In the late 1920s, General Motors added companion nameplates to Oakland, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac. The idea was to broaden market coverage and fill the price gaps between makes. Pontiac was introduced as the companion to Oakland in 1926 and quickly sold more cars than its parent, which was discontinued in 1931.

The 1937-’38 Pontiacs are sought out by collectors for several reasons. For starters, there was no longer a wood skeleton to rot or warp in a Pontiac body. General Motors bodies were now all steel, including the “Turret Top” roof of sedans and coupes in place of a fabric roof panel. Secondly, the channel-section frame with a central X member was beefed up. In addition, Pontiac replaced its troublesome Dubonnet system that was not very durable with a better independent front suspension. A Hotchkiss rear drive replaced a torque tube system that improved traction in all Pontiacs by this time.

Although engineering improvements are great, it is style that appeals first to a potential buyer, and the Pontiacs had plenty of style. The 1937 and ’38 Pontiacs featured wonderful Art Deco streamlining with swoopy pontoon fenders that bulged from the body, plus rounded hoods that towered over the fenders, butterfly hoods, teardrop-shaped headlamp housings, split windshields and rear suicide doors. 

The 1937 and ’38 Pontiac was not a gussied-up Chevrolet. Pontiacs used GM’s new, larger B bodies shared with Oldsmobile, LaSalle and smaller Buicks. One does not have to be a contortionist to get into a relatively roomy ’37 or ’38 Poncho. 

Of course, Pontiac’s Silver Streaks must be mentioned. They were designed by Franklin Q. Hershey and were first applied to Pontiacs in 1935. This design feature on the hoods and trunks of Pontiacs identifies them from several blocks away. Hershey allegedly saw a photo of an old French Napier race car with finned oil coolers jutting out from the top of the hood and was inspired to create the Silver Streaks.

In 1937, Hershey produced a grille ensemble consisting of five groupings split down the middle by the Silver Streak. The top grille element ran the length of the hood. Another distinctive feature was the 39-degree slant of the windshield. Virgil Exner, later to be famous at Chrysler Corp., made detail changes to the 1938 Pontiac. He designed a grille with 14 bars that were bisected with a Silver Streak. On the hood sides were 10 louvers for six-cylinder cars and 12 slots for the eights. In the center of the front bumper was an Indian head insignia.

Inside, a rectangular cluster housed the bar speedometer and axillary gauges in front of the driver featuring black graphics over ivory faces. For ’37, there was an generator “idiot light,” replaced in ’38 with an ammeter. The Pontiac interior featured comfortable “living room sofa seats,” and the back seat seemed miles away from the front seat thanks to the large body affording a spacious interior. The clutch and brake pedals jutted out from the floor that was nearly flat with only some transmission intrusion. 

For both model years, Pontiac offered a flathead six and eight. The six generated 85-hp — equal to Ford’s Flathead V-8 that year! The eight-in-a-line flattie produced 100 hp. Both engines were vibration-free and quiet. 

The Pontiac line included two- and four-passenger coupes; two- and four-door sedans with either a flatback or a bustle-back trunk; a convertible coupe; four-door station wagon; and four-door convertible sedan, its first. Because the open-top sedan was only offered in 1937 and 1938, and only as a flatback, it is a sought-after model. Pontiac shared its convertible sedan body with Buick, LaSalle and Cadillac while Chevrolet never offered the body style in the United States.

The undisputed image model of the Pontiac lineup was the new four-door convertible sedan. Out of 179,244 Pontiacs produced in 1937, Pontiac authority John Gunnell uncovered that just 1,266 convertible sedans were made. The threadbare 1930s were bad enough, but a recession hit in 1938 slowed the United States’ crawl out of the Great Depression and caused Pontiac output to tumble to a low of 77,713 cars. Speculating on that figure, the number of fliptop sedans built in 1938 was probably less than 520 units, because they were the most expensive model in the Pontiac line.

Documented Pontiac convertible sedan survivors include 13 examples from 1937 and just 3 from 1938. The featured vehicle is the 24th constructed in 1938 and is powered by the inline six. It has the column-mounted gear shifter that was first offered in ’38. Other features include safety glass, a lock button on the parking brake, heater and radio.

The owners’ history of the featured car can be traced to the beginning. A Mr. Childs bought it in 1938 and later traded it in for a new Chevrolet in 1947. An 18-year-old U.S. Navy recruiter bought the car at that point. He drove it 2,000 miles to Florida for flight school and 3,000 miles to San Diego for his carrier-based assignment. During the Korean War, the Poncho was stored outside. Upon his return from Korea, the original and faded dark-blue Pontiac was repainted beige. The sailor sold the car to an engineer student in 1952 who kept it until 1958. Ken Walker, of Sacramento, Calif., owned the soft top sedan from 1958 to 1960. Tom Stroup, also of Sacramento, was the caretaker from 1960 to 1985. John Edwards, who moved from Sacramento to Sheldon, Wash., had the convertible sedan from 1985 to 2015. From 2015 to his 2023 death, the Pontiac was owned by Don Bougher of Keizer, Ore. He founded the Pontiac-Oakland Club International in 1972.

With components of the Pontiac in various states of disrepair, Edwards decided to bring the soft-top sedan back to its former glory. For 10 years, he collected NOS parts for a future restoration. In 2003 he began a complete body-off restoration. The home restoration was an incredible investment of dedication, time, skill and money. During the restoration, Edwards had it repainted 1938 Winona Maroon for the body and black for the fenders. This color combination provides flair that really displays the lines on the car. The restoration cost reportedly exceeded $100,000.

In 2013, Edwards’ droptop sedan was one of ten cars invited to an indoor exhibition celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Pontiac. It won a platinum level trophy at the 400-plus car show.

In 2015, Edwards’ sun worshipping sedan participated in the eminent Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance in Oregon where the convertible won first place in class. This was a first for Pontiac at the event. It was a surprise that the home restoration, although impeccable, qualified to be entered.

When Edwards learned he only had a few months to live, he sold the Pontiac to Bougher, who bought it sight-unseen, because he found it too good to pass up since it was a turn-key car without any flaws. Bougher found the Pontiac to be a “see and be seen in” car, and enjoyed the convertible as long as he could.

If you like stories like these and other classic car features, check out Old Cars magazine. CLICK HERE to subscribe.

Want a taste of Old Cars magazine first? Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter and get a FREE complimentary digital issue download of our print magazine.

The post A rare ride: 1938 Pontiac convertible sedan appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Approximately 10 years ago, I photographed this Starlight Black 1963 Pontiac Catalina 421 Super Duty near Detroit. The Catalina had just undergone a systematic restoration to return it to its factory-original condition after its owner had acquired it.

I met Jim Crawford back in 2008 while scouting a local car show and noticed his stunning green 1963 Chevrolet Biscayne in the distance. The hood was open and as I approached it, the massive engine with its “409” valve cover decals instantly caught my eye.

