I sold my 66 Imperial and my 54 GMC 3100 and I'm in the market for a 49-54 chevy car. I'm looking for a 49-52 sport coupe,but am open to other styles. I just want to buy the best car my budget will allow. My questions are... What is the usual places to find rust? Ads say rust in usual place, but what are they? Is there any info or advice I should know before buying? Is there any year engines I should stay away from? Any trouble areas on the 216 or early 235's I need to know? I will be buying as close to stock original as I can, not interested in a SBC swapped car. If there is anything else you guys can think I should know, it will be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
I'm no expert, but I had a 216 in my 48. It didn't like to go more than 60-65, but it was as reliable as a brick. If you keep the limitations of the 216/235 in mind, they will do you right for a long time. I would want a pressurized one vs. the dipper. I am no fan of the powerglide, but the better engines came with them. I love the 49-52 coupes, hope you get a good one. Spend your money up front on a good car - don't try to buy a dog cheap and then fix it up.
I've done two 54's, one originally from Bishop Cal, the other from Longview Wa. Both had rusted floors, mostly the drivers footwell, but some on the passenger side as well. Appears to be a fairly common rust area for these cars.
The 53 I just bought has a couple small floor pan holes and some in the rear mostly where the trunk latches and behind the rear wheels. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Thanks for the info. I'm not a fan of PG's or autos in general. I'll buy a PG car if it is a deal and a nice and solid, cause I got T5 in the basement. The 60-65 mph is fine, I have other OT cars for going fast. I plan to spend the cash for a good car, that I can just add gas and drive home, I learned that if you can't play with your new toy, you get bored with it pretty fast. I've had an OT project car tore apart for 4 years and haven't touched it in 2 years.
All 3 speed cars had 4:11 gears in the rear differential, the powerglide cars were equipped with 3:73 gears I believe so that would be an advantage for highway speed. They are a direct swap. 49-50 had Huck brakes, 51-54 used the modern Bendix brakes, non of which are self adjusting. Rust in the usual places, lower front fenders behind wheel opening, rockers (inner and outer), sheet metal behind the grille, marker lamp housings on '54's, rear wheel opening ahead and behind, panel below trunk lid, trunk floor, etc.
One thing not brought up yet is the vin number. It was common on '49-'52 Chevy's to be titled with the serial number from the original engine (not the door pillar vin tag). So long as it has the original engine you are safe. But in my case, they upgraded to a 235 six and never re-titled the car. Ended up having to take it to the state patrol for inspection. Fortunately with a little wrangling, they changed the vin to the door pillar vin tag without the usual 3 year review. That review could cost you ownership if somebody steps forward and claims it had been stolen. Something to keep in mind.
I have owned two, a 53 and a 51. Both had rust behind the rear stainless (by the rearwheels) and in the rockers (and at least one body mount). floors near the edges of the door are another area to look at close (maybe even ask to remove the door seals to lift the carpet and look under. The main area will be the ahead of the rear fender wheel opening. debris gets kicked up there and builds up and eventually rust away.
Rot areas: Around headlights - fender tops about 8" from rear of fender - lower rear portion of fenders - lower cowl outer sides - rockers - floors from the outside in - lower quarters - all body mounts - A-post can rot out under the gasket and cause rot down the door post, I had one parts car the door fell off from - bottom of rear panel below deck lid - spare tire well - occasionally the hood rots above the hinge areas - door bottoms can also rot out. It's also very very common for the bubble of the rear fender to have dents in it. A NC or southern car that did not see salt should be less rotty than the car I'm using as an example, though, it depends more where it was left parked than anything else. Salt air from the coast is about equally as bad as road salt. On one of those I'd check over the frame rails too, the upper portion of the "top hat" design is thinner metal and can rot out in spots. Repro parts are available to repair: Floor pans - under floor body mounts - rockers - lower quarters - fender bottoms - tail panel - lower doors and door bottoms - gas tanks - and probably some other things. And don't forget when you plan your build that the front suspension unbolts from the frame with eight bolts, making a swap of a Mustang-II style kit, or a Jaguar XJ front end from a donor car, relatively easy and much less work than a frame swap or clip job.
with 49-52's you will either have rust or a repair to the area below the trunk. it is a rare one that has not rotted out in this area. the trunk seal fails, then the water gets in and there is a little channel in this area that holds dirt and water. they like to rust around the rear fenderwells and lower rockers in front of the wheelwells get underneath and look at the body mount braces that go from one rocker to the other. these like to rust where they butt up to the rocker. unless you like electrical troubleshooting I'd try to stay away from one with original cloth covered wiring the first thing you do when you get one should be to get a chevsofthe40's.com catalog. and last but not least, 49 -50's look way better than 51-52's
For the record on gear ratios: '49-'52 standard shift 4.11 '53-'54 standard shift 3.70 '50-'54 Powerglide 3.55
Almost always gone in the back of the truck and the panel under the decklid. The parts are re-popped now by ems, so a relatively east fix though. The floors also, but that is hit or miss.
