Hello all, I recently (July 4th) picked up this 1952 Plymouth Suburban. Honestly, I don't ever recall having ever seen one of these or remember ever hearing the name. I spotted it on craigslist in an add that didn't give much information, so I made a call and decided to drive the 4 hours to far southwest Colorado to check it out in person, and I'm glad I did. I was surprised to see that other than having the trim removed and the usual damage from sitting in a field for 47 years (since 1971), it was complete and vastly rust-free. Really, the only areas that need serious attention are some spots on the floorboards where I'm sure it was subject to wet, snowy feet for a few years. It also had an option called a "high clearance" package that included these sweet 18" wheels and heavier duty rear springs, If I recall correctly. Interesting too is the addition of a 1950s-60s truck 4-speed and modified transmission tunnel, made form a cut up Texaco oil drum (from around the same time). The couple I bought it off of and the original owner went to high school together and rode around in the truck. The odometer reads 45,xxx miles and I suspect that it hasn't rolled over due to the overall completeness of the car, er, truck. Wagon. I think I am going to mostly-restore it to what it would have looked like when it was parked. I'll keep the trans, wheels, and go back to the original paint job, but I may just rework the engine a little when I rebuild to squeeze out a few extra ponies with a dual intake/exhaust setup, or I may just leave all that alone too. I'm including some pictures of how it was when I saw it on the 4th of July, a great day to buy American automobiles, even if they are 66 years old now. From what I could tell, all of the exterior and interior trim is there and accounted for. It was all inside the car when I arrived, almost placed all back where it came from by the couple who sold me the wagon. It's got a cool history already and I'm excited to bring it back to life a bit more. I'll be trailering it back home to my garage soon and will post more when I have a bit more time to dig around it a bit. -Austin
I am going to mostly restore it. Keep it as I found it, but clean it up and keep it from going more south. The wheels are original to the wagon. A "high-clearance" option. I haven't seen another like it.
Plymouth Suburban was the first all steel station wagon. They were part of Plymouth's smaller, lower priced line. Popular in their day, and really started the station wagon trend of the fifties. They make a cool daily driver. Even in stock form they are decent performers in spite of the rather small, flathead six. It seems yours was built for rural deliveries or some such use. I don't know why they didn't buy a pickup truck or pickup based panel truck. What do you have in mind for it?
Nice to see another old Plymouth wagon get saved. That one looks pretty nice for a field find. I have never seen those high clearance wheels on that late of a MoPar, the spare tire mount on the passenger side looks kind of factory, to me. The 4 speed truck trans will be good for off-road, but kind of clunky for everyday use. The Surburban is the entry level wagon. The Savoy was the more expensive model which had more exterior trim and upscale interior. This is my '51 Savoy.
Nice Savoy! These wagons are really starting to grow on me. Yeah, I wondered about the high-clearance wheels and the spare tire mount. I watched an old Plymouth salesman's slide set that introduced the 1949 Suburban and it talked about optional 18" wheels, special front fenders, and heavy duty front and rear shocks. It was marketed towards farmers and ranchers who needed to navigate dirt and rock covered roads. That was for '49, but I don't know myself about if it was offered in '52. Not much info on these old cars and all the cool stuff they could have been fit with. I kind of dig the "off road" look and may have to toy with that when working on it. I'll have a better opportunity to direct the options once I can get my actual hands on it (it's still 4 hours away). Cheers!
@Leadheavy52 Great find. I've always wanted a '49-54 Plymouth Suburban, and that blue is one of the best original colors! Glad you are keeping the original off road theme. And those old Plymouths were tough, below are a couple shots of the 1941 Detroit to Cape Horn and back expedition, same optional high clearance wheels. You might need to source a period luggage rack and a few spare tires.
Yep....those may be factory high clearance wheels, but I don't believe they were offered that late (1952). Of course, I could be incorrect.
It'd be interesting to find the orig sales/build sheet. At only 3yrs older than than the '49, the wheels still would've been easily available from the dealer, along w/other hi-clearance parts n options from other years, as a lot of parts from that line interchanged for a number of years. Neat find.
In my limited experience, I once discovered that Dodge made the WWII style power wagon pickups available through their dealers in some regions but were not readily known in much of the USA. I discovered that in 1968 while in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, doing a VW factory warranty audit at the Dodge/VW dealer there. They had current brochures in the showroom for the old style Power Wagons! Not much later I found out they also were more commonly available through fleet vehicle sales to companies who really needed such truck, like power line companies, for example. So, there's any number of possibilities for such options. Some of which were probably in production for Export models anyway, so no big deal to provide Special Order options to regions where there is demand. Ray
Brought the beast home this evening. All in all, a 13 hour day with driving, load up and unloading (which was the biggest pain in the ass). Regardless, it's all wrapped up now. Now begins the planning and processing stage. Fortunately, all this type of work is free. -Austin
Great find. I've had my '53 Suburban since 1976. The old flat 6 still running strong and the Langdon headers sound great.
I am not any kind of Mopar guy at all but I have to admit that old wagon is kind of cool. Reminds me of an old lawn mower repair guy that had a 50 Plymouth wagon in our little town when I was a kid. He told me one time that the 3hp lawn mower engines had more power than his car
I can't believe that this wagon still has all the glass (mostly) intact and that the body isn't peppered with bullet holes. It will never be a high-dollar car worth a full-on restoration. But it should still be an attention getter if returned to anything near solid, original condition.
Good to see someone bought it and is going to do something with it, it's been on Craigslist for over a year. Neat old wagon.
I know of one for sale that's a project. Fresh unfired 392 Hemi. MII, aluminum radiator, most lines plumbed. Owner lost interest. It's in Rapid City, S.D.
Visor on here has had 3 of them. Well, actually two; the one he has now he's owned twice. A few years after he sold it he had misgivings and tracked down. I think that there had been three owners between him selling and buying it back. I believe in three different states. Anyway, he know more about these things than just about anyone, so if you need any information give him a PM. b-t-w; his is pretty pristine. I don't think it's ever been restored 'cause it never deteriorated to the point of needing it.
Project update: Got the old flathead running with new plugs, fresh oil, and some gas down the carb. Had to reroute the full line from the tag to a fresh can of gas since the tank has been opened and exposed to the elements for who knows how long. I've done been there before. Getting some trim and the bumpers put on to get a good idea of the starting point. Going through the brakes and tranny now. I think within the year, she'll be back on the road. Also, the "patina paint job" is beginning to grow on me something fierce. Gonna keep the 6-volt system and the Auto-lite "bullseye" headlights too. Man, I love the way these old cars were put together. -Austin
Progress on the old plymouth is slow. The winter and a non-heated garage kept me from getting as much done as I wanted, but isn't that always he case? In the past few months, I have done a few things to keep propelling me toward the finish line: - Rust repair on the rear panel below the tailgate was performed, cutting out and replacing anything with holes. - Repainted the interior panels with a heavy-duty, color matched paint. - Dropped the gas tank to rehab it. Overall, it looks really good. - Removed the old bias ply tires and am prepping the wheels to be blasted and painted. - Tracked down some hard-to-find taillights - Dropped the driveshaft to prep for tranny removal. - Made a complete list of everything that needs to be done on this car. - Bought a 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook parts car. I will use a multitude of parts from this vehicle to swap over to the Suburban. - Began work on replacing brake components and checking for functionality. I will continue to get this girl ready for bodywork and paint while I focus on the chassis and getting her ready to run again. It has been tremendous to be able to get out and work on old Detroit iron again. I'll upload pictures soon. -Austin
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