VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 38 FENDER SKIRTS

I'm not sure how the fender skirts mount to the fenders The ones I have have never been mounted before and my fenders have never had any mounted to them.. If any of you guys could take a picture of yours from underneath I would really appreciate it. I had a thread about mounting the chrome strips onto the skirts but my bodyman and I were on different wave links. He was talking about mounting the skirts to the fenders.

Knockoff skirts mount on the OUTSIDE of the fender lip with a foam gasket between the skirt and the fender. They have one or two latches at the top that rotate behind the fender lip to hold the skirt from the inside. They then use one or two bolts at the very bottom corners and holes will need to be drilled in the bottom fender corners for these. Each design mounts slightly different but this is the general idea. See this link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1937-39-Chevrolet-Fender-Skirts-New-Steel-Product/363085657331?hash=item54899774f3:g:y-cAAOSwfphaWPlQ


Original fender skirts mount INSIDE the wheel opening flush with the fender lip. These use a lever mechanism to snug up latching rods on the inside. There are no screws - just set in place and turn the levers on the backside. See this link https://picclick.com/1937-1938-chev...5-201869514426.html#&gid=1&pid=4

Will dig through my pictures but a lot depends on who made your skirts and how they wanted them mounted and what engineering may be necessary to overcome any design weaknesses...

Can you post pictures of the ones you have?

If you manage to find a pair of OEM skirts be prepared to mortgage your home to buy them. I'm only partially joking. The last pair I found for sale were on ebay with a starting bid of $3500.

Last couple sets I've seen go in the $5-6000 range! Ouch!

Are the original skirts convex or flat? The ones I have are flat and fit flush with the fender.

They have to have some curve to clear the hub caps. It's mainly forward to aft curve I believe. I don't think there's much curve top to bottom. I say that from observation, not personal experience. I had repops on my 38. I've removed them to make checking tire pressure easier.

I have some aftermarket ones and they look essentially flat but the originals do have a curve to them. The Ebay link I posted above shows the curve on those ones. You would have to test fit with your hubcaps to see what the clearance is like.

I likely won't use mine but am painting them match in case I change my mind or sell the car. If I had originals, I might use them but I'm not a huge fan of the look and I fear they will come loose and do damage anyway.

If you are worried about authenticity, hold off and eventually get a set made that match the originals. They are not complicated really but you would need measurements and pictures from an original set and then a real metal guy. I bet someone could make an accurate set for about a third the cost of originals that need restoration.