Take a look at this 1963 Pontiac Star Chief and you’ll see a slightly worn semi-survivor. By that I mean that the car is mainly original with a few repairs, and with a little wear that you might want to eventually address, but don’t have to–so it’s not much of a reach to think of this car as a weekend family classic! It’s for sale here on eBay, with bidding currently at 99 cents, but a buy it now of $6,500. It’s residing in Janesville, Wisconsin at the moment, although it could easily end up in your driveway.
Dealing with the issues off the bat, it looks like at some point the driver’s rear door lost a battle with a garage. I honestly think I’d at least look for a replacement door, but as long as it operated okay I’d wait for a while. The seller also says some work has been done in the rear quarters, although it’s not immediately apparent to me–I guess that’s good!
The seller is also very good about disclosing some rust around the body mounting points and including pictures of them. You should be able to address these over time, but I wouldn’t leave it too long to do so. The new-appearing shock and spring in the bottom part of this picture are intriguing as well.
If you look closely, the chrome seems just fine for a driver classic, although some of the cast trim has some pitting. Honestly, at this price level you can’t worry about perfection, and it wouldn’t make fiscal sense to pursue it. But as far as a driver classic that you can have fun with evenings and weekends, and maybe even the occasional drive to work, this is perfect.
I don’t think you’d have to do a thing to the interior, although the seller mentions carpeting as a need. Maybe in time over the winter? And the AM radio even works! This is a true six-passenger classic as well, so you can take the whole family with you on those evening trips to the ice cream shop.
The seller describes the 389 cubic inch V8 as running like a sewing machine, which is what you would expect after a documented 69,000 miles. I’m sure you four-door haters will tell me there are two too many doors for you, but for those of us that like sedans–what do you think of this one?
I’d look for something similar, but more southern & less rusty. As you said, these kinds of cars aren’t all rare, so why take on a rust bucket?
Northern Salt Cars give me the willies. This car (for much less) plus straight high desert car with interior trashed by sun. Mixie-Matchie, reassemble the seconds and auction off for the next person to make a decision on. IF you were enamored of this year Wide Track.
Wish it was a hardtop, but I like it! Blue is very nice, I’ve seen a tan one locally and it doesn’t pop like this one.
I dont think its so rusty.
Fix that litle there is, and give it a good spray rust oil. Better a litle rust, than a totally crunchy cabin. Just my opinion.
But it ofcourse also depend of what you are best at
The body mounts aren’t a ridiculously expensive job to have done, if you can do metalwork maybe 2-3 pots of coffee and some flat scraps and replacement body mount insulators. A good metal guy could fix the door with very little filler. The car is basically complete, good bones, passable interior. I’d say a great car for someone starting out and drivable. Personally I’d lose the Jetaway(I believe in 63 Pontiac used an Oldsmobile trans, could be wrong) and source a non-electronic overdrive trans first and get disc brakes on the front, my ’65 Bonneville had factory heavy duty brakes and stopping was more theoretical than reality regardless of what brand shoes I used. Front discs, booster, and master from a ’69 Kingswood wagon went in with minor modifications. Good luck to the new owner, hope he enjoys it for years to come. I’ve gotten over the two door-four door thing, they can all be cool.
This is a true legend. Wonder wat shipping costs will be like if
I buy it.
Looks like a steal at that price. I like the classic lines along with that beautiful blue. Interior looks mint too!
There is a rough example in this seen on the street video I shot back in 2011. I still see it on the road once in a while: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0gSFiu8oZE
Nothing wrong With four doors. I own the Canadian equivalent of this. A 63 Pontiac Laurentian.