Yeah the fading body line in 1/4 panels missing on second gen Barracudas is a common thing. I never knew it was there until I bought AMD full 1/4s and saw that fading line on them.
To me that’s one of the more damning issues with that car, and it could definitely be the hardest one to fix. The problem is now you don’t know the state of the bodywork underneath. It’s a spot that’s prone to rust, so you’ve got unanswered questions. Is the bodyline gone because the quarter rusted out and the “repair” was just to slab bondo on it? Or is the quarter solid and it was just carelessness on behalf of the body guy? It’s a small detail, but it being missing says a lot about the quality of the bodywork done. And even if the quarter is solid, it’s not an easy fix.
A lot other stuff is pretty minor, swap out some hardware, even the black out sections are pretty simple to remedy given how the factory did that stuff to begin with. Send the tail panel trim out for polishing etc.
But a missing bodyline, that’s an issue. Even the best case scenario means bodywork and at least a partial repaint. At worst and you’ve got a bondo sculpture that needs quarters. If it’s a middle of the road car then I’d leave it alone and just have fun. But considering it’s supposed to be a high end car, well, it’s gonna get high end scrutiny and that kind of stuff gets noticed.
