1954 Roadmaster

[Hawkydog]

Just bought this beast. New to the classis car arena. I have been offered some 1956 body parts, does anyone know if the doors, dash and mouldings will interchange?

[stubbe]

Just bought this beast. New to the classis car arena. I have been offered some 1956 body parts, does anyone know if the doors, dash and mouldings will interchange?

Hi.54 owner.Roadmaster have 4 portholes if i mind it right.
Whats the engine ,tranny in your ride?
I have a Super 3 portholes,322 nailhead,dynaflow tranny.
The roadmaster and super are same length,take measure of
fenders,hood and many more when you seek parts.
A good ride,I have nothing but joy whit my 54 model 56c for
33 years.
cheers from Stubbe in Sweden.

[Hawkydog]

Hi.54 owner.Roadmaster have 4 portholes if i mind it right.
Whats the engine ,tranny in your ride?
I have a Super 3 portholes,322 nailhead,dynaflow tranny.
The roadmaster and super are same length,take measure of
fenders,hood and many more when you seek parts.
A good ride,I have nothing but joy whit my 54 model 56c for
33 years.
cheers from Stubbe in Sweden.

The paperwork says roadmaster. Maybe its wrong, some of the parts appear to have been changed (fenders?). Do you know if the super and roadmaster front doors can be swapped? I have a good chancwe to upgrade to electric windows and get a few extra's. My car has has a 1974 small block olds. I also have air bags front and rear, but the ride is still nice, it has seats out of a 70's cadillac, so they are nice and comfy and actually look OK. Thanks for the information.

[gathurm]

Just bought this beast. New to the classis car arena. I have been offered some 1956 body parts, does anyone know if the doors, dash and mouldings will interchange?

I don't know about the '56, but I have a complete '55 Roadmaster 2dr HD project I'm not going to do. Has clear title. Would be interested in selling it. Located in Spokane WA.

Gregg Thurman
509/443-5783 res
208/640-1608 cell

[Tom Barnes]

In the photo it appears to be a two door "post" sedan. If that's so, it has to be a Special. There should be a "color and trim" plate fastened to the firewall on the engine side. It will say which model it is. A two digit number such as: 41, 56, 76R etc. Those two numbers are the model number, sometimes there's a letter after the number. If the 2 digit number starts with a 4, then it's called a 40 series, a 5 is a 50 series and so on. 40 series cars are Specials, 50 series cars are Supers, 60 series cars are Centurys and 70 series cars are Roadmasters. The second digit is the specific body style. The combined two numbers are called the "model number". For some reason this confuses a lot of people. They don't see the difference between "series" and "model". So now you're an expert in such matters.

All 1954 Buicks (except Skylark) had 3 ventaports (portholes) except the Roadmaster, it had 4. As for interchanging between the years 1954, 55 and 56, Not too many exterior things are the same, even though they share the same "basic" body. You should know that series 40 and 60 are the same body within the same year. Series 50 and 70 are the same body within the same year. So, most 1955 Special and Century stuff interchanges, most 1954 Roadmaster and Super stuff interchanges etc. Notice that 50 and 70 series cars have a different body shell from 40 and 60 cars in all these years. The 1954 Skylark was essentally a customized Century and really dosen't have anything to do with your car.

There are a number of doors that interchange between Buick and Oldsmobile for the years 1954, 55 and 56. I can find out for you if you're in luck or not, but I need to know exacrly which model you have. Also, maybe you don't know but, your transmission and rear end are probably not Buick. So, someone did a lot of work. Your car came with a closed drive line and a transmission to fit. The Olds engine will not hook up to that Buick transmission (Dynaflow). So if they used the Olds transmission too, they had to change the driveline, then of course, the rear end. I love to see "hot rodded" and "customized" Buicks, But I'm real partial to the "naiheads".

You mentioned moldings and dash. These items might have to Buick specific whereas there might be an Oldsmobile door that fits. The moldings you will just have to look at. I don't know of any other way to tell. Maybe after we find out which model both cars are, I could check some old part numbers and tell that way. The dash? I don't know of a way to check other than just trying to do it. If we find that both cars are of the same basic body, I think there's a very good chance you could make the swap. But, you'd have to change absolutely everything. I'm not sure what the advantage would be.

If you respond to this post, fine, I'll watch for it. But I don't get a chance to come to this website often so if you like, you can email me direct with your model number and I will tell you exactly which doors will fit. My email address is 'redlinetow@aol.com'. Good luck with your project.