It is my pleasure to feature this extremely rare 1957 Pontiac Laurentian convertible as our September feature car. The owner is CP member canpontiac57. Canpontiac57's story is interesting as to how he happened to find this car. We'll let him tell us the rest of the story:

The story on how I came to own this car boils down to pure luck.  In July, 2011, my wife’s friend and her husband were in town to take in their first ever Calgary Stampede.  They asked if they could  stay with us for a couple nights and show them around town and of course we obliged.  The husband is a retired automotive mechanic and over the course of their first evening with us, the ladies started talking girl stuff and us guys started talking cars.  He asked me if I had a “wish list” car and I told him it was a 57 Laurentian convertible.  He said he had never seen one before so I grabbed my laptop and looked for an image off the internet to show him.  Lo and behold, I not only found him a picture, but my search turned one that was for sale in Edmonton.  These cars rarely come available, so I probably would have never owned this car were it not for that conversation that night.

The next day, I called the seller and made arrangements to go look at it.  I drove to Edmonton and pulled a trailer behind me in hopes of making a deal.  The car was not in as good condition as the pictures in his ad had made it look.  The paint is a re-spray and was poorly done many years ago.  It is  faded and peeling in some areas from sun and weather exposure.  Let’s just say it has lots of patina.  There has been some amateurish body work on the rear quarters and the floor is soft in a few places as most convertibles of this vintage are.  In spite of those things, what it had going for it was that it was a complete, drivable vehicle and not a collection of parts in boxes that somebody was selling as a “project car”.  I struck a deal and onto the trailer she went. 

According to the vintage vehicle documents I’ve received from GM Canada, this car is 1 of 734 convertibles and was the 545^th unit of this body style built.  It’s production date was May 15, 1957 and was shipped to Jenner Motors in Edmonton on May 17, 1957.  It came with a 283 Turbo Fire V8 and an automatic transmission.  The original motor and transmission are long gone to who knows where.  In their place is an early, small journal 327 and a 4 speed Borg Warner Super T-10.  Out back it still retains its factory posi rear end. 

Eventually my plan is do a complete frame-off restoration and I’m saving my pennies toward that goal.  When I do, I’ll have it painted back to the factory color which was Seminole Red.  Between now and then, I’m driving it as much as I can.  There’s something to be said for getting the mechanical work done before the paint to get all the bugs worked out anyway. 

Hopefully I catch up with some Canadian Poncho people this year at a cruise night or show and shine.  Thank you to Todd for putting together and maintaining such a great site for like minded Canadian Pontiac lovers.