interchangeablity of 46 chevy caddy parts

i have a 46 caddy 4 door sedan, i have no interest in restoring it!!
i have access to a 46 chevy fleetline humpback that is a decent candidate to restore.
so i started thinking , i wonder if i could rebadge the chevy and make a 2 dr humpback caddy out of it?
so my question is this, with the exception of changes to the body for different grilles and trim, are the body panels basically the same for all gm cars of that vintage?
would the caddy front clip be a bolt on to the chevy or are they completely different?

 

No, they are not. As with most manufacturers, GM used a series of bodies, A body, B body, C body, to build their line of cars. There is commonality between makes within the body series. For instance, the standard '46 Chevy Coupe, not the Aerosedan you are rerring to, shares a lot of it's sheetmetal with the lower line Olds and Pontiac coupes of the period. Same for Convertibles and some sedans. But, that is mostly limited to doors, roof skins, glass, deck lids and some other interior structure. GM makes of the day had unique frames, running gear, different wheelbases and so on even within a given series (A body).

Your Caddy is probably a "C" body, certainly at least a "B", and is TOTALLY incompatible with the Chevy "A" in any dimension you care to measure.

To illustrate my point further from personal experience. I am a '41 Buick fan. I have a few '41 Special Sedanets (fastback or hunpback as you refer to them). They are "B" body cars. Share the general dimensions with Pontiac, Olds and Series 61 Cadillac. (Series 62 Cadillac is "C" body). I also have a relatively rare '41 Buick Special Sport Coupe which is an "A" body, looks like a '41 Chevy from the windshield back, but is all Buick under the skin. The "A" body cowl is 5 inches narrower than the cowls on my "B" body '41's. '41 Chevys have a wheelbase of about 115" or so, give or take an inch, my "A" body Buick is 118.5" and the "B" body models are 121.5". Not much opportunity for sheetmetal interchange there and that is what would confront you with the Chev/Caddy stuff.

Now, that is not to say you couldn't "adopt" some of the Caddy styling elements, the grille for instance, or taillights, but be prepared for mucho modification to sheetmetal to make them fit and look right. My point is, they just won't 'bolt on'.

Ray

 

Sell the Caddy to someone who wants it, and build the Chevy, if that's what you want.

 

well i guess that settles that!
fuck it!
thanks

 

will do!!