I have what I believe to be a 1940 Chevy Coupe, it has a gangster grille and all the looks of a 40 coupe, till we get to the trunk lid....... My hinges are on the inside of the trunk compartment. I've been told that 39's were inside, 40 were outside, nice big chrome suckers. So, What is it? What I think is that the 1940 2 door sedan and the 40 convertible had the exterior hinges and the coupe had them inside. Somebody set me straight, I need a trunk lid, the right trunk lid. Thanks in advance, Joe
My 39 had chrome hinges on the outside. Generally as time went on, things got hidden....so it makes no sense that a 39 would have hidden hinges,and a 40 would have them outside (on the same bodystyle of car). But also some guys put hidden hinges in. You're gonna have to give us some pictures
It's hard to tell on my phone but I don't see the raised lower edge at the bottom of the doors or the place for the rocker trim so I guess it had running boards. It's not 41 and up
A picture of the grill and front fenders would help. I believe the rear fenders on the 40-41 are the same shape and those look like 38-39. On my 41 the back of the rear fenders are more flat.
It's a '40. It's obviously had some work, it would have originally had narrow stainless trim around the windshield and side windows, not the rear window. It would have had stainless belt line trim also, the Master 85 shell and doors had an embossed rib, no trim. Master series business coupes had the gas tank in the rear seat area and the filler in the passenger's rear quarter. Deluxe had the tank under the trunk floor and filler in the passenger's side rear fender. All '40 models had exterior trunk hinges. '40 had running boards, '41 and up had rockers. Look around inside the body shell and doors, I'm sure you'll find evidence of trim holes having been filled. Edit: The '40 was a one- year car. 37- 39's were much the same, shared a lot of parts, 41- 48's were much the same also. I had a '40 two door, now have a '40 Deluxe coupe.
OP's added a couple pics of the front end. Grille and hood trim are all stock, except that the bull nose strip would have been chromed. The crank hole cover is a hard piece to find.
I didn't coin the name Gangster Grille, That's how Chevy's of the 40's refer to it, take it up with them!