Circa-1949-1952 Pontiac sighting

[Young fogey]

56th Street, Philadelphia.

What's especially nice about this is it's not part of somebody's collection but so... normal, just parked in the street. Somebody's 'real car'.

The age of the houses behind it is right too.

 

[Flivver]

It's a 1951 model as indicated by the grille and side-trim details.

These were good solid (if un-exciting) cars. They were powered by L-head inline six and eight cylinder engines.

They were often driven by school teachers...in fact my 5th grade teacher drove one almost exactly like the one you picture. She bought it new and was still driving it in the early 1960s.

A new Pontiac General Manager, Bunkie Kneudsen, who arrived in 1956 turned Pontiac's stodgy image around. By 1959, the "Wide-Track Pontiac" was one of the most desired cars on the road.

 

[Jack Armstrong]

What's especially bad about it is that it's obviously deteriorating. If it were part of someone's collection, it wouldn't be returning to its component elements the way it is.

 

[tbrunke]

Great car! Being in Pennsylvania I'm amazed that it is not a rust bucket.

 

[David Conwill]

Very neat. The photo reminds me of Jalopnik's "DOTS" (Down On The Street") series of candid old-car photos from around Alemedia Island, CA. It's great to see one in its natural environment and with a little "patina."

Rampant decay is bad, but evidence of use is good. I like the British approach to auto restoration - restore it, use it, then restore it again.

-Dave

 

[Flivver]

What's especially bad about it is that it's obviously deteriorating. If it were part of someone's collection, it wouldn't be returning to its component elements the way it is.

My guess is that it recently came out of storage looking like that. During the Korean War, the government mandated a reduction in the thickness of the chrome plating used on cars (rather than eliminate chrome entirely as was done in 1942). The result was that 1951-52 vehicles had thin chrome plating that rusted prematurely.

As a kid, I remember this level of rust being common on a '51 model by the late 1950s.

 

[lord_k]

That's how it looked in the ads:

via aldenjewell @ Flickr

 

[Talbot]

Judging by the condition of the sidewalls, looks like a well loved survivor to me.

At least I hope so...

 

[Silver Dollar]

I wouldn't kick it out of the garage even in the condition it's in. They're definitely a lot better looking than the 51 Chevy which is way plainer.

 

[Talbot]

I wouldn't kick it out of the garage even in the condition it's in. They're definitely a lot better looking than the 51 Chevy which is way plainer.

I love these old survivors. Anyone else get a kick out of 'driveable dreams' in hemmings mag?

 

[StraightEight]

Nice find. Imagine how many frigid Christmases and sizzling Fourth of Julys that car has been through. The factory full of people who built it is gone, its dealership is probably a strip mall, all the cars it shared the showroom with almost certainly went to the scrapper decades ago, and the person who it made smile when it was brand new and freshly waxed probably left this earth with barely a memory of it. The world it was made for has vanished, the one that replaced it much too fast, and now its value and usefulness is diminished by age and archaic technology. On that street it is all alone--except for the person who cares for it today. It isn't easy being a car.

 

[David Conwill]

its value and usefulness is diminished by age and archaic technology.

That's nothing an overdrive and disc brakes won't cure!

Seriously, though, very poetic and thought provoking.

To me the 1946 to 1954 period is the golden age of the American automobile, and this Pontiac and middle-priced makes like it are emblematic of the dream.

-Dave