The wierd one is the A-post rot. I've had three with some signs of rust in there. The gasket must not seal right and let water sit in there - the one it had holes halfway up the post. My Fleetline wasn't too bad, but even it had some surface rust under the gasket on that side. Always on the driver's side - maybe because that door gets used most, the sealer gets brittle and cracks underneath? Who knows. The mounts at the bottom of the door post are not repopped, but they're the same for all so you can always cut them out of a donor. Which is what I was doing with mine before I sold it; a much more solid one turned up in a you-pick yard that lets you bring in sawzalls and I cut everything out of it.
Another spendy item is the windshield glass. fleetlines and styleline glass doesn't interchange. It's been mentioned before, but check for rot in the rockers, rear lower fender, the wheelhouse, all of the floor braces, and the where the rear shocks mount to the body. Check the rear tailpan too. Bring jacks. a flashlight, and coveralls. You're going to spend a lot of time on your back.
Thank you everyone for the great info and tips. I hope to find something this weekend at Fletcher, but I got a good list off CL to check out if I don't.
Now once you do purchase your dream car. plan on doing a 12v wire conversion. I have not seen one that had a factory 6v system worth keeping. either they have been cut to hell or are in bad shape. wiring a car is not difficult with a generic kit most sell. also realize that the stock 6 and closed rearend are only good for about 60 to 65 on the freeway, so you may find yourself wanting to eventually doing a trans and rearend swap. (again not bad with all the kits out there).
I plan on building the car into a mild custom, I just want to start with the best untouched, rust free,and best running car I can afford. I want to be the one to mod it, I like knowing what and how something is done. I will be rewiring the car 12v with a Rebel kit, one came with my parts 54 GMC and I used it in my 54 GMC, I liked it very much. I will be putting the WC T5, I have in it and after a lot of reading today, I located a 91 4x4 S10 rear. I'm still up in the air on other things,cause a lot of it depends on what style and year I end up with. My main thing right now is getting the best car I can drive and play with as soon as I get it. I don't want to start with a basket case. Been there,done that. Again, Thanks for all the info.
Out here on the west side I mostly see rust in the back of the trunk along the edge, also the floor boards and bottom corners of the doors and the back corner windows. Cool thing is now all those parts are made by EMS and their here on the hamb. I have seen a couple 50's chevy pop up on here that were from the east coast and they had alot of rust on the frame. Glass is expensive on these too. I wouldnt worry about the engine being a full pressure or not, most people dont know what that even means. If you get a stick car and the rear from a powerglide you wont have any problems running over 65 and its probably cheaper than swapping everything else out.
I am now about half way thru building a 49 Fleetline...it now runs and moves. You could not pay me enough to do for anyone what I have done to mine...this is my 3rd and finally build. The two before this one was fairly easy....the 55 f100 was the first and easiest and my old 51 shoebox was fairly easy....this one is called the "devil car". It is MII front end, built 283, 700R, pw, pb on the firewall, all new glass and rubber, p ant, S-10 rear which is too narrow for stock 70's 6 in rims, frenched in 59 caddys, and frenched headlight, dash extension, air, elec windshield wiper, etc. A friend of mine just bought a really nice 51 fleetline and said he was going to put a v8, auto, etc ...I told him he was crazy but he had built 10-15 off frame street rods that still are really nice today. He has been over here to see mine at least 3 times and each time...." Jimmy", I wished I had listened to you, I have never had problems with any car I have built until this one". If you don't change anything, just rebuild or repair, then should be a pleasure....the first thing you change.....you will either have the car for sale or pull any existing hair out.
Don't let 68vette scare you away from these cars. It sounds like you want to keep it more stock than him. Rust can be an issue but I wouldn't think it could be all that bad in North Carolina. The 235 is the preferred engine over the 216 but I just did a 490 mile trip last weekend in my 49 with the original un-rebuilt 216 with no problems. I would be more worried about the original cloth wiring. 12 volt is a good upgrade to look into. I would stay away from a Powerglide if possible. If you do end up with a 3 speed 216 car try to find a rearend out of a Powerglide car to install in your car. This takes you from a 4.11 to a 3.55 rear end gear ratio and from a comfortable top speed of 50 mph to 65 mph.
Great advice here, it's hard to find a rust free one. I replaced with EMS parts the door bottoms, rockers, rear panel under the trunk, rear quarters panels driver/pass floors. Check the hood hinges for major movement, you want them to be tight to keep hood alignment. Most Chevys of these years need a lot of work, but they make very cool customs. You can check mine out on my profile page in the albums section. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=31397 CRUISER
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