The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Can I put a '48 grill on my '54

I have a 1954 3100, and I would like to install a '48 grill. Will the grill line up with the fenders and hood? Once in place will I just need to fill in some holes where the '53 grill sit (mark lights and such).
Thanks,
Brian

LOL, I'm sorry,over at Hotrodders.com I thought you said it was a 54, you said 53. 47-53 WILL innerchange. All fenders, hoods, grilles, etc will innerchange without a problem. The rad support is different in 47-48 (I believe those years) but other than that all parts are basically the same.

Brian

Wait a minute, I just went back over there and you DID say 54. What do you have, a 53 or a 54?

Brian

Sorry, it is a '54 I'll go back and change that.

Blasphemy!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Why would you want to do such a thing?!?!?


A 54 is a 54! Don't cope out and make it a run of the mill AD - sorry guys.

The 54 grill is what makes the truck. Don;'t change it!

I can't get the '54 into NSRA events. That is the reason I'm changing it...I'll give you the '54 grill if you want.

Send me a PM with the price and we may be able to do the deed. To make the early grill fit you will have to change the front fenders for 53 or earlier fenders. Do you want to sell the fenders too?

The 54 fenders are rounded in the top corner for the grill where the early grill has a right angle in that area.

What are the rules for the NSRA?

NSRA is pre '48

Anyone who really knows these trucks will still be able to tell what you've done. The cab will still look like a '54 to a knowledgable eye.

All you would have to do is look at the one piece windshield.

The 54 dash, grill, windsheild and bed are different from the 47-53. The front fenders look the same but under the grill there are recesses in the fenders for the turn signals on the 54 and the corners where the grill goes are rounded not square, like the 47-53.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: WHY ???
GO buy a 47-53 if you want that bolt

I seen plenty of 54's at Kalamazoo NSRA Nats last year. Seen the Ford guys doing the same thing with their pickups. Just write down what ever year you want...

-RT1
*

Its your truck and you do whatever the hell you want with it. There are people out there that are constantly going to tell you what to do with YOUR truck but in the end it is yours and whatever floats your boat. Plus a 48 grille on a 54 isn't the worst thing anybody has ever done to one of these things by far. Chopped top, Convertible, Extended Cab(YUCK!!) etc, etc,.

LOL, Rodfather, sorry, I forgot what a tough crowd this is. Listen guys, there were a ZILLION of these trucks made. He is keeping one more on the road, so what if it has a different grille.

I repect the hell out of you guys wanting to keep it original, but think of it this way, one more "rodded" means yours is all the more rare.

Sure most anyone will know that the one piece glass is a 54 but putting a 54 cab on the early truck is an age long custom mod so it is not much thought of as a "non-48".

Rodfather, I first drove my 48 (it really is a 48) to Rod runs back in the late seventies. I was TURNED AWAY from a NUMBER of them, and harrassed when I was there at a few! I am not kidding, I was turned away, even though I had the registration saying it was a 48! They would say it was "doctored". Most people at the time didn't even know these trucks were built in 47-48 so in their mind every one of them was a post-48. You can not believe the crap I put up with. Here I had this chopped top, hot inline six powered HOT ROD getting bitched at and sitting next to me would be a fiberglass car with hardly a part on it made prior to 1949 and he was just fine. PIZZZED me off.

That is all different now, the AD is common at these shows.

Build it anyway you want and have fun.

Brian

I thought Rodfather wanted his truck to "look" like a 1948 Chevy truck so he could enter the NSRA events. I agree, do what you want with YOUR truck, but if you think putting the 47-53 fenders & grill on your 54 will make it "look" like a 1948, well there are a multitude of differences (see above). (P.S. my "49" truck has many different year truck & car parts on it.)

The most well known AD of all, possibly the most well known custom car, most certainly the most well known Chevy truck of all time was a 52 (as I remember) with a 54 cab. It wasn't a "54", it was a "52". It wasn't a 54 trying to look like a 52, it was a 52 trying to look like a 54.

As we have learned by the ZILLIONS of repro bodies and complete cars for that matter, it is more of the "Spirit" of the pre-48 car that lives at these NSRA events (I wish we still had NSRA events in my area, they are all GoodGuys) and a 54 that looks like a 48 along with the owners spirit is just fine.

Brian