So I did a AutoCheck on my truck's VIN and it said my truck had been in a minor accident a couple of years ago, before I bought it. It said the right side front had minor damage.....So I checked it out real close and yeppir, the right front fender has been replaced. There were a couple of tell tale signs, of screws having their paint off of the screwhead, a couple of rusty screws that don't match the rest of the truck, and the Ranger nameplate appears to have been stuck on, not a factory install like the other side. The real tell tale sign was a stamp in the metal under the hood it says "Gordon" where on the other side it's stamped "Ford." I checked it on the internet and there's a company named Gordon who makes fenders. It even has their logo stamped on it. They did a nice paint job on it, as it's very difficult to tell it's been replaced.

 

That is not an uncommon thing nowadays. Seems like most of the vehicles have been worked on some time or another.

 

Well they sure fooled me. Maybe it's just time that is exposing the telltale signs. Or I just didn't look close enough.

Errrrrrrrr.

 

I wouldn't worry about it woo much. My truck looked like this at one time.

 

If you cant notice, then they probaly did it the correct way. Then you have nothing to worry about.

 

The only things I don't like is that :

1. It's not an original Ford part, like I thought it was when I bought it.

2. The "Ranger XLT" nameplate wasn't installed quite right. It looks like it may be coming loose, so I may have to have it re-installed, or get out the Super Glue.

Next time I buy a used vehicle, I will definitely check out the VIN number for accident reports, before I buy it.

It really doesn't matter much as it was fixed nicely. It also doesn't matter a whole lot any how, as I bought it used and saved a ton of money. A new one would have cost me twice as much.

I once bought a brand new Chevy LUV Truck, and after it was about six months old, I had it parked out in the street and some guy hit some ice and smashed into it. It looked like 03 Red Edge's picture. It totally destroyed the "newness" of it. It took six weeks in the body shop to get it fixed, because they had to order parts from Japan. That's why I only buy "Made in USA" vehicles now. It was never the same.

 

I used to work at a body shop, and the local ford place brought over a brand new f150 they had damaged unloading. I bet they sold it as if it was a new truck even though the fender had been replaced and the door had been painted. I would have been pissed if I had bought that truck and found out this had happened to it.

 

Just buy new 06 emblems. They looks so much better anyway.

 

That's a definite option...thanks !!

That would make my 2003 look like a newer truck.....hmmmmm.....

 

It is A great mod.

 

Thanks for the comparison pics. For now, I think I'll stick with the stock emblems. For some reason, I really like seeing that XLT on the emblem.

I have to ask, what did you use on your mirror shells as they look great !! Mine keep fading out.

 

You can get the 06 emblems with XLT on them, just so you know.

 

yeah. the emblems on my 07 say xlt.

 

the 06 emblems on my 93 say XLT

 

the 06 emblems on my XL say XLT

 

NEVER use glue you want 3M emblem tape

 

I dont see why your so up set about a fender its not like they replaced the whole front end of your truck and your truck was once totaled at one time.

 

Well there's another side of the coin....the fender was replaced with a new fender when the rest of the truck was 3 years old. So maybe that's a good thing. But then again, I've heard that Ford treats their body parts so they don't rust out as soon.....so does Gordon manufacturing company also treat their body parts or will it rust out sooner ?? Will the repair paint job hold up as well as the original paint job ?? So far it's looking pretty good. At least they replaced the fender and it wasn't a Bondo job.

The thing that irks me is I thought my truck was all original and just in very good shape. This fender is made by a company named "Gordon" which is based in Taiwan. It's not an original Ford part. It looks very good though, and Gordon is a very large parts manufacturer, so maybe it'll be alright. I know insurance companies like to keep the cost of repairs down, so they use parts made by foreign manufacturers instead of original parts made by Ford.

So now that I know the truck has been in an accident and the fender replaced, I'll have to tell a potential buyer that. I was never told that. So that may affect my re-sale price. However, I was planning on keeping this truck a very long time. So resale value isn't really too important to me right now.

It's just BS that I have to deal with.

 

You're good if you can't tell it was re-done. Accident work is not always a bad thing if it's done right... and in your case it might be an excuse for a mod!! I lucked out on my truck and it was so new they didn't have aftermarket parts for it so the shop had to pus all OEM parts back on the truck. Besides the slight difference in paint color no one has ever been able to tell it was rebuilt... but made in US means very little... I was without the truck for over 2 months while they did the work...

You don't have to tell a buyer unless they ask... then yeh, be honest, but keep it short... just tell 'em the fender was replaced before you owned the truck... relax a little...

 

I think it was done very well. The paint matched perfectly and fooled me for two years. I never imagined it was replaced. The only real tell tail signs were a couple of mounting screws didn't look right, and the badge doesn't look right, and should be re-mounted. It's a very minor thing though, and you have to be really looking close to notice it.

If that's all that is wrong with my truck, I'll have to be happy. It's only got 39,000 miles on it and mechanically runs great. It even just past an emissions test this week with flying colors.

 

Its not even that big of a deal. May it was something like a shopping cart hit it and let a good size dent and they just wanted to make it look better. My truck has been flipped before.

 

According to the AutoCheck VIN report, the truck was involved in a minor accident, with minor to moderate damage. This is what brought this to my attention and after doing a very close inspection discovered the fender had been replace and wasn't an original Ford part.

 

OMG... 39K on a '93?! My '08 has over 21K

 

The only corrosion protection from either Ford or an aftermarket company is the E-Coat. Thats all that is on a new fender. Fortunately for you, PPG is one of the only companies that even makes E-Coat, so the chances that its an OEM comprable product is very high. The rest of the corrosion protection will have been the responsibility of the shop that did the repair, and if it looks like a good repair, it probably was.

You do know that along with the fender, your door and hood were probably painted as well to blend the color out right?

I understand your in depth analysis of the repair. I have been in the auto body and paint field as a hobbyist for around 10 years. I have also held several jobs within the industry as well including paint store jockey, an actual tech at a shop and now as a rep for DuPont, so after a while you get an eye for repairs. In fact, that was one of the reasons i bought a 2009 truck instead of a used one. Most used ones i saw had some kind of repair done to them, and being a picky, picky lol SOB, i knew that my eyes would go straight to that spot any time i would get into it if i owned it, and that would bug me.

Hell, there was a good deal on an 04 FX4 LevelII that i passed up partly because it had a fender that was replaced (very quality job) and the texture in the clearcoat was every so slightly off from the OEM peel.

Yeah im that bad and it would bother me enough.....

 

Ya at the rate I'm going, this truck will last me for years. Let's say it has a life expectancy of 150,000 miles, -39,000 = 111,000 left to go. I'm putting on an average 4,000 miles a year, so this truck should last me almost another 27.5 years !! So now ya know why I'm taking such good care of it.