Right Rear Quarter Panel - Part 5.1

One of the interesting items I left out of my last entry was a visit from my insurance adjustor to do an estimate on my truck for hail damage.  My wife's Fusion was inspected earlier at a claim center on the side of town where she worked.  It sustained over $4,500 in pock marks, panel replacement and paint.  Ouch!

So the adjustor calls me and sets up an appointment at my house a couple of Saturdays ago.  He beat me to the house.  As I round the corner, there sits a Ram Diesel Deully pickup truck with a Texas plate.  That explains the area code when he called me on my cell.  I had some things to put in the garage and pushed the garage door opener as I pulled in the drive.  Then something fascinating happened.

The guy gets out of his truck and walks directly to the garage and says, "67 or 68?"   I said, "68".   He knew his Mustangs.  I found out within 10 minutes he knew A LOT about Mustangs.   He introduced himself.  Gregg Cly.  He just happened to be a concours judge for the Mustang Club of America!   For the next hour, we proceeded to talk about the car.  He pointed out some of the mistakes Mustang restorers make on some of the simple things, like where sealant goes and how aftermarket panels have incorrectly formed edges, etc.  (No kidding!?!?!?)   

He also tells me that he spent a lot of time at Carroll Shelby's shop because his dad and Carroll were good friends.  He told some pretty interesting stories including the fact that he owned at one time the 1968 Shelby Mustang factory engineering car.  The info can be found here.  Gregg also restored a 69 Super Cobrajet Coupe that was published in Mustang Monthly found in this issue.  He was mentioned in Mike Meuller's book, "Mustang, 1946 1/2 - 1973"

I gleaned all kinds of info from him.  He made no negative comments about my metal work.  I figure he was being kind and kept his mouth shut so as not to embarrass me.   But then he said, "I have access to a lot of old Mustangs in Texas.  If you need something, just let me know and I'll see what I can do."   We traded emails and I sent him the link to my blog.  (Hi Gregg!  And thanks for the help!)

I also found out he is a pilot and part owner of an airplane in Texas.  What are the odds?  Hard core Mustang guy....AND a pilot.  We're kindred spirits!  

Anyway, after Sven, Alex, and RJ's comments, I decided to shoot an email to Gregg to ask if he knew of any fastbacks I could get the rear half of the quarter panel from.  He emailed back and said he's in Oklahoma.   No surprise there with all the Tornado damage!   He said he'll check when he gets home and let me know.   Wouldn't that be cool if he could get one for me.  There would be very little if any fit issues.   Of course, it might cost me my first grandson in ransom to get it.

In the mean time, I'm going to take RJ's suggestion and try and figure out how to make some horizontal templates and work the top half of the panel just in case Gregg can't find me one.  If he does, I'll chalk it all up to practice and go from there.

Ain't life interesting.