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Final Parking Space: 1952 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe Six-Passenger Sedan
We just made Sajeev Mehta’s bitter tears flow with two luxurious Ford products as our most recent Final Parking Space vehicles, which means it’s now the turn of a luxurious Chrysler Corporation machine. In fact, this 1952 Windsor Deluxe, found in the same Northern Colorado boneyard that gave us the 400K-mile Mercedes-Benz W123 a few weeks back, is the first Chrysler-badged car in this series.
This car helps round out the collection of discarded 1950s Chrysler vehicles we’ve admired so far, including the Red Ram Hemi–powered 1954 Dodge Meadowbrook from December and Poly 277–powered 1956 Plymouth Belvedere from last May. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for retired 1950s DeSotos and Imperials during my 2025 car graveyard travels.
For 1952, the Chrysler lineup had the Windsor located at the very bottom of the prestige pyramid, where it was just a bit more expensive than the cheapest DeSoto models). Heading upward from there, Chrysler offered the Windsor Deluxe, the Saratoga, and the New Yorker, with the Imperial at the very top. Starting with the 1955 model year, the Imperial split off to become its own marque.
This being a Windsor Deluxe short-wheelbase sedan, its list price was $2727 (about $32,690 in 2025 dollars). That put it in the same pricing ballpark as the nicer Oldsmobile and Buick sedans, and right between the sedan offerings of Mercury and Lincoln.
The engine in this car is one of Chrysler’s flathead straight-sixes, which was a venerable design even by the standards of the early 1950s.
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If this is the engine originally bolted into this car at the Jefferson Avenue Plant in Detroit, it’s a 265-cubic-incher rated at 119 horsepower and 218 pound-feet. It has the high-compression “Spitfire” cylinder head, though 7:1 compression was pretty average for 1952 new cars.
Chrysler had introduced its radical new Hemi V-8 for the previous model year, but you had to buy a Saratoga, New Yorker, or Imperial if you wanted a 331-cube FirePower Hemi making 180 horses in your 1952 Chrysler.
Chrysler still wasn’t able to offer a true automatic transmission for its 1952 cars (that finally came with the introduction of the two-speed PowerFlite midway through 1953), so this car has the semi-automatic Fluid Drive.
The 1952 version of this rig was essentially a three-speed manual with a clutch pedal and a torque converter, which allowed less use of the clutch pedal in most driving situations but still wasn’t a genuine automatic.
This car has no serious rust to speak of, most of the glass and trim pieces are intact, and the interior isn’t particularly trashed for its age.
The radio, clock, and heater controls are still present.
I had an old film camera with me, as I often do on these trips, and I shot a photo of the radio with it. This shot was taken with a 1910s European-made camera with no manufacturer identification.
The heater blower fan is located behind the grille, feeding ducting that goes into the firewall.
How did such a solid Detroit classic end up in this place? Most non-hardtop Detroit four-doors of the 1946–1970 era just don’t get much enthusiast love, especially when equipped with base powertrains, and the products of the Chrysler Corporation from that era tend to be especially underappreciated. It wouldn’t have taken much to have made this car into a fun driver project, but the gearheads around Colorado’s Front Range have plenty of 1950s two-doors to choose from.
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These are the cars that almost bankrupted Chrysler. In 1949, Chrysler was in 2nd place, ahead of Ford. By 1954, Ford had passed Chrysler, and was ahead by a big margin.
These cars were outdated in style the day they were introduced, and lacking in technology, like a V8 and an automatic transmission. Look at comparable Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs and Mercuries. Undeniably well built, Briggs built many of the bodies for Chrysler, but wrong for the times.
Ah, yes. KT Keller was the president of Chrysler then. I believe he required cars had enough headroom to wear a hat, not low enough to p*ss over.
Ah, the good old days…..just before the CONELRAD marks on the AM radio dial…..
A cool old sedan style. Car looks like it isn’t too far gone to be restored.
Since you mentioned keeping an eye out for old DeSotos – They too had their own hemi in 52. The smaller 276 cu.in. ‘ Firedome V-8 rated at 160 horse vs the 331s 180. Available in the two door Club Coupe which, if in the same condition as this Windsor, might be quite a find.
At least its not a ’50 Dodge. The squareish roofline on the four doors is really unappealing (at least to me, someone must love them).
The notch cut out of the C pillar and three piece rear window gives it a GM look.
Hope somebody saves it, or at least picks it clean. Somewhere, someone needs that headliner light cover.
Looks just like one owned by an older couple in the neighborhood when I was a kid. The comment by bob elton is correct – it fit the older folks, but was behind in style for the younger generation people living around them.
When I got my drivers license in high school, I had an opportunity to get a 1949 First Series Windsor that had a less than 5 year old restoration. My dad talked me out of it since he though it wouldn’t be affordable for me to keep running on a part time high school job. He was probably right, but I will always regret not getting it. It was that beautiful pale green they called Fog Green and had the 3-speed manual , without the optional fluid drive system. A fun bit of history for those that may not know, the Windsor had a new generation in 1949 and was only offered with a 4 speed automatic, but due to issues getting into production, they made the outgoing 46-48 version for a good portion of 49, as 49 First Series models, so they were the old style with the old equipment.
Always cool to see an old car being honoured. My family drove the limousine version of this car in the late 1960s. I have many fond memories! The car gave up the ghost in August, 1969, after pulling a trailer to Maine and back to southern Ontario. Wish I had photos of it. Your photo of the gear shift indicator “RLoNuDr” really anchors the memories for me. All my life, I wondered what a “FluidMatic” transmission might be.
We used to cruise in a friend’s mother’s 1953 with a hemi. After her husband died she drove the car daily to the print shop they owned which was about a two mile drive. She never mastered the transmission and you could hear her grinding the gears on both trips to and from the shop. For years.