Were early A bodies built better than the 67-76 models?

Kern Dog said
While I am not much of a fan of the early A body models, I am noticing that there are several things about them that the later cars did not have.
I don't have as much experience with the 63-66 as the later ones but it seems like the early cars had tighter body panel gaps. They had more decorative trim. Metal grilles that don't bust as easy. Fancier interiors.
I am finishing up a '65 Dart and the last of the things to do are brake lights and signals. In most of the later A body cars the wires are crisp, the terminals are rusty and the ground connections are bad. On this car, I adjusted the brake light switch and replaced one bulb....The blinkers work, the brake lights work and so do the headlights. WOOOOoooooo!!
There sure is a LOT more trim on these cars. Double stainless surrounding the rear window? Stainless atop the rear quarters?
On my list of upcoming restorations is a 65 Valiant convertible. This one gets the rocker panel trim, wheelwell opening moldings, tail panel trim and the chrome around the windshield. It only has torque boxes but the body seems pretty stiff for being a convertible.
I am surprised at the flimsy looking K members the early cars had but other things about these cars seem pretty solid.

you would be surprised with the convertible if the torque boxes are good then chances are the inner rockers are good to and it's a sturdy setup. I had mine upside down on a rotisserie without a floorpan from the firewall to the rear tail panel and it never sagged.

and yeah the gaps were better than my 69 swinger with the 3exception of the right outer taillight on every darn 66 (and 65's) the right outer tail light doesn't line up really well with the trunk lid both 66's I have and all three of the 65's I had were that way. I fixed mine this time since it kept bugging me. this one is no tmine but you can see the shift, and if you raise the trunk lid to make it level the trunk is above the quarter panel that much.
tail light off.jpg

this one is mine, /6 soon to be turbo'd with fuel injection with all the goodies I make for the early gen A's. But I have another one. originally triple black,v8 manual top. (yeah not gonna happen in florida) it'll be white top. white interior and brilliant blue metallic paint WITH A/C. that's next on the list.