Ebay patch panel quality?

[hammerdog57]

Looking at some different suppliers for some patch panels for my 55. I am thinking about buying some patch panels from a ebay power seller named ccgtruck. By looking at his seller rating he has sold thousands of these panels. Has anyone used panels from this seller? Prices are about 60% of what Brothers or LMC want for the same panel. I dont want to buy the patch panels and find out that they are poor quality. Anyone?

[OrrieG]

The ones I just put in my 59 cab corners originally came from Mar-K, I got them about 10 years ago. I do not know if they made them or just resold them. I suspect there is only one, maybe two companies making them. They are the same guage as original and fit real good. Not perfect but close enough I could work them with a pecking hammer and get things to align, no major sectioning and rewelding, etc. Only complaint was the bottom of the corner wrinkles but you can't see it unless you lay under the truck. The unlucky pedestrian that happens too probably will not be to interested in the body work quality!

[dwcsr]

ccg sells Key Parts and Tri-Plus. I sold about $20k in Key Parts panels last year and had none come back for a bad fit. The rippling isn't there on a Key Parts corner, They re-tooled and they come out very smooth.

With all that said any panel you buy will reqiure some fitting and massaging. It doesn't mean that every Key Part stamping is perfect either. So expect a little work no matter whose panels you go with, but Key Parts, TriPlus fit better than most.

I don't know CCG personally but I hear he's a good guy to deal with. His feed back looks ok for the volume. I wouldn't have a problem buying from him.

[hotrodsbyray]

dave, when will you be up and taking orders again? i'm trying to get a new pair of doors for my 57 truck at a decent price. i just can't find decent used ones around here that aren't rusted as bad or worse than mine (live in middle TN). you, and gmc paul's seem to have the most reasonable prices some of these online, big catalog places are outrageous!

anybody know what happened to gmc paul's by the way - are they on this forum? i talked to them last week. i called back 10 minutes later, then every weekday since then but no answer or just a busy signal.

[Joe67]

You will find there are only one or maybe two companies actually stamping these parts. Everyone else is just a reseller

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by Joe67

You will find there are only one or maybe two companies actually stamping these parts. Everyone else is just a reseller

Joe 67 is pretty much correct. There are several companies stamping parts. Just not the same parts as this is a limited market and very few of stampers are in the USA. Supprisingly enough the good panels are coming from Aisa and the US panel makers seem to have adopted lower quality objectives. Mar-k is an exception to that statement, they make very nice parts.

You may have 2 companies stamping corners and 1 company stamping doors and 3 stamping floor panels none of them being the same company. Triplus is a large panel maker but may have dozens of subcontract stampers just like GM does.