After introducing myself to Jim, he told me the Biscayne’s restoration had just been finished. I asked if he would be interested in having me photograph the show-stopper for a magazine feature and he agreed. Jim also shared that since the Biscayne was finished, he turned his attention toward restoring the featured 1963 Pontiac Catalina Ventura 421 Super Duty. He was working with the same local restorer who had helped with the Biscayne. The Catalina was only as far as the primer stage, but I asked if I could see it and he shared with me the address where the work was being done.

Later in the week, I met Jim at the restoration shop, which was located in an old warehouse just west of Detroit. After seeing the Catalina in person, we decided I would document the restoration process. For all practical purposes, this was the start to my journey of documenting and photographing automobile restorations.

For nearly two years, I followed the Catalina’s restoration, capturing each stage from primer application to block sanding, guide coat, paint application, wet sanding and then buffing. These steps were followed by the final assembly and detailing. What you see in the pictures within this article is the culmination of a process that took more than two years. The finished product is an award-winning, best-in-class restoration that possibly makes this Catalina the finest example on the planet. It has received top honors and awards at the Pontiac Nationals and concours events throughout the Midwest. Like every world-class restoration project, the attention to detail sets this 1963 Pontiac Catalina Ventura 421 Super Duty apart from many of the automobiles it has gone head to head with at judged events. 

For me, this Catalina started a new chapter in my journey of capturing classic automobiles and sharing them with the motoring world. Much was learned from this endeavor. Many of the techniques remain in my memory bank and the approach and process that I have successfully used for 17 years started here with Jim Crawford and this 1963 Pontiac Catalina. 

The Super Duty is born

In the early 1960s, Detroit was waking up to a new kind of horsepower war. Long before the term “muscle car” had officially entered the lexicon, Pontiac was already staking its claim as a performance leader. At the center of that revolution stood a beast draped in full-size steel: the 1963 Pontiac Catalina 421 Super Duty—a factory-built dragstrip warrior that helped redefine the guts of American performance.

More than just a stoplight brawler, the Catalina Super Duty was the physical embodiment of Pontiac’s growing performance image. Born from a combination of corporate rebellion, engineering brilliance, and a hunger to dominate the quarter-mile, the ’63 Super Duty remains one of the most revered and rare factory-built performance cars of the immediate pre-muscle car era.

Christening the Catalina

The Pontiac Catalina made its debut in 1950 as part of General Motors’ line of new pillarless “hardtop” two-doors that captured the spirit of postwar America. “Catalina” was simply the name of the hardtop derivative of existing Pontiac models until 1959, when it became a stand-alone, mid-line Pontiac model available in hardtop, sedan or even a convertible body types. That year, Pontiac also began its split-grille front-end motif and its “Wide-Track” handling theme, adding more pizzazz to the Pontiac brand as it blazed head-on into its performance marketing strategy under the industry’s brightest minds of the period: General Manager Bunkie Knudsen, marketing whiz Jim Wangers and engineers John DeLorean and Pete Estes.

In 1961, all GM products received a significant restyling and the Catalina model returned, but was now at the bottom of the Pontiac hierarchy as it sat on the make’s shortest full-size car chassis with the least amount of trim. In 1963, the Catalina remained Pontiac’s least-expensive full-size two-door model — and its lightest.

The 1963 Catalina was an integral part of Pontiac’s ambitious performance plans for the ’60s. The American muscle car was beginning to take shape, and Pontiac was right at the forefront of that movement. In fact, the Catalina of this era can be seen as the precursor to Pontiac’s famous GTO, which would arrive a year later in 1964. But before all of that, there was the Catalina — a car that offered great looks consistent with the rest of the Pontiac line, and the perfect full-size lightweight for getting the most out of Pontiac’s hottest engines.

Enter the Super Duty Program

Almost immediately after finally getting a modern overhead-valve, over-square V-8 engine in 1955, Pontiac began experimenting with it to get more horsepower. In 1956, some Pontiac V-8s were fitted with dual four-barrel carburetor setups, and 1957 brought the introduction of the novel fuel-injection system on Bonneville convertibles, as well as the Tri-Power (three two-barrel) option available on all Pontiacs. In 1960, Pontiac developed its first Super Duty (SD) engine packages designed specifically for competition use. These weren’t warmed-over production engines only fit with additional carburetors — they were hand-assembled, heavy-duty, high-compression monsters built for serious racing.

The Pontiac 421-cid V-8, introduced in 1961, was the centerpiece of the Super Duty program that year. Rated at 405 hp by 1963 (though the real number was likely closer to 450), the Super Duty engine featured forged internal components, a high-lift cam, dual Carter AFB four-barrel carburetors, and factory long-tube headers. It was a street-legal powerhouse that could humiliate nearly anything that dared to line up next to it.

Catalina + 421 Super Duty = Fast

While later muscle cars would prioritize lightweight midsize platforms, the 1963 Catalina Super Duty was unapologetically big, bad and brutal. Despite weighing in at more 3,700 pounds, Pontiac engineers found creative ways to shave off weight and increase speed on the most serious lightweight race versions.

Buyers could option their Super Duty Catalina as lightweights with aluminum front-end panels, including the hood, fenders, bumper, and radiator support. Inside, a no-frills interior, sans radio, and optional lightweight bucket seats helped further reduce mass. The “Swiss Cheese” Super Duty Catalinas even had giant holes drilled in their chassis to lighten them up further for drag racing.

Every component of the car—from the heavy-duty suspension and Borg-Warner four-speed manual transmission to the beefed-up rear end—was designed with one purpose in mind: to win. Only about 88 of these lightweightss were built before General Motors, under pressure to downplay its performance image, officially ended factory racing support in early 1963. That makes the ’63 Catalina 421 SD not only rare, but one of the last true expressions of unrestricted factory racing engineering from Pontiac.

Quarter-Mile Royalty

The 1963 Super Duty Catalina found its natural habitat at NHRA-sanctioned dragstrips across the country. In the hands of legendary drivers such as Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick, the Catalina Super Duty quickly built a reputation for devastating performance and unmatched durability. In the early 1960s, his car consistently ran mid-12-second quarter-mile times at more than 110 mph—astonishing numbers for the period and especially impressive considering the big car’s full-frame construction.

The Catalina’s sheer speed helped Pontiac further stake its claim as a performance brand, paving the way for the GTO and the rest of the muscle car revolution. While the Catalina Super Duty wasn’t a muscle car in the classic sense (a midsize car with a big engine), it laid much of the groundwork for what was to come. Perhaps more importantly, it gave engineers like DeLorean the confidence to plant the 389-cid V-8 into the midsize 1964 Tempest — creating the Pontiac GTO and igniting the muscle car era.

The ’63 SD Catalina is now one of the most sought-after collector cars in American muscle history. Survivors trade hands for six-figure prices, and rightly so — each one represents a brief but glorious chapter where engineers were allowed to build unfiltered performance machines with full factory support.

Love Ponchos? Here are a few more articles for your reading enjoyment.

