This car is sure a tempting project! With a portion of the tear-down complete, this 1955 Pontiac Safari Wagon is poised to be a great addition to someone’s workshop. Found here on Hemmings with an asking price of $22,000, the car is located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The seller of this car is a dealer and unfortunately, the ad doesn’t have any information about this specific car. It’s a little bit of a mystery, but based on the photos, you can piece together some of the story. It appears to be a solid survivor that had been stripped of trim and small parts in preparation for a restoration or rebuild.
It appears the engine isn’t stock (at least the air cleaner isn’t). The car seems to be fairly rust free and may have spent a majority of its life indoors or in a dry climate. A potential buyer would be well advised to inspect the car in person. There was a reason the project was stalled and hopefully, the car isn’t hiding any big surprises.
There are fifteen photos in the ad documenting all of the parts that come along with this project. It appears that the project was stripped down for a rebuild at some point. The new owner would be wise to invest in some plastic totes, bags and permanent markers to keep it all organized. A car very similar to this sold at Barrett-Jackson a few years ago for $30,000 at the hammer. That seems like a low price considering that a comparable Nomad would probably be 50% higher than that. The fact that the car is stripped and ready to begin a restoration is a plus. The problem is it seems like the $22,000 asking price is only a little less than what you could probably buy a nice driver for. What do you think?
Why is it some of these dealers think they need to tell me all about their business history & fail to mention anything about the car that is advertised? Guess I don’t get it!
I have always preferred these over the Nomad, just seem to have a classy look.
IMO it would have to be rust free & all the pieces there (I’ll bet they’re hard to replace) to be worth the money asked.
At first I was gonna say no way you could find a “nice driver” for anywhere near this price- then I found this one on Classic Cars dot com for 31K. Add the chrome bill to the BF wagon and you are already there.
To note, being a Canadian dealer, I would not be surprised if the advertised price is in CAD, not USD. Therefore that’s ~$17k USD.
John Scotti (the dealer) is no stranger to high end cars, both in regards to exotics and classics. Get your bib and check out the inventory – very cool dealer to visit.
http://www.johnscotti.com/en/used/scotti-group/
He was also awesome in the First Star Trek
Andre, ‘ very cool dealer to visit. ‘ Unreal website! Thanks for the heads up, Mike. Oh, I see it is in US funds.
Guess someone found a potentially good example to restore. And something happened. It looks good as it is to fix what’s broke and reassemble. Then enjoy
Nice looking wagon for sure, if your built models as a kid reassembly won’t be too big a hassle so just call and make a offer.
What a Beauty !,I always liked these,as much or more than a Nomad,
My dad always called them the “poor mans Nomad”..,Lol…,I’ll have
to tell him that they aren’t affordable to the poor anymore..!! Lol
Looks like a great/solid project…albeit a bit high on the ask.
This will be a gorgeous wagon when done Though..!
Now I may be a skeptic, but not seeing a tailgate in any picture worries me. I didn’t see the chrome strakes for the hood, either. The original owner probably found out what the missing gate would cost and had heart failure on the spot.
As a Canadian that johnscottis got some cool cars but asking about double what there worth. At least In west coast money BTW its $22000 USD.
The car shown at $31k is a way better deal!
Much preferable to a Nomad. Remember all Pontiac V8 up to the last produced had the same externals.
there were some differences like motor mount bolt holes and pesky stuff like that, but in general you are correct!
I prefer to disassemble myself. Then there is no question about which parts are missing or incorrect. Basket cases or partially torn down cars are never good news.