There are rocker moldings on my car, a 68 plymouth sport fury. No one makes them, and they eventually eat through on the underside. I looked at one today, and it appears to be stamped steel with a lip put on it afterwords. And then I guess it gets chromed. How hard would it be to make something to do this, even if it is by hand and do like 2 inch sections at a time. It isn't very thick, so I wouldnt' think very much pressure is needed. I mean you can bend it all by hand. The reason I think it is stamped, is that there are no seams at the corners. They are only about a quarter of an inch deep, with the rolled lip about the same.

You best bet is to look for parts from a salvage yard in dry country, or look around for enough pieces from rusted out bodies that you can piece a new part together.

The kind of fabrication you are looking for is old time body work with shot bags, planishing hammers, welding, and a dozen or so other skills.  The original part was manufactured by drop hammering in a humongous press - you won't want to buy the dies, let alone the press.

There are probably other places on the net to look for info, but if you go to Kent White's site, you can get all the info and tools you need to make a new part -
[url]http://www.tinmantech.com/html/kent_white.html[/url]

Unless you have transferable skills, don't expect to equal Kent's work right away - he's been at it for decades.  He also knows what he's talking about  [He taught me how to weld aluminum with oxy/actelyne.]

Wow, guess it is harder than I thought. But that is why I asked. Here I thought I could just shape a piece to match the inside, and pound the sheet metal into a piece that matched the outside.

There are numerous salvage/junk yards in So. Calif. Since we don't use salt on our roads they should be in good shape.

May sound like the last place you would bother to look, but check eBay. I've got several friends that get their restoration parts through eBay. Might also want to do a search for Plymouth forums. The car forums have just as much info for cars as the AR Forum has for AR's.

Edited to add link.

[url]http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=plymouth+forum[/url]

Yeah they get stamped out one at a time, and then probably through 3 or 4 stampings with the final a trim.  Could one be made?  Yeah by a good smith with a variety of power hammers, bending brakes and benders and welding sub-pieces together.  The problem is finding the kind of shop that could do it and then being able to afford the cost.

A really good body shop welder ought to be able fix a replacement that can do the job and then camoflauge it for cosmetic purposes but the job will put his kids through a year of college.

I am not sure if the salt thing matters. I haven't seen or heard of a good set anywhere. There are 2 other guys that have been looking for quite some time, so I thought I would see how hard it would be to make them, as they didn't look like a complicated piece.
Thanks for all the help.

It would be cheaper to buy a new car then the equipment to stamp out some rockers

dpmmn: true, but then it wouldn't that the old '68 Plymouth. They don't build cars like that any more because it is too expensive.

Everyone says something like that. Why spend 10 grand on an old car, a new one would be cheaper, run better, and get better gas milage. Just not the same. When I am done, I will have spent around 10-12 grand, and it will never sell for that, but neither would a new car you bought for that price. Plus it will be exactly like I want it. Plus where else can you find a convertible that will seat 6 comfortably and hold all the luggage for the same.

Hey Andrewh,
I'm right in the middle of rebuilding My 1966 Coronet, so I understand what You're going through!

Have You tried Year One,The paddock, and Eastwood? Eastwood makes some "Generic" sheetmetal shapes that Might work. You might also try asking over at Motor City Mopar, Mopar Ally, the Scatpack message board, or even looking through the Mopar Webring listings.

Good Luck & let Me know if I can be of any help.

Tall Shadow