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Parked For 48 Years: 1946 Chevrolet Stylemaster

1946 Chevrolet Stylemaster

Stylemaster is a very fitting name for this lovely Chevrolet 2 door sedan! It’s loaded with style and great looks. Did I mention it’s been parked in a dealership for the past 48 years and looks to be highly original? The seller states it’s in average condition, but I think it’s in above average shape for a 70 year old classic! It has 111,389 miles on it, so it shows some wear and tear, but it really doesn’t look bad. Clean up the interior, polish all the trim up and you’d have one great looking driver. Be sure to take a closer peek at this Chevy here on eBay in Portage, Pennsylvania with a BIN of $5k and bidding starting at $2k.

1946 Chevrolet Interior

I’d really love to hear the story of how it came to be parked in a dealership for nearly 50 years! Did it come in for service and never leave? Or was it taken in on trade in and then never sold? It would sure be fun to find out what happened.

1946 Chevrolet Seat

The interior needs some cleaning up, but looks original and complete. I’d replace the seat covers, but you could clean them up and use it as is. I love the wooden dash and door panels, what a cool feature! Like they say, they just don’t build things like they use to.

1946 Chevrolet Chassis

While the outside and interior look pretty good, the underside is starting to look rusty. Hopefully it just needs to be cleaned up and treated with rust inhibitor. I’d want to take a closer look at it to make sure there aren’t any issues hiding underneath.

1946 Chevrolet 2 Door Sedan

If it turns out to be solid, it would be one styling classic to hit the road in! So why do you think this Chevy spend 48 years parked in a dealership?

Comments

  1. Avatar Lee Hartman

    Not a 2dr sedan. It’s a club coupe. Decent old car though.

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  2. Avatar Bob

    The grill tells me it’s a 48 not a 46.

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    • Avatar packrat

      A google image search on 1946 and 48 models makes me believe Bob is right on this.

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    • Avatar Leman H. Wilson

      Hi Bob it is a 48 the 46 had a smaller grill and oblong parking lights not round like this one has.

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      • Avatar Rob T.

        Yes! 1946 park lamps were indeed rectangular (w/just a very slight curvature running the entire width of the assembly)……1947 & ’48 were identical, & yet NOT identical to the ’46. So the round lamps just below the headlamps are most likely for aftermarket turn signals. The rare dealer installed accessory directionals, simply utilized the stock park lamps & installed both a double element bulb & the corresponding bulb socket to complete the job. Very tidy,eh? And if course looks MUCH better!!😉

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      • Avatar coby scheldt

        Chevy Grills! One comment stated the ’47 and ’48 were ‘identical.” Not true gear heads. Only the 1948 had the vertical center bar that divided the grill. 1946 and 1942 grills are similar also, but the 1942 version has parking lights mounted half way up the grill surround, on the 1946 the parking lights are tucked away much lower at the very bottom of the grill, just above the final horizontal bar of chrome.

        Like 1
  3. Avatar Texas Tea

    I agree with Bob and packrat. I owned a 46 four door back in 1979. Not the kind of car I would usually buy. However, It came from a little old woman that bought it new. It was the the most silent running motor I’ve ever seen. It had a south wind heater system that actually run on vaporized gasoline. Can you imagine? A little like the old Coleman lanterns. It was a very cool car and drove like a dream. Wish I still had it.

    Too bad the dealer didn’t put more effort in getting this old ride looking better, but I still like it.

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  4. Avatar Dusty Stalz

    Is that painted headlight trim correct? Just doesn’t look right to me.

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  5. Avatar ron tyrrell

    Yes, painted head light rings. I have a 47 sedan delivery and it is painted. This is a 48, pretty much the same as the 47 with a center bar in the grill. Bodies from 41 thru 48 we the same just different chrome.

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  6. Avatar geomechs Member

    I’m fairly confident that this is a ’48 although there wasn’t much difference between the ’46 and ’48. There was still quite the metamorphosis between the ’48 and the ’49.

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  7. Avatar rockribbedrushy

    Not to be too picky, but what about the Buick and the other car next to it?
    The seller has only one car up on ebay. Anything about the other cars?

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  8. Avatar Rick Ambrose

    Looks like a ’48 to me. Wasn’t the front end different in ’46? I had the 2 door Fleetline fastback. Those had a lower profile. Great cars, reliable as heck! Check those knee action shocks for fluid……..

