We have seen quite a selection of classic station wagons over the years here at Barn Finds. Their condition has ranged from pristine through to “could you direct me to the nearest crusher please?” This 1967 Pontiac Safari is something a bit special. This is an unrestored survivor, and its condition does have to be seen to be believed. It would seem that all the next owner will need to do is to choose the destination of their next family, um, safari. The wagon is located in Hilltown, Pennsylvania, and has been listed for sale here on Craigslist. The asking price for this classic Executive has been set at $25,000.
If this Pontiac is as original as the owner claims, then it has to have been the recipient of some pretty careful ownership, because it is quite hard to believe that what we are looking at is a 53-year-old family wagon. The Montego Cream paint looks extremely nice, while the woodgrain viny appears to be free of any blemishes or marks. Rust doesn’t appear to be an issue, although it is well to remember that the woodgrain could be hiding a few nasty surprises. Having said that, there are no signs of any bulges or bumps that could indicate trouble. One of the interesting features is the vinyl roof. This is something that you don’t see on wagons that often, and I must say that when it is combined with the chrome roof-rack, it does add an extra touch of class to the wagon. The exterior trim and chrome seem to be in nice condition, while there are no obvious flaws with the glass.
When it comes to unrestored vehicles of this age, it is quite common for them to really show their age when you lift the hood. That isn’t the case with this Pontiac, because the engine and its surroundings look to be exceptionally clean. What we find here is the 400ci “regular” V8, producing 265hp. Hooked to this is a 3-speed Hydramatic transmission, while the Executive is also fitted with power steering and power brakes. At 4,594lbs, the Safari is not a car that I would fancy pushing any distance if it suffered some form of mechanical failure. However, with 265hp at its disposal, the Pontiac really can get up and move. Any 6-seat family wagon that can gallop through the ¼ mile in 17.9 seconds really can’t be a bad thing. Amazingly, it is also capable of pulling all the way to a top speed of 119mph, making this one flying sitting-room. The owner is a man of few words, but when he says that the Safari runs like a top, then I tend to believe him on that score.
I have to admit that I was a little surprised by the interior trim in this vehicle because for some reason I didn’t expect to find it predominantly black. I will readily admit that I was expecting a lighter color, but there is nothing wrong with this anyway. Once again, the condition is impressive, especially for a family wagon. The upholstery appears to be free of any rips, tears, significant wear, or sagging. The dash is in nice order, while the pad is free of cracks. I have been trying to work out whether the carpet is faded, or if it is a different color to provide some contrast to the black. Either way, I really don’t mind it. The Safari isn’t loaded with luxury appointments, but air conditioning, an AM radio, and a remote exterior driver’s mirror are all nice touches.
It is a classic station wagon, so this 1967 Pontiac Executive Safari is going to be a vehicle that will undoubtedly be highly coveted. In 1967, Pontiac sold 35,491 Executives, but of this total, only 5,903 were 6-seater Safaris. That makes this a relatively rare car. As such, nice examples simply don’t come onto the market that often, and when they do, they can command some impressive prices. A really nice one will often sell for $30,000, but higher figures are certainly possible. This particular car isn’t the cheapest wagon that money can but, but the asking price would seem to make it a very competitive proposition.
that’d be the high compression (relative), small valve two barrel 400 in that car – had the same motor in my ’70 Catalina wagon and it was sufficient to get into trouble, send the car sideways or pull any kind of load. Not the fastest car I ever had, and needed good gas not to ping but remarkably strong for what it was.
Pontiac had a strong wagon tradition, and if it was available on any other full size car, you could get it on a wagon – 4 spds, bucket consoles, tach, HO motor, gears – unlike say Buick or Olds, nothing was off the table and a lot of very cool Pontiacs were spec’d and delivered.
In GM land, I never saw buckets and consoles available on anything but a coupe or convertible until the ’73 model year (Grand Am and Cutlass Salon). I believe the brochure for this car would substantiate that. In fact, Executive coupes could not be ordered with bucket seats even.
For what it’s worth, I believe you could get this exact same engine/transmission combo as a no-cost economy choice in the GTO of this year. 2,967 such 1967 GTOs were built.