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1964-pontiac-gto-red-car

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1974-pontiac-trans-am-sd

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1967-pontiac-firebird

SHOW US YOUR WHEELS!

If you’ve got an old car you love, we want to hear about it. Email us at oldcars@aimmedia.com

If you like stories like these and other classic car features, check out Old Cars magazine. CLICK HERE to subscribe.

Want a taste of Old Cars magazine first? Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter and get a FREE complimentary digital issue download of our print magazine.

The post Car of the Week: 1963 Pontiac Catalina Super Duty appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

When Pontiac stuffed a 389-cid V-8 into its midsize LeMans to create the 1964 GTO, the muscle car era of the 1960s took off like a top-fuel dragster leaving the starting line. Chevy launched the Chevelle SS396 in 1965, Plymouth offered the Barracuda with the Formula S option and Ford’s Fairlane GT housed a 390-cid V-8. Big-block pony cars soon followed.

GTO sales were beginning to sag by the late 1960s amidst the growing competition. Pontiac responded in 1969 with the GTO The Judge. Originally envisioned as a low-cost muscle car to compete with the Plymouth Road Runner, it actually ended up costing $332.07 more than the standard GTO. By 1970, the peak performance year for muscle cars, sales were impacted by rising insurance rates and impending smog rules, but before then, the Judge was at the head of the court. A total of 6,833 Judge hardtops and convertibles were sold in 1969, and another 3,797 were sold in 1970. Judge sales slid farther in 1971, and it was the last year for the option.

The Pontiac marketing gurus were looking to bring more attention to their hot intermediate models and the idea of The Judge was born. The name came from the popular Flip Wilson routine on the Rowan and Martin TV Show titled “Here Come the Judge.” Advertising campaigns featured catch lines like “All Rise for the Judge” and “The Judge Can Be Bought.”

The name caught on and while only 6,833 were sold in 1969, it became a recognizable spoof, a poke at muscle car lineups that featured cartoon-character badging, such as the Plymouth Road Runner and the Dodge Demon.

Kevin Guido’s ’69 GTO The Judge is a classic example of Pontiac’s marketing and promotional efforts with its bold decals, Carousel Red paint (which actually looks orange) and standard rear wing. The first couple of thousand or so Judges were only available in Carousel Red, but later in the model year, any color could be ordered. The Judge also differed from the GTO by having a blacked-out center grille section, but like the GTO, hidden headlamps could be optioned.

In the engine department, the Judge outshined the ’69 GTO, which featured as standard the Pontiac 350-hp 400-cid V-8. In the Judge, the new, more powerful Ram Air III (L74) 400-cid was standard and touted 366 hp (this engine was optional in other GTOs). Like most Judges, the Clearwater, Fla., resident’s Judge features that model’s standard Ram Air III engine that develops its 366 hp at 5,100 rpm and peaks at 445 lbs.-ft. of torque at 3,600 rpm. Functional hood scoops feed fresh air into the Rochester Quadrajet four-barrel carburetor, hence the Ram Air name.

Pontiac did offer a more powerful Ram Air IV V-8 in its GTO and Judge models during 1969, but there is no accurate data to show how many Judges might have had that upgrade. Numbers do exist, though, that show that about 200 of the more than 72,000 GTOs sold that year were bought with the Ram Air IV engine.

Kevin bought his Judge in 1991. He’d owned Trans Ams and GTOs before and first saw his Judge in 1986 while driving down a Clearwater street.

“It was about 8 p.m. and it was dark,” he said, “but I knew the familiar headlamp arrangement of a GTO. So, when he passed me going east, my neck about snapped as I realized it was a 1969 Judge.”

Kevin made a quick U-turn and followed the car into a hamburger joint’s parking lot. He talked with the owner about the car, which had just arrived in Clearwater after having been purchased in California. After a few years, the buyer ran into financial trouble and sold the car. The next owner took over the restoration, but tired of it and listed it for sale. That’s when Kevin was able to buy the car, even though it was priced above his budget at the time.

“But I knew I had to scrape up the loot or lose the car, which was not an option,” he says.

Kevin drove his Judge for a few years (“I pounded that car relentlessly,” he says) before deciding that it was time for a full restoration. First up was a rebuild of the V-8. A friend rebuilt the engine back to stock specs, except for adding a Crane Ram Air IV cam. 

By 1994, it was time to tackle the predictable rust points, and true to form, the more they dug into the rust, the more that emerged. After the body cancers were fixed, Deltron single-stage paint was applied, and 30 years later, it still shines like a new paint job.

While the body shop work was underway, Kevin tackled various restoration tasks, including a complete rebuild of the tricky hideaway headlamp mechanisms. Once back in his garage during 1995, Kevin spent the next 10 years sourcing myriad NOS parts and restoring and reassembling the car himself.

Finding NOS and date-coded parts for any 35-year-old car is challenging, whether it was back in the 1990s or today. But Kevin was able to find a few treasures for the car. For example, the Hurst T-handle that was stock on four-speed Judges had disappeared over the years, but Kevin discovered one at a swap meet for $85.

“That was a lot of money then,” Kevin says. “Today, if you can even find one, that’s a bargain.”

One hard-to-find piece of trim that had also walked away from the car was the special “The Judge” badge on the glove box. He eventually acquired one for $250. Other NOS parts included lug nuts, rear glass, AM radio, various exhaust components, console lid, headlamp doors, lenses, bezels and more.

One of the gems found in Kevin’s hunt for NOS parts was the rare manual-shift Code 273 Quadrajet four-barrel carburetor and the Code 952 distributor. The original M20 four-speed manual transmission was still with the car and all it needed was a thorough going-over. The Judge was offered with a standard three-speed manual transmission, an automatic or one of three four-speeds. The M20 was the wide-ratio, first-gear version while the M21 and M22 four-speeds had a close-ratio first gear.

The M20 cars featured either 3.23 or 3.55 rear gear ratios while the close-ratio transmissions were offered with taller gears. 

Four-wheel drum brakes were standard, but Kevin’s Judge has power front discs in the front, plus power steering. Pontiac 14×6-in. steel Rally II wheels with chrome lug nuts were standard, but trim rings were not. Goodyear’s Polyglas-belted tires were common muscle car fixtures in the late 1960s, and G70-14 blackwall tires were standard on the Judge. Kevin’s Judge has white-letter tires, a personal preference.

Like their exteriors, the interiors of 1969 GTOs had only minor changes from the previous model year. Wing vent windows were eliminated, the front grille and rear taillamps were mildly updated and the ignition switch was moved from the dashboard to the steering column. That locked the steering wheel when the key was removed, a federal requirement that was mandatory for 1970 models. The gauge face was changed from steel blue to black, and front outboard headrests were made standard on all 1969 model cars.

Kevin’s black vinyl interior also features a wood-trimmed three-spoke steering wheel.

The restoration of Kevin’s Judge was essentially completed (if they ever are) in early 2006. Since then, the car has been regularly driven, especially to local cruises and car shows. 

