Motion Pictures 52 Ford vs Chevy comparison

The flathead was old news by 52 when Olds and Cadillac and Chrysler had OHV V8's and Buick and Chev had OHV straight 6's and 8's.

 

Back when it was all out war between the manufactures, and everyone from top to bottom believed they had a
superior product.
What I noticed was they were talking about the features of the cars, styling, performance ect. and not a bunch of razzled-dazzled bull shit, like touch screens, cell phone charging ports, and parking assist.

I like the tone reminding you to change the next scene in film strip, I haven't heard that since I was a little kid.

It's funny in this part of upstate N.Y. no one wanted the Ford V8.
Dairy farming was the main industry and all the farmers had Chevrolets.
Pinder's the local Chevy dealer way out sold Hinkley the Ford dealer. (Note we are a small rural town of 700 people and had a Chevrolet dealer, a Ford Dealer, and a Dodge/Plymouth dealer.

My Great Grandfather Harold "Pop" Kellerhouse was a Cities Service (now Citgo) wholesaler and Chevrolet man.
He would not have a Chevrolet V8 in the fuel oil trucks he bought Chevrolet because of the inline 6, he needed a truck and had to buy a 283 truck off the lot in 1958 or 1959 he and his drivers hated that truck!

Most people around here viewed V8s as rich peoples cars. Pop liked the V8 in his Cadillac

 

Yea those darn rich people with their V8 engines, laying rubber and making loud noises.

 

Adds like this probably led to the '53 Ford/Chevy sales blitz that spelled the end for many independents; Nash, Hudson, Packard, Studebaker and others.

 

Actually, Chevrolet came out with a V8 15 years before Ford.

 

True, but they didn't keep producing it like Ford did. GM went back to inline engines with the exception of Cadillac who had a flathead V8. GM did have OHVs long before Ford, but they were all inlines, until the Olds and Buick OHV V8's came along which were higher priced cars than the Ford and Chevy. Ford and Chevy and Plymouth/Dodge were considered working man's cars, "The low priced field".

 

Nothing said about splash oiling and inclosed driveline.

 

Didn't Ford come out with different block casting techniques that made producing a V-8 less costly than other manufactures?

 

The Ford Flathead was the first mass produced V-8 that was one casting. The earlier V-8 had cylinder blocks that bolted to the crankcase.





Bones

 

First v8 with the block cast in one piece at least in inexpencive cars

 

I knew there were a few earlier attempts at casting a v-8 in one piece before the Ford Flathead. Some successful and some not... I think. That’s why everyone said ole Henry couldn’t do it successfully and cheap enough for mass production. I reckon he proved them wrong! There were six cylinder engines of that time were two piece cast , also.





Bones

 

Having owned both of them of that year. I would have to say the body by Fisher had much more quality and was less prone to rust then the Ford.
Put a flathead with an overdrive and you have a car that would run all day at over the speed limit .
Chevy did have oil pressure on the powerglide 235's. Big improvement over the splash lube, but a real turd as far as performance.
Styling is subjective , but my neighbors bright red 52 Ford convertible with cruiser skirts and a continental kit was about the coolest thing a 12 year old kid had ever seen. You couldn't beat the sound of that old flathead winding out with those dual Smitty's .

 

What did he call this? Guardrail deflector?

 

Gravel deflector.

 

plymouth went after chevy too !

 

Keep in mind, when that first video was made, Ford had a new OHV inline 6 for '52 with full pressure oiling, even on the stick cars, and almost the exact same displacement as the Chevy. Pretty sure they had insert bearings too.

 

Not until the next year, '53. 52 had the splash oiled 235 with the PG. My second car was a really clean '52 that Dad and I replaced the 216 with a low mileage 53PG. The first owner was traveling 66 west from Chicago. Just drove too fast for dipper oiled rods and it broke in OK. He bought a new one and we got the 52 from the dealer.

 

Both models of the cars are shit, but I personally prefer the FORD because of its beautiful style and because its parts are very resistant to wear. My grandfather has such a model, well, a very beautiful car and my family really likes it. But over the years of use, a lot of problems have arisen, even if you take the simplest oil change. According to the norm that I found on the Internet on the site www.cararac.com, engine oil needs to be changed every 9,000 miles, but my grandfather changes every 2,500 miles and all because it is very old. As he explained to me, you need to change the parts, and this is pointless and expensive, and the car will lose its signature chic

 

Other than the Chevrolet having overhead valves both had old tech for the time engines. Both automatic transmissions were as questionable as all of them. We had to wait 10 more years for better. Anything can get an engine swap but The closed drive of a Chevrolet was always a pain to me. Ford went open in 49 and engine aside Ford was the same for 52-54...oops another tri-5?era no one talks about....Chevrolet’s body was the same from 49-52

 

I is only a $ 595

 

This I learned from an old Chevy dealer mechanic run 10 or 20w oil the oil was not pumped in it flowed in to the rods lighter oil worked better. His take after some miles started to use oil so people went to heavy oil thinking it would less then they lost rods. I was never a fan of side valves.