An important article in Michael Lamm's Special-Interest Autos magazine raised the subject. I wrtote about it in "Richard Howard Stout's Fascinating Article on 1950 GM B and C Bodies" here, a post that included scans of the original article.
More recently, I considered the matter in "What Were General Motors' Body Platforms in the Early 1950s?" here and "General Motors' Short-Lived 1950-1951 Lesser C-body Sedans" here.
My thesis, based entirely on images, and not on GM archival material or input from knowledgeable automobile restorers, is as follows: The B-body Stout referred to was a variation of the new 1950 GM C-body. That's because the true new B-body did not appear until the following model year. That body was used on strong-selling entry level Buicks and Oldsmobiles, whereas the Stout B-body sold poorly after 1950. So I see no strong reason to call it a B-body; it might be called a lesser C-body, but with noticeable passenger compartment greenhouse differences for 4-door sedans.
Today's post deals with some design details I haven't covered before.
Unless noted, images below are of cars listed for sale.
This is the C-body on a 126-inch (3200 mm) wheelbase.
The lesser- C-body on a 122-inch (3099 mm) wheelbase. The difference in length appears to be in the passenger compartment. Front doors seem slightly more narrow. Another difference is windshield upper frames. That of the lesser-C is more rounded, the C-body's is flatter. The same applies for the side-window framing. These lesser-C details are similar to those on the 1951 B-bodies, but not the same.
Another lesser-C, this on a 122-inch (3099 mm) wheelbase.
The new-from-1951 B-body on a 120-inch (3048 mm) wheelbase. The windshield framing is similar to that of the lesser-C's, but the slant is less steep. Also note the different shape of the front door forward cutline Clearly this B-body is not the same as Stout's B-body despite the superficial windshield area similarities.
Another B-body on a 121.5-inch (3076 mm) wheelbase.
Now for some hardtop convertible comparisons. This is the C-body version.
And the lesser-C: here the windshields are the same, unlike the sedan situation discussed above.
The B-body hardtop's windshield setting is similar to the C-body's, but the slant is less, as on the sedans.
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