I’ve covered a lot of station wagons as of late – and by and large, they have an enthusiastic following. Perhaps it’s because if you are of a certain age, there was a Country Squire or a Kingswood Estate somewhere in your familial past. Among the big three commodity brands, Ford, Chevrolet, and Plymouth, it’s the Mopar entry that is least often represented. With that thought in mind, let’s review a 1952 Plymouth Suburban station wagon. Located in Collins, Mississippi, this cool, old, two-door people hauler is available, here on eBay for a BIN price of $6,500. There is a make-an-offer-option too.
Two flavors of Plymouth station wagon were available in ’52, the Concord Suburban, such as our subject car, and a lower trim line Concord Savoy. Both were only available in two-door body styles and total production exceeded 76K copies. The seller has owned this car for about a year but the rear Louisiana license plate would lead one to believe that it has been off the road since 1975. There are before and after cleaning images included, and the tree mung is indicative that part of this Plymouth’s sojourn was outside, under a tree. The body is in fair condition showing a few dents and minor scrapes along with lots of surface rust. The seller adds, “there is some rust in the floors but nothing major“. Included in the sale is a new windshield with the surrounding gasket.
There are no images of the engine included – always a big presentation mistake. The non-illustrated engine should be a 97 HP, 217 CI, in-line, flathead, six-cylinder unit attached to a three-speed manual transmission. The seller claims, “engine was running about a year ago, took the carburetor apart, need to put it back together” which begs the question, why not go ahead and do it? A running car is a lot easier to sell than one that isn’t.
The interior is gutted, save for the dash/instrument panel and steering wheel. The seller states that he has some of the interior but doesn’t elaborate as to what is, or isn’t available. I’m not sure what those white floor patches represent. They look like mats or something similar covering up the early referenced “some rust in the floors” matter, sounds like a Three Stooges move to me – you know, pretend that they’re not there. If there are holes, show them.
The seller suggests, “Would make a great restomod or camper project“, sure there are lots of different ways one could take this car. My thought is in a hot rod direction as that always seems to be the bend for old two-door wagons. While hardly complete, there’s plenty here with which to work. And that leaves the question of the “pretty firm” price of $6,500. What do you think, priced right, or not quite?
I agree with the author.Get it running! The carb is simple to put back together and kits are cheap and easy to get. Pictures are lame and too few of many critical areas.Sounds like a lazy seller.Rule #1 the more info and pics you give the better your chance of selling. Neat vehicle though.As for value and I”m not familiar with these I’m gonna guess around 5-7 k if the the frame is solid and theres no bad body rot.
If you mention it show it with pictures don’t be vague cuz that leads one to believe there’s alot of rust and it’s not just the floors . No engine pics and carb removed for a rebuild but not installed or running? No interior shots or catalog of parts just an extra windshield with gasket. I say $2500 tops. Wishy Fishy Seller🤣
Call me crazy but there is a YouTube channel called Matte off road recovery and he has a corvair wagon he turned into a recovery vehicle I think I would do the same thing with this.
I found one of these in 1959 after coming back to the U.S. from my Army tour – two-tone green – $100 drive me away – Dropped the front end with chopped coils, 2″ rear lowering blocks in back and lots of body & chrome polish from Pep Boys, reversed the rims, 7:10s on the back, 5:90s up front, beauty rings and small hubcaps, bright lime green rattle can paint on the rims. Drove it up and down the coast from San Diego to Petaluma. Seemed like it got 100 miles per gallon – sold it for three times what I bought it for, and only did that to buy my first ’51 Ford woody…This one??? If I were younger and closer, I’d go for lightening striking twice.
Sorry for misspelling ‘lightning’…DFS
I agree on the gas mileage. Had the cheaper model back in the seventies and even with a leaking gas tank,it still got better mileage than a 72 VW beetle I drove at the same time!!.
The promo for the engine, though interesting, is no substitute for a photo of the actual engine.
Is it me or is every single classic car way over priced. There is very little interest in these but yet a 6500 dollar price tag? For what? Not rare not popular not really wanted. So why does everyone think there stuff is worth a million dollars? Is the economy? Is it politics? Is it greed? These prices a re making old foggies like me bow out of buying cars. And no youngin is interest in these old things, so greed is really killing the old car hobby.
James, You’re absolutely dead on! Everything is (at least) 10 times more expensive now than it was ‘back in the day’, and everything old is new again. All we can do is choose our hobby choices carefully. Have you been in a model airplane hobby shop lately? That Pep Boys chrome polish I mentioned was .39 cents a can then, the rattle can paint – .79 cents, welding on those reversed wheels? Probably a buck a piece IIRC, lowering block kits were about $5… I’m glad I had the chances to do all of that, and I’d do it again if I could.
That price does keep the flippers out of the picture or just maybe this is a flipper doing the selling
Agree with you Mr. Martin… I put blame on auctions for the 1%. You know, Meachum’s, Barret-Jackson etc. The cars they put up for auction are basically art and trailer betties. Never or rarely on the road. The tendency for those cars values to spill over to the general populace has driven up pricing for rusty metal nationwide. Sucks but such is life…
Everyone with a rusted turd of a 6cylinder Camaro thinks it worth what a restored Z28 or SS is going for.
The best way to fix overpricing is to flat out refuse to pay it. Politely inform a seller with sky high pricing, you are willing to go so far and not a penny more. I’ve done this with a couple dealers. I wait till they trough out their astronomical price then I say” I will by the car today, but I won’t go 1cent over $XXXXXXXXXXXX”. They then try to get me to go closer but I stick to my guns and and stated “I told you what I can afford so unless you can meet or exceed that price I will have to pass!” I got up walked out and started to drive away when the dealer came running out and banged on my window and said ok you win. I bought the car at my price not the dealers.
Without a personal inspection, I won’t speculate about the value. I know that the floor may be gone having sat in that garage/barn for 40 years. If the floor is mostly there and the frame isn’t wholly rotted, it may be worth 6K. You gotta give that flipper something for all his hard work… lol