You could use converters:
import pandas as pd
def strip(text):
try:
return text.strip()
except AttributeError:
return text
def make_int(text):
return int(text.strip('" '))
table = pd.read_table("data.csv", sep=r',',
names=["Year", "Make", "Model", "Description"],
converters = {'Description' : strip,
'Model' : strip,
'Make' : strip,
'Year' : make_int})
print(table)
yields
Year Make Model Description
0 1997 Ford E350 None
1 1997 Ford E350 None
2 1997 Ford E350 Super, luxurious truck
3 1997 Ford E350 Super "luxurious" truck
4 1997 Ford E350 Super luxurious truck
5 1997 Ford E350 None
6 1997 Ford E350 None
7 2000 Mercury Cougar None