Sometimes, a simple, reliable ride is all you really need, and you don’t have to look any further than this 1952 Chevrolet. 23 bids have been cast on this and the price has reached $4,100 but there is an unspecified reserve that has not yet been met. If you do win this wonderful red ride, you will be heading to Irving, Texas to bring it home, or at least that is where it will be shipped from. It does have a clean title and current registration. The seller does note the VIN in the listing but no miles are documented. You can find it here on eBay.
Mechanically, the car has an inline 6-cylinder engine connected to a 3-speed manual transmission. The seller mentions that the car fires up each and every time the key is turned and performs with no flaws, including stopping. While they do not provide the best photo of the engine, at least there is one that you can get an idea of the condition it is in.
Inside, the seller provides no details, but they do provide a few photos. One shows the front seats and dashboard, which looks all original. The second photo is of the rear seats. For the age, the seats all around are in surprisingly good shape. Even though it is such a large car, the styling brings the cabin to a point and puts passengers closer together. Add that to the bench seat and you’re in business to sit close to your significant other.
I have a soft spot for 50’s Chevys. While the 57’ in the garage is specifically what I’d want, this 52’ is what is for sale here, and I would be perfectly happy to take it home. While out Hot Wheel hunting the other day, I thought to myself how it would be fun to have a more…hobby suited ride to take me from store to store. Life hasn’t facilitated me scaling up in the size of the cool car I own. My budget only affords 1/64 scale cars. Hopefully, that will change sometime soon though, because seeing cars like this at these prices; it is hard to watch someone else put it in their garage.
I love early 50 Chevs.
Especally the hard top coupes.
This will make a great Rod.
Toss that combine rated 6 for a nice small block V8
the thing to do here is find a 292 6 out of a 69 or later 3/4 or 1 ton chev truck and hang a 5 speed behind it ,get rid of the closed drive shaft rear end get a set of 355 gears for it and update the front end and enjoy!
No real style until 1955 on all of the big 3 then boom style plus’s for about 10 years
Not a 52 or at least grill
Yeah, someone took this ’52 & swapped out the original grille & hood for the corresponding ’51 parts. Understandable, since both the 1952/53 models had the dreaded “Korean chrome” syndrome.
Why do that when the 6 will get you
around just fine. I’ve had two of these and the 6 never left me stranded. I do,
however, prefer the 235 over the 216 as
it has full pressure oiling and the 216 does not. You’ll never come in first place
at your local drag strip, but when well cared for, these old gals just soldier on
forever. V-8 swaps in these cars are a dime a dozen. So when you have a nice
survivor like this one, best thing to do is
drive it and enjoy it.
I drove my original inline 6 cylinder 194cid 1966 Acadian Canso Sport Deluxe engine to the city dump and enjoyed kicking it off of my friend’s pickup truck tailgate right into the receiving municipal dump pile of garbage where it belonged after I pulled it out of my classic Acadian out of contempt for gutless & powerless inline six engines.
Not only did I drive my old engine to the dump but I enjoyed the whole drive to & fro knowing that I cleaned my garage out of refuse for the season.
Bob
Bravo!
Always said “Those old Chevy 6’s wear out pretty quickly, but then after they are worn out, the last forever. :-) Terry J
Six to slow and boring put it back in a farm implement
This is the last year for the 216. In 53 the stick used a solid lifter version of the 235, while the automatic used hydraulic lifters.
The hood and grille on this car are from a 1951. Dashboard has been painted. Originally the area around the gauges and the glove box door would have been a light gray. The top of the dash and the inside window surrounds came in a few colors. Dk gray, blue, green
Thanks for noticing, you’re right, that is a ’51 grill, don’t know about the hood. He mentions a “little rust on the floorboards” so I would def check it them out if I was going to make a bid.
Nice car though, even tho the hood is wrong. Are we sure the rest of the car is a ’52? How do we tell?
The side chrome trim is a 52 as is the trunk handle. But you are correct the grill, turn signals and hood trim are definitely 51. I am guessing you could probably confirm the year by the VIN.
