1965-442

My dad and I have a 65 442 Holiday Coupe. The rear quarters and rear wheel wells are rusted beyond our repair skills.


We have been looking for another body, like an F85 or cutlass to rebuild this car. Finding a lot more post cars than coupes..


What would have to be done to a post body to run our holiday coupe doors etc.? Just removing the post?

stan 65 cutlass

the doors are about the only thing not interchangeable on your car, honestly these days the post cars are more desireable than our hardtops

1965-442

Well.. the old man is stuck on the holiday coupe.


So if we found a post body, we could cut the post out and use our doors & glass etc?


Anyone know of a build thread on this? I tried the search..

stan 65 cutlass

no, i think your hardtop doors will only interchange with a convertible
http://w29.boards.net/
heres another site, try your question there, alot more knowledgeable guys than myself

joe_padavano

The basic outer sheet metal panels are the same, however you can't just "cut the post out", you need to carefully transfer the hardtop window seal supports and other metal from the original to the donor body. The rear quarter window mechanisms and guides are completely different on the two bodies, as is the glass and the fact that the HT quarter window seals to the door glass (unlike the post car). This can certainly be done. It's a LOT of careful cutting and welding. It might be a lot easier to use the post quarters on the HT shell, for example.

1965-442

Posted the same question on the w29 boards, thanks stan!


Joe, yeah I figured there would be some metal to transfer there.. just wondered how tough it would be, if it was even possible. We bought floor pans and trunk pans for this car, then we started sanding around the rear wheel arches.. lots of bondo was found and the car is pretty far gone back there. Thought about cutting up some front fenders to repair but it's pretty bad!


There are a lot of 65's out there, just need to find the right one. Find a good body close to us and it's a post.. go figure. Too bad they don't make rear quarters. ugh

oldstata

Koda

This falls into the "it can be done, but why would you" category. Sure, you can do it, but it will probably never be perfectly right, and it would be a lot of time and effort for not much gain. I would look for a good hardtop donor in the west, and do a rebody.