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Post Info TOPIC: 1960 Strato Chief Wagon rejuvenation


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1960 Strato Chief Wagon rejuvenation


IMG_4959.JPG

We just recently purchased this 1960 Pontiac Strato Chief wagon.  Sadly it has sat in a farm field for the last 2.5 - 3 years and most the windows leak and none of the panels have the vapor barrier either.  Suffice to say it has not done the car any favors except the exterior patina is perfect!  I am posting its rejuvenation on my face book page and I thought I would share my posts here. We are not classing it as a restoration as we are leaving the patina, doing some resto-mod work and some personalization to suit us: the car is far from factory anyhow!

IMG_4960.JPG

Surprisingly, the previous to the last owner is part of a car club I am a member of and when I posted a photo she posted that she was sure it was her old car - and it was! As a result we are getting much more info about the car from them as the guy we bought it from truly knows nothing about cars. Sadly a friend of theirs had borrowed the car and did not realize the brakes are not the same as his BMW and he kissed the cottage wall with the nose of the car messing up the hood and the bumper but happily it did not hurt the grill.

IMG_4933.JPG

Whether you are a Pontiac fan, wagon fan or just like watching along: you are welcome to follow and comment on the process.

About us: We are from southern Ontario retired and far from professionals however we are long time classic car geeks, my hubby is the chief mechanic and has an extensive knowledge of just about everything but know my fair share too! I specialize in the details, fiddly stuff, polishing aluminum, cut n buff paint, restoring body badges, lettering, restitching, can handle minor fabrications any carpentry and happy to try something new.  We are mostly into 60 and early 70 GM products, this is our first classic Pontiac, finally adding a 'P' to 'BOPC', our 6th wagon project.  We currently own a bunch of cars including 2 other wagons.  It is so hard to sell them after all our work!



-- Edited by graytoad on Thursday 8th of August 2024 09:58:01 PM



-- Edited by graytoad on Saturday 10th of August 2024 09:16:27 AM

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Sandy Gray

Can't be a car collector with only ONE car!

Our current garage: 1964 Acadian Beaumont Custom Wagon

1960 Pontiac StratoChief 4 door Wagon

Three - Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire factory Turbos 2 door hardtops

65 Buick Riviera, 63 Chevy C-10, 76 Camaro LT



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Sounds like this wagon ended up in the right place, looks pretty solid, did you know you can get GM documents from Vintage Services ? Will tell you when it was built, which dealer sold it, engine, transmission, interior and exterior trim codes, as built. Keep us updated for sure and feel free to ask questions. Easy to get all the mechanical parts from the 60 Chevy.

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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

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Congrats ! And it looks like you have a really solid project to start with ! Cant wait to see upcoming pictures!

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Yes DonSSDD, I get that for all my Canadian delivered cars, waiting for its arrival!

These two decals on the tailgate give me some headway on that. 

IMG_4943.JPG

One is a dealer Kelowna BC (with another Dealer logo underneath) and of course the other is the BC CAA decal.

IMG_4910.JPG

Can someone send me a private message telling me how to post my photos so that they are large as a part of the message VS thumbnails below.  Thanks

 



-- Edited by graytoad on Thursday 8th of August 2024 09:44:21 PM



-- Edited by graytoad on Thursday 8th of August 2024 10:00:20 PM



-- Edited by graytoad on Thursday 8th of August 2024 10:01:33 PM

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Sandy Gray

Can't be a car collector with only ONE car!

Our current garage: 1964 Acadian Beaumont Custom Wagon

1960 Pontiac StratoChief 4 door Wagon

Three - Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire factory Turbos 2 door hardtops

65 Buick Riviera, 63 Chevy C-10, 76 Camaro LT



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graytoad wrote:

 

Can someone send me a private message telling me how to post my photos so that they are large as a part of the message VS thumbnails below.  Thanks

 


 Hope maybe this link will help?

Inserting Photos Tutorial Video - Canadian Poncho (activeboard.com)



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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 (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)



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yard pics 2016 167.JPG



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V8 Laurentian, been sitting since the mid seventies here in Saskatchewan. Mice have done most of the real damage , shame.



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I spy with my little eye.............a '70 Rallye 350.  

I wonder if it's a post car.

I see you're from the Hamilton area.  In my own backyard.

 

Congrats on the waaagoooon!!



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With your interest in it, and the combination of Master Mechanic alongside the Details Specialist sounds like you have it made in the shade. Great patina with the faded vintage decals.

I see Rally Wheels with Police caps, modern radial wide whites so it's ready to roll. Just not ready to stop wink.gif  The lack of fender badge signals a 6-cylinder 261. All you need is Corvette triple side draft carbs and a split manifold (you'll find it right next to the Holy Grail, that will be the day).

 

I grew up in Ancaster and knew many backroads from Caledonia to Mud Street in Hamilton, to Flamborough and beyond. I always loved to see whatever vintage tin might be under a tree along a property line.

