Parked in 1983, the seller of this 1951 Pontiac Super Deluxe Catalina tells us that it is one of only 3,433 built that year. It’s a top drawer model and helped Pontiac celebrate its 25th anniversary. Looking a bit rough, but complete, this stylish hardtop is located in Brooksville, Florida and is available, here on eBay for a current bid of $5,101, reserve not yet met.
The stylish C-pillar of this two-door hardtop, along with its three-panel backlight, makes for an impressive styling statement while the sun shield dates this mid-century Pontiac. And interestingly, there were only four color combinations available for this Super Deluxe trim level, Sapphire Blue upper with a Malibu Ivory lower – such as this example; the reverse; an all Saphire Blue upper and lower, or an all Malibu Ivory upper and lower. The seller refers to the exterior as possessing “appreciable patina” but really it looks more like old, rusty wear – the kind of stuff that just happens to old cars – at least it’s not posed. While the surface rust is intense in places, it doesn’t appear to have rotted all the way through and the extensive stainless trim, a ’50s era Pontiac staple, is all still in place. Even the original wheel covers have not gotten lost to the ages. And…best of all, this model has an illuminated amber Chieftain-head hood ornament!
Mildly, but not terribly annoying is the lack of an engine image. We are told that it is a 116 HP, 268 CI, in-line eight-cylinder engine coupled to a three-speed manual transmission. Based on this car’s different posses, one would have to assume that this Catalina moves under its own power but that is not specifically stated in the listing. The odometer shows 78K miles but there is no claim to that recording.
The interior is a two-tone exterior-matching affair with upholstery in a combination of leather and nylon fabric. From what can be seen the seating surfaces look discolored but are still in reasonably good nick. The painted steel dash is showing some very light surface rust in a few places but that big circular radio speaker grille is front, center, and prominent – you know it’s Pontiac by that characteristic! The gauges are hard to make out but they look a bit cloudy.
While some considered Pontiacs of this era to be uninspired and dated, I hardly think that’s the case here. One could argue that they held on to their extensive stainless trim and “suspenders” too long, but this top drawer model is perfectly fitting for the time. As Pontiac stated in its 1951 sales brochure, “…Pontiac has earned an outstanding reputation for offering brilliant extra value at only a few dollars extra cost. This unique Pontiac policy was never more evident than in the 1951 Pontiacs“. OK, I can agree with that, how about you?
Really ,I bet over half the people reading this have never seen a straight 8 , and guess what , they still haven’t.
I bet that almost all of them who’ve never seen a straight eight, don’t know how to drive a manual transmission
Actually I rebuilt a straight eight and the automatic trans in my 50 Pontiac Silver Streak, along with the complete brake system and hydraulic shocks for a nice riding car when I was seventeen years old. Drove it all over till some guy running from the cops hit it and ran and got away. Totaled the car so I sold it to guy in Long Beach who had one just like mine same color and all
Gotta get me some of that sapphire blue roof paint. That stuff really lasts.
I want to see the hood ornament lit up in a night photo. My uncle Bob had a green one back in the day. I always loved that Pontiac hood ornament. The straight 8 wasn’t the best of engines, according to uncle Bob, but I’ve never owned or even driven one. Cool ride.
I owned several Buicks with straight-eight overhead-valve engines. All of those engines performed exceedingly well. As for the Pontiac straight-eight, a flathead, the word back in the day was that they were a bit prone to burning oil.
Seller is a dealer, description of the car seems to be mostly a cut and paste from a wiki about 51 Pontiacs.
Many of the commenter’s here do the same thing, cut and paste from wiki!
” could use some TLC” has to be the understatement of the century.
Seeing this makes me want to puke. The “Chief” was not for your common worker, that was Chevy’s job, the Pontiac was a step above, not quite an Olds or Buick, but getting there. At one time, this was a beautiful car. Beautiful colors, all the Pontiac gee-gaws, that straight 8, while not quite a V8, allowed this Poncho to roll. It looks awful like this. Again, to make it right, going to cost you plenty, and no sense waiting for one to come down the line at auction, without an LS something and clown wheels, probably won’t happen. If the 6 remaining people in the world want an original ’51 Chief, this is the only way. Sadly, I don’t see it happening.
