'54 olds hood+trunk lid diffrences between 88 & 98

[eberhama]

I'm trying to piece together a '54 Starfire convert. out of 2, but neither has a good hood or trunk lid. I was wondering if theres a diffrence between 88's and 98's? I was told 98's hoods and trunks are both longer. I can see where the hood might be, but the trunk? Also, would I be able to use '55 stuff? There seems to be allot of '55's around, but not many 54's. TIA, Matt

[Oldsfan]

'54 88 and 98 hoods should be the same. Fenders are different, but only because of the wheel cut out. 88s are more square in the cut out. 98s have more of a sweep to them to match the rear 1/4 wheel cut out. A hood from a '55 may bolt in, but whether it's going to clear the fenders, hit the hood latch, etc are questionable. Also, it will be visually different - '55s have two ridges coming back from the tips of the hood rocket. I don't think '54s have those.

Trunk lids are probably different from 88s to 98s. 88s have a shorter back end than 98s, so I would imagine the lids would be different. You could probably get away with a '55 98 lid. They both have the chrome molding down the center, but the emblems around the lock cylinders are different. Only a trained eye would know the difference.

Paul