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chrysler windsor 1952 ( two door )


pauli

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I am bussy buying a chrysler windsor ( two door ) 1952 ( splitwindow ) My question is the following: does any body have advice for me, were to look for ad this type of car, are there special weeknesses, in the boddy, or engine, or transmission.

It has a six cilinder engine and fluitdrive transmission.

The previus owner says that it is not a fully automatic transmission but a semi-automatic tranny.

Is that correct and how does that work wile driving it.

If any body can help me with information aboud this type of car, I would be more than happy.

The car is in very good shape all original and the color is white, the owner says it is not restored or re-painted, maybe there is a way to check on this??

( please dont tell me It is a wrong choice, becourse I realy dont want to hear that ) okay tell me annyway.

Does any one know how much of this type of car ( two door coupe, but not htp )there are produced.

hope to here from you.

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I happen to have a 1951 DeSoto coupe which is almost the same. I can tell you they are a comfortable well made car with no real bad faults. But you must remember that car is over 50 years old and there has been a lot of progress in the last 50 years.

For a start it is going to be slow, heavy and sluggish to drive compared to a modern car. That is part of the character. The Fluid Drive is a transmsission all its own, neither a standard nor an automatic. There are a couple of excellent threads on how to drive and maintain the fluid drive, in the Chrysler and Dodge message boards.You should look them up before you try to drive the car, it does need a different technique from anything you ever drove before. It isn't hard just different, and if you don't read the threads you may be a long time figuring it out.

Another thing is the 6 volt - ground electrical system. This is OK in itself except cars have not been built that way for 50 years. There isn't much point in changing it to 12 volt, it would be like hanging a satellite dish on a haunted house.

You will have a whole lot of things to learn on that car. You would really be better off with something newer that had better performance, more modern design. But if you really love the car and are willing to learn you can have some fun with it.

First thing you will need is a repair manual. You should also look up some old gray haired or bald headed mechanics and parts men to help you keep it on the road.

There were around 112,000 Chryslers produced that year and about 60,000 of them were Windsor 6's. Of those 60,000 roughly 10% or 6000 were coupes. The 4 door sedan was by far the most popular body style.

Would you mind telling me what you had planned for the car? Because if you have a garage to put it in and were planning on keeping it for special occasions you should be OK. If you planned on using it for regular transportation it won't work out. The car is just too old and too far behind today's designs especially in the brakes.

The other thing is, cars back then were high maintenance. Oil change and grease job every 1000 miles and there are 26 grease fittings for a start. Plus regular tuneups and lots of other things. When that car was built there were about 1/4 the cars on the road as there are now but there were 5 times as many garages if that gives you any idea.

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I have a technique for driving a fluid drive that works very well and makes it practically the same as driving a modern automatic.

Start the engine with the transmission in neutral, the hand brake applied and your foot off the clutch pedal.

Let the engine warm up until it will idle at its slowest speed.

Depress the clutch pedal shift into gear and release the clutch, all with the handbrake still on.

Release the handbrake and drive away like any automatic. When you get up to 15 MPH lift off the gas and wait for the "click-clunk" and step on it again.

This is very easy, it is based on the owner's manual recommended technique.

You have to drive it more like an automatic, if you drive it like a standard you will hate it. It is not a standard, it is a primitive automatic with a few quirks of its own but with a little understanding your fluid drive or fluid torque drive will work great for you.

This came from a post I made on this thread. There has been quite a bit written on this transmission.

http://forums.aaca.org/showflat.php?Cat=...ge=1#Post402103

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Thank you for the info.

I am well aware of the age of a car like this, I am driving old cars sinds I was 19 years old, and I am 44 years old now, so I do have some experiens.

The oldest car that I had, en still have on this particular moment is a cadillac series 62

( 4 window ) flattop 1959, this car is in real good shape, has not been restored, still has the original interior en still looks as it is a car of a year and a half old, and also drives like one.

I dont have to say that I am very proud to owne one and feel privileged to drive a car like this.

But I realize that a 1952 windsor is realy something else, also your commends make that very clear.

Driving a car like that is a big step back in time, as I read in your words, I must say that it doesn't scare me but it does give me stuff to think about.

The cadillac is compared to modern cars still a comfortable car with very goed driving quality's, and the windsor is not.

Funny you mensioned the brakes, becourse the main brake-cilinder is in revision on this moment according to the owner.

Do you have any idea what the value of a car like this is ( buying and selling ), I could not find any thing about it, and I dont like the idea of paying to much for it.

The shape is very good, all original no rust not repainted the only thing that needs looking after is a crack in the seat ( clothing ) drivers side.

I wil surely read the info on the fluiddrive and thanks for sharing your knowleds with me, if there is anything else I would like to hear it.

By the way, an other option for me is an 1959 edsel ranger, if there is anything you can tell me abouth a car like that then that is very welcom too.

You ask me what kind of use that I had in mind for the windsor, I believe that a car, any kind of car is made to use it and that is what I would do if the deal comes throuh, I dont believe in parking a car in a garage ( I dont have one annyway ) and just look at it, and only thake it out for a sunday drive, if the weather allowes you to .

In my opinion you have too use it becourse thats wen a car comes too live, and you can taste its carracter and thats more worth than a thousend looks.

An other thing is that a car thats a daily used one, stayes in good running order and cars that stands still in a garage only used now and than, do have all sorts of problems, brakes that wil stick and gaskets get blown away, things like that.

like to hear from you...

And thanks again.

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Value of 1952 Windsor club coupe, condition #3 "Very Good" $9000 #4 "Good" $4000 #5 "Restorable" $2400. Your car would probably fall in the "Good" to "Very Good" category.

You shouldn't have too many problems with your experience. Don't know what you mean by brake cylinder "revision", new brake cylinders and rebuild kits are available.

The Chrysler Centerplane brakes on that car are about the most efficient available at the time. Of course they don't compare to modern disc brakes but if you keep out of real bad hiway traffic you should be ok. They are at least as good as what's on your Caddy.

The Edsel is a much more modern, more powerful car with 12 volt electric system, OHV V8, automatic, power steering, etc and drives very much like a car from the 70s or 80s (but watch out for those drum brakes). It would be similar to your Caddy, at least more so than the Chrysler.

The real downfall of a car like that is the complexity. The basic mechanical components such as engine, steering, brakes etc are reliable but the luxury features like pushbutton transmission, power seats etc can drive you nuts if they go wrong. In this case you would want to hunt up the Edsel club. They have no doubt figured out how to fix everything that goes wrong long ago. One make car clubs are good that way.

As to which I would buy, I already told you I bought a DeSoto which is practically the same as the Chrysler with a different grille and cheaper trim. It even has the same body, frame, wheelbase, engine, trans etc.

It's pretty much a matter of which you like better, or which is in better condition and offers the best deal for the buck.

For comparison a 59 Edsel Ranger 2 door hardtop in #4 condition has a book value of $3520.

By the way these book values tend to be on the high side if you ask me. I think they do this to quell squauks from the 1949 Blivet owners "You said my Blivet is only worth $5000 it's worth a lot more than that blah blah blah". So they jack up the price a little and everyone is happy.

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