Four doors, a trunk and a black ’52 Chevy

I was sure my eyes were fooling me. Up ahead, leaning one against the other in the back lot of the auction house – were those the doors to a very old car?

As I approached them, I saw that indeed they were. I love antique cars, so anything relating to them instantly attracts me. But seeing these tired old automobile doors was a novel image. I’ve seen cars (mostly new ones), hubcaps and grills (at an antiques mall and at auction), tires and hood ornaments, but never doors.

Just in case us auction-goers didn’t recognize what car the doors belonged to, someone at the auction house had written the make in white chalk: 52 Chevy. From the looks of the parts, I would’ve guessed the 1940s.

There were four black metal doors – all missing their locks, all with rust stains and small holes. Not too far away was the trunk, still bearing the Chevy bowtie emblem.

I’m very familiar with the iconically beloved ’57 Chevy with its tailfins and the sporty Corvette, introduced in 1953, but I’d never heard of anyone pining over a ’52. The parts made it appear to be a pretty mundane-looking car, and yawningly boring.

Then I Googled and up popped photos of 1952 Chevys not in basic black but in beige, yellow, aqua and two-tone. I realized that it was a lovely car – in the right color. The parts at auction belied the beauty of the spiffed up and restored version of the car. It reaffirmed my love for old antique vintage cars.

The auction house wasn’t specific about the model of the car, but it looked to be a Styleline Deluxe, one of the updated models that included the Fleetline. Here’s a YouTube video of a black Styleline Deluxe on the road.

The 1952 Chevrolets were not much different from the 1951s, according to one website. They came with a grill bearing five teeth – which was missing from the 1951 models – and some came in two-tone colors. Not as many cars were built that year, limited by production quotas imposed by the U.S. government in the aftermath of the Korean War. There were also fewer body styles to choose from.

Chevrolet did offer some sweet accessories to go with it:

“All weather venitshades to let you partially lower your car window in any type of weather.

An electric vanity visor mirror with light up technology for the woman at night.

A tissue dispenser capable of holding up to 100 tissues. It attached just below the instrument panel for easy access.

A Five-Contour electric shaver that plugs into the car battery via the cigarette lighter or with 110 volt household current.

A traffic light viewer – a contraption that attached to the top of the Chevy instrument panel and let you see the traffic light if you were too close to see it clearly.

Direction signals – to let other drivers know which direction you wished to turn.”

 Thank goodness those turn signals became standard (who could ever remember the hand signals). And who couldn’t use a traffic-light viewer?

During the 1950s, looking to get more women to buy its cars, Chevrolet enlisted Dinah Shore to appeal to them. Her “Dinah Shore Show,” sponsored by the car company, introduced that famous jingle “See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet” around 1951. She ended her show each week with the song.

The wholesome Shore was apparently the right choice. During the 1950s, Chevrolet sold an average of 1 million cars a year, likely thanks to her and the tons of advertising dollars it spent.

I wasn’t around when the doors and the trunk sold, but I’m sure some lucky person got them at a good deal. Because practically everything sells at auction – and nearly everything turns up there, too.