This weekend I picked a real one-owner former little old lady car. The owner's family made her stop driving it at age 97. It was then sold to a neighborhood kid, in 1993, who was smart enough not to screw it up. The kid paid a friend to do some minor bodywork, so it's 75% blocked. This ol' girl is straight! When I asked Mel to chop out the wheel wells for slicks he talked me out of it because the sheetmetal is so nice! Everything is original, NO options except the hydro. It has rubber floor mats and radio delete. I pulled the original fuel filter out of it last night and dropped her off to have the tank boiled.
You could put repo 55 Nomad wheelwells on it. They match the factory lip on the rockers, and you would have 'factory' radiused wheelwells!
Yep, All Pontiac gasser. Just planning on puttin around with the original motor for the summer while I set her up with a cage, and collect parts.
You're right, two owners. I didn't count the last one as he never registered or drove the car, just left it in his backyard and sanded it on occasion. As far as fucking it up, some might say this car has fallen into the wrong hands It's not a Dusenburg, it's just a Pontiac. It will be done right though, just my way.
Well, hell, I'm sitting here reading of straight axles and cut fenders and whatnot and I'm thinking... find some beater to do that to... racers don't have to be pretty and straight... but its nice to see a pretty, streetable old car done up mildly... But what the hell do I know... other than what I like...
That's just my poor quality camera-phone! The holes are there. I have the trim. Probably the biggest PITA will be cleaning it, it has primer all over the stainless. I was considering some 56 Poncho trim, I always liked it better.
Nice Chieftain HT. I'd be inclined to go the gasser route with a two door sedan but I don't think I'd do it with a hardtop. That's just me tho. I have the perfect 389, 4 speed setup to go in it. If you had a stock set of 55-57 pedals, my '60 engine [now 0.030 over for 395.5 cu. in.] would bolt-in. I've been collecting all the right stuff for years. I was planning to use it in my 41 Pontiac coupe with a '71 firebird Muncie 4 speed tranny and Hurst shifter. I still putt around my 41 with the old, original flathead 6 popper and still gaze at the 389 sitting on the engine stand in the corner of my garage... Hell, I even have a 57 Pontiac rear axle setup with a 3.23 Posi third member. This literally bolts in 55-56 Pontiacs. Wish I had that body but I have way too many projects now...still, PM or e-mail me if you're thinking of selling it. ps........the photo of the 56 is one of my old ones I put together, using a 1960, 389 but I kept the old slant-pan hydro in it. It ran hard!.........Rocky
Congrats on the find....55-56 Pontiac were a little too flashy, great body lines but too much crap on them....post pix of your progress
I'llk give my left nut to anyone who can come up with an old pic of a 55 Pontiac gasser.... That thing does NOT need to be a gasser. Slight custom yes...gasser hell no. Nice score.
Hardtops were meant to be street machines and/or cruisers... even Kustoms... post models on the other hand, look good with the "gasser" treatment. I think I'm gonna begin hating the term "gasser" as much as I do "Rat Rod"... and I own one now! Sam.
Gassers were almost always the lightest body styles. The ones we all remember were coupes or two-door posts. Granted, one of my friends/mentors ran a '51 Desoto convertible at the 1959 Nationals with a small-block, but he had calculated the weight-to-cubic-inches so he could fit into the very top of a very low Gas class. It was a very craftily-chosen combination of weight and cubes. What I respectfully suggest is that NOBODY would have built a hardtop Poncho as a gasser back in the day. I will support your right to do whatever you want with the Poncho, and I agree that it takes a real man to cut one up, but after owning/building/maintaining around forty-plus project vehicles over as many years, I look back on at least ten percent as "WTF was I thinking?" Those four or five mistakes still embarrass me after decades have passed. I'm afraid that a straight-mint-cherry bodied Pontiac hardtop gasser will fall into that ten percent for you somewhere around 2035. A mellow, slammed, smoothed and decked-out '55 Chief, on the other hand, won't be outrageous, but it sure will be sweet. Your call, Sky Ranger, but consider all of the options and ramifications. Aww, screw it -- go ahead and build your dream, just try to have some explanation for a car that could never ever win its class, let alone Gas Eliminator.
The Jalopy Journal
