A 1974 Duster - My 2nd one, 41 years later!

Wow!
I had a bunch of guys tell me not to take out that door seam or remove the above the bodyline...We did both skins lap welded. We cut the old skin to about 3/4" from the high bodyline and the door seam. The pic I show of our cut is the rough cut.

For a purist, I think the way your going about it is the best, but I'm happy how ours came out too....