I was given a 1950 Buick 4 door. Body is pretty straight, but the frame was hit on the pass front and pretty much fubar. Could I fix it? Yea, with a ton of hours. I "might" pull the body and see how far back its damaged and clip it if I have to. Since I'm going to redo a ton of sheetmetal on it anyway (lengthen the doors, make it a 2 door, chop it, maybe section it) I have no issues redoing flooring to fit it to another, more modern frame. Thats where the question is. What chassis would work BEST? Please dont say "a 50 buick would work best" because its not like you can throw a dead cat into the crowd and hit one. Now if any of you have one within a couple hours drive from Bullhead city, AZ, for cheap, thats a different stoy and I'm all ears.
Thx. I will once I get started. I prefer on my builds to line up my ducks in a row, then blow it out quickly. Rather than taking years piecing the cars together.
I put chassis, eng/trans/diff all as an assembly from a 73 buick 9- pass Estate Wagon under my wifes 48 2-dr. The 48 had a 129" wheelbase. The 73 a 128" base. The73 had a perimeter type frame instead of a box. I installed 2x2 box. Between frt and rear and then cut outsides off. You can't tell its off 1/2" on each end. The tread width is fine and that way steering geometry, brake bias, pinion angle and etc is properly engineered and comfortable at 100mph. I know because I got the wagon new and it made many a fun between odessa and ft stockton back then. When my wifes granddad gave her the 48, we decided to keep it all buick. No f---ing ford 9 inch or mustang frt end with 10" brakes in a 5000# car. Just 461 cubes of buick stage 1, turbo 400 and hellva big a/c. Hoping to have it painted and debugged by next years drags.
Might think about just clipping the front with another donor stub also... depending on if the frame is still good at the firewall?
Sorry, hit wrong button before complete. Check your wheelbase and tread width and compare them to specs of modern cars and buy a complete car. That way you have fairly modern design and wiring that will suffice for all circuits. You will probably windup with a slightly wider tread width but there is usually room for at least 4" wider. You can find specs in old motor manuals or bodyshops have them. Good luck
Thats what I said I may do in the op. I just need to pull the body, get the frame on the jig and find out how far back the trist goes, without major tweaking. Thank you guys for the help. Wow, some guy rated this thread? Really? I'm betting its someone who has never built a car. I wasnt asking "what s 10 chassis will work best under my fenderless 48 ford truck cab".
I've been doing some research on doing a frame swap on a 50 jetback which has a 121.5" wheelbase. If you have a 4 door with the same wheel base let me know and I will update the thread with all info I have.
LMAO. I have yeat to see a independant front under a fenderless anything that didn't look like it needed flushed.
If there's a good frame shop in the area,...I'd check with them, re' repairability. You didn't mention if it's just bent, or is broken anywhere. 4TTRUK
If the frame is that bad then it's a parts car, I can't imagine the frame being fucked to the point of unrepairability and have the rest of the car be worth putting any time into.
1971-1976 gm B- body - sedans 121", wagons 127-128" 77-84 big chassis( think they were still B body) olds and buick- 119" 68-72 Vista Cruiser/Sport Wagon style 121" I know these may be hard to find nowdays but some are still around and not popular with with restorers or rodders If you find a specific model, double check it before you take my word for it. No, I do not have pictures at this time. I started on it in 1988 and have had to backshelf it 5-6 times. I plan on finally d&a it starting in october to detail it and paint and final assembly now that I have retired(been tired for last 10-12 years) and am getting all the ducks drowned. I will start a thread when I begin with photos.
The 71-76 fullsize GM are going to be tough to find and somewhat expensive because while they're not restoration candidates, they're one of the best demo derby cars out there. I have a couple lousy ones and I wouldn't sell one with a good frame for less than a grand. If it runs and moves, twice that. If I had a wagon it would be triple.
Derbys arent a real big thing around here, and actually cars like that are easy to find and thank god around here, you get them for pretty much scrap pricing. Thanks for the specs Wild.
Different situation out here rustynewyorker. Out in this neck of the woods those are still drivers. You could probably pickup one rust free from the central Phoenix u-pullit quickly and cheaply, and I'm pretty sure prewarcars4me is up north where it should be just as easy. I'll throw a wrench into the deal though. Your looking at wheel base and coming up with full sized cars. It has been my experience that the full sized G.M. cars of the seventies almost always have a very wide hub to hub measurement. Notice I didn't refer to it as track width. Track width is a measurement of tire tread to tire tread with stock wheels. It doesn't take into account wheel backspacing and such, and how many of us run stock wheels and tires on our cars. My suggestion would be to look at the '78-'87 A or G body G.M. cars. They have a hub to hub on the front end of about 58 1/2" on average which should be just about where you should be for an early fifties car. The wheel base can easily be stretched to put it where you need it to be, but I believe them to be right about 116" or so. I'd much rather spend a bit of time stretching something to fit than to get it all purchased, fit together then realize I can't put tires or wheels on it.
NorthWest of you. Bullhead is where Nevada/California/Arizona meet (mostly). I do apprecite the input everyone. I also own tape measures . I was just curious if anyone KNOWS what car would be close because they have done it. This is by FAR not my first build, nor is it a complicated one, but if anyone KNEW of a frame/chassis that worked because they had done it before on a 50 buick moredoor,,, it would save me a bit of effort of finding what works myself.
You are rt, but remember he's talking buick not pos ford!! Mine with the factory stylized wheels and t/a radials looks just rt. There is a lot of wheel well to fill on a buick.
I have a 49 Chevy fleetline that is channeled 4 inches over a 1972 monte carlo chassis and floorpan. I don't know how close the Buick is to that but on the Chevy the floorpan kickups in front and back lined up good and rockers were close to the same so I can just go buy factory monte carpet when I'm ready.
Still got to dissagree with you. I just looked at a mid seventies full sized Olds clip under a '57 Olds which is quite a bit wider car all the way down the line. Still no room to put wheels on the car with a 63inch hub to hub clip unless you ran caps and heavily backspaced front wheels. It's coming into Elpolacko's place next week to get a A G body clip... I happen to know the early fifties Buick is quite a bit narrower.
I'm with you on this, Chip. I had a couple of G body chassis at my shop and I concur with your meausurments as to hub to hub. The wheelbase varies on 2 door (112") to 4 door/wagon/ElCamino (116"), but the G body frame design allows for easy alteration. A couple of lengths of 2 x 6 or, even better 4 x 4, tubing and the rails can be added inboard of the stock side rails and at whatever length is needed for the desired wheelbase. The stock side rails are kinda 'flimsy' and more perimeter style and not as well suited for the spacing needed on older bodies. However, the way the front and rear frame sections flare out allows for easy attachment of new rails. Ray
Started a frame swap on my '50 Sedanette...used a '78 Cadillac CDV frame, floor, powertrain. 121.5" wheelbase on both cars, unless yours is a Super Deluxe, which is 125.5, or Roadmaster which could be 126.25 or 130.25.
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