Front guards under a microscope?

[Howie McQuarrie]

.....the panel beating part of restoring my 1959 FC ute starts in late May but I may have a bit of a glitch.... my ute is still the original, but very faded, Skyline Blue except for the front guards which my father-in-law, a dinky-die Aussie, assures me were prone to rusting out.  The bloke who owned this beauty from new mounted some replacements that are a sort of turquoise green.  That's my first clue that they're not original to the car but my second is that the lower, rear contour in the metal doesn't line up well at all with the contour on the rocker panel.  I know the FC was a "facelifted" FE but were the front guard pressing part of the facelift or are mine just mounted a bit "skew-wiff"?  The holes for the front indicators are a bit gouged out which may be another clue since the FE blinkers look smaller.  Anybody out there have any experience along these lines?  I want to jump straght onto it if I've got to source different guards.  
Thanks a trillion.
Howie on the move on 0414-713-090, or Howie on the sofa on (02)9660-0627.  

[RET]

Didn't follow all of what you wrote - can you post a pic of the area you're referring to?

But for what it's worth the guards are identical on FEs and FCs, save for the drilling for mounting the indicators, if they had any.

RET

[craiga]

Howie,

Do not be alarmed.

This is called 1959 Quality Control. If it doesn't line up hit it with a hammer. If this fails, hit it harder.

If you have a look at a lot of FE/FC's you will notice that the panel fit is average to say the least. The area you speak of is one that most cars have three levels, one for the guard, one for the door, and one for the cowl.

Well restored cars, such as Ken McLeans that won Grand Champion at the last Nationals, have great panel alignment, something to be admired cause it couldn't be that easy to achieve.

Good luck with your project. Hope to catch up and see the result one day.

Cheers,

Craig.

[Howie McQuarie]

Thanks for the tips guys.  I'm happy to know that the guards are the same.  Hopefully if it ever goes into a show the judges won't poke their heads under the guards to see if it came off an FE.  The ute is in Bullengarook, Vic. until May when the "bigger hammer" rule will be applied and I'm kicking myself that I didn't take a shit load of pictures wen I was down last week!  Next time!