Montego fender for your Cyclone?
Finding a good rear quarter panel for your rusted or damaged 68/69 Cyclone can be a bit of a challenge. Why not replace it with one from the Montego? At a quick glance they appear very similar. Most likely a little massaging should make them work, right? Nope!
Last November Michael Johnson spent a week with the good Dr. Cyclone, Tom Wilson. We all know the Dr. is all about saving Cyclones at what ever the cost. While Tom and Michael were working in the Dr.’s laboratory they decided to compare the differences between a Montego rear quarter panel and the Cyclone fender.
They discovered they are not the same. It isn’t that you can’t use a Montego rear panel to fix your Fastback Cyclone but its NOT an exact fit like they hoped it would be. The Cyclone is taller and more rounded in the wheel well height and shorter in the rear end. The gas door area is close but not a perfect match and the rear marker lights are off quite a bit.
At best you might be able to cut a Montego quarter panel up and make patch panels for your Cyclone quarter but it will be a lot of work. In addition, the rear trunk drop downs are also different.
Michael and the Dr. marked the Cyclone panel to show the real differences. Michael provided these photos to help show why it will be a difficult task best.
Thanks for posting . I had found this out some time ago . You can make it work with Toms lower rear quarter patch . It’s a lot of work but there aren’t many good Cyclone quarters left .
You do not state what you took the repair panel off of….Years ago we put a Quarter panel from a Cyclone on a Montego and it worked fine. The repair quarter panel must come off a body code 63 and it will fit as you show trying to fit it to a fastback or 63 body code… the replacement panel, it looks like you are trying to fit (I bet)came off a hardtop Montego or even a Conv….
Reason why it is longer is due to the trunk lid on a Conv or a hardtop…they are longer than the fastback…the panel below the lid is the same per model but above panel is different per model (checked page 1182 Motors)…There was a change in the left drivers side quarter on the body code 63 units 1-1-1969 thing is right side stayed the same so it could not be longer on one side than other or tail panel would be \ . before I posted this I checked the 36th. Edition of Hollanders….and did find that on the 2 door hardtop in 1968 to be a different stamping than a 2 door hardtop of 1969…but in general for body code 63 for 1968 and 1969 they are the same stamping (code 1362)..
For reference Body code 63 for 1968 and 1969 is part number
C9GY6327840B-1B Ford parts catalog also Motors ..as to Hollanders page 27 Rear Quarter panel 1362 1968-1969 Fastback Cyclone- Montego-Comet C9GY632784B right side and C9GY6327841A up to 1–1-1969 after that C9GY6327841B for left side. Body parts in general have to come off units with the same body codes.
Rick Ochs
I received a call last night from a Mr.Kent and he said he picked up a door skin NOS for a 1968 Torino and was told it would fit his Cyclone fastback and was worried that it would not line up with quarter lines (Due to this story )…He gave me the part number per the warping…..it was C8OZ6320200-1A …After doing some checking it was clear it would fit his Cyclone 2 door fastback… fact as I knew the Fastback doors for the 68/69 Torino, Fairlane, Cyclone, Montego,and Comet are the same if they carry body code 63…..2-door.. fact this skin would fit other 2 door units with the correct glass ect…and will line up with the quarter lines.
I think there is some misunderstanding going on here.The quarter that is set in place over the cyclone body is that of a montego.I set this up to show the differences and the similarities and what it takes to install a montego quarter on a cyclone.The upper body line at the door jam is the same on torino and cyclone/montego.Rick, you stated you guys put a cyclone quarter on a montego and that works alot easier with the upper body line as the cyclone “HIP” line is higher up the side of the car so you would have to trim the replacement piece down to match the lower “HIP” line on the montego.The hip line appears to match the same height at the door and at the back of the quarter with the difference being through the middle of the quarter.
Doing the reverse of using the montego qtr onto the cyclone requires leaving material below the cyclone qtr “HIP” to compensate for the shyness of the montego.The gas door opening is in the same location and the only differences between 68 and 69 qtrs for cyclone is the marker lights and the same goes for montego.The length of the qtrs between cycone and montego is another matter.I hope I cleared this up.
I am looking at getting a 1969 mercury cyclone w code car. I would love to talk to you about this if possible.
Q code car don’t know why it keeps putting w.
Tom,
We used the quarter from center down and put in as a full half patch panel from places like Sherman’s sell for Fairlanes or Torino”s….they used to sell a lot of full length quarter half panels that were made in Canada….thing is we found out we had to spend a LOT of time defining the lines on the replacement panels…Thus we went with a used factory one from a Cyclone ….
The difference in the stamping I pointed out above is due to marker lights which I should have pointed out. We started making wooden bucks to shape wheel lips and rod to define the lines on the Canada made panels…so trimming is always needed but it worked for us… Right now AMD is doing the full quarter for 1971 Roadrunners ..they also make the lower section for the 73 Roadrunner which turns in a bit more but not a full 73 replacement…thus we will be doing about the same as Allen pointed out …using a full replacement for 71 on a 73 along with lower section for 73 from AMD and refitting the marker light as they are also different…..these kind of swaps are not for the Faint of Heart…but with a bit of cardboard, a Sharpie and trimming tools it can be done and when done Satisfaction !!!