47-55.1 Anyone extend 1950 Suburban or panel rear fenders

[Thrill4130]

Just starting to start on my 1951 Chevy Carryall and I'm thinking of stretching out my rear fenders. Ive been looking for pictures of anyone that has stretched these out length wise not width. My idea is to add 4 inches in the middle then also raise it 2 to 3 inches. This is a rust bucket so it would help me not have to rebuild that body line that's all rusted out. Also I always kind of felt the little rear fenders looked a little small. I plan to use some 30.5" diameter 215/85r16 dirt knobby tire front and rear so I am hoping this makes fenders look proportional. Im also hoping this makes the rear of Suburban not look like its so tall in the rear since the back gets taller in the rear if you look at the drip rail.
Thanks for any help. Plus Id love to see any other dirt tire or 4x4 suburban builds.

[unclebrad]

I photoshopped this picture I found online. I extended rear fender from just behind the back of the wheel arch, so it reaches just about to the bumper. Second image is the original.

[fauXGT]

Originally Posted by unclebrad

I photoshopped this picture I found online. I extended rear fender from just behind the back of the wheel arch, so it reaches just about to the bumper. Second image is the original.

Way to go there, Mr Kindig.

Looks like it's factory.

[fauXGT]

But just stretching the fender looks like it creates a flater top edge, which throws off compared to the front fenders sweeping arch. It would also stretch the wheel opening. The z cut could be utilized, but would be very difficultly scary.
I would rather try to fix existing panels than to drastically modify and make look factory some things that are curvy in all directions...unless you've got it figured out already.

[leegreen]

I'd worry that adding 2 inches vertically into the fender would make the fender look disproportionate.

I think this COE/suburban mashup has the rear fenders made taller : https://www.reddit.com/r/car/comment...does/#lightbox

I came across a suburban project online somewhere that was badly rusted up the sides of the back and around the fenders, the builder cut it all off and was grafting on the rear quarters , taillights and door skins from a early 50s Chevrolet 4dr sedan. I thought it was looking pretty good and filed away the possibility of saving a suburban no-one else wanted that way. A lot of metal working though.

[Thrill4130]

Yeah I agree I hope it doesn’t make it look like a big flat spot in the arch also.

Thanks for the photo shop pictures.

Yeah I agree it’s going to be a bunch of metal work either way I go. I’m going to try to take a picture of front fender next to rear fender to see proportional differences. I feel the rear is a good amount smaller then front.

This suburban the only descent metal is on the roof and the plywood seems to be strongest thing left so I don’t feel bad tastefully modifying this project.

[Second Series]

215/85R16 tires will fit good but are typically load range E meaning a hard ride unless you modify the suspension. I ran 265/75R16 @ 31.65”x10.43” on my 1-ton, those were not as big as the original bias ply tires, but the biggest I could get at the time. That rode like a buck board. I’ve swapped out to ¾ ton suspension and have 225/75R16 @ 29.29”x8.86”. Those are Load range E, but a soft ride with the lighter suspension. The tire salesman suggested 235/85R16 @ 31.73”x9.25” but I felt that would be too wide up front with my wider frontend. Here are some pictures.