Try Steve Plunkett. He puts on the (Fleetwood Farms Country Cruise-In) show in London. He owns a 58 convert. Look up the car show sight, it has his contact no. and pictures of his collection showing the 58.
I understand that the "Tri Power" badge was only placed on US Pontiac cars like the Bonneville at the factory. Canadian cars, based on their Chevrolet counterparts never had this badge installed in Oshawa and likewise you will not find one on the 58 Impala either. "Tri-Power" is a US marketing term. In Canada the engine option was referred to as "Super Astro Flame". Canadian cars equipped with a V8 regardless of displacement received a gold V emblem in drivers side of front grille and on the quarter panels ahead of the wheel well or rear doors in the case of a 4 door or wagon.
Using the 1958 Sales brochure as reference you will not see any car sporting a Tri-power badge and typically sales brochures illustrate the best of the best available to entice sales of options. Neither will you find any reference to "Tri-Power" in the Canadian sales brochure rather the option is referred to "Triple 2 barrel carburetors".
Notwithstanding this it is a very nice addition to the car and most Parisienne optioned cars I have seen do have it when restored with the 348 triple 2 bbl carb option. The guidance on placement will therefore likely have to come from US manufacturing specification.
Let's bear in mind that Canadian Pontiac's were very modest in using flashy fender flashes in this era, 348 and even 409 or 396 or 427 powered cars up to 1968 would have a modest V8 emblem just the same as a 283 car. 68's, 69's and 70's had the V emblems with engine displacements usually red in colour with chrome with only a few exceptions using black and gold.
-- Edited by 73SC on Friday 21st of September 2018 11:44:24 PM
Ray an excellent answer of this technical question on the 58 Pontiac. You have the same knowledge on these beautiful cars as
I do. Bob.
Bob, this is such hi praise coming from you and I am humbled by your comments. We all have such affection and admiration of you and your encyclopedia of knowledge on the 58 Canadian Pontiacs. Please excuse me for answering this question ahead of your expertise, however, I was very confident in my answer and now you, our resident expert and likely the definitive expert has corroborated it.
As I mentioned they are a nice addition to our Canadian cars. I doubt that any cruise night lawyer would have this level of knowledge on the 58 Pontiac but to be safe I'd dremel off the mounting pins and put them on with two way tape.
I wonder about the Fuel Injection badging on the Canadian cars. They were offered but were they actually built?
Pontiac in the U.S. offered fuel injection on the '57 Bonnevilles with 347s & again on 370s in '58. The Pontiac fuel injection experience was a flop, as was Chrysler's & AMC's in '58. Chevrolet had the best unit & reputation. The Canadian Pontiacs could piggy-back on the Chevy F.I. V8.
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
I wonder about the Fuel Injection badging on the Canadian cars. They were offered but were they actually built?
Pontiac in the U.S. offered fuel injection on the '57 Bonnevilles with 347s & again on 370s in '58. The Pontiac fuel injection experience was a flop, as was Chrysler's & AMC's in '58. Chevrolet had the best unit & reputation. The Canadian Pontiacs could piggy-back on the Chevy F.I. V8.
The title for this thread is for 1958 but I assume you are talking about 1957 Cam?
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I dont think Chevy offered fi on a 58 Chevy, 57 and 59 yes, but not 58? Not even the vette? (Edit by Don- I was wrong)
Vernon Smith in Nfld has a 57 and 58 fi us pontiac. He took my picture in the 58 vert, it had a factory am pull out radio in the dash which you could remove and use as a portable, I think it was called as sportable.
-- Edited by DonSSDD on Sunday 4th of November 2018 09:32:18 AM
-- Edited by DonSSDD on Saturday 24th of July 2021 09:30:30 AM
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
The title for this thread is for 1958 but I assume you are talking about 1957 Cam?
Well, as a point of comparison, both actually. My '58 Canadian Pontiac brochure lists a fuel injected 283 Power Chief with 250 horsepower as an option, plus the Super Astro Flame 348 with triple 2-barrel carbs & 280 horses.
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
Indeed, the thread I created in 2009 and posted in the Library for everyone to reference has the 283 CID 1958 Power Chief FI engine included. My research was very exhaustive so its a good place to look whenever anyone has a engine question. If things are not clear I can always help with questions.
Here is what Wikipedia says about the Power Chief:
The first Parisienne, offered for the 1958 model year, was a super deluxe "halo" model in the Laurentian line, much like Chevrolet's Bel Air Impala of the same year. Chevrolet's Ramjet fuel injection system, introduced in 1957 in the U.S., was a Parisienne option as well. It was marketed as the "Power Chief" option, but it was identical to Chevy's Ramjet. Also available for the first year Parisienne was Chevrolet's Turboglide automatic transmission.
-- Edited by 73SC on Sunday 4th of November 2018 11:06:11 PM
Anyone got any pictures of a 58 with Power Chief fuel injection? Or pictures of the FI itself? Something better than the drawing in the brochure?
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
I will look through my 1958 literature collection to see if there is anything that might be useful for this interesting conversation. Might be a couple of days as am behind in many things. Bob.
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1965 Thunderbird Special Landau 10th Anniversary Limited Edition only 4500 built 34,800 miles
Thanks Bob, I have an old car acquaintance who is working on restoration of a 1958 Impala with original fuel injection, he wants to see any pics or details as he is unable to find much on the Impala. He has restored many of that era's FI Corvettes so a real expert on it, but wants to know what a 58 Impala should look like.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
No reason the FI for a Pontiac would be any different, other than the valve covers?
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
I dont think Chevy offered fi on a 58 Chevy, 57 and 59 yes, but not 58? Not even the vette?
Vernon Smith in Nfld has a 57 and 58 fi us pontiac. He took my picture in the 58 vert, it had a factory am pull out radio in the dash which you could remove and use as a portable, I think it was called as sportable.
-- Edited by DonSSDD on Sunday 4th of November 2018 09:32:18 AM
According to Cars & Parts Catalog of American Car ID Numbers 1950-59 fuel injection was offered with
two different horsepower ratings (250 and 290) in the full size 1958 Chev.
Definitely available in the 58 Corvette. Buddy nearby has an all original 58 fuelie that had been in a box since 1972.
Car was featured in Old Autos (page 2 July 5 issue)
-- Edited by bjburnout on Saturday 24th of July 2021 09:19:56 AM
I was wrong in the post Bernie quoted, I added an edit above so as not to confuse things.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
I will check, is it GM US Pontiac or Canadian Pontiac? Do you want to sell it or a copy?
The fellow who is doing this job does mechanical GM FI repairs and Id guess hed most likely just be looking to confirm the unit he is working on has all the correct parts. The mechanical setup he likely knows very well.
Thanks, Don
-- Edited by DonSSDD on Saturday 24th of July 2021 02:54:17 PM
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
Looks like the 58 fuel injection manual that Bill has will suffice. Unfortunately upon looking through all my 58 Literature could not come up with much info on fuel injection. From what I did find however was Canadian 1958 Pontiac's had the tri - power option but not fuel injection. The US models had both. Bob.
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1965 Thunderbird Special Landau 10th Anniversary Limited Edition only 4500 built 34,800 miles
