what year honda prelude would have a quarter panel that would fit on a 97 honda prelude but not look the same?

Question

it is rounder not as sleek and the part around the tire is about half an inch closer to it can not fit hand up in it. car was hit and body shop did mnot replace it with a 97 quarter panel- can tell by looking at it

Answer 1

There is no other Prelude or Honda other than a 5th gen quarter panel that would fit. 97-01 are all the same exteriors.

I doubt a body shop would go through the trouble of fitting a QP from another car, when there is one made specifically for that car. If it's closer to the wheel then it is possible that there was minor suspension damage.

They also could've just cut the piece out and welded a piece of sheetmetal in its place, tell you that they put on an OEM QP and charge you for the QP instead of just cutting/welding the whole thing.

This leaves room for error like the piece being off half an inch. With a quarter panel it shouldnt be off unless they dont know how to weld.Quarter panels cost a lot of money, cutting out a piece of sheetmetal doesnt.

It is a possibility that they did that in order to get more money out of you.