1957 fiberglass fenders decrease value?

[Zootr]

1957 Bird. Does car value decrease considerably if both front fenders have been replaced with fiberglass fenders? Also with fiberglass hood?

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[dmsfrr]

It can depend on the buyer but I'd say it reduces the value. At the least it can make the car harder to sell, especially both front fenders and the hood. That would have been a hard hit.
Unless someone wants to make a 1/4 mile car or a resto-mod out of it. But then the value would already be fairly low.

 

[ICON 56]

Agree.............

 

[Ward 57]

Agree.............

I agree also. There is something about the thick soft steel these bodies that were made from inexpensive steel from decommissioned WWII ships. Rapping on it is different than fiberglass even though it looks good.

 

[74 Harley]

That's a lot of fiberglass, are you sure it's not a Shay replica?

 

[Pink T-Bird]

You've also lost a lot of the structural rigidity. I wouldn't buy the car. These are a monocoque body (all the steel body panels are welded together as to be one piece). Are the inner fenders still steel or were those chopped off too? Look for stress cracks where the fiberglass meets the remaining metal.
And have a body shop look at the frame to see if it has been properly straightened, as that must have been one heck of an impact to require all those panels be replaced.

 

[74 Harley]

Thinking about this, if the car is not a replica then it probably was not wrecked either. More than likely this car spent the late '60s early 70s at the drag strip. Drag cars make for good restoration projects because they typically have little to no rust or body damage. Other than race mods.