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German sheet metal is thicker, and made to fit the car correctly. You can buy a lot of aftermarket panels for a beetle (fenders, hoods, aprons) but they are never exactly correct. Almost always made out of thinner material, and usually not correctly fitting.
Fenders in particular are a real pain in the a**. The aftermarket fenders are different widths vs. the factory fenders, AND usually different widths from themselves. So if you swap out just a right-front fender the wheel gap is different left to right. If you're building a car and need to order aftermarket fenders, you not only have to order left and right at the same time...you have to confirm with the supplier they too bought their whole shipment at the same time. Fenders made today, are going to be a different width from fenders made next week. It's just the way it is. Common VW forum post is "help! my car sits uneven!" Uh no, you just have crappy fenders.
When I built the '71 Rally beetle, I bought four cars to make just the one unit. '71/72 Super Beetles have a two-year only hood, and I needed to find one good one to build the car, and a second good one to keep as a spare. (it's a rally car, I'm going to crash it). Took three cars just to get four good, German, fenders. I bought one parts car strictly because it had a good right fender. Walked up, checked the fender, made an offer. "don't you want to start it?" Nah, I'm good. Sell me the car. :P
-Dave
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