Hey guys! 1st timer here, but have used the site 100's of times over the years. I am the owner of a beautiful 2 tone Spring green 52 chevy Styleline Deluxe that was hit friday night along with a few other of our vehicles by a DUI driver. What im attempting to find out, is if the 51-52 4dr sedan Front ends are identical and interchangeable with the 2 door cars. Ive found one a few hours away in my same color combo that id like to pickup for parts, but dont want to jump the gun!
I figured it should be as well. But looking for a positive confirmation before pulling the trigger on the parts car.
Your golden, right color and they are the same. I do hope the DUI driver was caught and got a room at the Gray Bar motel. HRP
The only differences may be from differences in trim between models (just holes that yours has that others may not), but 2-door and 4-door have the same front end. If it's the same color, grab it quick.
All have 115 inch wheelbase. I'm thinking that back in high school I helped a buddy put a 4 door nose on his hardtop after a similar mishap. The GM heritage center archives have most of the measurements. pages (gm.com)
They are, and the front fenders and bumper are the same back to 1949. Shame about the wreck, but looks very fixable. The good pieces you don't end up using from your parts car would sell real well on eBay if you've got the time to do it, they part out very well, even 4 doors.
They may be the same paint code, but they're probably not the same exact color. Your car looks very well maintained so the color will unfortunately be quite different from that on a parts car, given the possibility of a repaint and years in the sun. It happened to a friend of mine. We thought he lucked out, but after the installation, it was close, but no cigar.
49-50 fenders, front pan, and the riveted on piece of the inner fenderwells in front of the radiator do not interchange with 51-52 because of the different grilles.
as stated the leftovers sell great on ebay. I've sold a lot of 49 - 54 parts on ebay over the years. parted a rusted out 51 4 door and sold every piece that was still usable. the only good part I scrapped was the bare frame, but that was after I cut out the transmission cross member.
A bit of polishing can drastically change the colour of old paint (removing oxidation), so a person may have room to play. It may not end up exact, but it's better than a fender of the entirely wrong colour on such a pretty car.
I can't think of a 40's, 50's or 60's car where the front sheet metal is different between a 4 dr and a 2 dr. Is there one?
I knew the pan was different, I didn't know the front fenders were different, I thought it was only a matter of different holes cut in for the parking lights. That's good info to know.
Only example I can think of is late 60's Chevelle wagons and El Camino have different front fenders than the cars do, I can't think of any that are different between 4 door sedan and 2 door sedan/hardtop though.
Agree the 4 dr Chevy parts will work. In general, 49-50 interchange, 51-52 interchange and 53-54 interchange. 49-52 have more commonalities than the 53-54. I parted out a 52 Chevy 4 dr sedan, that I bought to get parts needed for my 52 Ute. Sold off what was extra, almost all went to guys working on 2 dr cars. If you have the space and time, get the whole 4 dr car, and sell off what you don't use. Chances are you will come out money ahead and get your parts for free; except for the labor.