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  9. Avatar memikeyounot

    I was born in a little town east of Reno, NV, called Lovelock in 1949. My parents owned a Chevy like this, baby poop brown as my mother called it. When I was 4, about 1953, she was driving us somewhere, 2 older siblings in the back seat and me sitting against the right front door. I was holding a flat of tomatoes (Keep in mind, I don’t remember the details, but I was told the story many times)

    She made a left turn, my door came open and I fell right to the road. Apparently she couldn’t stop quick enough and I stood up, still holding the tomatoes and crying out loud, and of course I don’t remember it.

    The next year, dad bought a new Studebaker pickup, same color brown..I do remember that. We moved that summer back to Utah, where I am now. Not sure what happened to the Chevy!

    Like 0
    • Avatar Texas Tea

      memikeyounot,

      I had a good laugh from your story. So funny, but I’m glad you survived it. I also had a similar experience and have told it on this website before. We had an old ford wagon and I think it was a two door model. Who knows! Anyway, My mother made a hard right hand turn into a grocery store parking lot. I was standing behind her looking over the seat. The g-force threw me against the door and out I went. I got a rash like you can only imagine, but not run over. After some recovery time I was good as new. lol…………….. I’m sure I grabbed the door handle, and sure enough it flew open.

      Like 0
  10. Avatar Carroll overton

    I remember those years well ! My dad ordered a 47 , year or so later it arrived a 48. Demand exceeded the supply but OH what an exciting day when it came

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  11. Avatar bowlzo

    Four of us went in together on a 46 Chevy 4 door in 1966 – bought it from the corner gas station for $40 – $10 each! Converted the column shifter to a reverse pattern floor shift, then drove it from Sandy Springs, Ga. to Panama City for spring break. After an adventurous return trip that included miles of pushing and countless kick starts, we went “jungle cruising” deep into the suburban woods, eventually ending up stuck in a deep creek at the bottom of a ravine. There was no way the Chevy was going to drive out , so we left it and staggered back to civilization. It may still be there – 50 years later!

    Like 1
  12. Avatar GOPAR

    Josh, back to your original question, “Why do you think this Chevy spent 48 years parked in a dealership?” I think it’s probably because this was not a very sought after body style for many years. Many of these old cars were quickly dated,appearance-wise soon after the new models came out. People traded them in because the wanted something more “in style”. So sometimes the dealership would just assign the car to the back lot or deep inside the shop because there wasn’t much market for them. Stuff would be piled on them, and other vehicles would be parked in front of them and and they just got forgotten about. But now, it’s suddenly 2016 and it has been elevated to “Barn Find” status and suddenly they’re “cool” and desirable again. Sounds reasonable to me.

    Like 0
  13. Avatar Curt

    Very used ’48 club cpe, been repainted with a non factory color, and probably by Earl Sheib…even painted over the headlight trim.
    I always sorta liked that body style, but that car looks like trouble…probably ‘stored’ because of that.
    In 46, the grill was smooth around, in 47, they added the longer horizontal bars that stuck out past the grill, and in 48, they added the vertical center bar…only changes in those years that I know about, but easy to tell the apart from the front.

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  14. Avatar Charles Turner

    The Chevs in ’41 & then again in ’49 & later had the stainless headlamp trim. 1942- 48 Chevs had the painted trim. The same era Pontiac, Olds, etc. had the stainless trim. Love the ’47 & 48 style!

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  15. Avatar Charles Turner

    The old man told me about the ’47 Stylemaster he bought back around 1956 or so…..(his was the “Sport Sedan” as Chevrolet referred to their four door models.) Apparently it was reliable as is imaginable & he said the underseat heater was very efficient in heating the cabin quickly. He owned it as a second car for many moons. Would love to find one myself…….

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  16. Avatar Rob T.

    Colby, you are 100% correct in your statement about the 47/48 grilles. In my statement about 47/48 parts being identical, I was actually referring to not the grille, it was the park lamps. On the subject of factory original headlamp trim, yes, Charles is correct. I would imagine that Chevrolet was the only division to use body color paint instead of stainless would be because of Chevs being the “low man on the totem pole” in GM’s hierarchy…….

    Like 0

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