1952 Ford Crestline Victoria, flathead, great driver

Description for Ford Crown Victoria 1952

This is a 1952 Ford Crestline Victoria. This is the top of the line Ford for 1952. The lower level models are the Mainline and the Customline. The Crestline is different in that it has no post between the front and rear side windows and a lot more chrome and stainless steel trim. The mid-level Customline is the model most commonly seen for sale. I've put a lot of details below but the basics are that this Crestline starts right up. runs well. drives nicely. shifts properly. and stops well. A lot of money has been put into this car. much more than it will sell for. I'm sure. I wouldn't call it a restored car but a car with a lot of work done to it. Mechanically. it has been reworked quite thoroughly. Cosmetically. it is very good in some ways and not so hot in others. The body and paint are just driver quality. The chrome is very nice. the stainless is ok. Overall. the car is ready to go but you can pick away at some details as you drive it. Things that I describe as new or rebuilt we're all done within the last 3 years and there are probably less than a hundred miles on the car since then. The green paint looks darker in the pictures than it looks in person. I have put a lot of pictures of the car on my Photobucket site. If you are going to bid. please first look at those pictures too so you can see much more detail than I can show in the 24 pictures that ebay allows. Go to the pictures with this link: 1952 Ford Crestline Photos by mrcob | Photobucket If you can't get to the pictures. email me and I'll send you some. If there is anything that you want a picture of that I missed. just ask. In the first picture. the passenger door isn't closed all the way. Note: The buy-it-now price automatically disappears once someone makes a bid over the reserve amount. MOTOR & TRANSMISSION: The original flathead was worn out so the prior owner replaced it with another of the same type from the same era. This new motor is correct for this car. The motor was rebuilt (but I don't know to what extent) before it went into the car. Same story on the three-speed manual transmission. The motor runs great and starts right up and does not overheat. It runs very quietly. The manual choke in the dash functions correctly. The carb has been rebuilt at some point and works well. There are many new items under the hood including the 6 volt battery. starter solenoid. voltage regulator. wiring (cloth wrapped). ventilation parts. hoses. and belts. Anything else under the hood that hasn't been replaced is in working condition. WIRING: All wiring in the car has been replaced and is mostly the correct cloth wrapped wiring. EXHAUST: The headers are correct for the engine. The front cross-over pipe is new. The muffler and all of the exhaust pipe is new. FUEL SYSTEM: The carb. fuel pump. and filters all work fine. All fuel lines are all new. front to back. The gas tank and sending unit are new. SUSPENSION: The car has new shocks and any worn out suspension parts were replaced. I believe this includes all the bushings. The car sits evenly on the suspension. STEERING: The manual steering works great and there is no pull or drift when driving. There is no excessive play in the steering wheel. BRAKES: The brake system has been completely overhauled. All of the brake lines are new including the soft lines and the junction blocks. All wheels have new wheel cylinders and shoes. INTERIOR: All of the gauges work. The wipers work but move slowly. The ventilation system works (fan. heat. defrost). The fresh air vent for the driver works by a cable that is not currently attached to the vent mechanism (on the inner fender) but the mechanisms all work properly. The metal dash and interior window trim were all painted when the car was painted. Everything that is cloth or vinyl in the interior has been replaced. The carpet is new. it's not dirty or worn but you can tell it wasn't put in yesterday. The small brackets that hold the sun visors are still in primer. The chrome door sills are new. The interior light lenses are new. The ash tray covers need to be cleaned up. The windows all go up and down. The doors open and close and latch but could be adjusted to make them shut with less of a push. Most of the rubber seals have been replaced. The seals on the rear windows could be adjusted/trimmed to fit better. The horn works. sometimes. The trunk has a spare. jack. and new carpeting. LIGHTS: All of the lights work. EXTERIOR TRIM: The stainless and chrome pieces are all there. The trim strip that goes horizontally over the rear wheels is actually trim from a 1953 Crestline. The former owner liked the look. I do too. but it's not correct for '52. The bumpers have been re-chromed. The grill parts have either been re-chromed or replaced. The taillight rings and the hood emblem are new. The parking light rings need to be re-chromed. The stainless trim is in pretty good shape but not perfect. The are dings and scrapes here and there. I've tried to show the condition in the pictures but it's hard to photograph details on such a shiny surface. There is gray primer on many of the trim pieces that must have gotten on there when the car was painted. The primer is light gray so it's not immediately obvious when you look at the car. I chose not to try to get it off so that I wouldn't take a chance on damaging the paint or the stainless steel. There are some corrosion spots on the stainless trim around the roof but since it's stainless. I think it should clean up. There is no side view mirror. They are available and not expensive. I just never put one on and I like how it looks without one. The holes are there for installing the mirror. GLASS: The glass is intact all the way around. The windshield is new along with the rubber windshield gasket. The small back window on the driver's side has some marks that did not scrape off with a razor blade. They might be little nicks in the glass. I think this might be visible in the pictures. TIRES: The tires (including spare) were new 3 years ago and have less than a hundred miles on them. The don't leak. BODY & PAINT: Overall the paint and body panels look ok. The former owner had a variety of things done to the body. The front fenders are NOS (so he said). The rockers were replaced and patch panels were welded at the bottom of the rear quarter panels. The inner piece of metal that would connect to the inside of the lower rear quarter was not replaced so it only goes part way down. The passenger rocker was not put in very well so there is a gap between the rocker and front fender. The only rust hole that never was fixed is on the bottom side of the driver door. You can see it in the pictures. You can't notice the problem unless you get down low. There is some rust that was covered with a metal panel in the thin vertical space at the bottom of the drip rails. inboard of the drip rails (between the drip rail and the window). down where the drip rails meet the top of the quarter panels. This area shows in some of the pictures but you probably wouldn't be able to notice the "fix". The body work in general is driver quality. not of restoration quality. The frame is straight and and only has surface rust. The floors are solid and look very good. The truck pan also looks very good except that there are two rust holes where the trunk floor meets the vertical rear wall of the trunk (at the back of the car). You can see this in a picture on Photobucket. These holes are not a structural problem. I assume the floors and pan were replaced with reproduction pieces at some point in time. Under the car. there is just surface rust except in the outriggers (that go from the frame to the outer edge of the body). I think there are 5 or 6 per side and 2 or 3 on each side are rusted. It's not a hard fix and it can also be driven as is until you get to it. I think I have a picture of this on Photobucket. No rust has come through the paint in the last three years so I think the body was properly prepped. However. I think very little work was done to smooth the panels or to fill the texture left from surface rust. Same story on the panel fit. Everything opens and closes without rubbing but the trunk and doors need adjusting in order to improve their alignment to the body. There are imperfections in the paint and some chips in the paint on some edges (such as on the hood edge and door edges). There is a crack in the paint that you can see if you look behind the rear bumper. I think the paint and body look better in the pictures than in person. ________I don't want any surprises or disappointment for the buyer so I've been as clear as I could be with the description and the photos and I tried to really emphasize the faults in the car. Please email me with any questions before bidding. Please don't bid if you are not sure that you want to buy the car. There is no warranty. express or implied. This is an old car and functions with old technology. It will not function like a modern car. even if it was 100% like new. If you buy the car. you should have it checked out by your trusted mechanic so that you can be fully informed about the level safety and reliability of the car.