Fender Braces??

[Princess Valiant]

I have a pair of 72 dart fenders and pulled them out of the shed today and noticed something odd.

one has a support brace on inside toward the top of the wheel arch.

odd thing is the the other fender don't have one nor does it even have the tab where it would go and there is no evidence of a broken weld or any trace of a brace piece ever having been there.

the fender that don't have it is original to the car im working on ...it the pass side and this is a 72 dart swinger 2 door HT

the fender that does have the brace is a driver side replacement and was taken off a 72 dart custom 4 door parts car ...I still remember that car and it was for sure a 4 door.

why would one have it yet the same year of fender, the other don't

 

[RustyRatRod]

Extree support for the battree box. duhh

 

[1970Duster]

Not needed but adds support and a perfect place for rust to start.

 

[Princess Valiant]

so how did they determine which cars got them and which one didnt .....is it maybe a 4 door vs. 2 door thing....or time of production.

anyone know if 71 or 73 had them or not?

 

[nothingbutdarts]

1 69 Dart has them on both sides, however the left side is not the origional fender to the car, the other 69 has one on the right but not the left, however, the paint on the left side fender is a little off color to the rest of the car. Both 2 door.

 

[Hemiorangeswinger]

My 1970 AMD fenders have the braces and so do the old fenders on my 1970 340 swinger (early build car. Sept 1969) and I know for sure the passenger side fender on my car is original... Drivers isn't, but still has the brace. I wonder when and why they got rid of them.

 

[6pk2goDemon]

:scratch:My 72 Demon only has the brace on the passenger side....hmmmm

 

[metallidart]

Neither of my 72 Swingers had them, my 72 Demon 340 didn't have them, but my 72 Demon with a 318 had them. All of my 68-69 Darts have had them, my 73 Dart Sport 340 doesn't. I kind of thought that was the part of the fender that was the easiest to distort, from leaning on it to get to the engine, etc. I have noticed alot of 73 and up cars have a bit of a wave right there.

 

[j061093409]

they got cheap and started pressing them without brace in 72 and all 70-1 replacement fenders that were painted red oxide

 

[6pk2goDemon]

It could be a production cutoff date maybe?

My 72 Demon is an early build 8/71