GT5 fender flares

Factory GT5's were fitted with Fiberglass flares. They are not riveted on.

IMO, steel GT-5 flares never really look right since the look doesn't match what the factory offered. Be prepared for at ton of welding if you want to go this route.

Josh

Thnaks Roland for the correction, I meant to say they were riveted on, not, not riveted on...

quote:

Originally posted by pantera874:
Sorry,Coz, they are rivetted on. The poprivettes are covered with bondo and then painted.

quote:

Originally posted by pantera874:
Best is, you convert to GT5-S in steel. Marino Perna of Pantera East has the original steel parts in stock. Don't be blamed by the Hall Pantera set.The front fenders are not as wide as the originals. I have done my conversion also with original factory parts. After all conversions i did, this is the way to go!

How much different in size and $s (Euros) is there between PE and Hall

Steel flares are considered better looking by some. I don't want to take sides one way or the other. I want to point out there are two considerations you must face.

First is price. If you pay to have steel Gp4 or GT5-S flares installed, you will probably end up speding as much money as you spent purchasing your Pantera. You'll double the investment in your Pantera, but you won't double its value. This is why it is better to buy a Pantera with the steel flares already installed.

The second consideration is resilience. The Pantera flares protrude left & right to be the widest parts of the car, the parts most likely to come into contact with obstacles in parking lots or on the track, such as a swinging door or a stack of tires. A metal flare will dent or crease and tweak an entire body panel if hit hard enough. They are costly to repair (especially if you have a $10,000 paint job). A fiberglass flare will give & spring back on small hits, and at worse crack. They can be patched from beneath, or at worst, a new flare will need to be riveted on. Its not likely any trauma to a fiberglass fender will tweak the panel it is attached to, the fiberglass flare will break into pieces before that happens.

A properly done GT5 kit will equally improve the value of a Pantera as a GT5-S kit, for far less investment. Whether one looks better than the other is a matter of personal taste. If it were my decision, I would put fiberglass flares on a Pantera if I planned on racing it, or if my budget were limited. Of course, if you like the riveted fender race car look like Mark, then its a slam dunk! Go for the glass.

George

George would steel flares make the chasis more rigid and therefore make the car handle better, or is it to far away from the important stuff to matter at all???

In general all parts of a monocoque is adding to rigidity. However, flares is not the first thing that comes in to mind when strengthening a chassis. The GT-5 rockerpanels is also from fibreglass, but if made in steel using the full height of the rocker panel, plus, adding an extra innerpanel section and welding it together with steel flares, it will probabley do some good. But you will hardley notice anything while driving. Concidering the cost of such operation you better forget about this marginal strenghtening.

Goran Malmberg

Thanks Goran. Fiberglass it is then.

quote:

Originally posted by george pence:
Steel flares are considered better looking by some. I don't want to take sides one way or the other. I want to point out there are two considerations you must face.

George

Great conversation...and I appreciate your (and everyone else's) opinions
Since I've had the car for 20 years and have never put a dime into her, and not planning on selling, I only care about the value to me...not necessarily what its worth (although I agree with you 100%).
It sounds like, if I do the steel one fender at a time (to minimize twisting/deformation during installation) it might be doable...with a lot of time/money.

I now hear that Hall and Pantera east have different GT%-S (steel) kits. Any experts/experience?

I just placed my order for Steel GT4 flares for 6476 ... they come in 3 pieces per flare ... need to be mig or tig welded on .. thats my preference. But I'm restoring the whole car ... so it pays to do it now.

I like the smooth look .... some other ideas I have are trying to do some sort of side vents in place of the 1/4 windows and fins ....also some sort of lower vent like the Muira .... I think that car has such and elegant but racy look.

Ron

AC look up a group five car. They had scoops on the side like you are talking about.