- Seller: Michael M (Contact)
- Location: Dennis, Massachusetts
- Mileage: 47,437 Shown
- Chassis #: W8WH10182
- Title Status: Clean
- Engine: 268 cui Inline-8
- Transmission: Automatic
UPDATE – The seller has added more photos and a video!
This 1952 Pontiac Chieftain demonstrates that there are still great classics hidden in barns and sheds, awaiting the day when enthusiasts bring them into the light, returning them to their rightful place on our roads. This Pontiac is a genuine barn find that not only presents well but is a turnkey proposition. The owner recently took a road trip, and the Chieftain cruised comfortably at highway speeds without issue. He is happy to arrange in-person inspections with appropriate notice, which potential buyers will find encouraging. Its next journey could be to a new home, with the owner listing the Pontiac exclusively with us at Barn Finds Auctions.
When Pontiac launched the Chieftain in 1949, it marked the company’s first new post-war model. The styling was crisp and clean, with the First Generation remaining on sale until 1954. This Chieftain rolled off the line in 1952 and is a genuine barn find. The owner believes it may have been repainted at some point, and despite its hibernation, the Black paint retains an impressive depth of color and shine. The panels are as straight as an arrow, and rust isn’t an issue. The Pontiac has a genuine sense of presence, and its splashes of bright trim provide an ideal contrast to the dark exterior color. The glass is crystal clear, with no evidence of cracks or “fogging.” The winning bidder receives a couple of welcome extras, including a five-layer cover and a 10×20 car storage garage still in its box. Therefore, protecting this classic from the elements will be a piece of cake.
Powering this Pontiac is the company’s 268ci straight-eight engine. It generates 122hp, but its true strength is the low-end delivery of its 227 ft/lbs of torque. That attribute makes the eight a wonderfully flexible motor that pulls strongly from low speeds. The first owner spent the extra cash on the optional Hydramatic transmission, producing a relaxing driving experience. Potential bidders can consider the Chieftain a turnkey proposition. The owner recently undertook a road trip of almost ninety miles. The car cruised effortlessly at highway speed without raising a sweat. Therefore, it appears that this classic has no mechanical issues or shortcomings.
It seems wrong to single out one aspect of this Chieftain as its highlight, because this gem presents so nicely. However, the interior looks fantastic. Some plated surfaces carry tiny age pimples, but that doesn’t detract from the appearance. Trimmed in Gray, the cloth upholstery looks excellent. There is no significant wear, and no visible age deterioration. The paint looks crisp and clean, and the wheel is crack-free. The gauges feature clear lenses and crisp markings, and the interior earns extra points for its clock and factory push-button radio. With room to seat six, this gem is ideal for enthusiasts with a family. The interior is another aspect of this Pontiac that shows no apparent need.
There is an underlying fear amongst enthusiasts that the supply of genuine barn finds will eventually trickle to a halt, but this 1952 Pontiac Chieftain demonstrates that time could be many years away. However, reviving a vehicle of this type isn’t for everyone, as it takes dedication and patience if the classic has been hibernating for years. The owner has completed the work required to return the car to its rightful place on our roads, allowing the winning bidder to slip behind the wheel for immediate motoring gratification. He actively encourages in-person inspections, and these factors together explain why this Chieftain is worth far more than a passing glance.
Bid On This Auction
0660GTO bid $4,200.00 2026-05-14 11:39:44
spills bid $4,000.00 2026-05-14 11:36:32
GK bid $3,900.00 2026-05-14 10:40:59- spills bid $3,800.00 2026-05-14 10:35:36
- GK bid $3,700.00 2026-05-14 10:25:45
- spills bid $3,600.00 2026-05-14 05:08:56
Rbrowner bid $3,500.00 2026-05-13 15:03:37- spills bid $3,100.00 2026-05-13 12:05:41
sprdupr bid $3,000.00 2026-05-13 08:34:47
Pat bid $2,200.00 2026-05-12 15:14:00- sprdupr bid $2,000.00 2026-05-11 09:20:20
freeman bid $1,000.00 2026-05-10 23:50:27
[email protected] bid $525.00 2026-05-10 20:40:56- Pat bid $425.00 2026-05-10 17:46:20
- [email protected] bid $300.00 2026-05-09 12:22:07
Ian bid $200.00 2026-05-08 19:49:21
my dad had a 50 Pontiac, not a bad car, 6 cyl. manual, not a speedy machine but reliable. The one thing in particular was the “radio speaker grill”, same as in this car. It was positioned right in the front part of the dashboard and massive. Every time I turned the radio on I half way expected a forceful stream of hot air to shoot out. Always made me think it looked more like a monster air outlet than a radio speaker. Not Pontiac’s best design.