Love GTOs? Here are a few more articles for your reading enjoyment.

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1964-pontiac-gto-red-car

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1970-pontiac-gto-judge-convertible

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1966-pontiac-gto

If you like stories like these and other classic car features, check out Old Cars magazine. CLICK HERE to subscribe.

Want a taste of Old Cars magazine first? Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter and get a FREE complimentary digital issue download of our print magazine.

The post Here come the Judge! The first-year 1969 GTO Judge appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Rod Carlson really loves old cars, and he’s got a lot of them — more than 50 at last count. Most of them are low-mileage originals, or unusual models that may have been restored, but are authentic and unchanged from the factory.

Carlson hopes someday to open a museum in his hometown of Wausau, Wis., to display all his cars and other car-related collectibles — he has everything from scooters and gas pumps to original dealership neon and old-school roadside restaurant artifacts. 

If the museum ever becomes a reality, it’s going to be packed, and one of the cars that will surely be getting the star treatment front and center is Carlson’s sweet 1953 Pontiac Chieftain “tin woodie” wagon. Carlson has cars that are certainly more valuable, and even more rare, than the venerable green wagon, but none that he treasures more.

“I’ve always loved station wagons. I grew up in the back seat, looking out the back window, and my friend’s family had a Chevy like this,” Carlson recalls. “I just liked Pontiacs first and foremost, and the rareness and the oddness of it, you know? There’s a photo I remember from when I was a kid, and I have it sitting in my office, of an old Pontiac tin woodie wagon with a surfboard on top sitting down at a beach in Cocoa Beach, Fla. And always I looked at that on a regular basis and I always said, ‘I’m gonna find one of those someday,’ and here it is.”

Carlson’s Pontiac wagon was originally purchased by a man named Henry Gaisman on July 15, 1953, from McAndrew-Jernigan Pontiac in Tuckahoe, N.Y., for a grand total of $3,692.06, including $818.45 worth of options and accessories. Gaisman was a bit of an eccentric inventor, businessman and philanthropist who, among other things, invented the safety razor and accumulated a fortune working for Gillette Safety Razor Co. He also patented an autographic camera where photographers would write on their negatives — an invention he later sold to Eastman Kodak. In his later years, Gaisman gave millions to charity before eventually passing away in 1974 at age 101.

Gaisman probably could have afforded any car around, but he took a liking to the Chieftain wagon, and he bought one loaded up with power steering, Hydra-Matic automatic transmission, whitewall tires, heater/defroster, Chieftain radio, antenna, directional signals, backup lamps, non-glare rearview mirror, latex foam cushions, fender skirts, exhaust deflector, illuminated hood ornament, glove compartment lamp, visor vanity mirror, underhood lamp, outside rearview mirror, hand brake signal, undercoating and General Super Squeegee tires with self-sealing puncture-proof safety tubes.

The car eventually began making the rounds on the auction circuit. Worldwide Auctions sold it twice before Mecum Auctions wound up offering the car for sale at its Indianapolis auction in October 2023. That’s where Carlson picked it up, along with several other cars.

“It was bought in New York, then made its way to Connecticut,” he pointed out. “The gentleman I bought it from had quite an extensive car collection … and I think his family was liquidating his collection, and he was from Arizona. So I know the car has spent time in New York, Connecticut and Arizona. I’ve got a stack about a half-inch thick of all the maintenance records from day one. It’s really well-documented. It’s got everything — power steering … fender skirts … automatic … inline eight … whoever picked options on this car went over the top! The original build sheet has power steering, which is an option that most people didn’t go with, and I’m glad they did. It’s an automatic on the tree, so it was well optioned.”

1953 Pontiacs: ‘Streaking’ ahead

“Pontiac for 1953 is so strikingly new and offers such obvious quality in every detail that it has raised the standards of an entire price class of automobiles,” said an advertisement depicting the new year’s new convertible and station wagon. “Certainly no car anywhere near Pontiac’s price offers style to match this sparkling ‘Dual-streak’ beauty.”

By Pontiac’s conservative standards, the 1953 models were “new from bumper to bumper.” The biggest changes included one-piece windshields; wraparound rear windows, new hood ornaments, ignition-key starting and stepped-up rear fenders. More massive chrome headlamp bezels were used on all models and the new grille encircled the parking lamps up front, and the “Panorama-View” instrument panel attracted many appreciative looks, and still does today. 

The wheelbase of all Pontiacs increased to 122 inches and overall length of passenger cars grew slightly to 202 11/16 in. Station wagons, at 205.3 inches, actually shrunk a tad. New “Tru-Arc” safety steering and a “Curve Control” front suspension system were heavily promoted in 1953. Standard 1953 Pontiacs were called Specials. Small hubcaps, rubber gravel guards, straight upper belt line trim and short, arrow-shaped side trim were all part of the new look. Deluxe Chieftains had long “dual streak” body moldings, stainless steel gravel guards with rear fender extensions, dipping belt moldings and chrome full wheel discs. Eights had an “8” emblem between the twin Silver Streaks on the rear deck lid.

Major automakers had ditched true wood wagon construction several years earlier. For 1949, buyers could get a Pontiac wagon that still had some wooden pieces, but by 1950, the wagons were all steel with faux wood paint around the windows and covering the tailgate — hence the “tin woodie” moniker. 

The Deluxe Station Wagon was the most expensive car in the lineup at $2,664 — $74 than the six-cylinder version. It weighed $3,716 lbs. Eight-cylinder wagons and convertibles actually dropped in price. The eight-cylinder engine, which Pontiac had planned to replace with the V-8, was unchanged in spec with eight manual or automatic transmissions. A Chevrolet PowerGlide two-speed automatic replaced the Hydra-Matic in some 1953 Pontiac Chieftain models built at the Pontiac, Mich., factory after a devastating Aug. 12 fire at the Hydra-Matic transmission plan in Livonia, Mich. Production of the 1953 lineup started on Nov. 18, 1952, and cars appeared in showrooms on Dec. 6. Model-year output came to 418,619 cars, keeping Pontiac fifth in the U.S. automaker arms race. 

‘Drawn to the ’50s’

The odometer on Carlson’s tin woodie shows 51,000 miles and change, and he leans toward believing that figure, based on the condition of the car. 

“The motor looks like it’s been repainted, but I can’t say for sure [if it’s been worked on],” he says. “I like the fact that pretty much everything in this car is original. I was told that it had one repaint about 20 years ago, and the fact that it’s in such original condition, that’s what really trips my trigger. 

“I had to do a couple little things mechanically — brake lines and a tune-up, and a couple little things like that. I’ve had a chance to crawl under the car and look it over pretty well, and as far as I can tell it looks pretty original to me. The undercarriage has got some signs of age, but no scaling or anything. It’s definitely very original. I’ve had the brake light switch replaced. It had a tune-up and an oil change, but it was pretty much a solid car, good to go.”

The Spruce Green ’53 fits right in with a bunch of other similar machines in Carlson’s fleet. He also has Pontiacs from ’48, ’52 and ’53, and they are all green.

