57 Pontiac Safari questions/help...

The 55-56 chevy windshields have a different part number than the 57. The blue wagon in question would use a 2 or 4 door sedan windshield. The hardtop windshield is shorter. Really neat car, I've never seen one. Jive-Bomber, that wagon of yours is just beautiful.

 

Here's a source for Pontiac floor pans:

http://c2cfabrication.com/store/index.php?cPath=3_47_55&sort=3a&page=2

 

Thanks Tim-- Still running the original 347 but with an Edelbrock carb. She's a tired old pup with blow by, but I still drove it too LA and back last weekend!

Here's what the motor looked like when I bought it, after untold years of sitting outside:



And after some serious love:

 

One more brochure scan:

 

Ah yes i saw those on ebay, may be an option

 

Don't bother with the e-bay ones, totally not worth it, if it's the same guy I got some from. Basically two pieces of sheet metal with a couple of lines rolled in the middle is what I got. Paid way too much for some thing I did not use and could have made my self. If anyone wants em I can send you some pics and we can talk pricing/shipping, just pm me. I guess they would work if you were only doing a smaller area, I just needed way more than what those would cover.


The green color is where its at! Mine was Limefire Green with a white top and insert and thats what it will be when its done. Jive Bombers is big time inspiration for me. You see far to many red/white, seafoam/white, any pastel/white combos around. That green looks kinda nasty all faded and weathered after 50+ years, but looks awesome in new base/clear!

 

Here's a Superchief 4 door wagon for sale at www.restoreablecars.com. Note you get white/green on one side and white/red on the other! I noticed yours is missing that small piece if trim in front of the tail light housing, may be a tough find!

 

Jive, the 4 door i have at the moment has a carter 4 barrel on it, would that be original? it's an original paint matching numbers car that looks like it hasn't been tampered with. i only have one pic of the engine in the wagon, it has a 2 barrel carb and it looks very similar to the 'as found' photo of yours, hopefully it'll look like the 'after' shot when i'm done.

 

I'd say the red side is the side that got all the sun and has burnt back through to red oxide primer maybe? i didn't know that trim should be there, yes may well be hard to find! i also noticed one of the Safari side badges is incomplete!

 

Thanks to the guys who've stepped in to stop the "Safari" name debate. A guy asks a simple question and his thread gets hi-jacked by some "know-it-all" who'd rather argue semantics than answer the question, and then, end up not knowing what he was talking about on the first place.

Love the wagon Tim G. hope it works out for you. I'd love to have one of those.

 

yeah i was thinking the same, they ae really bad photos but they do look very flat and easy to fabricate, i have only just seen two photos of the floors in the wagon and it's hard to see the extent the rust damage. i think i may just wait till it gets here and decide what to do then.

 

Here's a load more of my pics of the Star Chief for anyone that's interested... http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/ind...viewPicture&friendID=50247044&albumId=2275830

And heres some more of the pics i have of the Chieftain Safari...

 

Congrats on buying that car its cool! Like I tried to say earlier If you can make you own pans the repop crap doesnt work. I might have been wrong but I think that car is more rare than a 2 door custom safari like JiveBombers??? Not sure if my numbers were right but at least I was close. Bad ass wagon! Pm me if you need help with parts i helped jiveMOFOBomber in the past.
LTR Dave

 

Yeah i'm pretty sure i can sort the floors myself if no decent panels are available which they aren't by the look of it. i would have thought your right about it being rarer than Jive's but still not as desireable generally? Do you have breaking cars or just some odd parts? i've managed to pick up a few bits i can see are missing on ebay already...

 

Does anyone know where i might get a genuine or repro shop manual for one of these? all i can find is ones on CD rom which i dont really want...

 

I have a bunch of parts from 55 to 57's I have parted and still have a 55 wagon I am parting Its an AC car so I got it for the ac for a 55 2 door safari I got. Pm a list if you stuff. As far as the manuals I think ebay is a good source I bought some over the years at swap meets. CPR California Pontiac Restoration has parts and maybe copies of manuals not sure?
Later Dave

 

All in all a really solid wagon, there is a 2 dr HT 57 up the road from me near Huntington Arkansas near an old farm house. It's green and white missing the doors probably been sitting in the same spot for 30-40 years!

 

To be honest until i get it back here i'm not sure what else is missing apart from the park brake handle(which i have sourced on ebay) and the chrome trims in front of the rear lights. aswell as some glass obviously.

if you can see anything else and you have it please let me know

Thanks

 

All true.........don't axe me how I know....55-56 chevy/poncho windshields [windscreens] were about 1.5 or 2 inches shorter

 

HT, is that a wagon?

 

I noticed the inside of this Safari has a red dash and quite a lot of red trim, do you think that is standard or has been done at some time, has anyone seen that colour combination before or got any pics?

Thanks

 

Hey not trying to start a debate but isnt the difference between the windshields hardtop ran the shorter glass while sedans ran the taller glass. The exception to that I thought was the 2 door custom safari like jivebombers it runs a hardtop windshield for sure. I???????????????????????? Heck I think Im right but not positive either way that wagon should simply run the same windshield as a 57 sedan.
LTR dave

 

Tim G
I had been watching the auctions on that '57, looks like a pretty solid car - my guess is that the red interior is original - they offered red, green and brown is the the base wagons. I have a '55 860 wagon with its original brown interior.

 

I hope that car is cheap.

 

A cars worth what someones willing to pay... so yes i'd say it was cheap enough

 

Well... good or bad, desireable or not and rotten or not rotten... It's started its journey over to England and i for one am very excited to think the day i get to see it in the flesh is not too far off

Whay company do you Pontiac owners find is best to get parts such as brake shoes, cylinders etc etc from?

 

Hardtop windshields were indeed shorter than the sedans....and 57 hardtop windshields were about 1.5-2 inches taller than 55-56 hardtop windshields.

 

Tim-

I picked up a bound re-print of the '57 Poncho service manual with a color cover, on Ebay for $30.

Seller info:

Bishko Books
45 South College Street
Piqua, OH 45356
([email protected])

 

Oh, Studly Hud--
Here's the wagon production numbers for 1957:

Chieftain (Model 27) Body Style Price Weight Total Built Notes
Four Door Sta. Wagon 2762FC $2,898 3,945 11,536 3 seat wagon
Two Door Sta. Wagon 2763F $2,841 3,800 2,934 2 seat wagon

Super Chief (Model 27) Body Style Price Weight Total Built Notes
Four Door Sta. Wagon 2762DF $3,021 3,875 14,095 2 seat wagon

Star Chief (Model 28) Body Style Price Weight Total Built Notes
Four Door Custom Safari 2762SDF $3,636 3,955 1,894 "Transcontinental"
Two Door Custom Safari 2764DF $3,481 3,860 1,292 2 seat wagon

You'll notice that the Star Chief Custom Safari 2 door is the lowest production model by over 1,600 cars- and was priced $640 higher. The Transcontinental 4 door Custom Safari was the second lowest production model, and the highest priced Pontiac (behind the crazy expensive fuel injected Bonneville convertible!)
Keep in mind that a Star Chief Convertible was only $3100... You can see why these Custom Safari wagons didn't sell too well.

 

Maybe this is easier to read: