General inquiry

[Kaleb]

I had no other way of putting this in the title, some may have noticed in the off topic section that my father and I are starting a fabrication shop.

My inquiry is on the model of trucks and years. I know some cars say mustang's and camaro's have their body styles for certain years. I'm looking for all makes and models mainly the 4x4's. What body styles were the same? If that makes sense. This is the first step I have to make, my next step is getting the measurements for the bumpers I don't want to measure every single year and model of truck out there. Any help would be appreciated.

[mikemodeler]

Check out LMC catalogs, you can probably answer a bunch of your questions there.

[Kaleb]

Thank you, it seems that the newer trucks such as chevy goes from '97 to current. I know they have different styles so wouldn't the measurements be different.

[37 caddy]

you might be able to check some of the aftermarket body panel catalogs,or even car-part.com to get a interchange on some of the stuff,There are a lot of different models of each kind of vehicle too.some of the parts are the same and others are year specific.What exactly are you needing these for ?. harvey

[tbill]

chevy trucks from 73-87 are 'mostly' the same, other than the front fenders have some subtle changes in the 'body line', front of the hood edge, head light set up, and interior fabric/seat patterns [from what I remember anyway].

88 -98 again share a lot of the same stuff with minor changes, plus the difference between work truck and 'regular' truck [w/t has single headlamps, while others have composite set up]

99-2002. fairly the same [although I think the w/t had the 'old' body style, and the introduction of the avalanche]

2003, change in grille and headlights, [avalanche style]

change again in 2007.

I am probably not 100% accurate here, but trying to give a body style range off of sketchy memory.....

hope it helps some.

[olsbooks]

Another thing to try is KBB.com (kelley blue book). They have pix for each model year usually taken from OEM brochures so you can pick/point out some of the finer changes (grilles, tail lights, etc) that take place from year to year. I have not ever validated the accuracy of it, but for "real pix" it certainly is worth a try. And yes, LMC is an EXCELLENT source.

Dimensionally, there is very very rarely any change in dimensions without a noticeable change (restyle) in sheetmetal.

If all else fails, go by the windshield part numbers in LMC. That will allow you to define complete restyles as that is somewhat of a sacred cow.

Good luck.

Edited February 2, 2014 by olsbooks

[Kaleb]

Tom that helped thank you, the reason is I need measurements for a bumper I'm going to build for these trucks. I know that subtle changes can effect the whole thing. This is the reason for checking what body styles go with the years such as '10 to '14 for example.