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I know exactly what you are going for- I've always said the same thing. And this is the reason i don't have a duck tail...yet.
Talk to Stratton and see what they come up with as a solution. I'll be interested if someone finds the right fabricator and the right look in the end.
FWIW- the reason for the side profile is due to the Fiberglass and the strength. On the fiberglass tail, the duck grows out from a larger extension up the sides. If the duck were to be simply mounted to the tail shape as is, you may find it cracking at the point where it meets the decklid. But I'm sure this can be handled by reinforcement from underneath.
Also- I've seen this done before. So i know it can be done. It's just that no one that makes them has a product on the market that is designed this way. Yet.
I know exactly what you are going for- I've always said the same thing. And this is the reason i don't have a duck tail...yet.
Talk to Stratton and see what they come up with as a solution. I'll be interested if someone finds the right fabricator and the right look in the end.
FWIW- the reason for the side profile is due to the Fiberglass and the strength. On the fiberglass tail, the duck grows out from a larger extension up the sides. If the duck were to be simply mounted to the tail shape as is, you may find it cracking at the point where it meets the decklid. But I'm sure this can be handled by reinforcement from underneath.
Also- I've seen this done before. So i know it can be done. It's just that no one that makes them has a product on the market that is designed this way. Yet.
100% I am all about details and it sounds you are as well. I am going to reach out to a contact of mine and see if he has any interest in taking on a project like this.
i don't drive these cars too often, and they are garaged, so they have not lived in harsh environments
that having been said, i have had zero problems fitment nor any cracking/structural issues on any of the cars
since he bonds the fg ducktail portion onto the oem metal decklid cover, good fitment is well assured
pure fg tails like getty's are lighter, but they are known to not fit as well
Your fitment is spot on and they look great. My issue is I am looking for a ducktail that is 1-2" less in width than the trunk to keep the same profile from the side. I think I see what Gary is doing now. Since it's almost impossible to blend FG work with metal, I think he is making the entire top skin out of FG as a think shell and then bonding it to the steel trunk. This way he avoids any chance of cracking because he is only adhering to the steel, not blending. Makes sense now, really appreciate the pictures.
I think for what I want, I may need the entire trunk molded and made in FG or CF. I will let people know what I hear back. Thanks for all of the help thus far!
So that a perfectly good 964 (and moderately valuable) rear deck lid doesn't have to be sacrificed to "the cause", does anyone have experience with fitting an earlier (1974-1987) deck lid to a 964? As far as I know, that area of the body didn't change much.
I’ll be the wowser here. I have owned 964s for 17 years. The first one was a Turbo 3.6 that I did not dare alter. When I bought a C4, I decided to do some mods. Over the years, my mindset has changed and I’m going towards largely original. Given your decklid is stamped with a build number unique to the car and the same on other panels, if you are going down the modified decklid route, then I would buy a spare decklid and modify that.
I’ll be the wowser here. I have owned 964s for 17 years. The first one was a Turbo 3.6 that I did not dare alter. When I bought a C4, I decided to do some mods. Over the years, my mindset has changed and I’m going towards largely original. Given your decklid is stamped with a build number unique to the car and the same on other panels, if you are going down the modified decklid route, then I would buy a spare decklid and modify that.
John, that is exactly what I am doing. I found some from salvage yards in the $400 range. I keep all of my original parts.
Quick update, my contact said he is VERY interested in offering this newly designed trunk for us. The biggest issue is he is backed up for the next 5 months. He would like to take on this project next. I would be going for Singer replica with the smaller width "tail". The good news is, you can store your original deck lid as this would be a complete trunk.
Quick update, my contact said he is VERY interested in offering this newly designed trunk for us. The biggest issue is he is backed up for the next 5 months. He would like to take on this project next. I would be going for Singer replica with the smaller width "tail". The good news is, you can store your original deck lid as this would be a complete trunk.
