It’s always great to see low-mileage original survivor cars even if they aren’t in such mint condition as their fully restored counterparts.
This low-mileage 1952 Pontiac Chieftain Deluxe 2-door sedan with only 45,000 miles on the clock is no exception. This solid black, three owner car spent the first fifty years of its life with the same family. It has certainly been loved and cherished over the years.
Not too much had changed from the look of the 1951 models except some exterior trim and the grille / bumper combination had slight revisions.
The side view highlights the nice lines of this Pontiac.
Under the hood there is a 268.4 cubic inch high-compression eight-cylinder engine. This is paired with the new for ’52 Dual-Range Hydramatic-Drive automatic transmission, a combination that produces 122 horsepower (4 more hp than with the manual transmission). This combination would have added another $253 to the base price of this Chieftain.
Inside you can see the instrument panel and the Dual-Range Hydramatic-Drive selection mounted on the steering column.
The cars were referred to as Series 25 when fitted with a six cylinder engine and Series 27 when fitted with the 8 cylinder version.
Pontiac sold 251,564 Series 27 Chieftain Eights fitted with a Hydra-Matic transmission. This figure covers all the models within the series. If you wanted to buy a Chieftain Eight Eight 2-door sedan like this when it was new it would have cost you $2,031 for the Standard version and $2,136 for the Deluxe. This excluded luxuries like a heater which would have cost an additional $45.
Loved that car. My Dad bought a 1951 on Halloween night in 1951 for about $2100. That following spring my Grandfather bought a 1952 black 4 door. They were essentially identical cars except Gramps was a standard that I burned the clutch on a few years later. The difference between the cars was that the ’52 had a double arrow on the doors versus a single on the ’51. Also the hood ornament on the ’52 was red and the ’51 was black. The ’52 had the bigger bumper guards and the angled grill cross pieces. Dad’s, that I used to occasionally drive to school used to be hard to start on those cold Maine snowy mornings even with a heat plug. One morning, we pushed it for a couple of miles trying to start it and we drove it back into the driveway but it was not sounding right as it was idling trying to warm it up. Suddenly there was a loud bang and the front valve cover just blew. What a racket but we towed it and got it fixed. Six years later I rolled it and the rust was really eating into it. We drove it for a few more years before selling it and getting a ’61. Memories.
Beautiful car I love that Motor Pontiac made awesome cars