Rare Dealer Promo Kiddie Car: 1956 Pontiac Junior Star Chief

I looked up the meaning of the term, “foot traffic,” and here’s what I found: “The number of pedestrians entering a commercial business; a crucial retail metric used to evaluate business popularity, customer behavior, and sales potential.” In the mid-50’s, some automobile companies had a strategy of luring more moms and dads into their showroom by targeting their children. Smaller, battery-powered fiberglass-bodied versions of full-sized cars that could hold two kids were sent to a number of dealers across the country. These one-third size attention getters weren’t for sale, you had to register to win at the dealer where a drawing was held at a certain date. Dealers advertised them pretty heavily, especially in local newspaper ads. It was a gimmick, but a cool gimmick if you were a kid back then. Even if you were lucky enough to have a pedal car, they were yesterday’s news compared to these six-foot-long, battery powered status-mobiles. And here’s one of the few that survived for your consideration. Although most of the attention goes to the Thunderbird Junior (which was great looking when downsized because the T-Bird was already a sporty two-seater), here’s a very rare 1956 Pontiac Junior Star Chief that is described as 80-percent restored. I spotted it on my local Facebook Marketplace site and wanted to share it. The Poncho Junior calls Greensboro, North Carolina home and has an asking price of $7,750.

The detail of the fiberglass body and the oh-so-50’s two-tone paint combination of turquoise and black (with silver bumpers, grille, and trim) are very impressive as is the restoration. The only thing missing are the four full-sized wheel covers. These Pontiac Juniors (that were advertised as being for “the sidewalk set”) were designed by Pontiac advertising designer Jack Stuart and produced by Silvestri Art Studios in Chicago. The cars came in a variety of colorful two-tone paint combinations and measured approximately 81 inches long, 24 inches wide, and 21 inches high.

Under that colorful and detailed fiberglass body was a sturdy metal chassis with an electric motor derived from Pontiac’s full-size starter and powered by a 12-volt car battery. Specs are limited in the post, but a vintage article with photos of the Juniors being assembled described the Junior Star Chief as being “complete with a real motor, brakes, gearshift for forward/reverse, bench seat, and working headlights and taillights. The tot-size car is powered by a Pontiac starting motor running on a 12-volt car auto battery with a maximum speed of eight miles per hour.”

The seller doesn’t say what this Junior Poncho needs to go from an 80 percent restoration to 100 percent. Due to their low production numbers and even lower survival rates, these are highly collectible little vehicles in some circles. I saw where one of these fully-restored promotional cars from the ’50’s sold for more than $8,000 at auction. Have you ever seen one? Or better yet, did you or anyone you know have one as a kid?