Fiberglass body panels?

[Shawn F.]

Does anyone here have any knowledge on fiberglass hoods and fenders on a daily driver vehicle? I am wanting to get a 2.5" Cowl hood for my 1980 El Camino and was set on steel but recently talked to a local guy and he said fiberglass will hold up just fine as well with the stock latch and hinges and not cause any damage. I am also going to be replacing my fenders next year (mine are in good shape but I do not want to sand blast them inside and out when I paint it) and was thinking about some kind of fiberglass fenders that are thicker than race type for the street. Any opinions on this? It would be nice to be able to lighten up the car in the front with fiberglass and with my new 355 I plan to drop in after winter I will be dropping some weight with aluminum heads and other parts as well as upgrading the suspension to tubular arms, etc. I know it's a daily driver and not a drag/race car but I am hoping this would help improve handling and possibly mileage with the weight drop. That and fiberglass is low maintenance as far as rust goes.
Thanks for any info in advance!

 

[Chucklehead]

I have a friend that ran them (fiberglass fenders) on a nova for probably 10 years, but he did switch back to steel....as far as I know, however, they held up fine, he just decided to go back to original for restoration purposes......however, he never installed the latch assembly on the front of the hood, that was pinned down in the front, I do believe he used the hinges, (with springs removed) and had no trouble...

 

[Shawn F.]

Thanks for the reply! I think I will be sticking with a steel cowl hood because I hear the fiberglass hoods do not fit worth a hoot. I would love to run fiberglass fenders, hood, etc to reduce some weight (would be nice to drop 200 pounds off this heavy El Camino) but it's not a race car so I am not THAT worried. I may do a little more research since I do not plan on getting a new hood until next Summer anyways so I am in no hurry at all.

 

[10secBu]

Glasstek hoods fit very nice IMO. Your getting incorrect info from someone.

I would not mess with fiberglass fenders as the stock ones are really not that heavy and weight savings there are minimal IMO.