 

Thanks for posting. Keep us updated if you can.



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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



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Looking forward to updates on the progress!



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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 (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)



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Cheviac wrote:

V8 Laurentian, been sitting since the mid seventies here in Saskatchewan. Mice have done most of the real damage , shame.


Cheviac: Ok, so is that wagon still there?  We need some parts!  I also see a 60 tail light beside it, what is it?  Is that just someone's collection of stuff or a parts/ wreckers yard? Can you provide any contact information?

69 Postss

Yes it is a a Rallye 350, not a post car but it is a factory 4 speed. (our second  Rallye we have had, the first one is gorgeous and is still in the greater Hamilton area.  We are in Flamborough: where are you?

CdnGMfan:  I am still waiting on the GM docs but I am guessing it was a straight 6.  We intended to LS it but it actually has a 400 small block with a cam and it seems pretty stout so it is staying as it it until we get it back on the road; may stick with that.  We are waiting on drop spindles and a disc brake conversion for the front. Currently has a 200R4 but I want a manual shift so we are going for a 5 speed AR5.   

 

Thanks for all the interest guys!  I will update reguarly as we are retired and chugging along full steam ahead. 

 

 



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Sandy Gray

Can't be a car collector with only ONE car!

Our current garage: 1964 Acadian Beaumont Custom Wagon

1960 Pontiac StratoChief 4 door Wagon

Three - Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire factory Turbos 2 door hardtops

65 Buick Riviera, 63 Chevy C-10, 76 Camaro LT



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You may have noticed in my first post, the plates 'WAY KULR' Steve bolted on the back before he even unloaded it. Steve wanted to get Highway Star custom plates but until we get a combo that works and is available we will use this set of plates removed from our Malibu Wagon. The Deep Purple song Highway Star has a line 'Big fat tires and everything' and yes, there will be 'big fat tires'. 

It actually runs real strong , apparently the engine was built around 12 years ago however but it is far from road safe right now.  First job was to get the hood open with a damaged latch.

1 hood latch.jpg

Another big concern was getting the rear window down and tailgate open. Weird problems confront you when ever restoring a classic and we often learn on the fly!

2 tailgate open.jpg

I had no idea how these truly worked and so we problem solved! 

3 gear trouble.jpg

 



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Sandy Gray

Can't be a car collector with only ONE car!

Our current garage: 1964 Acadian Beaumont Custom Wagon

1960 Pontiac StratoChief 4 door Wagon

Three - Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire factory Turbos 2 door hardtops

65 Buick Riviera, 63 Chevy C-10, 76 Camaro LT

Fall into savings UP TO C $50 OFF Shop now
Fall into savings UP TO C $50 OFF Shop now


Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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An original 400 small block is kind of a rarity today. They used to be all around but haven't gone in cars since '76 & trucks since '80. Plenty strong by virtue of cubic inches. They are bored out pretty thin and can be brittle with age.

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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



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Shop manuals- Cdn Pontiac shop manuals are only available used, eBay, Kijiji, FB Marketplace, search for Pontiac 7000, dont bother with any US Pontiac manuals. Youll need the 1958 shop manual, the 1960 supplement, and Id also recommend the reproduction or original Assembly manual for the 1959/60 Chevrolet. Available from antique Chevrolet parts, good people.

www.antiquechev.com/

Ken McGee in goderich is also a good place for used manuals.
www.kenmcgeeautobooks.com/


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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



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Thanks for the input guys.

Shop Manual: The Vintage Vehicle Services guys actually have a manual and updates that I am purchasing.  I will however check with Ken McGee to see if he possibly has a 60 CDN sales brochure!  BTW: Antique Chev is very near me, they are closing up shop. 

As for the 400 small block.  I will be chatting with the man who rebuilt the car (and engine) 12 years ago and find out more of what he did.  I have a friend who knows him and has told me his is pretty particular about his mechanical work so hopefully it was rebuilt correctly. 

This is the state of the engine bay as purcahsed.

449379650_1877231262704781_7365757701202173772_n.jpg

 

On another note:

On a car I have in FL, I have had a difficult run with engine break downs in an Oldsmobile 215 V8 in my 63 F85 wagon.  Three engine failures, every time one of the valve springs broke, once taking a valve with it, the second time the valve slapped the piston but did not do any real damage there, the 3rd time it disintegrated a (correction) piston (not the previously slapped one.)  We actually thought they were shoddy springs but they were top quality (purchased by the PO from Aluminum V8 in Michigan but forget brand name) and we finally narrowed it down to the fact that the guy that rebuilt the engine (via the p.o.) had used the wrong valve retainer sleeves and the springs were being stressed by being compressed too much, causing failure.  Final repair included a set of valve springs and retainer sleeves out of another 215 aluminum V8 we had on hand. 



-- Edited by graytoad on Monday 12th of August 2024 07:30:51 PM

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Sandy Gray

Can't be a car collector with only ONE car!

