Hey everyone, Just bought a Canadian 1948 Pontiac Fleetleader with the 239 flathead six and 3 speed manual. Never had to restore or work on anything this old before, so I'll be learning lots!
Hi & welcome. WOW that is one nice looking ride. Really looks great. I do not have leads on Pontiac parts but you should be able to find suppliers using google. Some things will interchange from Chevrolet's of that era and I purchased many things for my 46 Chevrolet Stylemaster Sport coupe from both www.chevsofthe40s.com and from www.fillingstation.com . I seem to recall that chevs of the 40's was adding other brands and they may have a Pontiac catalog now?? Go to their site and call or email and ask. Google can be your friend on finding others. From the photos you posted the outer seems to only need a bit of chrome work and perhaps new tires. When I purchased my 46 coupe I 2013 it had been restored (23 years) by previous owner in 1990 and that included new Sears Allstate whitewall tires. They looked just like new but after about 500 miles they began to separate and had to be replaced. I went with the Coker Classic wide whites in R600/16 in front and R600/16 in rear in 2015. Those bias look radials are great and hold the road straight and steer much better than the bias ply. Now have about 8,000 miles on them and they still look new. I also added this same set but in R670/15 on my 1950 Plymouth and now have about 10,000 mile on them. When they installed & balanced this set because of the Sombrero hub caps they were able to put all weights on back side and these are also working great. Have seen others post the Cokers did not work well for them and did not last but from my use of them I would think perhaps it could be they just were not set properly with balance, alignment, shocks, etc. My avitar photo shows the 235 Chevy engine I upgraded to when I upgraded the tires. If you begin a restore or update start a build thread o the HAMB and keep us upgraded with photo's. If your Pontiac the knee action shocks front & back like my Chevy I removed the rears and welded on shock mounts and added tube shocks. If they are on the front like mine the upper arms of those shocks are also the upper control arms and must remain so what I did was just weld on shock mounts and added tube shocks along with the originals and it has a much better ride now. Keep us posted, Jimmie
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