Ed Huntress wrote:
An article in the Nov. 25th recent issue of the NYT, "Rust-Free Reality:
Creating an All-New Classic," talks about the growing business of supplying
low-volume steel body panels to the restoration market. I've been curious
for a long while about what they're using for dies, and what the processes
are. As most of you know, making original dies for high-volume car
manufacture costs millions of dollars for each die.

Before I start spending time on it, does anyone know the story about these
steel panels?

--
Ed Huntress


Ed,

Some of them are original dies , believe it or not . The big three are
notorious fior never throwing these things away, there is a warehouse
near me full of injection moulds that are for chryslers not made since
the mid eighties


Modern manufacturing has reduced costs for stamping dies to a fraction
of what is once was , that and the newer grades of steel that can
undergo multiple stampings without cracking or needing to be annealed