Being a new member I would like to tell others a little about myself and my car.
I live in Florenceville which is in western New Brunswick. I have always been interested in Canadian Pontiacs since first driving my Dad's 56 Pathfinder Deluxe four door sedan as a teenager in 1959. I subsequently owned several Pontiacs over the years although now only have my 57 Laurentian Sport Sedan.
I acquired my 57 eleven years ago and although it was driveable I decided to do a frame off restoration. The car is number 804 of 2042 Sport Sedans which were built for the 1957 model year and was built on January 30,1957. It was sold new at Robson Motors in Bowmanville, Ontario and the dealer plaque was on the car when I bought it from the grand daughter of the original owners. The car has been in New Brunswick most of it's life as the original owners were living in Ontario at the time of purchase but due to a death in the family not long afterwards, the car and surviving family members returned to their previous home in Woodstock, New Brunswick.
It has been my intention to keep the car as original as possible although it does have radial tires and an upgraded radio to enable me to play my iPod and satellite radio. I continue to try to make improvements and am currently trying to locate original metal fender skirts which were on the car at one time.
-- Edited by Gordon on Thursday 23rd of July 2015 08:23:29 PM
Gordon, i am under your 57 Pontiac's spell, i am in love. What a beautiful car, i love everything about it. Gordon any shots of the engine and engine bay. I am assuming your 57 has the original 283 V-8. Most of us here would encourage you to submit an article and photos of your fine 57 Pontiac for an upcoming C.P. monthly feature car, your 57 would be so deserving. About the fender skirts, do you realize that there were two different types for the 57 Pontiac. The proper 57 Pontiac (dealer) skirts had a slight notch at the bottom edge. The other skirts are the ones that are usually seen, that are straight along the bottom. The non (dealer) skirts were the Foxcraft straight bottom skirts and those are easier to find. Finding the original proper (dealer) skirts is near impossible and going to Carlisle or Hershey in Penn state U.S.A. is the only place to find them. They usually fetch a premium and have seen them in the past for $500 U.S. Continued good luck with that sweet 57 of yours. Cheers. George
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
Welcome aboard from PEI. Yes, that looks like feature car material. Please send me a private message if you are interested in having your car featured at some point in the feature. All feature cars end up in our calendar.
I spoke with you some time ago about my car and in particular with regard to the proper engine colour. When my car was being restored the shop doing the work had my engine painted orange! I should have changed at the time but it was already in the car. However, I am now working towards having this done. I will attach a photo as things are now from which you will also see the makeshift screen I have over the radiator.
The motor is a 283 with the Power Pack and is a 1957 motor. However, my information is that the original 283 came with a two barrel carb and when the car was driven to the Maritimes in 1957 the engine failed and the present engine was installed at that time. All numbers on the engine clearly show it to be a 57. How this may affect the value of the car I do not know.
When I was speaking with you previously we were discussing the proper paint colour and it is my recollection that you got yours in the States but for another make of car????? I have original sales brochures for 57 Pontiacs which all show the original green colour although I have also seen information that indicate there may have been some cars sold with orange paint.
I am aware of the two different types of fender skirts but have been trying to locate the original metal type. I missed obtaining a used set about a year ago by being two hours late answering an email message. If all else fails I may give up and buy Foxcraft.
Engine colour is a bit of a pet peeve of mine and I have placed a few threads in the Library with my research on it. CLICK HERE to see a thread that has an example of fully restored engine in green paint.
We know that Canadian 6 cylinder engines were green up until 1963 when regular production Chevy orange started to be used.
We also know that the 1958 model was the first year that Canadian Pontiacs used orange Chevrolet paint on the V8 engines however, I have a photo in the thread I direct you too of a '57 in a red/orange paint. There has been speculation that the Power pack engines may have been painted this red/oranage colour in '57, again unconfirmed. Another possibility is that some late '57's could have received early production orange engines, also unconfirmed.
As far as your car goes I'd suggest you use one of the two explanations I provided OR bite the bullet and paint it green as it is far more likely that it was indeed green when it left the Oshawa production facility back in 1957.
To confuse this a bit more I spoke to an owner of a '58 with a green V8 engine and he swore it was original. I guess we may never know the production idiosyncrasies of that era for sure and we often like to say anything was possible back then.
Regardless, you have a very beautiful example of a rare and beautiful Canadian Pontiac.
-- Edited by 73SC on Friday 24th of July 2015 10:17:10 AM
I expect to original colour was green but as you note there is some conflicting information. I do not look forward to pulling the engine for a repaint but have been planning in that direction. Have not done much else under the hood such as decals until this situation is resolved on way or the other.
I sure wouldn't pull the engine to paint it. I suggest it can be done with good planning and preparation, removal of some components and careful masking.
I have had some discussion about having it painted without taking it out. The fellow I spoke with says he has done it before so it is an attractive alternative.