That speaker grille was indeed overwrought–and memorable.
As a kid, I loved that center speaker grille! I sat in the middle of the front seat of my parent’s ’49 Pontiac Silver Streak and imagined it being a steering wheel and would pretend to spin it one way or the other the same as my mother did with the actual steering wheel, and used the hump in the center to press my foot down to put on the brakes when she did. Pretending to steer the car with that speaker grille actually gave me the feel of driving a car, which went a long way to being able to drive a car safely several years before I was legal to drive. Pontiac kept that same speaker grille for 5 model years running, so I would think it was a pretty good design that people liked…..
Mechanically this is pretty straightforward, and you can still find a service manual for one of these, I checked! I think about how people were practically giving away cars like this after they became 10 or 15 years old. I bought some of them myself because that’s all I could afford at the time.
Kudos to the owner! He did his due diligence well by cleaning up the car and getting it into running
condition. Just looking at this car tells you that this guy’s a motivated seller. The only fault I
can find with the car is that it’s a
2-door sedan. All well and fine unless you live in Florida where the insurance companies here hit
you with a massive surcharge on
2-door vehicles of any kind. Here
in Florida, insurance companies
classify anything with 2 doors as
being a sports car so they can really screw you over on what they charge you every month. Bought a ’77 Mustang 🐎 II in ’87
from a guy over in Elouise. It was just an average run of the mill car
with a 4 banger and an auto tranny. Hell, it couldn’t even get out of its own way! Almost every
company I spoke with wanted $900 a month for basic coverage.
And if you objected to it, they tacked on another $200 fee for that. I finally got screwed over by
Victory Insurance to the tune of
$850 a month for 6 months with
$500 due at signing. Their criteria you asked? The car was a
2-door and painted red with mag
wheels on it. Bear in mind that this was 1987 when the State let
them get away with any unsavory
practice they wanted to use to boost their profit margins. So after the car burned to the ground, I started buying 4-door sedans and paid maybe $150 a
month for basic coverage. Been
doing that ever since. Now that my niece has her learner’s permit, she tells her mom and me that she wants a Mustang. Only thing
I wanna know if can we get one in
a 4-door?
In 1987 I bought a new ’87 T-Type Regal with the turbo V-6 and paid about $1200 a year for insurance. You are claiming $5100 for 6 months tells me this is not true or you had the worse driving record in history.
Later I owned that T-Type and a Gran National and paid about $1800 a year for both. They were both 2 door cars.
BTW I lived in South Florida.
Many years ago I had a ’53 Chieftain, fully loaded two tone. Still had the remains of the window sticker showing $3500 msrp. 4 speed auto, leather, underseat heater, windshield visor, spotlight, foglights, automatic headlight dimmer. Didn’t want to start when it was hot, didn’t want to start when it was cold even with a 12 volt jump. Overhauled the engine and it burned as much oil when we got done as it did when we started. Finally gave up and let it go when I saw exhaust coming in around the rear seat.
A lot of these had visors over the windshield, which made the car look like an “old man’s car” . I thought they looked cool though, especially if they also came with a spotlight. I looked at one once, a long time ago, it was two tone green and a straight eight, with a lot of rust and bad motor mounts. It didn’t drive too badly but that engine shifted around a lot. I told the guy selling it that I was going to look elsewhere and he threw a fit. I’d never seen anyone act that way just because I wasn’t buying their junk. I didn’t know which would be hauled off first, the seller or the car.
That sun visor was important and it’s stupid to take it off and leave it off. The way the windshield and shallow dash are made, without the sun visor – you will have the blinding sun in your eyes most of the daytime except during sunrise and sunset and you’re going the opposite direction. — My parents had ‘ 49 Pontiac Silver Streak and the shop left the visor off after repairing some hail damage. When they got it back, it was horrible to be in the front seat in the daytime, and so the car went right back and they put it back on. Probably some idiot thought it was better with it off – because it looked like an “old man’s car” with it on. He got his butt chewed out for leaving it off too.
Did a cross country and back in a ’52 convertible with the straight 8 and the 4 speed automatic and that old beast ran 80 mph all the way out and all the way back. Smooth as glass and plenty fast. Nice old example here.
