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Does anyone have any information on 1951 Chevrolets supposedly built in October and November of 1951 that had color combination changes and 1952 rear fender side mouldings?

Rumor has it that late 1951 Chevrolets made in October and November of 1951 had different paint color cominbinations that were not used earlier in the year, and that the late 1951 models had 1952 rear fender side mouldings. True or not true?

Never heard of it. I don't think Chevrolet would ever do that. Do you remember roll out day back then? Cover the cars and dealership windows, then surprise everyone on rollout day? Why would the give away half the secrets before then? I think that's what people make up about their cars when they want to talk about how "rare" they are. There's a guy on Chevytalk that swears his '52 was so early it got a '51 grille. B.S…. There's no way anyone would be able to get a car with such a defining style piece as a grille wrong for that year. I think the same would go for the rear fender trim too.

I thought the same thing myself when I heard the rumor but, Chevrolet has done some strange things in the past so I just wanted to confirm if the rumor was true or not.

However, over the years, as my memory recalls, I have seen one or two 1951 Chevrolets with the 1952 rear fender side trim. I always assumed that the trim was added to the cars by their owners. Then, today, a friend of mine that is working on a 1951 Bel Air said that his son found the above information about the late 1951 Chevrolets having 1952 rear fender side trim on the Internet from some Chevrolet talk site. Obviously, it wasn't Chevy Chatter.

By the way, in the past I have also seen numerous 1952 Chevrolets with 1951 grilles and visa versa. It is obvious that the grilles have been changed by the owners of the vehicles.

http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/265886/post/2112781/hl//fromsearch/1/#2112781

Have a read through this…
I'm fairly certain that trim was all changed around on these cars due to the Korean war chrome. I bet my car had about 4000 miles on it by 1955, was stored indoors and had all of the chrome on the front end replaced or rechromed due to it flaking off.

It seems so many conversations appear, about the "rare cars" folks have purchased, the "one offs", due to the factory changes, from the norm, as we have read in this highlighted Chevy Talk thread.

However, there is a total disregard for what has happened to that Chevy, over the past 60 plus years. It didn't sit inside a glass covered bowl.

Even though 1951 production was before the "computer era", there is no reason to believe the production managers ordered "piles" of mldgs, motors, seats, etc., without any regard as to how many vehicles were being manufactured.

1951 may have been before computers, but the folks in charge knew how many parts they needed.

This rumor is worse that the 300 1929 you know whats.
The only obivous exterior misd year change on a 1951 is the elemination of the rear quarter crown mouldings.
Mid year there were two minor paint changes. Aspen Green (light) and Shadow Gray (dark) mixing formulas was changed. The average person would never detect the differenc.
Chevrolet never threw last years or next years parts on a car. If a running change of importance was made it is well documented in the Service News and the service bulletins.
Aat this time I am working on n article listing the various minor running changes made in 1951.

Don't know if it is worse or not but this rumor for 1951 is probably equal to the "only 300 made" rumor for 1929. The problem is that some of the dudes that own these cars (especially the 1929 convertible landau) insist that these rumors are true even when documentation proves otherwise.

Okay, here is food for thought:

I checked out a whole hillside of 1951 Chevrolets yesterday from sedans to Bel Air's, including a convertible, a station wagon and a sedan delivery. Of the two Bel Airs on site, one was made in November of 1951 and it had the 1952 rear fender side mouldings in place. One of the mouldings was just sitting in the holes and not attached so I pulled off the moulding and checked out the holes in the rear fender for the moulding. The holes appeared to be factory holes and not hand drilled. Also, the holes for the "DeLuxe" name plate that appears on side of the rear fenders for 1952 were on both rear fenders of this 1951 Bel Air as well, and those holes were definitely factory. The "DeLuxe" name plates were missing from both fenders however.

The vehicle had a paint code number of 464 (it is not listed in the 1941-52 paint combination chart) which would be ...Aspen Green on the upper body and Fathom Green on the lower body.

The plot thickens!

