Well I got a call yeaterday and the guy was telling me he's sellin a 71 grabber and a 76 Mav..we talked for a while I adked if he had any misc parts he said he had a pair of fiberglass fenders from the ford dealership.. NOS? Said they were a dealership option.. Would this be true? I didn't believe him but he swore they were from the local ford dealers stock..And also he said they were extremely nice cond no chips or hairline cracks..and kept saying up rare they were so I inquired on a price and 300$ is what he came up with.. Felt a bit steep to me. So even if these are just some aftermarket regular fenders, what's the going rate on a set?
I've never heard of fiberglass fenders coming directly from Ford. My dad was a racer and a Ford parts department manager and ordered a lot of aftermarket pieces for local guys back in the 60s and 70s. I remember him telling me about getting fiberglass stuff for people and he hated it because they'd always return it because the fit was so bad. One story I remember was about a fiberglass hood he got for a guy that had a Galaxie. It was warped so bad the hood would hold water.
Giving the guy the benefit of the doubt (which I personally don't buy) being a "dealership option" doesn't mean they were provided by Ford. I am a dealer and offer aftermarket options and products that have no connection with the factory. FWIW, In my experience, there are not too many fiberglass parts that don't require quite a bit of work to make right.
Ford never made them, the dealership probably bought them as a cheap replacement, since Mavericks usually started rusting after 5 years.
If they are really that nice, that doesn't sound like a bad price. As others have stated, it is highly doubtful that they are Ford pieces. However,there were times when lightweight race parts were available through the dealer, that used unconventional part numbers and never appeared in the Ford Master Parts Catalog. One other example I can give is when I worked at the dealership's parts department. We ordered a new hood for a customer's 1955 Thunderbird. When it came, the customer returned it when he opened the box and found it was made of fiberglass. We called Ford and they said that it was the replacement and all that was available (they also refused to take it back). In later years, the steel hood was once again made available.
$300 for the fenders sounds like an Ok deal, as long as they aren't chipped or cracked and the jel-coat is still good. I would say they were not made by Ford, but Ford bought them from someone and maybe even furnished parts/molds................you never know with Ford in the early days. I had a factory 63-1/2 Galaxie 427-R car that had fiberglass hood, fenders, and trunk..................a long time ago. There were no numbers stamped/printed on any of the fiberglass parts and they were not made by Ford directly, but I found out later that Ford purchased them from Holman/Moody..................not sure where they had them made or got them from.