Mr. Wolfe
They're local to me, great group of guys who do quality work and have been around a long time. Gary's son Jason has been restoring VW buses for a few years and with the recent prices those have been fetching at auction they keep them quite busy!
I have experience with both the "Stratton" duck and a fiberglass one. You really can't tell the difference until you go the effort to actually try to fit them and get them perfect like a factory decklid. Here are the main differences why the "Stratton" ones are better based on the experience I had. Not sure this true for all fiberglass ones but at least for me was specific to the one I had a chance to evaluate.
1. Metal edges. You may not think this is a big deal, but it is. When you close your stock decklid or the Stratton duck, the seams where the decklid/Stratton Duck meets your rear quarter panels and rear window area are straight and even thickness at all angles when you look at the decklid/Stratton duck area. This is important as when you start to look closely at the gaps it should look uniform/even and straight.
That can't be said of the fiberglass one (at least the one I test fit). The fiberglass ones are from a mold. I immediately noticed fiberglass mold work was really sloppy on the edges and especially on the underside of the edges. When you put one of these ducktails on as is, you will notice the edges are not straight, and worse you see gaps you should not see because the thickness of the edge is not consistent around all of the edges. My fiberglass guy quoted a few hundred to lay down new fiberglass on top of the edges on the underside and then take them down so they are uniform...
2. The attachment points of the metal decklid to the engine bay are adjustable. This is important as the how the panels of each car come together are slightly different on our hand made cars so you need some way to move the decklid forward/backward side to side a few mm to get the seams to be even and the deck lid to be square on the engine bay area. The metal decklid have metal anchors/bars that move around and are integrated with the decklid to give a secure way to attach the decklid while giving some way to do adjustments.
The fiberglass ones have metal anchors that are sort of like helicoils where they are fused into the fiberglass. Two issues I have with it. One there is no way to adjust the placement of the decklid on the engine bay without modifying the decklid lifting brackets that lift the decklid. Two, the anchors need to be perfectly positioned.
In the fiberglass example I was working with, the anchors on one side was off by 5mm too wide which made it impossible to directly bolt on the fiberglass ducktail without bending the decklid lifting brackets outward since the anchors were too wide. Also because the metal anchors do not move around, you need to create slots in the decklid lifting brackets so you can adjust it up and down.
I didn't want to do this as I wanted the option to easily reinstall a stock decklid back on, so the other solution was to do more body work on the fiberglass decklid to remove the anchors, fill the old holes, and install new anchors, which was more to the fiberglass body work bill on top of the paint work.
3. The Stratton duck thickness on the leading edge (closest to the front bumper) is similar to the stock metal decklid. This is important as you want the seam/gap transition from the rear window to the decklid to be level. The stock decklid is slightly thiner which you use factory shims to raise/lower the driver side and passenger side to the transition is level across the seam a few mm. The Stratton duck has a similar thickness so you get a perfect transition with the rear window area.
The fiberglass example I was working with the leading edge was thicker so the fiberglass decklid edge was slightly taller than the rear window area edge. There was no way to lower it as is... one solution was to take down the mounting points of the decklid a few mm which required removing the metal anchors from point number 2 above, sanding (which weakens the attachment point area), and reinstall the anchors on the other side... More unplanned fiberglass work... or modify the decklid lifting brackets more by basically cutting them down and welding some custom attachment points... more unplanned metal work...
In the end decided to pass on the fiberglass one as the total cost to make the fiberglass one "right" was basically the cost of the Stratton one.
Originally Posted by golfnutintib
three examples of gary's work below
i don't drive these cars too often, and they are garaged, so they have not lived in harsh environments
that having been said, i have had zero problems fitment nor any cracking/structural issues on any of the cars
since he bonds the fg ducktail portion onto the oem metal decklid cover, good fitment is well assured
pure fg tails like getty's are lighter, but they are known to not fit as well
12-05-2018, 07:14 PM
