Unfortunately, the premium bucks are asked for them. Reproduction parts, though available more and more, can still have problems. Hibernia Auto Restoration s Joe Cahill says, As far as body parts go, even with today s modern cars, anything that s a reproduction is not going to be an exact duplicate of the factory replacement panel because of trademarks, patents, copyrights and so forth. Some companies make parts that fit very well, but nothing will fit as well as an NOS item. Even if it s licensed, sometimes it doesn t match up.
Bumpers are the biggest thing.
They are cheap, and the chrome is not good quality. On bumpers, The best thing to do is to have the originals straightened and re-chromed. With some reproduction companies, the fit is really poor. There are some that are really careful about it, and they re really nice to work with. Over the years, you gain that knowledge.