49 Fleetline swap to a 55 chevy rear bumper

Mounted up my rear bumper last week, so I thought I would post up some progress pics. After a lot of debate I decided to order a California style smoothie 55 chevy bumper for my 49. I did some measuring on my brothers bel air and decided it would be a near perfect fit for the curves on the rear of the fastback. I have the replacement tailpan, just not installed yet so don't mind the rust. I'm sure someone has probably made this swap before, but I was unable to find any pics. I think it's a big improvement over the factory 49 bumper.

 

Another pic,

 

And another,

 

That looks perfect to me. Good Job. Never seen that done before>>I LIKE it

 

Thanks!

 

sweet.. looks like it gets rid of that little filler panel on the bottom of the tailpan too. and thats good cause mine is thrashed..

 

It almost does. My rear filler piece is actually in good condition which is hard to believe considering the tail pan rust. I'm going to cut the factory one down to cover the inch or so gap that is left towards the edges now.

 

I thinks it looks pretty good too. Do you have any plans for the front?

 

I have a pair of 55 chevy bezels I am considering modifying the fenders to fit.. As far as bumper and grille I'm leaning towards factory stuff but I'm not set in stone on it..

 

looks very good like it was made for the 49.

 

It does almost seem to fit on the fastback rear better than on a bel air.. IMO

 

Looks cool, a very nice fit to your fleetline. Here's a social group for you, just click on the KFC icon.


Kustom Fleetline Cruisers

 

Thanks, and thanks for the group add. I'll probly start a build thread soon. Not all of my car will be HAMB friendly with my Ls engine and accuair e-level air ride... But that is true for a lot of cars on here.

 

I've never heard of this swap before but I'm thinking you'll have a lot of company very soon - that '55 bumper looks like a perfect fit for your '49. Nice job!

 

Fitzee on here picked up a set of 55 bumpers for his project Flatliner as well , it looks great!!


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That is a great fit and looks like it was made for it!

 

Now that is slick, good thinking!
KK

 

Looks great! Love those fleetlines. As the oldtimers say, "Had one just like it when I was a kid"

 

What are you going to do for the front bumper?

 

Nice idea looks great

 

that really looks good....so, what bumper brackets are you going to use.... 49 or 55?

 

Still unsure about the front.. Possibly stock 49.. The 55 rear fits so well with almost no body mods, I don't think it will look out of place to run the front stocker IMO

 

I cut up the factory 49 brackets and used the angled pieces that go through the quarters to hold the ends of the 55 bumper. The center was trickier as the smoothie 55 had brackets welded to the rear of it but they hit dead center in the 49 frame rails. I cut the brackets off the 55 bumper leaving a couple inches to bolt on new ones, and then I welded new brackets extending from the frame rails to bolt to the cut off bumper brackets. The main thing was I was able to get it all modified and mounted up without damaging the chrome on that $500 bumper.

 

Fleet, it looks great!!! any chance you might share some pics of the mounts you just described? it always makes more sense if I can see what your talking about. Great insite on the bumper switch!

 

Does anyone know whether a '50 Pontiac has the same rear dimensions? My bumper design is pretty much the same, but the rear quarters don't have that recessed spot where the bumper sits in. I'd like to do this swap on my '50.

 

I like the look of that bumper, maybe I will try it on my 50.

 

You had a couple of 250 engines for sale a while ago do you still have them?

 

mind snapping a picture?

 

You had two 250 chevy engines for sale a while back do you still have them?