The 265hp 400 was the base fullsize car engine together with 3spd man for ’67. Pontiac 389 and 400 engines were extremely peppy and torquey for its time but their drawback was their thirst for premium fuel due to their high CR.
In the 60s PMD offered the ‘low-output’ variants as a no-cost option in auto cars to the more economy-minded consumers as these engines were designed to work on regular fuel. Also in mind were the consumers who might drive their vehicles in regions where premium was not easily available
Yeah, the 265 horse 400 2-Barrel was offered for 1967-69 in the GTO, probably for the reasons you described. GTOs were popular in these years and appealed to the masses, many of whom cared more about image than performance. Kind of like now where people buy all these four wheel drive vehicles with no intention of ever taking them off road.
So Pontiac thought a low performance motor would be a good idea. However, the take rate was very low. Another 3,300 in ’68 and about 1,400 in ’69.
Beautiful, but I question just how ‘original’ this wagon really is. For instance, the woodgrain shelf paper appears blemish free. Not rip a dent or door ding anywhere? C’mon. In In 53 years it should at least have a few marks on it! The interior–from what little I can see–looks perfect. No, the carpet isn’t a different color; back then black carpeting faded like that. I’d replace it.
The original lucite or acrylic steering wheel is cracked all over, other than that, it does look amazingly perfect!
Nice find! The only thing better would be a Canadian Grande Parisienne wagon with its Grand Prix front end.
I worked at a Pontiac store in 1974 when my mom needed another car. Since she provided rides to work for several co-workers she needed a full size car. We had just taken a 1967 Executive wagon in on trade with 187,000 miles. ( our dealership had sold the car new and had all the service records) It looked and drove like new. Mom was worried about all the miles. But since we were always getting rusted out Ponchos with low miles traded in. I told her not to worry as I could usually pick up a rust bucket for $100 and swap out the engine and transmission over a weekend. She drove that car for 7 years and it had just turned over 400,000 miles when the oil pump gave out. (Red oil light came on) This happened at 11:00 at night as she was just passing through the south side of Chicago. Being concerned about pulling off the expressway she kept on driving. Approximately 45 miles later she started to hear a funny noise. ( gee I wonder why?) So my mother ( Joe Mechanic) desides to put the car in neutral to race the engine to see if it is the engine or the transmission making the noise. ( I never was able to see the logic here as she knows that the oil light has been on for quite some time) I digress, sorry. When reving up the engine it desides to come unglued. I guess when my mom decides to rev an engine she does not mess around. My buddy who picked up the car with his tow truck was laughing so hard he almost passed out. When the nose of the car was lifted, we could see the remains of my mom’s ” sound drag” 3 connecting rods were hanging out of the bottom of the oil pan (same hole) and the block was broken at both motor mount bosses.
There was quite a bit of laughter at the dealership when the car was on the lift prior to engine swap day.
The very next weekend my sister ran the car ( with it’s new 70,000 mile engine) on an emergency run to the Wisconsin, Minnisota line ( from the northern Chicago suburbs) averaging over 90 mph in both directions and cooked that engine. The car still had no rust, looked great and the interior was still like new.
Great wagon, too bad GuysWithRides.com already featured this car earlier this week as part of their regular ‘Wagon Wednesday” feature.
If this wagon ever served as a family hauler it must be the best behaving folks ever… Interesting to note it has a vinyl roof
Fred MacMurray would be proud!
And all three sons.
aaaaand just like that,the theme song started playing in my head.
I’ve always thought of the poor guy, that worked for years in the mail room, finally buys a new car and buys, an “EXECUTIVE”!!! (whistles) They were such nice cars. I think just about everyone knew someones parents with a Pontiac wagon. For most, it was part of growing up.
I learned to drive on my Dads 68 Executive Safari. I thought it was beautiful, but big. Only had about 2 inches on both sides, pulling in the garage. It consumed lots of 32 cent gasoline!
That’s the same station wagon they used on Family Affair if I remember correctly.
@ Tim. The moment I saw this vehicle, Brian Keith’s face entered my brain. The one we kept seeing, obviously, was his. Each time the car was shown, entering the apartment parkade, the next shot would be “Uncle Bill”, entering the apartment.