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My 1952 Pontiac Chieftain - Dave - 02-04-2026
This will be the project thread for the rebuild of my 1952 Pontiac Chieftain. I won’t dive too deeply into the backstory, but some of you may recognize this car.. it was originally the centerpiece of my old 1952Pontiac.com website.
I found the car in a local trading paper back in 2004 and bought it for $500. At the time, the front drums were buried about four inches into the dirt, the rear was sitting on jack stands, and while it wasn’t perfect, it was actually fairly solid overall. It had the usual floor rust along with some rocker and front fender rust, and it was missing quite a bit of trim. I was told it would run.. and it did.
The original straight-eight only needed minor work: a tune-up, carburetor rebuild, generator and distributor servicing.. nothing major. This car ended up being my only vehicle for several years, and I drove it year-round. In 2009, I replaced the original straight-eight with another rebuilt 1952 engine, while keeping the original Hydra-Matic transmission untouched.
Here are some pictures from the 2004-2012 period.
By around 2018, after nearly 80,000 miles of driving, I finally parked the car. It was getting pretty rusty and was in serious need of rust repair, but it still ran great and I wouldn’t have hesitated to take it on a long trip.
Fast-forward to 2022: I pulled the car out of hibernation, got it into my garage, and started tearing it down for a full rebuild. That’s where this thread begins.
It’ll take me a bit of time to catch up to where I’m currently at, but I’ll start by sharing photos of the car as it came out of storage, along with some early shots of it in the garage as the disassembly began. I bought a mostly solid 1951 Pontiac out of Nebraska to chop up for patch panels. The 51 was mostly a roller/shell and was best used as a parts car anyhow.
Here's the 52 just pulled out of storage
And with the front clip removed as I start the rebuilding process.
RE: My 1952 Pontiac Chieftain - Dave - 02-05-2026
More teardown photos.. with the seats and carpet removed, the extent of the damage really shows. The floors, dog legs, inner and outer rockers, and both front cowl/door hinge areas are completely shot.. and that’s just the middle section of the car.
Shown here is the driver’s side floor/cowl area with the door removed and the rocker and floor out. The passenger side is just as bad. Fortunately, the frame itself held up well. It’s pitted, but not deeply, and I plan to fully clean and repaint the entire frame.
RE: My 1952 Pontiac Chieftain - Dave - 02-05-2026
Driver side cowl patch from the 51 I cut up is welded in, passenger side is also done.
I also got the rest of the floor cut out and frame section cleaned and painted with POR-15.
RE: My 1952 Pontiac Chieftain - Dave - 02-05-2026
Floor section, rocker panels, and dog legs patched from the donor car.
RE: My 1952 Pontiac Chieftain - 54starchief - 02-08-2026
The repairs are looking great. Is this where you are at with it or do you have more updates to share? What kind of welder are you using?
RE: My 1952 Pontiac Chieftain - Dave - 02-08-2026
Thanks.. I am a little further along, but I need to take some more pictures. The pictures posted only show the driver side, but I've done basically the same work to the passenger side. I do have the doors on the car now. Next thing I plan to do is the front floors, then I need to work on the quarter panels and panel below the trunk lid. I won't get to do anything else to it until spring..
I have a Hobart Handler 140 mig welder with shielding gas.