Gordon, i am under your 57 Pontiac's spell, i am in love. What a beautiful car, i love everything about it. Gordon any shots of the engine and engine bay. I am assuming your 57 has the original 283 V-8. Most of us here would encourage you to submit an article and photos of your fine 57 Pontiac for an upcoming C.P. monthly feature car, your 57 would be so deserving. About the fender skirts, do you realize that there were two different types for the 57 Pontiac. The proper 57 Pontiac (dealer) skirts had a slight notch at the bottom edge. The other skirts are the ones that are usually seen, that are straight along the bottom. The non (dealer) skirts were the Foxcraft straight bottom skirts and those are easier to find. Finding the original proper (dealer) skirts is near impossible and going to Carlisle or Hershey in Penn state U.S.A. is the only place to find them. They usually fetch a premium and have seen them in the past for $500 U.S. Continued good luck with that sweet 57 of yours. Cheers. George
Long stroke - have a question for you. You mention original "57 Pontiac skirts with a slight notch at the bottom edge". Is this exclusive to Pontiac or might Chev have also used a similar notch on some of their skirts? And is it 57 specific?Reason I ask is because a friend did up a 56 Chev, for another friend, and used " notched " skirts. This is the only car I have seen with "notched" skirts. ( the notch is actually elongated to match the upper curvature of the skirt. Now to complete the story, this car changed hands about 12 years ago and left Northern Ontario. About 3 years ago I spotted the car in a neighbouring town in Southern Ont and met the current owner. He is not a fan of skirts and has removed them from the car. I know when my friend did up the 56 he did a lot of body work so maybe - just maybe - if these skirts are specific to 57 Pontiac he rebuilt the wheel wells to match the skirts. What's the chances?
Gordon, i am under your 57 Pontiac's spell, i am in love. What a beautiful car, i love everything about it. Gordon any shots of the engine and engine bay. I am assuming your 57 has the original 283 V-8. Most of us here would encourage you to submit an article and photos of your fine 57 Pontiac for an upcoming C.P. monthly feature car, your 57 would be so deserving. About the fender skirts, do you realize that there were two different types for the 57 Pontiac. The proper 57 Pontiac (dealer) skirts had a slight notch at the bottom edge. The other skirts are the ones that are usually seen, that are straight along the bottom. The non (dealer) skirts were the Foxcraft straight bottom skirts and those are easier to find. Finding the original proper (dealer) skirts is near impossible and going to Carlisle or Hershey in Penn state U.S.A. is the only place to find them. They usually fetch a premium and have seen them in the past for $500 U.S. Continued good luck with that sweet 57 of yours. Cheers. George
Long stroke - have a question for you. You mention original "57 Pontiac skirts with a slight notch at the bottom edge". Is this exclusive to Pontiac or might Chev have also used a similar notch on some of their skirts? And is it 57 specific?Reason I ask is because a friend did up a 56 Chev, for another friend, and used " notched " skirts. This is the only car I have seen with "notched" skirts. ( the notch is actually elongated to match the upper curvature of the skirt. Now to complete the story, this car changed hands about 12 years ago and left Northern Ontario. About 3 years ago I spotted the car in a neighbouring town in Southern Ont and met the current owner. He is not a fan of skirts and has removed them from the car. I know when my friend did up the 56 he did a lot of body work so maybe - just maybe - if these skirts are specific to 57 Pontiac he rebuilt the wheel wells to match the skirts. What's the chances?
Ted, there never were notched fender skirts for 1956 Chevrolet's. The (dealer) offered skirts were straight across as was the Foxcraft skirts. The 57 Pontiac had notched skirts, as was authorized by the factory for dealers to sell as accessories. I do not know of any other notched skirts for Pontiac's other than the 57. Ted, getting back to the 56 Chev skirts, i have never seen notched skirts but that is not to say that maybe an aftermarket company made such skirts for that car. I had two 56 Chevy's and was deep into them but have never seen such skirts for them. Maybe we are just not on the same page as to what a notched fender skirts is, i wish i had a picture of them but i do not. Cheers. George
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
Gordon, concerning your 57 283 V-8 motor and the colour. I would not consider painting it anything but green, no way. I love Chevy's but Chevrolet orange does not belong on a 57 Pontiac 283. The only way and i do mean the only way to properly paint your motor is to pull it out of the car. Sure it is a lot more work but the results will speak for them selves. As far as the (Power Pack) four barrel goes on your 57 Pontiac, the gas and brake lines have to be on the outside of the frame, not on the inside like the two barrel and six cylinder cars. The reason the lines were on the outside of the frame on (Power Pack) cars is because of the dual exhaust that came on those cars. The muffler was too close to the lines on that side for dual's. Gordon, in case you do not know this already. Power Pack was a 283 with a four barrel Carter WCFB or Rochester, dual exhaust, higher compression, higher lift camshaft and the gas and brake lines on the outside of the frame. Cheers. George
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
George - next time I talk to the 56 Chev owner I'll ask where the skirts are and try and get a picture of them. As I said he doesn't like skirts so took them off - might he sell them??? I have an old newspaper clipping of his car with 2 previous owners to give him so maybe that'll be an icebreaker.
Why I noticed them originally was because of their being different what with the notch. As I said these are the only ones I have ever seen on any year or make.
George - next time I talk to the 56 Chev owner I'll ask where the skirts are and try and get a picture of them. As I said he doesn't like skirts so took them off - might he sell them??? I have an old newspaper clipping of his car with 2 previous owners to give him so maybe that'll be an icebreaker. Why I noticed them originally was because of their being different what with the notch. As I said these are the only ones I have ever seen on any year or make.
Ted, i would be very curious to see these 56 Chev skirts. Thanks.
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