Aspen Green and Shadow Gray mixing formula was changed in April of 1951 as well as was the paint number. This change is listed in the 1951 Service News but never made in the parts book.
I have never heard of the 1952 trim being installed on a late 1951 and doubt very much if it was "factory".
I will be contacting Bill D., the 1951 tech. advisor and get his thoughts. Bill and I have often discused things like this and he has never mentioned the trim.

Deluxe name plates.....seems doubtful if Chevrolet would have put Deluxe on both the front fender moulding and again on the quarter panel,door.
At a time they were eleminating "metal" they would have added trim.

Yes, it would be interesting to see what Bill is able to tell you about the 1952 rear fender trim on the November 1951 Chevrolets. I'm not saying it is correct, but from what I observed on the Bel Air that I saw yesterday it sure looked like it was installed by the factory.

The "DeLuxe" emblem that was originally on each rear fender on this car is baffling too. Counting this Bel Air, I have now seen three 1951 Chevrolets with the 1952 rear fender trim in place. When I viewed the first one years ago I figured that it was definitely something a previous owner installed on the car to "doll" it up.....but when I viewed another 1951 with this same trim I began to wonder. And, now, yesterday I have seen a third 1951 with the exact same 1952 rear fender trim. I am wondering now if these cars are actually real.....

I agree and I thought the same thing myself when I viewed the car. It is totally redundant to have the "DeLuxe" emblem on the rear fender when "DeLuxe" is already on the front fender moulding.

Off topic, but congrats on achieving the 25,000 level of posts.

Your insight and knowledge is most interesting and always most welcome.

Thank you !

I have contacted Bill.....waiting for a reply.

Thanks bobg1951chevy! I appreciate it.

Gene: Hopefully Bill will be able to come up with something definite on the '52 moulding issue.

While we are waiting I just want to add.
It was not unusual back then for an owner to add some of the next years trim. Also more than one car got a later year clip welded on the rear end due to an wreck. Even changing bodies was not unheard of.
The fact that the holes looked factory was a good observatio.
Finding two; was there a dealer in the area decking out the demonstors at the end of the year.
Perhaps a mystery that will never be solved.
Did you get any pictures?

Not to muddy up the water but I have seen some 51's listed on Ebay that have had 52 grilles and rear trim. Perhaps it was an easy way for someone back then to "update" their car.

Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera but I will be going back again.

One thing that bothers me is that the three 1951 Chevrolets that I have seen (two years ago and the one yesterday) that had the 1952 rear fender trim, also had, as I remember, the "DeLuxe" emblem on the fenders too. I can probably see maybe someone adding the 1952 rear fender moulding to a 1951, but adding the "DeLuxe" emblem to the fenders as well is probably more than just a coincidence.

And, as rumor has it, the factory '51 Chevrolets that have the '52 rear fender mouldings were supposedly made in October and November. The '51 Bel Air that I saw yesterday that has the '52 rear fender mouldings was made in November. Again, that seems to be more than just another coincidence.

I had a friend forward an email to me with a bunch of photos of cars from Cuba. There were quite a few Chevys with '51 grilles and '52 rear fender trim...

Post them, for us to see. Thanks.

Or are they 1952 cars with 1951 grilles?
Not unusual to see the 1949 and 1950 and the 1951 and 1952 with each others grilles.
Years ago it was common to put a grille or front clip on a almost matching year after the car had front damage and was no longer worth mutch.
When these cars were 7 or 8 years old they were very outdated and not worth much except for cheap transportation.

Don't trust anything you see on Cuban cars. They have all been fixed with parts from any year. None of them are "restored", they are all "fixed up"…

Click here for Cuban cars

I didn't know if they were '51s with '52 trim, or '52s with '51 grilles. I just thought it was interesting that there were so many of them like that. I also thought it was interesting that so many of them had the '52 rear fender trim, but no stone shields...

Gene: Any word from Bill yet regarding this subject?

Well, here they are. Are thought there were more than two (or three?).

http://georgemarks.com/Cars%20of%20Cuba/index.html