Does anyone know how the CP running board's are for fit and quality compared to the originals ??.........Mine are in decent shape although the drivers side has a few pinholes due to rust and I also believe the metal got thinned out thru time from stepping in and out of the truck.......possibly from muddy shoes or something....?? any input will be appreciated Thanks, Leon
Leon, this is about as close as i will get to a "rant". Repop parts, as a general rule, suck! If you can spend a little time reconditioning an original part of a vehicle, do it. Most of today's repop parts are made in China or whereever and are not worth a crap. This is the rule, not the exception. Spend time at your local boneyard, surf the net for someone who has what you need, and then, as a last resort, buy a repop. But when you do, be prepared to spend a lot of time trying to get it to fit!
I have seen CP's running boards and also some from Jim Carter. Both looked the same cheap I agree with Ken stuck with NOS. This area does have a lot of use and also will effect the proper mounting of other items on the bed/rear fenders Steve
Leon ; I don't know if Mar-K makes running boards ? they make the very best repop bed parts , stock or modified . Keep looking , I was able to find a perfect running board for $35.00 at a swap meet .
I have brought parts from some guy's whom go to Carlisle PA shows each year. I know he has NOS running boards. You can reach them at #(302)422-2621. Tell them I sent ya. They are a good local source for older truck parts. He told me has access to a whole bunch of older trucks. Steve
Leon, While I was out at the barn measuring holes on the end of my bedsides for Bill, I also put the micrometer and tape measure to a brand new set of runningboards I just happen to have up in the loft. The metal on the new ones is actually a little thicker than the old ones. Fifty six years of weather/wear & tear might account for that. I measured distances between mounting holes, overall length and width, and everything was right on the money except for one hole that was off by 1/16". The mounting brackets on my frame are twisted way more than that, so by the time I get them straightend out, it won't be a problem. So, although you can get some crappy reproduction sheet metal, (and I have) some of it is OK. I think even if you found an unused GM-produced sheet metal part, it probably wouldn't fit exactly right out of the box on these old trucks that are not only 50 years old, but probably have been overloaded and abused in ways that strain and twist them out of their factory alignment. By the way, I was excited to hear that someone had NOS parts for these trucks, so I called the guy who comes to the Carlisle, PA show. He has reproduction runningboards, not NOS. NOS (or New Old Stock) parts are those produced by GM which were in a dealer's or jobber's inventory from the good old days, and have never been used at all. I'd hate to think of what a set of actual NOS runningboards would be worth. Nice dream, though.
I stand corrected. I thought he had said they were NOS. He has a lot of the simple parts needed such as brackets,braces.etc..
Ken's 50 is absolutely right about the repop stuff almost without exception. In the 30 years I've been in the restoration/streetrod business it is a rare exception to get anything manufactured in volume that fits and much is pure crap. We use Mar-K beds and I agree that they're as good as you can get but we still have to deal with the stake pocket wrinkles and the spot welding flashing that has been on every unit we've ever got from them. The foreign sources have never seen one of these trucks and the whole world but us uses the metric system so the measurements are what the closest METRIC unit is. When you have something that doesn't fit get a metric tape and you'll see that it's dead on a centimeter or millimeter increment. I'm lucky enough to have metal guys that beat out panels that would make GM drool with envy but, the $$$'s are painful to the pocketbook. I've seen ads for custom panel beaters but never checked the prices and their clientele are probably guys doing Pierce Arrows or Bugattis. Okay, that's the end of my rant.
