I miss Pontiac! They were a substantial marque that morphed from dowdy chrome suspendered everyday passenger cars into GM’s “Excitement” division. The ’60s and early ’70s were their days in the sun thanks to a forward-thinking GM executive named John Delorean. Unfortunately, Pontiac got GMized in the ’80s courtesy of CEO Roger Smith’s dullard view of the orderly and logical Alfred Sloan GM hierarchy and Pontiac dissolved into the blandness of a GM anybody car. But before all of that, Pontiac had other decisions to make regarding its future. It was at a crossroads as the domestic, post-war automotive juggernaut was quickly progressing forward and they had to find a way to fit in and remain relevant. Today’s find, a 1952 Chieftain De Luxe is from that era so let’s see what Pontiac was up to almost 70 years ago. This Poncho is located in Everson, Washington and is available, here on Facebook Marketplace for $2,500.
Pontiac placed fifth in sales in ’52 behind Buick, Plymouth, Ford, and Chevrolet, in that order. Pontiac would see a jump in the standings to third place but not until 1962 – the Widetrack marketing promotion apparently worked well. Models for ’52 included the Chieftain De Luxe in two and four-door sedans and a convertible version too. Two door-hardtops made the scene too with the De Luxe Catalina and Super De Luxe Catalina models. Station wagons and a sedan delivery were part of the line-up as well.
Somehow, I doubt that this Chieftain’s bright blue is its original color, it looks more like the stylings of Earl Scheib. The images are poor and it’s hard to get a good look at this Pontiac in its entirety. The body is straight and the extensive trim and badges are still in place – the seller claims that the hood “waterfall” is in good condition but the driver’s side front door looks to be rusting out along its lower edge. The seller advises that the floors are “ruff”; considering the ground where this Chieftain is parked, they’re probably more like ruff-ruff. There should be concern around the potential condition of the frame too.
The interior makes a visible statement with its plaid seat cover. The instrument panel appears to be well preserved though it looks a bit like a Halloween set with all of the cobwebs. As is often the case, there are some miscellaneous parts, trim perhaps, sitting about. The door windlace is obviously deteriorating and the door panels are showing the strain of age. Beyond that, the “ruff” floor condition is evident.
There are no engine images but power is probably provided by a 100 HP, 239 CI, in-line six-cylinder motor. The gearbox is listed as a manual transmission and the interior image clearly reveals a clutch pedal and a column-mounted gear shift with exposed linkage. It’s safe to say that this Chieftain is a non-runner and probably has been so for a very long time.
While probably not a real collectible example of a mid-century Pontiac, it is reasonably priced and could serve as the basis for an open-ended project. Unfortunately, being a four-door body style will probably hold it back on the desirability front. What do you think, worth investing the time, effort, and money or probably not much of a future?
Wow, this depends on how sound the sheet metal is…ruff ruff sounds pricey. But again, if it could be done reasonably cheap, well then, that would open the door for say, like a small-block/4spd swap…
Listing says manual transmission but provides no confirmation if it even HAS an engine…not that it would work…and it’s got two too many doors to warrant too much oomph.
You are correct, fixed!
JO
Most certainly the flat-head 239-6 cylinder, provided it’s in there. The Pontiac eight was called the Silver Streak.There’s a lot of metal on these cars, so perhaps there’s something left to work with.
I’m working on a Silver Streak with a numbers matching 6. It was simply a trim level. The logo on the side had an “8” between Silver and Streak on the side of the hood. You are still correct about the engine choice, but not for the reason you gave.
I say “worth it” if it’s structurally sound beyong the floor pans. I don’t mind a 4 door. It’s just as cool to me. I never wanted what everyone else does, anyway. I’d keep that column shift setup, maybe if anything resides under the hood that can be brought back to life, the original engine could be modded to set a few more horses free. Repaint it perhaps a different shade of blue, some cleaned up chrome hubcaps and whitewalls, could be a sweet ride. I hate to see a car like this just rot until it can’t be saved. Might take a bit of cash, but that’s expected.
We toured parts of Cuba in one of these in May of 2017. The owner had upgraded to disc brakes, a/c, p/w, and a 2.0L Toyota diesel in it. Including buying the car he had about $20K in it by his estimate. Whoever did the conversion did a nice job, it was orderly and well thought out.
How offensive! An entire car brand named after a Native American!… and the name ” Chieftain” Jiminy Crickets!!! I love these old cars! I hope someone saves it! Way cooler than the Chevys of the day.
Paid 400 for one a few years ago and it ran and drove. Didn’t stop so well with no brakes.
I don’t think we can say “Chieftan” without offending someone…
In the words of Perry White to cub reporter Jimmy Olsen;
“Don’t call me chief!”
Second best quite from the series and Perry White;
“Olsen, you nit-wit!”
I’m feeling a bit guilty. I drive a 1959 Chevrolet Apache.
I have owned 2 1951 Pontiac 4 doors, both with the straight 8. The 3 on the tree model had 97 K on it when I bought it on my return to the World in 1968. I had an overheating issue with it at first, but a long flush using Arm & Hammer WASHING soda ( laundry aisle in the supermarket ) fixed that. I was surprised to get 22mpg on mostly highway driving on Simas Bros cheapest regular gas. On a stretch of road infamous for crosswinds, at 80 it felt like I was sitting in a parking lot- that straight 8 was HEAVY !
The 2nd car was tired – at also had the automatic trans, and it developed a habit of dropping from 4th to 3rd with no warning – those long crankshafts don’t like that …. I had paid $15 for it with no title and 8 months left on the registration- I sold it for $ 10 with 5 months left to a co-worker who didn’t want to rent a car while his was being fixed. He drove it for about 6 weeks and abandoned it in front of a wrecking yard late one evening.
My grandmother’s best friend had one of these, also a 4 door. Her’s was the same blue as the steering wheel with a dark blue roof. My mother tried to steer me to when Alice, the owner, died…I wasn’t interested because of the 4 doors. Nowadays it wouldn’t matter. I would restore it to a light blue but add fender skirts and wide whitewalls.
Dad once told me he had a 1954 Star Chief with a straight 8 before I was born. He really liked that car. He said it took a while to get it going, but once he did, it flew.
Fix the floors, install a LS motor and a 5/6 speed trans. Sleeper