What’s with the plastic-looking center parts of the grille? From ’49 through ’54, the entire Pontiac grille was bright chrome. I’ve never seen one like this. Has it been sand-blasted?
It looks to be paint. I don’t blame the owner, re-chroming is incredibly expensive.
That reminded me of the chrome plating that I had done to my ’51 Buick super front bumper. It cost a lot of money even back in the Nineties but when I went to collect it they showed me the left hand corner and there was no chrome on the bumper as they said it was too long for their tank so gave it to me at half price! It didn’t worry me one scrap as nobody ever noticed it as they must have managed to plate it with something before the chroming finish because it never deteriorated.
1952 had a number of differences such as thinner chrome plating, some painted brightwork, and plastic in place of metal, all owing to Korean War shortages and military needs. I preferred the look of the 1953 Pontiac, but cars such as this were utterly reliable. This one is exceptional for a “barn find”: where was this “barn” — a climate-controlled room behind a dealer’s showroom? One item, however, concerns me: that “christmas tree” air-freshener — what odour is it covering-up? Mice? Stale cigarette/cigar smoke? I know what a clean old interior should smell like. As for that speaker-grille, that is a piece of late ’40s, early ’50s “deco”: variations of it appeared on a number of table-radios — especially with RCA Victor sets. They sold very well at the time, and they are collectible now. down the street from me, there lives a 96-year-old man who walks with a cane. And his car is a green/off-white 1949 Pontiac with a vertical-but-slanted crack running top-to-bottom in the glass on the driver’s side door. The driver’s side of the front seat is worn-through. But he drives it when he needs to, to shop, attend church, etc.. There is a heavy carbon stain on rhe lower part of the rear bumper, right above the exhaust. But it TAKES him wherever he needs to GO. he says he bought it, used, for $200.00, 59 years ago. It doesn’t have much rust, considering that it is a northeastern car.
If this ’52 Pontiac has a plastic grille center, then it’s the first I’ve ever seen. – Yep – cars used to be all metal – everywhere – and then things like the dash knobs became plastic – as you see on this ’52 Pontiac as well as other non-load-bearing parts, which is perfectly fine as plastic doesn’t rust or need painting. But the bright work on an early 50’s car being plastic? I think Dave is correct. Re-chroming that massive center grille section would be very expensive, so the owner did what he could to make it presentable – and that’s fine. It’s what the buyer thinks is important that actually is important – not any one else’s opinion.
I wonder if the upholstery was originally beige. The parts of the headliner that show in the photos are beige.
That’s not beige. The cloth upholstery is a lighter shade of grey with coordinating dark grey on the door panels. The part below the grey on the seat backs is an even lighter shade of grey that appears almost white but its not. The photos do not do it justice at all. It’s really weird, but so many “car” people don’t seem to know how to take photos of the car they’re selling and get them right.
Yes, the headliner was a beige-cream color matching the color of trim bead and the assist straps. The seats and door panels were complimentary shades of grey. The late 40’s / early 50’s Pontiacs of this body style did not come with carpet. If you find one with carpet, it was installed later.
Our house cleaner drove one of these. Should have bought it from her when she “upgraded” to a Rambler American.
The pictures do not show a full left, or right side view. Trying to hide something? I love these old Poncos. And would really like to own this car. But nowhere to park it out of the Nevada sun. It would be baked to death in a very short time.
The 1949-1952 Pontiacs are some of my favorite years. I currently have a 1950 Streamliner, 6 with 3 on the tree, and I LOVE it. These old Pontiacs have a personality all their own. I believe in keeping ’em rolling.
Cmac. I had a1954 with 4 doors. It was green and had a straight 8 with automatic trans. I hated the looks of it but loved the way drove and handled well on highway. Smooth as silk, at any speed and it was pretty good on gas. I bought because it was available and I needed transportation. Probably one of the best cars I ever owned. Wish I had it now. It was a tank.
I had a 1951 Chieftain, RHD but I can’t remember if it was a 6 or an 8 cyl. as it was back in 1957. I also remember that it had a very long, narrow battery, was two tone green, and a lovely 6 seat car, ideal for myself and the gang on Drive-In cinema’s on Friday and Saturday nights.
Certainly wish there was a photo of the outside rear and the inside of the trunk and better view of the entire Headliner. :-(
I live close by and was interested and contacted the seller twice to try to get underside pictures and also wanted to find out when I could take a look at it. Never even heard back from him so i’d be very suspicious. If he doesn’t even care to get back and answer questions there is probably something fishy. With that said I now have no interest in it and I would tread carefully…