Front Clip for 54 Chrysler Town and Country

[Boyd]

Looking forward to start my 1954 Chrysler Windsor Town and Country wagon, but I will need a front clip. This is a heavy weight with the original suspension, brakes and engine. If I don't get this car on the road, it will surely end up in the crusher, so I would like to make it a decent, comfortable and safe driver. I am considering a Dodge Dakota clip? I want to keep it Mopar and the wheels in the fenders. Am I on the right track? Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

This is not really the right place to ask, as we're C body folks, and we're focussed on mid 60s and up. You might want to talk to the Imperial club people and see what they come up with for mid 50s.

 

[Big_John]

I'm going to throw this out there... Having owned a '53 Chrysler project car for a short time, I got a bit familiar with the front end.

It's a decent design as it sits. The o60'snly thing I was going to add was a better shock, which meant adding a 50/60's (IIRC) shock mount. There's disc brakes available if you don't want to deal with the dual wheel cylinder drums. While I never finished the car, I read enough to believe that it would be a decent handling car, especially with the addition of good front shocks.

 

[Big_John]

This is not really the right place to ask, as we're C body folks, and we're focussed on mid 60s and up. You might want to talk to the Imperial club people and see what they come up with for mid 50s.

The problem with these cars is they don't fit into a popular niche. You have forums for earlier cars, like post war Plymouths like P15-D24.com and Pilot-house.com , but they don't seem to address the early 50's Chrysler and mostly stock stuff at that. Then you have The HAMB https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/ and they would be fine with the '54 until you mentioned a Dakota front clip as the Dakota stuff is too new... And that's a real shame because of the talent I see there.

Except for the occasional reference, we're not gonna be a lot of help here either.

 

[CBODY67]

"Front clip" usually means "front body sheet metal", as a unit. Not the frame items, unless you mean the whole front frame unit, snipped under the front seat?

Several years ago, a yellow and white 1957 Dodge Sierra (2-dr wagon) went through a Barrett-Jackson AZ auction. It ended up in the hands of a local guy who brought it to our dealership to get checked out. Per the information sheet I found on the B-J website, for the car, it had a '99 or so Dakota front suspension on it. With normal 14x6" Cragar wheels, it had air bags on the front. The "anti-theft system" was to deflate the front air bags so the front end dropped. The tires were just inside of the fender lips, needing for the bags to be inflated so the front wheels could turn! There must have been about 1/2" of undercoat hiding all of their welding sins on the suspension k-frame to the existing frame rails! It got the full Dak suspension and related items. We found a salvage yard with a pair of lower control arms, with some new springs from NAPA, and the car was level again. It had a 440 and TF, with a drag racing-style rear suspension. LOTS of work they did to the car!

I concur with @Big_John on the front suspension. Add some good HD shocks, some urethane sway bar end-link grommets (makes the bar act stiffer), and some good tires. Might not be a "corner carver", nor would it be a "slouch" in the corners.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[Boyd]

I'm going to throw this out there... Having owned a '53 Chrysler project car for a short time, I got a bit familiar with the front end.

It's a decent design as it sits. The o60'snly thing I was going to add was a better shock, which meant adding a 50/60's (IIRC) shock mount. There's disc brakes available if you don't want to deal with the dual wheel cylinder drums. While I never finished the car, I read enough to believe that it would be a decent handling car, especially with the addition of good front shocks.

Thank you Big John. That is great advice and really money saving. I did a disk brake conversion on my 1965 NYer with better shocks and a heavier sway bar and I am very happy with that. I think I will have to rethink this whole project.