1952 Classic Cars for Sale

95 listings Median price: $22,995 Updated daily

Korean War production controls limited output to 1951 levels, Lincoln won the Pan American Road Race outright, and Cadillac built the one-off Le Mans show car

Production controls were real in 1952. The National Production Authority set manufacturer quotas tied to 1951 output levels, which meant Detroit could not simply build and sell all the cars the market wanted. Total American passenger car production for 1952 came in at roughly 4.3 million units, compared to 5.3 million the year before. Scarcity was manufactured by policy, not by lack of demand.

Lincoln had a genuinely good year in the mountains. The 1952 Lincoln, running the new 317 cubic-inch OHV V8 with 160 horsepower, finished first through fourth in the International Standard Class at the Carrera Panamericana, the brutal road race that ran through Mexico. These were not special race cars. They were stock Lincolns with roll bars and navigators. The win was embarrassing for Cadillac and credibility-making for Lincoln.

Cadillac showed the Le Mans dream car at the General Motors Motorama in 1952, a fiberglass-bodied two-seater that pointed toward a direction GM would eventually pursue through Corvette and beyond. It was a concept, not a production car, but it tells you what the design studios were thinking when the production lines were constrained by government allocation. Sometimes limits on what you can build free up imagination about what you might build.

Notable 1952s: Lincoln Capri Hardtop Sport Coupe Cadillac Series 62 Convertible Hudson Hornet Wasp Club Coupe Chrysler New Yorker FirePower Convertible Studebaker Commander Starliner Hardtop Packard 400 Hardtop Buick Super Riviera Hardtop

1952 in automotive history

Lincoln finished first through fourth in the International Standard Class at the 1952 Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico, with factory-stock 317 cubic-inch OHV V8 Capris driven by drivers including Chuck Stevenson, demonstrating genuine engineering competence against European competition
National Production Authority quotas capped 1952 American passenger car production at approximately 4.3 million units, down from 5.3 million in 1951, as Korean War material allocation controls remained in effect through the full model year
Cadillac displayed the Le Mans dream car concept at the 1952 General Motors Motorama, a fiberglass two-seat roadster that previewed styling directions including wraparound windshield elements that would influence production design later in the decade

Showing 95 listings

1952 Classic Cars for Sale

1952 Packard Patrician

1952 Chevrolet Deluxe

1952 Chevrolet Bel Air

1952 MG TD

1952 Studebaker Starlight

1952 Chevrolet Deluxe

1952 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery

1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith

1952 Dodge Coronet

1952 Chevrolet Styleline

1952 MG BGT

1952 MG TD

1952 Plymouth Cambridge

1952 Packard Clipper

1952 Chevrolet 3100

1952 MG TD

1952 Chevrolet Styleline

1952 Chevrolet Panel Wagon

1952 Ford F-1

1952 Chevrolet Styleline

1952 Volkswagen Beetle

1952 GMC 300

1952 Oldsmobile 88