn't work. Making the rear gap smaller actually made the top part look worse. The spacing and even fit between the fender, hood and wiper door is really good and hard to get without quite a bit of work. Lots of work.... See below....
If everything is good except for that I would take it home and get started. I believe it's just a door repair and paint.
You can take some measurements inside and out on the rear of that door with a ruler or tape and compare to the other side while remembering that the fit on those things was never that accurate but not that bad.

Rescue Rogers

Does the door open and close easily? Do the latches operate smoothly? Does it bind anywhere? If you line up the rear more often than not the gaps are always off in the front

Jstan2014

general ike

Hey all, great info, Thanks for the responses. Sadly the car had other issues and the owners were inflexible on price so unless something changes the car is not for me and probably won't see the car again.

The reason for my post is to learn a little bit more about these old gals for the next inspection. I am pretty sure the door opened and closed smoothly, well about as well as the old heavy hinge slightly worn doors do.

With regards to paint to my eye it looked good in the photos but when i was up close, I saw some cracking in the paint around the headlight openings and on the nose and some drips in the door jambs. That worried me, lack of attention to details and prepping and since a new paint job shouldn't have cracking and I would be concerned what kind of condition the paint may be in a few years from now!!!!

Thanks again all for the education!!!! Off to see a red Vert on Friday!!!!! Ike

71 Green 454

Hey ike, are you a flipper or just wanting to add to your stable?
Good luck!

general ike

Increasing the herd!!! I never sell anything I own. I have issues!!! I figure the coupe needs a softtop friend to share the garage, so I have been looking for a few months. Having trouble finding exactly what I want at a reasonable price. The problem is that this forum is giving me a great education making it even harder to find a nice car!!!! Ike

PHIL 68

I believe 68 has solid body mounts not sure what year they changed. Phil

Stev-o

My buddies '68 has a large gap similar to that on the passenger side, he bought it like that.
I always assumed it had been in a wreck and not properly gapped...

Cool change

ok from what I was told by a GM mechanic when corvettes were made they used spacers and hand placed all the gaps. when those spacers started to wear out, and the gaps became larger they replaced them with new ones. so that is why most all vettes will not have the same gaps they will vary from car to car.. However the gaps you are showing us are way to large for that.. my opinion the car was hit !!! just my opinion