Had a customer bring their 97 Accord sedan in asking if I could replace the left front fender after losing the left front tire which damaged the fender.
I go to the yard and find a left front fender off a 97 Accord station wagon. Same color.
The one on the left is off the sedan, and the one on the right is off the station wagon
See any difference?
To my surprise, there is!
This is the sedan fender.
And this is the station wagon fender.
It’s no wonder why the holes wouldn’t line up.
Tester
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If you think that difference is bad, consider the '57 and '58 Ford convertibles. Aft of the front fenders, there were no body parts that were shared by the soft-top convertible and the hard-top convertible.
That is an unfortunate waste of your time, so close, yet so far. I imagine your going to have to eat the labor, can you return the part? I hate when stuff you think is simple turns into a rats nest. The whole fender is 2" shorter, I would not have thunk it 
I can return the part for another part.
I just removed the fender from the first dark green Accord I came across thinking it didn’t matter.
The yard has another five Accords that are dark green.
I just need to walk the yard to find another fender.
And this time, the tape measure will be hooked on my belt.
Tester
LOL, we’ve all had similar experiences. And, unfortunately, there’s no way of totally avoiding them except to never again work on a car.
And it’s going to get more fun in the future. We’re advancing from slight changes in hole locations (and such) during a model year to changes in software during a model year! Changes in dimensions are easy to identify as the reason a part won’t fit… I suspect that as changes in software become more prevalent all future mechanics’ toolkits will have to include valium! 
I would think that @Tester would at least have a “Fender Stretcher” in his tool box!!!
Yosemite
I guess Honda must have had a reason but I can’t see the justification of a huge expense for different stamping dies to shorten the front end of a 1997 Accord station wagon. I don’t know if I have ever seen one. How would it successfully compete with the existing Odyssey mini van? If I recall correctly the basic door skins for 1955-1957 Chevrolet 2 doors was identical. Of course they had many variations of trim which had different mounting holes.
The first photo must be a fake…your workbench is too clean.
I’ve never worked in the car business, but here in Silicon Valley the parts often involve molds, and there’d be no complaints from anybody at all to create the drawings have a new mold made by the local machine shop, if the new mold helps the product meet the customer’s desired specs. I would be sort of surprised to find that a station wagon fender is the same part as the corresponding sedan’s fender.
V-6 Honda Accords have longer fenders and a different hood than the 4 cylinder models. All wagons were 4 cylinder that year (short fender).
That can’t be it.
Because both vehicles in the yard had V6’s
That’s the first thing I looked at.
Because the vehicle I was working on had a V6.
I think the change was for body styling between the sedan and station wagon.
Tester
I forgot about Honda Accord V-6s. The only Honda I have owned had 2 cylinders and 2 wheels.