“My grandfather, his name was Terry Ness, had a dealership in Edgar [Wis.] and then moved to Tomahawk [Wis.]. I kind of grew up there in the ’80s, grew up around a dealership,” Carlson says. “I’ve always had my eye on a woodie or a tin woodie, and it had to be a Pontiac. I’m a Pontiac fan and that’s my No. 1 brand. I love the woodies, but on the [real] woodies, the wooden doors never close right, and the wood bows and bends and deteriorates. And I’m not a carpenter, so I was just focusing on something with metal doors — the tin woodies in particular. I actually flew to Atlanta to look at one at prior, and it just didn’t land … And then this one turned up at auction a year ago and I knew it was coming home with me!” 

Carlson has dozens of cars that need exercise, but he admits he’s driven the tin woodie more than most of them the past year. It’s a car that he just feels at home in, and it’s just imperfect enough that he doesn’t worry about putting a few more rounds on the clock or getting it a little dirty. 

“It gets 16 mpg — you can’t beat that!” he laughs. “I dunno, I’m just drawn to the ’50s. The beginning of the ’50s, the evolution of the fins. I always appreciated how they would go through all the effort to make the tool and die to make a body style, and then scrap it out the next year and do another one!”

Of course, when he shows up in a big, green wagon from the ’50s with some unusual wood trim around the windows, plenty of people who see it for the first time have puzzled looks and questions. It’s not hard to tell it’s a Pontiac, but tin woodies of this ear just don’t show up very often at car shows.

“The majority of people you meet have never seen one. I like the fact that it’s rare and it’s fun to be part of this car’s journey and be the next person to maintain it and keep it original and drive it,” Carlson says. “That’s the thing, a lot of these cars sit in museums for 20 years and nobody drives them. Cars are not meant to sit, they are meant to drive. This year I took it all over the state for shows … It’s a lot of fun. I think I was at a car show nine weekends in a row with this car! I’m just going to love it and enjoy it. It’s not perfect, but it’s not a trailer queen. It’s meant to be enjoyed, and that’s what I’m going to do with it.”

Carlson points to a few flaws in the ’53’s original headliner, and adds, “I appreciate the way it is. To me, it’s done. This is the way I want it. Cars like this, they tell a unique story.”

Love woodies? Here are a few more articles for your reading enjoyment…

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1938-pontiac-woodie-wagon

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1948-plymouth-special-deluxe-station-wagon

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/1941-packard-woodie-wagon

SHOW US YOUR WHEELS!

If you’ve got an old car you love, we want to hear about it. Email us at oldcars@aimmedia.com

Ever wonder what your classic ride is worth? Old Cars Price Guide is now online! Check it out and join to get the unbiased and real-world pricing on classic cars. You get pricing anytime, anyplace on your phone, tablet or computer. 

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE

The post Car of the Week: 1953 Pontiac Chieftain “tin woodie” wagon appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Jefferson, Wis – Spring is here and so is the 48th Annual Jefferson Swap Meet & Car Show on April 25- 26. Now two days! The Automotive related event will be held at the Jefferson County Fair Park located at 503 N Jackson Ave, Jefferson, WI 53549 just off Hwy. 18.

Madison Classics has always strived to provide a great place for auto enthusiasts to buy, sell, and display a variety of auto related items and vehicles. The event draws hundreds of vendors and spectators from just about every state. There are also folks that travel from as far as Europe each year for the swap meets! Whether it’s a professional vendor or a hobbyist cleaning out their garage, the vendors at the Jefferson Swap Meets know one thing – this is the auto swap meet to attend in Wisconsin.

Madison Classics Spring Jefferson event will feature Pontiacs. The featured cars will be displayed in the main Activity Center Building and be sure to look for a larger display of vehicles in front of the main building lined up Friday & Saturday morning behind the Show Car registration tent.

 “It’s a tradition!” Gary Esse stated, “The City of Jefferson and surrounding communities have shown great support for our events, and we have made many lifelong relationships here. We greatly appreciate that and thank everyone for 48 years and many more to come!” 

Spring Jefferson Swap Meet / Car Corral & Car show is now two days April 25-26. The spectator gates for the Swap Meet / Car Corral are open Friday 8 a.m.– 4 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m. – 4 p.m. All makes and models and specialty vehicles are invited to participate in the Car Show. No pets please.

Madison Classic’s newest addition to swap meets and car shows is a tribute to President Gary Esse, Gary’s Hot Rod Reunion (GHRR). The event will take place on June 21st, 2025 in Union Grove Wisconsin, located at the Racine County Fairgrounds. The show will feature an automotive related swap meet, show quality only car show and cars for sale corral.

Madison Classics will be following close to their long-proven recipe similar to Jefferson’s swap meet, car show and car corral at GHRR. The biggest difference with GHRR will be only allowing automobile related items at the event. Madison Classics goal of GHRR is to reunite everyone who has a passion for classic cars. 

In the words of Madison Classics operator Erick Esse, “GHRR is a gathering place to reminisce, reconnect, and celebrate the hobby we all love so much.”

As the promoter of Spring and Fall Jefferson (one of the biggest swap meet and car shows in the Midwest), Madison Classics is no stranger to classic automotive events.

Madison Classics is holds 3 events this year

• Spring Jefferson April 25-26, 2025 @ the Jefferson Co. Fair Park
• Fall Jefferson September 26-27, 2025 @ the Jefferson Co. Fair Park
• Gary’s Hot Rod Reunion June 21, 2025 @ the Racine Co. Fairgrounds

For more information visit us online at www.madisonclassics.com or call (608) 244-8416.

If you like stories like these and other classic car features, check out Old Cars magazine. CLICK HERE to subscribe.

Want a taste of Old Cars magazine first? Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter and get a FREE complimentary digital issue download of our print magazine.

The post Spring Jefferson kicks off the Wisconsin car show season on April 25-26 appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

The post 1974 Pontiac Trans Am SD appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

We spotted this jade green Poncho while strolling the grounds at the 2024 Iola Car Show. Once sitting on the side of the road this Pontiac now is a stunner!

Ever wonder what your classic ride is worth? Old Cars Price Guide is now online! Check it out and join to get the unbiased and real-world pricing on classic cars. You get pricing anytime, anyplace on your phone, tablet or computer.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE

The post Old Cars Out and About: 1951 Pontiac Super Deluxe appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

The post 1951 Pontiac Super Deluxe appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

When it comes to 1974 Pontiac Trans Ams, John Friske is pretty good shape.

Fifty years ago, John and his wife Connie, who reside in Verona, Wis., bought themselves a new 1974 Trans Am. Brand spanking new, Admiralty Blue, 400-cube V-8 with an automatic. Pretty sweet car for a couple of newlyweds.

“I’ve always wanted a Super-Duty, and I wanted a Super-Duty back then,” chuckles John. “But we were just married, so we had to be a little more practical. She wanted the automatic transmission, I wanted the four-speed, of course, but that didn’t work out.”

