C2 Body Questions

[Doug L.]

hi everyone,
My body is on a dolly and at the body shop. They will make necessary repairs before applying the paint. I have a few questions about what should or shouldn't be on the body.

1) There is a hole approximately 3/4 inch in diameter in the fiberglass at the upper front corner of the upper scoop on the side of the driver-side front fender. I suspect that there may have been alarm system in the car at one time although it wasn't there when I bought the car. This may have been the mounting hole for an alarm key-switch. Was an alarm available from the factory in 1964? If not is there any other GM reason why a hole would be in this location?

2) Also on the driver's side, between the rear of the door opening and the front of the rear wheel arch, behind the end of the rocker panel there is a ~5/8" diameter hole. There is no corresponding hole on the passenger side. Is that hole supposed to be there and if so what is its purpose?

3) There is a lip on the front and rear wheel of the arch of the rear fenders, on the inside of the fender, but that lip does not continue over the top of the wheel arch on either side of my car. I don't know if someone ground the lip away to gain clearance for non-standard tires or for some other reason, or if the lip did not continue for the full circumfrence of the inner wheel arch on factory rear fenders. Can someone tell me?

Thanks in advance-Doug

[John H.]

Re: C2 Body Questions

hi everyone,
My body is on a dolly and at the body shop. They will make necessary repairs before applying the paint. I have a few questions about what should or shouldn't be on the body.

1) There is a hole approximately 3/4 inch in diameter in the fiberglass at the upper front corner of the upper scoop on the side of the driver-side front fender. I suspect that there may have been alarm system in the car at one time although it wasn't there when I bought the car. This may have been the mounting hole for an alarm key-switch. Was an alarm available from the factory in 1964? If not is there any other GM reason why a hole would be in this location?

2) Also on the driver's side, between the rear of the door opening and the front of the rear wheel arch, behind the end of the rocker panel there is a ~5/8" diameter hole. There is no corresponding hole on the passenger side. Is that hole supposed to be there and if so what is its purpose?

3) There is a lip on the front and rear wheel of the arch of the rear fenders, on the inside of the fender, but that lip does not continue over the top of the wheel arch on either side of my car. I don't know if someone ground the lip away to gain clearance for non-standard tires or for some other reason, or if the lip did not continue for the full circumfrence of the inner wheel arch on factory rear fenders. Can someone tell me?

Thanks in advance-Doug

Doug -

The holes in (1) and (2) were added by a previous owner - they weren't there from the factory.

For (3), a previous owner ground the lips back for clearance for larger tires and/or non-stock wheels.

[Doug L.]

Re: C2 Body Questions

Hi John,
Thanks for the clarifications. Now I have to decide what to do about the ground-away lip on the rear wheel arches. I have 5 original 5" rims and repro 6.70 x 15 tires that I will use for judging, but I plan to install a set of radial tires after judging has been done. From TDB discussions I know that either 205-75R15 or 215-70R15 tires are the closest match to the original tire size. Depending on what is available when I am ready to buy radials I will probably use the 205s. My question then becomes should I restore the lips or not? Is that something that gets judged or noticed during judging? If I have the lips put back on the fenders, which my body man says is possible, will I have to later grind them off to run the radials? My plan for the radials would be to mount them on the original wheels or on 5" repro KOs.

Thanks-Doug

[Stuart F.]

Re: C2 Body Questions

Doug;

If you stick with your plan, neither size radial tire should present you with any interference at the rear, specially if you use your stock rims. I, and many others, use the two tire sizes you noted without any concerns. At one time I even had GR70 x 15's on my 63 without any problems (that was done by mistake). On the stock rims, they looked weird as the tread sort of spread open which made for good traction in the snow, but it handled terrible. Main concern is for the front turning clearance, of course.
I now run the 205-75R x 15's which fit the rims the best and look appropriate (better than the original bicycle tires). My only problem with them is the diameter which causes my speedo to read about 5 mph slow. My son complains that I'm always speeding when we convoy.

Stu Fox

[Paul J.]

Re: C2 Body Questions

Doug;

I believe that the lip is judged. It was common to cut it off in the manner that you described to accommodate wider mag wheels with greater offsets than stock, known in my younger days as "reversed" wheels.

My 64 has the lips cut off just like yours and I will be rebuilding them. There is someone on this forum that has a pair of homemade templates, but I don't remember who.

Paul