Seat back, kicker, lower door panels, is Metro is making these yet?

[idrivemopar]

I keep hearing rumors that Metro will be making the seat back, lower door, and kick panels for 71-74 Roadrunner and Satellite sometime, however, I have no date on when. I did notice that Classic Industries does have seat backs, but when I ask who made them, all they could tell me was they are authentic mopar restoration part. If that is the case, then hopefully someone else besides Accu-Form or Palco is making them, because both of those are just not great quality. Has anyone ordered panels from Classic?

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Legendary Auto Interiors

Have you checked out Legendary Auto Interiors??? They offer these parts too.

I am in the same boat with you. I will eventually need a set for my 71 RR in black.....

I will make a phone call tomorrow to Legendary to ask. Maybe you should too. If they start getting a lot of calls about needing a certain part for a certain car from different people, then they just may decide to start pushing forward with a project if they ever had plans to do so.....

Supply and Demand....

I agree, not overly impressed with Palco stuff.....

I did order a set of door panels from Classic for my Duster. Classic sells Legendary products at the same price or even a little cheaper sometimes. Plus they had the parts I needed in stock . I was very impressed with the quality. However the Duster doesn't take a molded plastic panel like our cars do.

Hope this helps.

 

[idrivemopar]

Yes, talked to Legendary many times, they were going to carry Metro parts, but that has not happened yet, so they carry the Accu-Form stuff, which in my opinion is pretty crappy, meaning the incorrect type of plastic, the grain washes out on parts of their panels, and the embossed stitching is weak. So, I am hoping that Metro will do 71-74 at some point, because I have heard really good reviews on their 68-70 stuff.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Hold out for Metro................

I agree with you. I'd rather wait for the Metro parts. I didn't call Legendary today, but I'll try my best to give them a shout tomorrow. Maybe if we all keep bugging them.......it can't hurt.

The Metro panels for 70-74 Challengers really look like the real deal. They are just as nice as the reproduction console that I made a comparison of in my restoration thread of my car.

 

[butterscotch71]

I bought a set of seat backs from B/E&A a couple years ago. Haven't installed them yet, but they look correct with very nice grain. I believe they make them (not Palco or Accuform)

 

[71airgrabberRR]

A few days ago I asked Mike from BEA about the possibility of reproducing a quality new door panel, like the ones currently made by Metro for the E body cars. I received a reply email the next day.

They do not carry them, only the seat backs for 70-71 E and B body cars, and the E body door panels . There are not any plans to have them reproduced any time soon either.

 

[idrivemopar]

So, how do we get a grassroots effort started to get them to make these panels? Anyone have suggestions? I totally understand that they may not see the demand and the tooling costs are not cheap, but it would be nice to see them do these as the quality is not great on what is out there now!

 

[71airgrabberRR]

So, how do we get a grassroots effort started to get them to make these panels? Anyone have suggestions? I totally understand that they may not see the demand and the tooling costs are not cheap, but it would be nice to see them do these as the quality is not great on what is out there now!

Well we could probably start a thread here and ask just how many people would seriously be interested in buying a nice NEW set of panels for the 71-74 B Body cars. But keep in mind a lot of people will talk the talk, and not be willing to literally put their money where their mouth is.

I for one would be very interested in buying a set. When we get enough responses we could say to these manufacturers and say here is proof for marketability.....

Who knows. Once this was done maybe AMD and other metal stamping companies would be looking at our car line with a different viewpoint too. I have talked to them various times about reproducing an outer sheet metal roof skin. (and a few other parts too)...... I understand that tooling costs for fenders and doors may be cost prohibitive. But a roof skin? Come on now...

So here goes!!! I'm starting a new thread now.

 

[idrivemopar]

Appreciate the effort, interesting to see if it can get enough attention that they would do something about it. I talked to AMD for 2 years about doing 73/74 satellite/Roadrunner full quarter skins, but as everyone knows, they failed to deliver and only produced the quarter patch panels, which did work out for me on my restoration. But there has to be a lot of demand for someone to invest in the tooling costs for a new product, plus Chryslers blessing to make money. Which is why I don't understand how these crappy reproduction products are even allowed as they are not approved by Chrysler as authentic restoration parts. So while I understand that point of view, I hope they understand that just about every car needs new panels as most are suffering from UV damage plus scratches, cracks, etc, that would make having a nice replacement panel available a good thing.

Oh, and one other thing I hope shows up later this year are the rear bumper fillers for the side of the bumpers. Restoration specalities is now making the center section, hope to have one by early next week, and they said they are looking at doing the side pieces as well, so keeping fingers crossed on that one as well.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

I already wrotte about this on the newer thread about this ( was the first I read )

Legendary offers a mix of Palco and ACCUFORM ( I talked with them and told me that ), because they are the only ones on the market... Metro seatbacks were made originallly because the E body market, from the one we get just that benefit... but the rest ? dunno.

