Customs 51 frontend on 52?

There is a 52 vicky on ebay a guy put 49 fenders, hood, bumper on it. Anyone ever done a 51 on a 52? Thoughts on how difficult?

 

49 - 50 -51 shared a body shell so interchanging front ends shouldn't be too tricky. 52 - 53 - 54 was a completely different body. I suppose anything can be fitted on anything with enough effort but it's definitely not a simple bolt on deal.

 

Picture ?

 

I saw that done on a 52-54 2 door wagon once, I remember hearing the builder say it was a huge amount of work, with the early car having a 2 piece V windshield and hood to match, plus the door to front fender curveature not matching either. I think you have to cut the back 6 inches or so off of your 52 fenders and weld the skins of the 51 fenders to them, and graft the two hoods together to make it work. Either that, or graft in a good amount of the '51 cowl including the V windshield and upper part of the roof so the stock hood and hood hinges line up.

 

A few years ago someone post a photo of 49 or 50 sheet metal omn a 54 Ford wagon,it looked good but as I recall they said it was a PITA to do. HRP

 

I have been trying to figure out why anyone would even want to do this. The 52 is a much better looking front end than the older cars. It comes no where near fitting. If you really prefer the looks of the 51 just buy a 51. The 51 front end on a 52 would look like hell.

 

I think this is the one @stonemck is talking about.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Ford-O...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

Check out his rear hood corners where they match up to the cowl/fenders, looks like a poor fit there. Definitely looks like the front sections of the '49 fenders grafted onto the 52 fender rear sections. My guess is that the '49 hood got chopped off straight to fit up to the later cowl but the arch was greater in the '49 hood than the '52 cowl, hence the dipped down hood corners.

Still overall, there was an insane shitload of work done to that car considering the new buyer paid $58oo for it, that wasn't bad at all, good starting point. The early clip on the late body isn't bad looking really, just kinda odd. Looks like a '51 Victoria with '52 quarters on it.

 

If I were going to do something like this, I think I'd get a 49-50 Mercury front sheetmetal, and I'd graft the front fender sections together, skin the Ford hood with the Mercury hood skin, and add the grille shell and bumper from the Merc, would look something like a Canadian Meteor hardtop but with the '52 rear quarter blisters and the Mercury hood shape. Maybe even the Mercury door blisters could be tapered back and meet up to the '52 quarters, that might be neat looking.

 

Thanks for the info. Yeah in a perfect world I would just have a 50 merc. But in a perfect world Id have millions too. This look is exactly what im going for. I like the merc front but the 52 ford rear better. I didnt figure they would bolt right up but was hoping.

 

Hell, I'd do it even simpler than that. I'd start with a 51 vicky and go with the 52-54 quarters and decklid.

 

Good point. Alot more parts and aftermarket stuff for a 51 over a 52!

 

and doing this to dare to be different? put '54 complete suspension, fenders, etc on '52