Nearly five decades later, when he least expected it, John finally got his wish. And it was worth the wait.

“I’m in the farm equipment business, and I was on Facebook looking for farm equipment parts, and all of a sudden this car pops up,” he says, admiring his fabulous 1974 Buccaneer Red Super Duty 455. “I thought, ‘Gee, this is an original car, too, and it’s a Super-Duty!’ So I called the guy up and he had consigned it to a restoration place in a suburb of St. Louis. I called the up and they said the guy is having some health problems and his kids don’t want it, but it’s been sitting for a long time in a warehouse — at least 20 years.”

Not that he needed much convincing, but once Friske learned a little bit more about the red T/A, he quickly pulled the trigger. For starters, it had just 17,000 miles on the odometer.

“We talked a while and they told me some history on the car. It was originally sold in Cedar Falls, Iowa and the guy moved to St. Louis, a Grandpa kept the car, his dad. He took the car in and got the oil changed every year, for about eight years, and put five miles a year on it. Five miles and then the oil got changed, ever year. We got all the records and of course the original window sticker and the Pontiac POCI information and all the original paperwork.”

“When I got it the original tires were still on it! They were all rotted, and I replaced them, but I still have them and the original spare it still in it.”

The Friskes hung onto their original blue Trans Am and today is a wonderful survivor with only 30,000 miles on the clock. John couldn’t believe that he had stumbled on another ’74 with even a fewer miles — and it was a Super-Duty to boot.

“I’m just a stickler for originality,” he says. “That’s just the way I am. This was an all-original, numbers matching car. Somebody had switched the vacuum tubes up and kind changed some things around, so I put all that stuff back. It’s got the Super-Duty, Turbo 400, air-conditioning, all numbers matching. I rebuilt the alternator with new parts inside, but with the original case, so the numbers match… I had be Ziebarted, so you can see a little bit of that stuff. And it’s got an AM/FM radio in it.”

About the only things on the car that weren’t original when Friske brought it home were one of the front fenders and maybe the front bumper. 

“When the car was only two years old he got into a fender-bender, and they were gonna fix it and he said ‘I want a new fender,’ and I think they replaced the bumper, too,” Friske says.

PONTIAC KEEPS THE PEDAL DOWN

The golden age of muscle cars may have been sputtering to a close by 1974, but Pontiac Motor Division was determined to go down kicking and screaming. The company probably knew its hot-as-a-pistol SD 455 power plant wasn’t long for the world, but it made sure to put the still-lethal V-8 in a car with looks to match.

Extensive front end styling revisions and a jump in showroom sales made headlines for the Firebird in the American muscle car marketplace in 1974. The base Firebird ($2,895), the fancier Espirit $3,295), the Formula Firebird street machine ($3,276) and the racy Trans Am ($4,204) models were all carried over from 1973, and the Super-Duty 455 mill remained in limited availability for the Formulas and Trans Ams.

The new front end created by well-known Pontiac designer John Schinella introduced and integrated “soft” bumper treatment, which was repeated at the rear of the F-cars. The front of all Firebirds carried a new slanting “shovel-nose” grille cap and an “electric shaver” grille insert made up of slanting, vertical blades. Black rubber bumper-facebars were featured. An air-scoop-like front valance panel contributed to a more massive overall look. Slimmer, wider front parking lamps without chrome protective guards were used. They carried textured, amber-colored lenses.

The Trans Am model options included a Formula racing steering wheel, rally gauges with a clock and a dash panel tachometer, a swirl-finish dash panel trim plate, a full-width rear deck lid spoiler, power steering, power front disc/rear drum brakes, a limited-slip differential, wheel opening air deflectors, front-fender air extractors, a dual exhaust system with chrome extensions, Rally II wheels with bring trim rings, a special heavy-duty suspension, dual outside rear view sport mirrors, F65-15 white-letter tires, a four-speed manual gearbox and a 400-cid/225-hp V-8.

The regular 455 215-hp V-8 was about $55 more than the regular 400, and the big SD 455 was $578 extra.

The 455 Super-Duty was a special engine and perhaps the hottest power plant still available on new cars for 1974. It had been a spin-off of Pontiac’s small-block racing program of 1970. PMD had put a lot of effort into developing a powerful small-displacement engine that would be legal under Sports Car Club of America sedan racing rules, which had a 305-cid limit. Only a few of those engines were sold on an in-the-crate bases. However, much of the racing technologies embodied in them was then transferred to the RPO LS2 455-V8.

For ’74, the SD 455 was installed in 212 Trans Ams with four-speed manuals and 731 with automatics. It featured a special block with reinforced webbing, large forged-steel connecting rods, special aluminum pistons, a heavy-duty oiling system, a high-lift camshaft, four-bolt main bearing caps, a special intake manifold, and upgraded valve train components. It had an 8.4:1 compression ratio and a reported 290-hp rating.

The engine was popular with reviewers and enthusiast magazines from the era, who pointed out that the SD 455 ‘Birds were slightly faster than the Corvettes in 1974. A year earlier, in 1973, Hot Rod magazine wrung out a SD Super Duty 455 T/A and clocked a 13.54 quarter-mile at 104.29 mph. Car and Driver magazine managed a 13.75 elapsed time at 103.56 mph.

TWO T/A’S AND COUNTING …

Friske has three cars to turn to these days when he needs some nostalgia. In addition to his pair of pristine 1974 Pontiacs, he and his wife have an equally authentic 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS. 

“My wife’s mother bought that new, and I restored it in the late 1970s,” he notes. 

Still, he has found time to put at least 500 miles a year on his red T/A, and about the same on its blue running mate. Together, then still are shy of 50,000 combined miles. The red one sat idle for probably 20 years at one point in its life, and the Friskes are going to make sure it keeps moving as long as they have it around.

It drives great — a lot of power,” John says. “A lot more power than the other car has. I can’t believe the difference. The car is rated at 290, and the other car is rated at 250! It seems like a lot more than that. When I had the original tires on it, I could break them free real easy. These tires don’t break free as easy, but it’s still got a lotta torque!”

One feature on his Super-Duty 455 that still has Friske scratching his head a bit is the original owner’s choice of black bucket seats. The rest of the interior is all red, aside from the steering wheel, gauges and some trim pieces. The decision to go with the black buckets was a bit of an unusual call.

 “You’d think they should be red. You could white seats or red seats,” he points out. “The [ID] tag says ‘200’, and 200 was the red interior with black buckets… It’s not my favorite, but oh well — it is what it is.”

Friske knows he is a lucky guy to have two such low-mileage gems to enjoy. He is quick to point out his good fortune in having a wife who let him hang onto the first one, and then the stroke of luck to stumble on a second one that needed a home. Still, he can’t help but dream a little bit about acquiring a third.

“They made them in red, white and blue,” he says. “I’ve got the blue car, I got the red car, if I could find the 400 four-speed car in white, then I’d really have it. That’s my goal!”

SHOW US YOUR WHEELS!

