We had a 1952 Chevy that finally threw a rod at 136,000 miles in 1962. It lasted us ten years, and we genuinely were sorry to see it go! In those days, we little boys would practically get into fights over Ford v Chevy.
These old slideshows are great fun...so full of tricky sales talk! (Chevrolet and Plymouth have only one front spring rate...they each have only one avaliable _engine,_ also. No need for variable spring rates.)
Unfortunately the Korean War metal restrictions gave us poor chrome in '52 with clear lacquer instead of triple plate. The grille, parking light housing and taillight bezels quickly rusted.
No doubt that Ford's styling was better than Chevy's from 49 thru 54. I know the Chevy tri 5's are lauded as some of the nicest looking cars ever built during the '50s, I say Ford's styling during the '50s was also very well done.
I use to be able to find a filmstrip Chevy did comparing its 52 against fords 52, but it seems to have been taken down. I’m wondering if you have it and if so do you intend to upload it?
.....up to 1955, Ford had a serious performance advantage over Chevy and, particularly, Plymouth. However, Chevy and Plymouth had a loyal following of repeat buyers who swore by the dependability and value of their cars. Subjectively, I believe the '52 Ford front end made the Chevy and Plymouth front ends look like trucks
There was nothing Briliantly New for 52 with Chevy. But they were briliantly new for 55 with all new styling and the new small block 265 V8 that changed automotive history.😂 The small block Chevy the most popular v8 engine ever produced....even to this day.
I have the 52 Ford vs Plymouth... but not the response... Chevy Film are more rare it seems, I think they did less films. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H22zBgF-ACo.html
@@scrambler69-xk3kv we had Mercury too, and Mercury trucks. Ford of Canada set up two dealer networks....Ford, Monarch and Ford trucks, and Meteor, Mercury and Mercury trucks. The idea was to copy GM, who had Chev/Olds/Chevy trucks and a separate network for Pontiac/Buick/Cadillac/GMC trucks. Meteor was a like a base Mercury and Monarch was a deluxe Ford...they dropped Monarch in 1961 but Meteor went until 1981 as I recall. A half ton Mercury pickup was an M150, up to M250, M350 etc...
Ofcourse the most important automatic transmissions facts aren't mentioned. The Ford-O-Matic automatic is a fully automatic 3-speed . The Chevrolet Power Glide only has 2 forward speeds which have to be manually selected and shifter. It wouldn't be until the next year that Chevrolet would have a fully automatic transmission, which it would retain through 1964 and Ford didn't even have a 2-speed automatic which was used only in Fords lowest line of cars and Edsels.
@@scrambler69-xk3kv The PowerGlide was always a 2-speed automatic. 1965 was the last year that a PowerGlide had a rear hydraulic pump. so it was the last year a Chevy with that transmission could be push-started. If you wanted a 1965 Chevy with a 3-speed automatic in 1965, you would have had to special-order the TH400 behind the 396 V8, which came out in the later-half of the 1965 model year which is also when the Caprice was introduced. The TH400 was also optional in pick-ups with small-block V8's. All are very rare.
@@scrambler69-xk3kv Ford only had a 2-speed automatic from 1959 to 1964 1/2. It's main applications were, first, Edsel(with any engine), Falcon, Comet, the mid-size Fairlane, some full-size Fords and Mercurys with either the 260 or 292 V8's(maybe even the 352). It even made it into the 1964 1/2 Mustang with the 260 V8. Ford-O-Matic was what Ford named it's automatic transmissions and were 3-speeds until the Cruise-O-Matic was introduced in 1958. And, yes, I have worked on all these Ford automatics so I know what I am talking about.
Okay how in the heck did Ford find out so many intimate engineering details about their competitors? Some of the stuff they talk about the engine and suspension could not be determined simply by buying a car and taking it apart.
For years the manufactures gave each other complimentary cars. And even if they did not, they would simply buy a competing make and take it apart to examine. So, they just gave each other cars.
I think the fed is slowing the rate increases, and will hopefully stop the interest rate increases soon :) unlike 1953. I like the 52 Chevy but I think Ford looked even better. Maybe the film sold me :)
The Chevy was still a rather solid machine, though - they had a good blend of value features and consistent quality in those days. Ford is the most handsome and possibly best value. Plymouth was the least expensive to run and had some smart design features...taxi services loved them. Nash was better than all of them!
However, Powerglide production is limited to the racing and restoration markets. It hasn't been used in new mass-production vehicles since the early 1970s. GM kept their two-speed automatics in production longer than either Ford or Chrysler.
@@fairfaxcat1312 Torqueflite didn't come to market until the '56 Imperials, '57 for other models, and Powerflite still available until 1960 in some low-line models.
