Panel gaps or worse?

Hi There,

Mike here again from sunny South Africa.  So I was wondering if any of you that side of the equator could offer some insight as to what the h*ll is going on with my car.  When I bought it many years ago the problem I will show you didn't really bother me as I was young and dumb.  As I've grown older the OCD has gotten worse and worse and I am at a point now where I want to get it resolved.  I have approached a number of smaller panel shops and asked for quotes but here many of these places aren't really interested in older cars and are only really interested in the money they can make from insurance work.  I am at a point where I want to just fix it myself and be done with it.  In order to do that knowing where and how to start looking for the problem will play a very big role in the overall success.

The problem is the panel gaps between the fender and front doors on both sides are unequal and it is driving me insane. See pictures below.








Every single panel shop who I have been to and has sort of given me a quote's first reaction was "oh its aftermarket panels"  Everyone here seems to think that since this car was so mass produced here in SA that it is exceptable for the gaps to not be consistent.  I am sorry, to me this isn't good enough.  Now my question is simple, how do I correct this problem?  Do I look for original panel from a scrap yard (breaker) or does this need to be put on a body jig?  Reason for asking is the following pictures.











From these pictures you can see the gaps next to the dash is equal on both sides.  You'll also notice the heater box.  Now this is where I am puzzled as to what's going on.  The heater box bolts to the rain tray.  As you can see the heater box does not line up horizontally with the part that connects it to the centre air vents.  Why?  Has something moved?  Is this why the gaps aren't equal both sides?

Just before everyone says that the car's chassis is bent, I have personally driven behind my own car and verified that it does NOT run sideways (crab)  The alignment shops have also verified that everything is spot on.

Can anyone offer me some advise or insight as to what is going on here as I would very much like to rectify the problem and start restoring my car to a condition good enough to be part of a club and be able to take it to a few car shows.  I add a few more pictures below.











Mike.

This is no help to you whatsoever but I would be happy with your car the way it is, look at it as patina, you could spend a lot of money and time and achieve precious little.

Personally I now don't like show cars, what's the point, go for the 'oily rag' look.

 

Looks like the whole car was painted, they may have taken all the panels off and not lined them up proporly or maybe it has had a heavy bump and no genuine panels used? The doors look out to me too.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback.  Does anyone have any definitive ways to measure or tips on how and where to measure to identify any kind of misalignment in the shell not the panels and tips on how i could possibly correct any problems found using equipment found at home.\

I'm done trying to find a panel shop willing to look at the car and I would much rather just fix it myself if it's possible.

Cheers!

Mike