I need some replacement parts for a 53 Pontiac I just bought. I’m very new at the restoration game and was wondering if anyone knows which parts on a 53 Chevy might also fit the Pontiac? Right now I’m looking at fenders, but know there will be more!
If you haven’t looked into it yet, Hemmings Motor News is a great publication for finding most any part you will need for your car. I have used them for my 1949 Cadillac and others I know have used them for much more obscure cars. Check out www.hemmings.com.
Pontiac and Chevrolet in 1953 both used the GM A-body. In looking at the pictures I have, the fenders look as though they have the same shape, but with different trim. The Pontiac was on a longer wheelbase, so the extra length may have been in the front fenders. My guess would be that these parts wouldn’t interchange very easily. Salvage yards used to have books on parts interchangeability, so an old salvage yard worker or an old body shop technician might know whether you could use the Chevrolet front fender on the Pontiac.
On the other hand, the Pontiacs made and sold in Canada were essentially Chevrolets. I remember seeing a 1954 Canadian Pontiac and I thought someone had built one car out of two wrecks. The rear end was a Chevrolet, but the trim and grille was that of a Pontiac. The chassis of the Canadian Pontiac was a Chevrolet chassis. In 1963, I had a fellow graduate student from Canada that had a 1963 Pontiac made in Canada. It had the Chevrolet 283 engine and Powerglide transmission. There is more likelihood that the Chevrolet and Canadian Pontiac parts will interchange.
Oldog,
While no doubt there are some on here that know and perhaps have even restored vehicles, the people on this site I’m going to give you do it all the time. It also has sections for parts, etc.
http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb
I think it depends on whether the Pontiac is the six or straight eight. The six was for all intents and purposes a gussied up Chevy. My grandmother had the eight. It was a much longer and heavier car. The classic land yacht from that era. Had an Indian head hood ornament that lit up.
The Pontiac 6 and the Pontiac 8 had the same bodies and chassis in 1953. In 1954, Pontiac brought out the Star Chief which was on a 124" wheeelbase. This was the series 28 and was available only with the 8 cylinder engine. The other Pontiacs were on a 122" wheelbase and consisted of the Chieftain series 25 six cylinder and the Chieftan series 27 eight cyliner. The Chieftain series 25 and series 27 were carried over from 1953. There was no longer wheelbase Pontiac in 1953. The 6 and 8 cylinder Pontiac engines through 1954 were inline flathead engines. These engines were both dropped in 1955 in favor of an overhead valve V-8.
For Pontiacs manufactured between 1949 and 1953 there was only one wheelbase and the Pontiacs were available with the inline 6 or the inline 8. From 1946 through 1948, the Pontiacs had two different bodies–the GM A body and the GM B body. The A body was shared with Chevrolet and the 60 series Oldmobiles. The B body was shared with the 70 series Oldsmobiles and the Buick Special. Both bodies types in the Pontiac were available with either the inline 6 or the inline 8. My first car was a 1947 Pontiac with the bigger B body–a fastback 2 door with a 6 cylinder engine. After WW II, the 8 cylinder outsold the 6 cylinder and by 1953, 6 cylinder Pontiacs were rather rare. In 1948, Pontiac offered the GM hydramatic with both the 6 cylinder and the 8 cylinder.
Canadian Pontiacs are a different story. They were essentially Chevrolets in this time period.
You might check eBay for old Hollander Interchange manuals, which is what a lot of salvage yards use.
Some libraries have Hollander manuals in their reference sections also.
Our libary has Hollanders but I cannot check this for you since the library is currently closed due to some storm damage and a moron filing an ADA lawsuit against the library at about the same time as the storm damage occurred. It may be a while before the library is repaired or opened.