I have access to a parts car w/ good rear quarter panels. Could be going to the crusher soon.
No, I don't need them right now.
However, since they're free I thought I might cut them off and save them.
is this a misplaced idea? how bad would it be to cut them off?
I'm guessing a decent amount of troulbe, especially since I would need to get as much of them off w/o knowing what exactly I would need in the future.

From what I understand, they're actually "glued" on with some sort of high strength epoxy. Open your hatch and look along the rain gutters on both sides and you'll see what looks like a piece of painted over tape. That's supposedly what holds them on (and I imagine additional pieces in other areas as well). Other than that, I'm not sure if any portions are welded/bolted to the body.

For your purposes now...You can just cut the quarters off and then clean and seperate the metal later.

Just cut about an inch or more outside of the original welded spots. Then with an air chisel you should be able to seperate the the pieces where they are put together.

I haven't done this with an F-body, but numerous times on other cars. I grew up working in a part time body shop with my Dad.

I had a rear quarter panel replaced on my car because someone ran into me in a parking lot. The seam that you see in the inside of the door and hatch is a seam tape that is flexible to cover the seam between the Body and the Panels themselves, The panels are not held by this. The panels are spot welded onto the body. all you have to do is go arounf the panel and drill out the spot welds to remove the panel. but in the interest of time you can do what "AllZWay" suggested then as you have time you can separate the panels.