If you’ve got an old car you love, we want to hear about it. Email us at oldcars@aimmedia.com

If you like stories like these and other classic car features, check out Old Cars magazine. CLICK HERE to subscribe.

Want a taste of Old Cars magazine first? Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter and get a FREE complimentary digital issue download of our print magazine.

The post Car of the Week: 1974 Pontiac Trans Am SD appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

The most original, unrestored General Motors Motorama show car in existence is, without a doubt, the 1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special. The car still carries its original hand-applied bronze metallic lacquer paint finish, interior, engine and drivetrain. The fiberglass body is nearing 70 years old and carries the right amount of patina to validate its originality while retaining its show-car “wow” factor.

The accompanying photo-shoot was done nearly a decade ago at a location near Highland Park, Ill., that overlooks Lake Michigan, yet the car looks exactly the same today. With its scenic background overlooking the lake, it’s one of owner Joe Bortz’s favorite locations. Amazingly, Bortz drove the Bonneville Special about a mile from his collection to the lake-side location and acted as my “turn-style operator” when it was time to change the car’s position for the photo-shoot. However, it wasn’t the first time the Bonneville Special had been rotated for the cameras.

An exciting new Pontiac

The Pontiac Bonneville Special concept car (aka “dream car”) was unveiled at the traveling GM Motorama show in 1954. The GM Motorama was held from 1953 to 1961 and grew out of the 1949 GM Transportation Unlimited and 1950 Mid-Century Motorama shows, each launched by GM in conjunction with the annual New York Auto Show traditionally held the first week of January. At these events that preceded the GM Motorama, prototype GM cars, such as the forthcoming 1949 two-door hardtops and specially trimmed and painted production cars, were displayed alongside the production cars available to the public.

During 1951 and 1952, GM showed its prototypes and show cars at auto shows held in various cities across North America, but did not conduct its own shows due to curbed automobile production during the Korean War. The GM show cars that appeared at the 1951 and ’52 multi-make shows included the Buick XP-300 and the GM Le Sabre concept cars, both of which caused a stir that likely encouraged GM to field a much larger array of show cars at its own GM Motorama shows featuring only GM cars. Featured at the GM Motoramas were additional specially trimmed production vehicles as well as new futuristic concept cars with innovative design features intended to test public reaction and with experimental mechanical features that might just make it onto future GM vehicles.

For 1953, GM pulled out all the stops by hosting its GM Motorama at seven cities with six concept cars from its divisions. The thrill continued into 1954 at six stops with 13 new concept show cars—and that figure doesn’t include the specially modified production cars built into show cars! Among the concept cars displayed at the 1954 GM Motorama was the bronze Bonneville Special owned since the 1980s by Joe Bortz.

Building the Bonneville Special

The Bonneville Special is the first two-seat sports car prototype GM’s Pontiac division had ever produced. Reportedly conceived by the legendary Harley J. Earl, GM Vice President of Styling, and designed by Homer C. LaGassey and Pontiac’s chief designer, Paul Gillan, the Bonneville Special was a grand touring sport coupé that incorporated innovative styling features such as a Plexiglas canopy with gull-wing windows on a sleek fiberglass body.

The name “Bonneville” was meant to convey high performance, a new concept to GM’s Pontiac brand which had been known for building staid, reliable cars. The name was inspired by a trip Earl had taken to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to observe speed trials there. The 1954 Bonneville Special was the first GM vehicle to carry the Bonneville name, which was subsequently given to the division’s full-size performance production car starting in 1957 and was then continuously used by Pontiac for 47 years on a multitude of body designs.

“The story goes that Harley Earl went to the Bonneville Salt Flats to watch the cars race and was so impressed that he decided to design a concept/dream car for the General Motors Motorama named after the Bonneville Salt Flat races, and decided to give it to the Pontiac Division,” Bortz says. Earl even requested that the state of Utah create “GM 000” license plates for the Bonneville Special.

Although named for a parcel of land hallowed by racers, the Bonneville Special design was actually borne from the air.

“One of the elements that was in play in the early 1950s was the fact that airplanes were now powered by jet engines rather than rotary-prop engines,” Bortz says. “Harley Earl designed the 1954 Bonneville Special to have it use many of the styling cues of a jet plane, including a realistic dome cockpit with wing doors and a back end… that mimicked the back end of the jet-plane fuselage with a spare tire cover that looks like the back end of a jet plane, and hubcaps that look like the insides of the jet turbine of a jet engine. Then the headlights were covered to make the car appear more aerodynamic. The instrumentation and even the floor mats were reminiscent of what would be the appearance of the cockpit of a jet-engine-powered plane.”

Two Bonneville Special prototypes were built; the first Bonneville Special was painted metallic bronze and the second an emerald green. The metallic bronze car debuted at the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, the first stop on the 1954 GM Motorama.

The exterior design of the sporty Bonneville Specials mated a Space Age, twin-blade jet-plane tail with a sloping, Corvette-esque nose. As Bortz notes, the rounded front-end featured curved lenses covering the Bonneville Special’s recessed headlamps, which were integrated into front fenders that rose over the wheels and then fell back to the beltline. Six vertical chrome strips decorated the bottom of the grille opening. The rectangular, undecorated grille opening fed air to the radiator and formed the starting point for twin Pontiac “Silver Streaks” that ran over the hood to a pair of low air scoops near the cowl. The Silver Streaks were a body detail unique to Pontiacs manufactured from 1935 to 1956 where bright metal bands ran down the middle of the hood and, early on, the decklid. Born in the Art Deco style of the mid 1930s, the Silver Streaks were meant as a visual cue to help distinguish Pontiacs from their competitors, and to create the illusion of speed. On the Bonneville Special, a pair were used, which was the second time that two ribbed Silver Streaks appeared on a Pontiac; the first time was on the 1953 Parisienne, another Motorama concept car incidentally also owned by Bortz. In 1957, Pontiac discontinued the Silver Streaks.

The Bonneville Special’s rear fenders likewise rose over the wheels, then fell even with the beltline to form the rear blade-type rear fenders that Bortz notes were inspired by jets. Fully integrated between the rear fender blades was the covered rear spare tire with an exposed turbine-looking aluminum wheel matching the other four wheels. Large, round taillamps were incorporated into the back edge of the bladed rear fenders in a fashion similar to production Pontiacs in the only exterior clue that the Bonneville Special had come from Pontiac.

Body-side ornamentation on the Bonneville Special’s fiberglass body was relatively minimal. There were two aluminum ornaments machined to appear to be oil coolers behind each front wheel opening. The thin vertical front bumpers followed the rounded leading edge of the fender tip much like the Corvette bumperettes of the period, although the Bonneville Specials’ bumperettes lacked the horizontal component of the Corvette’s front bumperettes. At the back, the only semblance of a bumper was chrome built into the bottom of the rear tips of the bladed fenders.

