[Joe K]

Dare I suggest fiberglass fenders as a replacement?

For a driver they have a lot of advantages. You get in an accident (fender bender) and you've not trashed a fender never to return. Better quality fenders are durable (cheap fiberglass can crack at the fender braces) and if you knock on them with your knuckles its almost difficult to tell the sound from the real thing.

Better quality fenders have the bolt holes "marked" with an oval - while not drilled (one could drill outside the oval if necessary to put time-worn parts against new) the holes can be drilled "singlular" rather than oval leaving little room for adjustment or messing around with the escutcheon bead.

Of course most undersides are "mesh" - the better quality fenders are minimal mesh and when painted tend to disappear.

For the AA truck I bought Westcott fenders as probably the best then available. Of course for the same price I could have bought "good used" and put a couple hundred into restoration.

AND - perhaps this is the ultimate sell point. MANY restorers go first with fiberglass - and then as wallet/time/interest/detailing allows, upgrade to steel. Hence one can find USED fiberglass fenders on Ebay or other places from those who upgraded.

The Westcott Fenders were for the AA front. A pair of pickup/coupe REARS showed up on Ebay which I bought for $80 plus shipping. So I have a full set of fenders in fiberglass waiting for Model A project No. 2.

Joe K