Quality Body panel suppliers

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Kelly T
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First Name: Kelly
Last Name: Tytlandsvik
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1925 Roadster Pickup
Location: Estevan Sask Canada

Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by Kelly T » Sat Oct 10, 2020 9:16 pm

HI Guys

I am in need of a seat back or center section for a 1925 Roadster. I am looking for feed back on places to buy the panel from. I purchased some hood sills from a popular supplier and they were pretty much unusable .....they were so crudely made! I don't want to have the same thing happen with a big body panel! What are others experience with quality body panels? Who has good quality stuff?

Thanks In advance!
Kelly T

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Mark Gregush
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* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1925 cutdown PU, 1920 Dodge touring, 1948 F2 Ford flat head 6 pickup 3 speed
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Re: Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by Mark Gregush » Sat Oct 10, 2020 10:13 pm

I don't think there are a lot of choices. Lang's and Snyder's list body panels. Both may get from the same supplier and would expect that they would need rework to your satisfaction. When there is no original to work with, you have to work with what you can get.
I know the voices aren't real but damn they have some good ideas! :shock:

1925 Cut down pickup
1920 Dodge touring
1948 Ford F2 pickup

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Steve Jelf
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Re: Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by Steve Jelf » Sat Oct 10, 2020 10:40 pm

I believe your choices are Rootlieb and Howells. As far as I know they are the whole ball game, and panels the parts dealers sell come from them. If anybody knows otherwise I hope they will let us know. My only dealing with either was buying a new splash apron from Rootlieb. The order was delivered promptly and it was fine. From complaints I read online, the only way to get a delivery from Howells before you die is to buy through eBay. I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea.
The inevitable often happens.
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1923 Touring


Rollinford
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Re: Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by Rollinford » Sun Oct 11, 2020 12:34 am

Personal experience. Howells through Ebay still a big NO from me.


John kuehn
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Re: Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by John kuehn » Sun Oct 11, 2020 8:39 am

Whatever supplier you buy from don’t expect the panel to exactly fit what you have. You usually have to do a little tweaking here and there.
This is sort of the same thing when you buy a wood body kit. It won’t just drop in and match exactly.
You have to tweet the panels or wood pieces to get them to fit.


jab35
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Re: Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by jab35 » Sun Oct 11, 2020 9:34 am

The venders cannot ship parts to us if their suppliers aren't providing parts to them. I think some vendors have removed some items from their catalogs because suppliers don't provide the stock. I was pleasantly surprised with the service and sheet metal parts availability from the e-bay sources. At least the sheet metal for the '26 coupe was available and shipped to my door in just a couple of days, ymmv. jb

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Mark Gregush
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Location: Portland Or
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Re: Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by Mark Gregush » Sun Oct 11, 2020 10:22 am

The new sheet metal on eBay that I have seen is from Howell's. If it is on eBay they must have in stock to list. I would guess that when ordering from them, if not in current stock, that may run batches where there are enough orders. I would think it takes a lot of work to setup just to make one panel when you look at the year range they supply sheet metal for, I think it is up to the 40's.
I know the voices aren't real but damn they have some good ideas! :shock:

1925 Cut down pickup
1920 Dodge touring
1948 Ford F2 pickup


Topic author
Kelly T
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2019 8:34 am
First Name: Kelly
Last Name: Tytlandsvik
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1925 Roadster Pickup
Location: Estevan Sask Canada

Re: Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by Kelly T » Sun Oct 11, 2020 10:44 am

Thanks Guys!

Kelly T


John kuehn
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Location: Texas
MTFCA Number: 28924

Re: Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by John kuehn » Sun Oct 11, 2020 2:30 pm

Have to say Mark is right about Howells making the sheet metal parts. And yes I know they are slow and hard to work with. Pretty sure they don’t make up 50 or so panels for a certan T at one time. They probably know what moves the fastest and that they make a good number of them.


Dan McEachern
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Re: Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by Dan McEachern » Mon Oct 12, 2020 1:04 pm

Did you contact Mark at Model T haven for an original panel?


Burger in Spokane
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Re: Quality Body panel suppliers

Post by Burger in Spokane » Mon Oct 12, 2020 10:54 pm

When you say "quality", does that mean HIGH quality, poor quality, other ? The word
"quality" has no meaning without a qualifier.
More people are doing it today than ever before !

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