Projects 1952 Dodge Coronet

Need ideas on which way would complement the 52 coronet. Custom, cruiser, rat rod?

 

Just a heads up,the RR terminology won't make you any friends here. HRP

 

No to the rat rod.
Need more info. What is under all that fairly new looking red & white paint? Does it have stock suspension and a stock drive train?
What do you want to do with it? You will have to live with the results. Gene

 

I think something like that is heaven sent for a traditional custom.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/forums/traditional-customs.58/

Just my opinion, of course.

 

Thanks Gene for the response, it's a stock suspension, stock power plant and under the paint it had a flat black bottom half and blue top.

 

That's before the red paint.

 

A 52 Dodge had a pretty modern suspension system, and were among the best brakes on the market at that time. There are several disc brake conversion kits available for that car, I like the kits that reuse your existing hubs and add late model rotors and calipers with manufactured brackets. A search here should reviel a few results, look for "disc brake conversions for Plymouth/Dodge". Brake info from about 39 through 56 should pretty much apply. Most of my experience lies in the 39-48 Mopar stuff, so I'm not sure what changed between 48 & 52. Earlier cars benefited from a front shock relocation and an added front sway bar. Personally, I would upgrade the brakes regardless of which direction you go with the car.

The old flathead 6 was a good motor. It was not a neck snapping powerhouse, but could run down the highway at 65 mph in stock form. A split intake with dual carbs, and a split exhaust with dual exhaust and other modifications could add some zip to these motors. The rear end gears are pretty low, and I'm not a fan of the original rear axles. I would upgrade them to some thing more modern (again, search here, rear ends in these cars has been covered here a lot). V8 conversions have also been covered a lot, modern Dodge V8s mount into these cars pretty easily, but adding/keeping modern fuel injection adds complexity.

It really depends on how deep you want to go, what your budget looks like, and what you really want to do with the car when your done.

My 48 Plymouth is on a Dakota chassis with a fuel injected V6, with a modern 5 speed and we drive it all over during the summer. Gene

 

I already split the exhaust, and I've done some research on disc brakes. "Scrambird.com" has the brackets and they sent me a parts list for the conversion. That would be sweet if I can maybe input a dual carb set up, right the way it sits I'd maybe go with some 3" cocker tires but I would like to steer away from hub caps and go steels. Interior not sure and I would repaint it with a cool house of colors product. Previous owner had it dropped low so the front end I'd jack it up a bit.

 

Sounds like a cool project. Gene

 

Nice plan, Joel! Would you please supply a pic of your split exhaust manifold? I'm just about to do the same surgery.

 

Did you get the picture Rumblin Rolf? I'll take close ups tomorrow if you need them.

 

Looking for a stock exhaust manifold in good condition (not cracked) for an original 52 Coronet 230 for a customer, if anyone can help please call me at 615-202-3124.
Thanks in advance,
George Ross

 

Try Wildcat Mopars 503.668.7786