Hi All,
Been chasing leads for a replacement left front fender for a '55 Coupe and have a few possibles. One '58 and a '59 I am told. These later fenders have some inner splash guard parts that I am told can be removed and then they should fit a '55. Is this true or will there be problems using a later fender on a '55?
Thanks in advance for all opinions.
Henry Votel Forest Lake, MN
I'll send you a pic of the one I have tomorrow afternoon.
Bob40
Other than the parklight bolt holes in fender, the fenders are the same '53 - '64. The inner fender where the grill bolts on is unique to the '55. Also, the relief (for the verticle hood spring) in the top-back of the fender was changed at some point in time. I cant figure out why they changed it because it doesn't seem to bother anything when you mix and match fenders.
The RH '64 inner liner is different, due to the inclusion of the heater box.
"Jerry Forrester" wrotet...
I thought the '63 and '64 GT's shared a right inner fender.
Could be... I didn't pick all the nits in here...Just some of them Jeff
"Jerry Forrester" wrote...
The outer fender will fit w/o problems, but the issue is the inner fender. Personal experience. The front portion of the inner fender is extremenly different, regarding core support area and grille/parking light area. I found a perfect pair of '56 fenders (sold today), and intended to switch the inner fenders. To experiment, I bought a junk fender to work with. Studebaker did a great job of spot welding the inner and outer fenders, it is a real effort, with so many holes to drill out the spot welds, and those in the front portion are very hard to get to,that I decided to find '55 fenders, which I finally did, by purchasing a parts car. Believe me, it can be done, but it is labor intensive and would be difficult, though not impossible to switch the inner fender. Review a parts manual, to determine the many differences in the front section. At that time, I was new to Studes, and asked many old timers, which gave me many differing answers, innocenly. For what it is worth, I was suprised that many did not realize the extreme difference. tempestan
I put a "near NOS" driver side fender on my '53. I think it had been on a GT hawk due to the trim holes I had to fill in. Must have been a replacement fender since the holes were obviously drilled and filed, not stamped. The folded over part that spot welds to the apron or inner fender was different at the back near where the hood hinge is. I had to make a couple of cuts and flatten it back there and reweld before it would mate up to my original apron. The other difference from my '53 fender was a slot for the headlight bezel tab at the top. The headlight bucket had a protrusion and slot for that tab on the bucket I used (off a '55 I think since it was aluminum vs the rusted out steel '53 one). Other than those 2 items, it was the same as the '53 fender.
Jeff in ND
I think there are about 4 different air deflectors between 53 thru 64 C+K.not sure but I think with minor mods you can transform any one to another.
I believe so. I have a GT fender and it does not have the heater box so it must be from a '62.
JT
Jeff Rice wrote:
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