History Pontiac was more than a middle child.

Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post:

Pontiac was more than a middle child.

Continue reading the Original Blog Post

 

I have always had a thing for the look and chrome on the Safari's, my Nomad friends think I am crazy. The problem is that with the supply of Nomads getting thin, the Safari's are rising in price.
My Nomad friend tells than when he bought his 57 it was missing the lift window. So he bought a complete running Safari for $100.00 (1972) He took the lift window and junked the rest.

 

I really like the 57s. And the 61s. I thought Buick was slotted higher than Olds. That has always confused me. Maybe another article?

 

I've always liked the Pontiacs. Unfortunately for Pontiacs, they share some common pieces with Chevys. The beltline & above stainless in many cases, door shells, tailgates & liftgates are a few examples. That has likely brought about an unfortunate demise of a few Pontiacs, similiar to what typo4l just described.

I remember my dad describing the following to me many years ago. Maybe it has been mentioned before, and I won't mind it being tweaked to make it more understandable or accurate...

He said GM (and likley the other makes) hoped you would 'buy up' as your lot in life improved. So, here is a general idea of who the different makes were targetted for, based on my memory of what he told me:

Chevrolet - working man's car
Pontiac - lower level manager type people
Oldsmobile - upper management
Buick - bankers, doctors & lawyers
Cadillac - business owners, business leaders; wealthy, celebrities

I'm sure some of that hasn't changed, over the years, but in my dad's telling of it, it sounded like there may have been more of an... adherance?... by people back then to own cars that reflected their station in life.

So, I say all that, because as a percentage of the population, each level likely represents a smaller percent of the car buying public.

Gotta56forme/Scott

 

I always dug Zocchi's '62, done by Winfield when brand new.

 

I'm partial to the earlier Pontiacs. Here's a couple of pix of my '52 Chieftain...

 

June 1979 I bought my first car.....a 1967 GTO convertible.....$1100. I've been a Pontiac fan ever since.....

Screw GM for discontinuing the line.

 

Always thought my '57 was just different enough!
347 tripower-stick 3 speed on the column, very uncommon!
KK

 

Yeah, I think that's pretty much the way Sloan set it up. Sure gave Henry's utilitarian one colour only Tin Lizzy some compatition after it's initial market flooding and lack of following updates.

 

It seems Pontiac was also targeting the younger more high performance market. Starting with NASCAR in the 50's and then of course the muscle car era being attributed to starting with the 64 GTO.

 

Now wait a minute, Buick was second only to Caddy in the GM scale, and at times before WWII outperformed Cadillac in power and posh with it's Roadmaster and Limited models.

And Buick had next to nothing in common with Pontiac. Over the years there was some sharing with Caddy for the bigger Buicks and Olds for the smaller Buicks. But nothing with Pontiac, who was left to duke it out with the Chevrolet.

Buick certainly outsold Pontiac for much of the 50's. And all of this in spite of the Dynaflow...

And, Buick was Harley Earl's favorite. So I'm just saying...

Billy Durant, early head of GM has a genius. He assembled a corporation offering "a car for every purse and purpose." I remember hearing something along the lines of:
--Chevrolet for the hoi polio
--Pontiac for the poor but proud
--Olds for the young and mobile
--Buick for the comfortably stylish
--Cadillac for the famous and flaunting

Thanks for contributing to a great site!

 

It ain't traditional or HAMB friendly, but it's KOOL. Wanna see a 57 starChief drop top? Same owner for 43 years.

 

I always understood the scale was
Cadillac
Buick
Oldsmobile
Pontiac
Chevrolet

 

I don't think it was consciously intended that way, but in so far as the marque division worked at all, the diagram was:

Cadillac
Oldsmobile . . . . Buick . . . . Pontiac . .
Chevrolet​

The vertical axis is about price; the horizontal axis is about something more like logic/passion.

Thus Buick comes to define a datum of normality, and
Cadillac becomes a Plutocratic Luxury Buick;
Chevrolet becomes an Honest Hard-working Buick;
Oldsmobile becomes a Rational Futuristic Buick; and
Pontiac becomes a Serious Bad-Ass Buick.

Of course what happened, by various more or less nefarious agendas, was that all cars eventually became Oldsmobiles - except Oldsmobile, which became a Buick. Having become not only a tautology but a rather half-hearted tautology, Oldsmobile was the first marque subsequently to be axed.

It had begun to go off the rails much earlier, though, when the Corvette was launched as a Chevrolet. The Banshee series gives a clue to what might have been had the Corvette been a Pontiac.

 

Here´s my 57. I´m also a Pontiac fan since I saw that car for the first time. Bought it 6 month later! Now we stay in love!
It´s a super chief with the original matching 347 and it has an tri-power upgrate....

Kind regards from Germany

 

mine was a 55 thats the one I should have never let go

 

Pre 58, Pontiacs were way more than a "badge-engineered Chevy." They had nothing in common except the body shell.

 

Recently acquired a really beat 1954 Pontiac Chieftain 2 dr HT. A long way from a reasonable build but I always liked the early 1950's for style.

 

Here's a couple of mine. The 58 was mine while my girls were small. Now I roll my grandsons in the 64 GP. Paint by Bruce Camboni.

 

Pontiacs are/have always been very special cars to me. Catalina, Gran Prix, Safari, GTO. Strong runners, much more high-style than a Chevy, but not as "grandpa-like" as Olds or Buick. Bought my '71 GTO Oct.1, 1971, still have it and drive it often.

 

My first Pontiac. That's me on the right with my big dumb sister. Didn't have another one for quite awhile but had many after that; GPs, GTOs, F'birds. Miss them all.

 

Ned, Ned, Ned.........I have come to really respect your opinions, commentary and good taste and look forward to seeing your posts.

That said, your post #15, in this thread is uncharacteristicly stilted, obtuse and, well, just off the mark. I am not familiar with S.A.'s favorite beverage, but I am thinking you are, or were, when drafting that post!

Ray

 

Big Pontiac fan ! Got a 57 Star Chief in 59. then a 62 Catalina with a 4 spd and last one was a black on black 68 GTO. Guy around the corner just found a very nice correct black red int 64 GTO with 4spd and tripower and all correct-may try to see if I can get him to part with it.

 

Way back over 50 years ago, my dad had a '54 Pontiac convertible, persimmon in color, straight 8. He also had a '59 Vauxhall Victor Estate wagon, sold by Pontiac dealers. My mom drove a '66 Bonneville 2 dr hdtp when I got my license and when I was 18, my girlfriend's dad gave me a '65 Catalina because he thought it needed a timing chain. Turned out to be a cracked distributor cap. My favorite Pontiac would have to be the '57 Super Chief Custom Safari.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

My babies.

 

I've had 11, 55-57 Pontiacs and a 41 coupe and 48 torpedo back. Loved 'em all but my favorite was my 2nd...a 57 tudor sedan I swapped a '59, 389-muncie 4 speed into. My silver 57 Super Chief was an awesome car too

.

 

back in 1967 68 I had a 56 Safari all stock. sold it for $175 just before I went in the Navy in 69. my brother had a 56 safari too... but with a 389 in it. but the fastest one was my dad's 57 four-door hardtop... all stock but that 347 ran great.