HoA- The “ clown” wheels crack got me! Verdad!
Dealers are strange rangers. Does the car run? There must be so many folks with money to burn ( it’s up to 9K !) that they are unconcerned that this is a veritable rust bucket……. as cool a car as it is. It came from Indiana and must have marinated in the snow……..up to the belt line . And it’s in the Bermuda Triangle of car sale$…….Florida.
But it must have been a beauty ……once
I learned to drive on my dad’s ’52 Catalina. It had two-tone green leather upholstery. No power steering, that straight eight was a heavy lump to steer!
It finally succumbed to the tinworm and Dad traded for a new ’65 Tempest.
And that awful (to my teen years) transmission whine. You knew it was a Pontiac without seeing it if it was going in first or second. Why GM did not put in a three speed from Olds or Buick (assuming the Chevy transmission would not take the torque of the Pontiac 8) is a mystery to me.
I thought all the hardtop Ponchos from the 50s were called Catalinas. I had two str8 eights, a 48 which had a dead miss on no1 cylinder and a 54 which ran like a threshing machine. Sorry for the obtuse reference, look it up. The 54 got hot….. all the time. It got so hot that it would crank over like the plugs were out of it. That damned under seat heater and it’s hoses were a pain and leaked no matter how much money I put into it. A lot of guys speculated that the str8 8s made the middle cylinders feed properly but the end ones run lean causing burned exhaust valves. I’d love to have the 48 back, I traded it away when I was a kid and have regretted it ever since. This old Poncho looks really attractive to me, but there’s no way I’d buy it without hearing it run and driving it. I’d be really hot for it if it had a hydramatic
Don’t get that there’s no picture of the engine. It’s at $9400.00 right now. I know where there’s one that’s been sitting in the Florida Everglades since the 60’s. It still has some good parts but way past restoration.
God bless America
Red flags all over this thing. NO pics of the engine, NO pics of the undercarriage and NO pics of the interior including NO pics of the floors. Why someone would blindly bid and throw money at this thing without them is beyond me.
It is a ghost bid, if reserve has not been met. Many push the bid up to see the reserve price.
I have owned a few 50s cars and they are not great performers, just good transportation and not worth the thousands of dollars some are asking, at least to me, anyway. I guess my 2020 Edge with 250 hp, 27 mpg, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, automatic emergency braking, blind spot monitoring cross traffic alert, and back up camera has spoiled me.
Kindig could make this car look terrific, for about half a mil…
Just showing some love. Its all there. Nice starter or make a driver out of it. Its unusual and very kool. At least in my eye.
This car is a runner, It is located, less than a mile from my home. On occasion, I see it driven on Highway 19 nearby.
I inherited a 52 two door Pontiac in the early seventies from my wife’s grand father. It had sat under a tree for many years and all of the chrome suffered from that. It didn’t have much rust other than the grill and bumpers, but I wasn’t interested in the car. It had a straight eight engine with hydramatic transmission. I got it running and drove it about a hundred miles home on old rotten tires, and thankfully due to slow speed and back roads I made it. No one in the family wanted it so I took it just to save it. I sold it later for $300, and never saw it again.
My Dad had a ’51 2 dr that he put 127,000 mikes on…….was a “route” and family car. The hydromatic lever broke off and he fashioned a shift lever from a custom vice grip pliers. One head plane and valve job and at 101,000k she would still do 110, passing my Uncle’s ’53 Buick Super(Nearly made him suicidal, Dad said) Fond mems! Replaced by a ’55 Buick yellow and black 4 dr. What an improvement!……
Too bad Alfred Hitchcock is no longer with us. This could have been a horror movie; “Attack of the Creeping Patina”.
seller says lovely patina, but if his wife’s skin looked like this car, he wouldn’t think that