Josh, I feel your pain. I had this happen on my '61 a few years ago when the right front tire blew. Bent the crap out of the inner fender bracket including bending part of the fender under near the rocker panel. To make matters worse part of the shredded tire flew back and knocked the back fender skirt off onto the highway and bent it up. Tire was only a few years old and was a steel belted radial. According to the tire shop they suspect one of the belts separated and destroyed the tire very rapidly while traveling at highway speeds. By the time I felt the shimmy start on the highway until the rubber separated and blew apart was less than a mile. Needless to say it was not a good day. The body shop was able to repair the bracket but the fender skirt I just replaced with another one.
