I can't see why the front end would be so expensive, either. But I do admit to not having personal experience with it.
A friend of mine rebuilt the frontend on a '50 chrysler about 2 years ago. that's what I'm basing my statement on.
Just look up the parts sometime. They use a dual wheel cylinder arrangement and you need to send the shoes in to get relined.
Here's a list of what I spent on my '50 Plymouth brakes and front end rebuild kit, all from Kanter. Hit reload on your browser if the image doesn't show up...
This adds up to just about $500 for completely new brakes stem to stern. These prices were a few years ago. The brake shoes are available (at least for Plymouth) with a core charge for your old shoes.
If I had to do it all over again, I would replace the front brakes and master cylinder with a disc conversion and dual master cylinder setup, for about the same money. I had already purchased all the replacement stuff before anyone had a disc conversion kit for sale for my car, back in 2000. A year or two later, the kits started to appear on the market.
The front suspension isn't bad for the era. It is a dual A-arm setup, but the arms are un-equal length unlike modern setups. The ride is nice, and handles fine for a daily driver. I had my alignment done after rebuilding the front end, the alignment shop was amazed at how easy it was to set up the alignment. They thought it was great that a 59 year old car had such a well thought out suspension.
With drop spindles, shock relocation kits, and disc conversions, I see no reason to do an MII swap or clip one of these cars.
Pete