Classic Industries sells Palco too... they were the seller of my door panels.

Legendary was the seller of my rear 74 lowers ( Accuform ), since I couldn't find any other dealer offering those, neither the Accuform website as far I know. The website I think or thought was the Accufrom site told me 74 panels weren't to be produced anymore

Rest of panels I got were a mix of dealers ( I was scamed by a former Ebay seller AzBob "vehicle interior parts" ).

Trust me, I spent around 2 or 3 years thinking on where to get, emailing here and there, waiting for better options, and getting the money.

The best seller resource I found ( nice price for a full set buying everything at once and no extra shipping cost from several sources ) on that time was the one who scammed me at the end.

 

[idrivemopar]

Lets keep this effort going, I would like to see Metro make these, accuform is just crap, and actually talked with them about fixing a flaw in the arm rests, and they never took care of this issue, and these fly by night type companies that do half *** products should be put out to pasture!

 

[idrivemopar]

So I wanted to update this thread, because after talking to Legendary again today, I found out that Metro is no longer making interior panels, (not sure how true this really is), but, Legendary went to their manufacturer directly and is now getting the same quality panels that Metro was providing. Unfortunately no plans to add 73/74 panels to their lineup so we are stuck with Palco or Accuform.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

sooooo. it seems we will get some nice hopes, BUT 74 owners!!!

73s can live with 71/72s panels, because the diff is just the padded arm rest, which is I think nice. 74s are more than just that :icon_sad:

 

[The Ripper]

The bottom line is that the only decent hard plastic interior pieces made for our cars are the seat backs made by Metro.
They are basically available "by accident" because they also are used in E bodies.

Hate to say it...But a business would be crazy to invest their money in making these pieces.
As a whole, the 71-74 b body crowd is way too cheap to buy good reproductions in volume.

 

[idrivemopar]

That's unfortunate. I guess I'm not part of the crowd then.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Hate to say it...But a business would be crazy to invest their money in making these pieces.
As a whole, the 71-74 b body crowd is way too cheap to buy good reproductions in volume.

ok, we already spend around $1000-1300 in a full set of the Palco/Accuform Crap... who says we woulnd't spend same ammount on decent pieces ?

 

[idrivemopar]

All my Accurform/Palco stuff is going back for refund, as I have been able to find originals that are in great shape to use. Interesting, the seat backs from Metro, cost me just about as much as did the entire set of Palco/Accuform "Crap" as Nacho accurately describes it! LOL

 

[Nacho-RT74]

I guess in black!! black pieces are usually easy to find in decent conditions... not colors thought, not even white ( my case )!

although my interior was originally blue, but found a nice deal on a full white set

- - - Updated - - -

( Palco is at least, half decent, but ACCUFORM REALLY DEEPLY SUCKS!!! )

 

[The Ripper]

ok, we already spend around $1000-1300 in a full set of the Palco/Accuform Crap... who says we wouln't spend same ammount on decent pieces ?

But just how many 71-74 B body owners have really bought those panels?
How many would buy good ones?
The sad truth is "not a lot"
You would, because your car is your first love, your pride and joy.
However, you are the exception not the rule.

A lot of 71-74 b body owners....buy these cars because they can't afford what they really want.
Those same people can't/won't cough up 4 figure$ for plastic pieces on a car that they paid $1500-$3000 for.
Most will scrounge used, repaint, or go custom.


Sadly, I think what is available for our cars now is about as good as things will ever get.
Notice that AMD does not seem interested in doing any more parts for our cars?
Not even the roof skins that we both know are needed.
Instead they now focus on A body pieces.....The long time red headed step child of Mopar muscle.
Why do you think that is the case?
Maybe because the ones that they already made for our cars have not sold too well?
I don't know....
But I assume they like to make money and would pursue making more and more parts for our cars, if it was a profitable proposition to them.

 

[idrivemopar]

Quality difference between Metro and all others

Hi everyone, this thread has been going on for a while, but as some of you know, you can still get Metro seatbacks that fit 73, and I think 74 RR/Satellites, and I wanted to show the quality difference here. The Metro panels are also made out of the correct plastic type where palco and accuform are ridged plastic.

Here is the grain, left is Metro, right is a dashtop/palco. Metro is drastically better and virtually identical to the originals.


The cutouts and screw holes are identical to originals on the Metro panel on the right, where as you can see the others are half-assed and not even close to correct.


The supports are on metro are also identical to the originals, metro one on the right. Others are not even close



So if you want quality, you will pay more for it yes, but hopefully this shows everyone the difference of a top notch part versus junk before you pull the trigger.

FYI, I don't believe Metro will have these for very long, but have been informed that Legendary will be carrying these as they are sourcing now directly from the manufacturer.