There’s always a heavy layer of nostalgia when I see a 1956 Pontiac as our family had a sedan when I was a young punk, as opposed to being an old punk as I am now. This beautiful 1956 Pontiac Star Chief is listed here on eBay in possibly the fastest-growing city in the US: Buckeye, Arizona, just west of Phoenix. The current bid is $9,920 and surprisingly there is no reserve.
I believe this color is Sandalwood Tan under Sun Beige which looks more white than beige to me. This is the perfect color combination for a car in the Phoenix area. I’ve told the story a million times about our 1956 Pontiac four-door sedan, I believe an 870 model, and it was a great car. It’s seen here next to my dad’s new company car. It was a rung or two below the Star Chief line but for some odd reason, ours had a power seat, unlike this car which has a manual front seat and the adjuster could use a little help, cosmetically.
You can see Washington state license plates on this car but the seller doesn’t give any history of this car at all. They do mention that they wouldn’t hesitate to jump in it and drive it across the country so maybe they have another residence in Washington? Who knows, one quick message to them will shake it all out if anyone is a serious bidder. Speaking of bidding, Hagerty is at $21,300 for a #3 good condition car which this Pontiac has to be all day long if not closer to #2 excellent condition which is around $41,000. Wow! For the record, I am not a fan of the way that Hagerty reconfigured their valuation page, in case anyone else noticed that.
They say that the interior is new which I’m assuming means the seating surfaces at least and maybe the carpets but again, we don’t know for sure. The seats are perfect both front and rear. The seller says the magic words in their description: no rust. Although, they do mention that the passenger window is cracked and there is a small engine leak but they don’t go into what that may be.
The engine should be Pontiac’s 316.6 cubic-inch V8 which had around 220 horsepower. It reportedly runs great and this sure would be a fun car to own. Have any of you owned a mid-1950s Pontiac like this Star Chief?
Yes, Scottie, I DID notice the change on the Hagerty site. They shouldn’t have fixed what wasn’t broken!
I’m glad that I’m not the only one, sir. It’s overly complicated, non-intuitive, and just plain messy and hard to use now.
Why do people cut photos into 3 parts? It’s confusing and aggravating as hell!!
It’s done when laying out a page to make a vertical photo fit the page layout. Blame the photographer.
I see that triple image a lot on other social media. I thought that was just how some cell phone photos are displayed(?)
George, as grant mentioned, it’s because the photos here and almost everywhere online are in a horizontal format. So, when a seller takes photos vertically, in order to see the whole vertical image without just stretching it out to fit in a horizontal format, which would cut off a good portion of the top and bottom, these composites have to be made. Would you rather have us just cut off most of the photos or have the composites? That’s a good question for the whole readership group. Hopefully, now that you know the reason you aren’t ready to storm the home office with pitchforks and torches?
My grandparents had a pink/white `56 Star Chief custom Catalina 4dr. hardtop. It was LOADED: P/S, P/B, Air, power windows, seat, etc. In `66, Grandma was at a RR crossing in her small town that didn’t have arms/lights yet. she crossed, not seeing a freighter moving at 70MPH from the west. She got slammed & shoved over 200 yards down the track; she obviously didn’t survive. It was because of her accident her little town finally got proper lights and automatic arms at that crossing. Too bad it took her death to get those changes implemented.
Similar experience, but we survived … small rural town in Louisiana … me and my grandmother in a ’55 red and white Dodge Lancer … stalled behind another car and train was coming … some guys at the service station saw us and ran across the street and pushed the car out of the way just before the train got there … got traded in on the first VW “Bug” in town …
Yes I got a 55 , same colors. Was offered to me for 25.00 , bought it drove 4spd auto , had rusty bumpers, water pump went bad sold it , forgot how much .
Oh yeah it had leather interior, it was parked at a gas station in Clifton, NJ they sold it because a bum was sleeping in it .
Not the nicest one left. Saw one in Sonoma CA, turquoise with leather. Factory AC, power brakes, windows etc.
The location of the radio antenna looks strange.
That’s an original antenna in the exact spot that ALL 55-57 Pontiacs had the manual antenna. The electric antennas mounted at the end of the RR 1/4 panel.
Thanks for clarifying this. I learned something today!
My Grand father had one of these in 1956 , it was a blue and white I remember the day he got it, He stopped by my House and my brother ,Dad and myself went for a ride , Gramps was so proud of that car , showed us the power antenna and how the indian lite up when the head lights were on , not sure but I think he also had power windows !
He sold his 1950 Bathtub Nash and used the cash towards the Pontiac !
Just don’t see many. Really nice cars’n coffee car.
I’m in love, if not for the HOA parking restrictions.
My dad had a 56 wagon green and white with power windows and seat it was a beautiful car
Very nice, love the Pontiacs. Up to 16k now.
My dad had one identical to this one in 67, same color, this is the U.S. version, which was much nicer than the Canadian Pontiac with the drab grey interior. the interior was white vinyl, with chrome stripes supporting the head liner. still remember this as a beautiful , comfortable car, v8 automatic,, skirts etc…
I have a ’55 just like this one. Unfortunately, it is a dealer promo scale model, but I have one.
These Pontiacs are much more desirable than the Chevy’s IMO. Wish I had the scratch or i’d bid on this. Solid, rust-free, get in and drive it many more miles!
My Dad bought a nice bronze and beige 55 with leather interior. It was about 10 years old and it was his work car. He paid $75 for it, we changed the oil, tuned it up and replaced the front brakes and it was great. This was about 65-66 and you could buy cars like this all day for under $100
Auction update: this beauty sold for $16,150! Absolutely stolen.