Bortz’s unrestored Bonneville Special is amazingly well preserved, and sitting in the once-futuristic concept car is a trip back in time. It wouldn’t be accurate to say the bronze leather upholstery and chrome-trimmed interior show their age; rather, they have mellowed with time and to ever consider restoring them would be downright shameful. Upon settling into the driver’s seat, the details of the cockpit become more evident, such as the recessed door panels that increase elbow room and the car’s many jet-plane influences, from the instrument panel to the console.

The cockpit of the Bonneville Special features bucket seats split by a full-length console with a brushed surface extending from another ribbed oil cooler trim piece to beneath the full-width instrument panel. A small automatic gearshift handle, two vent controls and the ignition lock are centrally placed within the console. Instruments are laid out with a large speedometer in front of the driver and six more aircraft-type gauges horizontally spread across the instrument panel to in front of the passenger seat. A racing-style three-spoke steering wheel suggests Salt Flats-type performance—and predicted the steering wheel that would appear on 1956 Corvettes.

Entry to the Bonneville Special’s cabin was through conventionally hinged frameless doors and gull-winged Plexiglas panels integrated into its see-through canopy. A dramatically curved rear window completes the “bubble top” in back and provides excellent rearward visibility.

Design carry-overs from the Bonneville Special quickly made it into the next year’s production models, and in those to follow. Most conspicuous were the dual Silver Streaks, which appeared on the hood and rear fender tops of 1955 and ’56 Pontiacs, as well as Pontiac’s 1956 Club de Mer concept car. The Bonneville Special’s scoops were designed to channel cool air into the driver’s compartment from the front of the car and also appeared on the Club de Mer.

Like many GM concept cars of the era, the Bonneville Special was a fully functioning vehicle. Pontiac reportedly planned to fit it with its new V-8 engine, but the V-type powerplant wasn’t ready in time for production cars and so the Bonneville Special made do with Pontiac’s aged straight-eight, although with modifications. The most notable changes to the Bonneville Special’s high-output straight-eight was a quartet of side-draft carburetors, a long-duration cam and a chrome-plated cylinder head. These and other undisclosed engine modifications reportedly raised the engine’s original 122 hp to what Pontiac claimed was 230 hp. Sharing the “Silver Streak” name used for the flathead straight-eight that powered production cars, it was Pontiac’s most powerful engine to date. Painted bright red and detailed in chrome, the engine was coupled to a four-speed Hydra-Matic automatic transmission.

Landing the Bonneville Specials

Bortz doesn’t specifically recall seeing the Bonneville Special when it was new, but he was at the GM Motorama’s stop at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago from April 24 to May 2, 1954.

“When I was 12, I went to the International Amphitheatre, and I was there for the GM Motorama,” he says. “I was still kind of short and couldn’t see the cars through the crowd, so I would tap these tall guys and ask if I could get up on their shoulders, and some guys would let me do that. My biggest thrill would have been to get to the front row.

“I do remember being there and seeing the cars, and I kind of have a recollection of [the bronze Bonneville Special] being there on the stand. It was on the highest turn table; the Bonneville Special was their number one show car.”

In 1985, Bortz added the Bonneville Special to his growing concept car collection, which he had begun about five years earlier.

“Fran Roxas called me and he said, ‘Joe, you like those concept cars. Well, I got a story for you,’” Bortz recalled. “‘There was a guy that got a hold of the Motorama Pontiac Bonneville Special and he had it on display at the Detroit Historical Society, and it was on the main floor of their museum from the time he loaned it to them in 1958 until 1985.’

“[The museum] got a new curator and he said, ‘You can’t leave a display up for 30 years, people won’t come back,’” Bortz related. “And the owner said, ‘If you don’t put it back upstairs, we are going to sell the car.’ So Fran Roxas got word on that and I called the guy up and he told me about the car. He said, ‘The car is 100 percent original. Nothing has been touched. Most of the air in the tires is from 1954. [A previous owner] was some low-level GM executive and they signed the car out to him. So I quickly, quickly brought it home. I brought it home with my station wagon and an open trailer!”

The late GM designer Dave Holls, who respected Bortz for saving GM concept cars, researched the Bonneville Special for Bortz and told him GM records showed it was the only example built. Once Bortz’s Bonneville Special started to appear in magazines stating it was the only such car, Bortz received a phone call from the owner of a second Bonneville Special.

“In the late 1980s, I got a call from a guy and he said, ‘Why are you telling everyone you have the only Bonneville Special? I have one, too,’” Bortz recalled. Bortz suspected the caller’s car was a custom that was built to appear like his original Bonneville Special, but once he received a photocopy of a picture of the car, he realized there was, indeed, a second. A couple years later, Bortz bought that originally green Bonneville Special, too.

“The way the second one got built, by the way, was whenever they made a fiberglass concept car, they (GM) made a second body mold to put into storage. The reason was if they cracked up a fender, you could cut it off the spare body mold and glue it on. All of the dealers wanted it in their showroom and there was such a strong demand that somebody said, ‘Make a second one,’ and they did. That was the green one.”

By the time Bortz found the green Bonneville Special, it had been repainted white “with a broom,” he jokes. The car was in need of restoration, and Bortz’s friend, Roger Wilbanks, told Bortz that since he’d never restore it, he should sell it to him. Bortz agreed, and the green Bonneville Special has since been restored to its original green splendor.

The concept of a keeper

Among the many concept cars in his collection, the Bonneville Special remains particularly special to Bortz. Part of the car’s appeal to him is its originality—he’s only had to add air to the tires on a few occasions, so most of the air in its tires is truly from 1954. Last fall, the brake booster and master cylinder failed after 70 years and Bortz had them rebuilt. The original carburetors started acting up years earlier, so Bortz had them rebuilt to factory standards and repainted red, just as they originally were. Of course, the original battery has been replaced and the oil and other fluids have been changed, but the Bonneville Special otherwise remains so original, it’s the most original GM Motorama show car known to remain in existence. Bortz considers himself to be very lucky for owning this car and the many other concept cars in his collection.

“The idea that I could ever touch one, let alone own one, was unimaginable, and then you end up owning a whole lot of them—it’s like the kid winning the lottery,” he says.

The 1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special is currently on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum as part of the display “GM’s Marvelous Motorama: Dream Cars from the Joe Bortz Collection.” The display includes six GM Motorama show cars from the Bortz Collection including the featured 1954 Bonneville Special plus the 1955 LaSalle II Roadster, the 1955 LaSalle II Sedan, the 1953 Pontiac Parisienne, the 1955 Chevrolet Biscayne and the 1953 Buick Wildcat. Learn more at www.petersen.org.

Check out these articles on GM Motorama cars

SHOW US YOUR WHEELS!

If you’ve got an old car you love, we want to hear about it. Email us at oldcars@aimmedia.com

Ever wonder what your classic ride is worth? Old Cars Price Guide is now online! Check it out and join to get the unbiased and real-world pricing on classic cars. You get pricing anytime, anyplace on your phone, tablet or computer.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE

The post Car of the Week: 1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special GM Motorama show car appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.