Fiberglass Lighter than Steel?

[62BT7]

Howdy all,
My '62 3000 was purchased a few years ago with all 4 fenders made of fiberglass replacements. A purist will scoff but they actually look really good, only a close inspection of the edges reveals the secret. Question: I always assumed fiberglass was lighter than steel but vaguely recall later reading that the weight savings may be minimal, if at all. Any seat-of-the-pants best guess on what the weight difference is vs. a stock 3000? I think it's already about 75 lbs lighter than stock, really just curious about the overall weight difference. Many thanks in advance.

-Tom

 

[TimK]

https://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/techarticles/custom_hot_rod_body_fiberglass_steel/index.html

Tom, Check out the above article that addresses fiberglass vs. steel, but unfortunately doesn't mention weight. But it may help justify being happy with what you have. Scoffing purists are irrelevant unless you are trying to pass your car off as original.

 

[vette]

Hi Tom, my car too came to me with 4 fibre glass fenders. Everyone thought the car looked great and didn't need any restoration. Ah ha, little did they know what evil lurked beneath them. But in all sincerety, I am now doing the restoration. I bought metal fenders for the rear just because I wanted them, and it would have been alot easier if I had used the fibre glass ones because the fibre glass ones fit prefectly and the new metal ones weren't even close. Anyway, yes the metal ones are heavier. The fibre glass ones probably don't weigh more than about 2 to 3 pounds. the metal ones might weigh 10 lbs. I'm keeping the fibre glass fenders on the front for money reasons. and they fit great. So far my experience with new metal fenders for a big Healey means alot of metal work.

 

[TimK]

By the way, I have not found any scoffing purists on this forum. Everyone seems to be very comfortable with making substitutions and improvements unless they are going for concours (of which there aren't too many). People are free with their opinions, but there is no real scoffing -- there is a fair amount of good-natured scoffing when appropriate :laugh:

 

[GregW]

<span style="font-size: 26pt">Scoff!</span>


There ya go. We've now had our years worth of scoffing. Back to your regularly scheduled program.

 

[Keoke]

Yeah like that fella Greg he be a Scoffer!-Keoke- :laugh:

 

[BUNDYRUM]

Hello 62BT7,
back in the '70's when I fitted fiberglass fenders and front shroud to my BN1 I weighed everything and found that the shroud was the same weight.
The fenders were 8 lbs lighter each but I cannot say I noticed any difference between the original and the plastic ones in driveability.


Hello GregW, I really don't mind your kind of scoffing.

Best regards,

bundyrum.

 

[62BT7]

I think I've been scoffed! You're right. I've not heard from scoffers on this site. Maybe they have their own cult-like site, with password questions taken from the concours guidelines??

Thanks for the replies. Eight pounds per fender sounds about right. I haven't intentionally tried to shave weight off my car, but have an aluminum cylinder head, modern starter, spin-on oil filter, etc. that drop several pounds off so I was wondering about the overall weight difference. Thanks again for the replies.
-Tom