How Rare? 1952 Plymouth Belvedere Hardtop coupe

[Dynaflash8]

In 1955 my Dad helped me get a flashier car. It was a blue & gray 1952 Plymouth Belvedere Hardtop coupe. The Belvedere was introduced in 1951 as Plymouth's entry into the "hardtop convertible" field introduced by Buick in 1949. The hardtop had become wildly successful and every manufacturer wanted one. Ford also made it into the hardtop field with it's Victoria in 1951, but Mercury and Lincoln didn't get there until 1952. The 1951 Belvedere had a fairly standard color combination. The top was one color down to the tops of the doors and the bottom another color. The 1952 Belvedere was wildly different.

The wild 1952 Plymouth paint scheme consisted of the hood, front fenders, doors part of the rear quarter and all of the rear fenders was one color while the top and part of the rear quarter and all of the trunk lid were another color. The colors were separated by a stainless steel molding that ran from the rear quarter window in a nice curve, down the quarter to the rear bumper.

I joined AACA in 1962 and have been a member ever since, becoming a life member in 1974 or 1975. Over these many years and certainly hundreds of car shows, junkyards, flea markets throughout almost every state in the Union I've seen maybe a half dozen of these cars.

For Christmas my wife gave me a book on cars in the 50s, and there was a two-page spread with a blue & gray Belvedere just like mine. They only came in three color combinatins, which were bronze top & tan bottom, black top and chartreus bottom and gray top & blue bottom.

How many readers know where there is one of these cars today? Can you remember ever seeing one since you've been an old car enthusiast? Do you even know another club member or old car enthusiast who has one? I have no idea how many were built, because Plymouth has lumped all of the 1951-52 production numbers together.

[Guest]

Go to http://www.oldplymouths.com and look at 1951 & 1952 Plymouths pages. there are several photos there.