If I had to choose between a ’52 I could afford versus dreaming of a ’57 I’d take the ’52 any day! Please keep the driveline; this car is charming as hell as it sits already. Great find! 👍
Not all straight sixes are dogs.
https://youtu.be/hXp5dnAEjNU
Nice video. I had a ’59 GMC daily-driver with a bone-stock 292 transplant. It was a gas hog, but it had a lot of power and was super reliable. I hate to think how much it cost to build the engine in the video.
I was 17 when I bought a 54 4 door Belair. Got from original owner. Beautiful car turquoise green 235 power glide. Joined the navy next year. Towed that old car from Omaha to Memphis. Smoking tie weed the whole way. Ran out of gas in my buddies 51 chevy we were towing the 54 with. Spent the night out on the highway until gas station opened next morning. Probably took 16 hours towing that old car with tow bar. Stupid stuff we did when we were kids. End up losing the car to a local navy guy. Cause I was shipping out and couldn’t take it with me. Damn the ones that you left be hind
Jerry, I did exactly what you said with a 48 GMC P/U, I did use a 350 automatic and opening the drive line was very easy. Hard part was finding a decent 292, but it was worth it, made a great cobination. It was fun because, the truck looked like it would have a SBC , and when people saw the six, they were surpised. They were really suprised, if the rode in it!
Oh mamma what a cool cruiser this one would be! A 5-speed trans and shine it up a bit is all I’d do to start with. Say what you want about stove-bolt 6’s, but if you treat them right, they’ll return the favor.
And junk those ugly wheels!
Yeah, what’s this with people bolting inappropriate wheels on otherwise-period cars?
In 1962 I bought my first car for
4275.00.
In 1962 I bought my first car for $275.00. It was a bright red 1952 Chevrolet convertible Deluxe. Black top, Radio, Heater, Fender skirts, Black interior and powerglide with the 216 CI engine. I had to floor it and keep the pedal to the medal whenever I pulled out in the roadway. The 216 engine was no powerhouse by far even in my sisters 1955 red/white hardtop Chevy with the 216 CI engine. But in those days that’s the way it was. Years later I had a 1968 Chevy Nova and a 1976 Chevy Nova with the 250 CI engine. What a difference.Not everyone wants to ruin a classic 6 cylinder car by jamming a V-8 plus drive train and modified suspension.
4
If you know what you are doing you can make a 235 haul a$$. In the mid 60’s there was a guy in my small resort town who was a mechanic at the Chevrolet dealership. He had a 235 in his ’55 chevy. It had Fenton headers, tri-power, 4 speed tranny, and some internal work on the 235. He would make wagers with visiting tourist in a 1/4 mile run. He could beat all 283’s and a lot of the 327’s. The best part was when they would meet back at the local burger drivein restaurant and he would open his hood and his competitors saw that they had just got their doors blown off by a “six banger”. The good ‘ol days.
If my memory serves me correctly. Judging by the valve cover the car in the feature has a 235 not a 216. ( please correct me if I am wrong) There is nothing wrong with that 235 as far as hot roding goes. But the 230, 250, 292 is a better cheaper choice. Besides the fact that they use the small block bell housing bolt pattern, small block pistons, and rocker arms. ( and I think even valves) Good luck adapting a modern transmission to an old 216 or 235.
292, 5 speed, aftermarket throttle body fuel injection and a trip down the isles at Clifford Research would take care of the engine and transmission department. 3.73 gears and an 8.8 diff with disc brakes. (’96 on up Explorer makes it easy and cheap) Upgrade to front discs and some quality shocks and you have a reliable, cheap to run unique cruiser.
I don’t think that front seat is ‘original’. I’ve never seen a 52 Chevy BelAir that had just plain black vinyl, certainly not in the BelAir as they were multicolor and had some kind of nice cloth in at least part of them.
My folks over the years had two beautiful Sun Gold w/white top ’53 BelAirs, a 2 door hardtop and a 4 door, and they had such nice interiors. Very pretty cars, certainly didn’t look like a low-priced model.
Sold. $5.2K.