Our current garage: 1964 Acadian Beaumont Custom Wagon

1960 Pontiac StratoChief 4 door Wagon

Three - Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire factory Turbos 2 door hardtops

65 Buick Riviera, 63 Chevy C-10, 76 Camaro LT



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Not to derail your thread but I see you own three Jetfires. I remember one out of London I'd see at cruise nights in the 80's - If I remember correctly it was a silver/blue in colour with a white painted roof and was MINT. 4 speed car. Fellow who had it was in his late 50's early 60's at the time. I wonder if you now own that car?


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Canadian Poncho wrote:

Not to derail your thread but I see you own three Jetfires. I remember one out of London I'd see at cruise nights in the 80's - If I remember correctly it was a silver/blue in colour with a white painted roof and was MINT. 4 speed car. Fellow who had it was in his late 50's early 60's at the time. I wonder if you now own that car?


Yes we do own that!  It was no longer 'mint' but the paint still is.  The crazy thing is that he and his buddy painted it in his buddy's barn in 1989: phenomenal job. That paint looks like new still!   The car needed a lot of mechanical that he could longer do, car would not run, turbo was fubared and missing key parts, brakes a mess and leaking all over the place, seats torn badly, carped totally faded - but in spite of its mechanical woes, he was still treating it with love and respect.  We have the car now, every thing repaired, replaced or restored, redid the interior and its back on the road now, Gorgeous car once again but we are looking to sell it as we don't need 3.  The third is not running but all there, automatic, great body, non factory paint color but a great solid car, we 'rescued it' but are just looking for a new owner who wants to restore (we have had enough of restoring Jetfire's)



-- Edited by graytoad on Sunday 11th of August 2024 05:55:06 PM

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Sandy Gray

Can't be a car collector with only ONE car!

Our current garage: 1964 Acadian Beaumont Custom Wagon

1960 Pontiac StratoChief 4 door Wagon

Three - Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire factory Turbos 2 door hardtops

65 Buick Riviera, 63 Chevy C-10, 76 Camaro LT

Fall into savings UP TO C $50 OFF Shop now
Fall into savings UP TO C $50 OFF Shop now


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Cool! You should post the car in the non-Pontiac cars for sale area.

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Like us on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/CanadianPoncho

Canadian Poncho World Headquarters - Prince Edward Island

 



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Steve got busy on gutting the rest of the wagon. The windows all leak, and the car has been outside so nothing good can come of that!  Sorry about the sideways photo, not sure why that happened.  Note the 64 Acadian wagon in the background!

IMG_5239.JPG

 

I am guessing the leaking has been an ongoing thing.  Many spots on the floor had been patched with fiberglass, however I dont believe the rust was treated with a rust stop product first as the patches were no longer holding due to continued advancement of corrosion. 

4 floor rust.jpg

 

The footwells of the back seat have been heavily fiber-glassed extensively and seem to be holding strong.

IMG_5245.JPG

 

The plans include a manual shift & as such we were leaning towards bucket seats.  These two different options we have in stock. We have since decided to stick with the stock bench seat and if we have to, we will get a custom shift leaver that will clear the seat when in 2nd or 4th. 

IMG_5244.JPG



-- Edited by graytoad on Monday 12th of August 2024 07:33:04 PM



-- Edited by graytoad on Monday 12th of August 2024 07:41:24 PM

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Sandy Gray

Can't be a car collector with only ONE car!

Our current garage: 1964 Acadian Beaumont Custom Wagon

1960 Pontiac StratoChief 4 door Wagon

Three - Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire factory Turbos 2 door hardtops

65 Buick Riviera, 63 Chevy C-10, 76 Camaro LT



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Get a hurst shifter, they make bolt on shifter handles that look stock and clear a bench seat with a Saginaw, Muncie or super t19 or regular Borg Warner T 10. Shifts like a modern car. I suggtyou consider a 1962/3 floor shifter panel to level the floor for mounting the shifter. My 59 shifter was kind of side saddle without the panel. The 59/60 floor is a little different from the 61-64.

__________________

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



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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graytoad wrote:

... BTW: Antique Chev is very near me, they are closing up shop... 


 Say it ain't so! no



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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



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The door and wall panels are all in rough shape.  I will have to pull them apart to confirm but I am fairly sure they are garbage.

IMG_5280.JPG

 

 

 

Disassembling the door panel, but you can see the door card is damaged beyond use - note the missing chunks.   IMG_5283

IMG_5283.JPG

 

The door panels are so beyond rescue.  I will have to make new door cards, but I intend to switch to abs panels attached to the original steel door cap part.  

door panel disaster.jpg

After removing the steel door cap from the old panels, I needed to create new patterns.  I installed the caps in place on the doors and taped pattern paper to them and trimmed to fit and cut out the spots for the window cranks.

IMG_5309.JPG

I am using 3 mm (1/8) abs flat stock for the lower panels. After mocking them up I fastened the lower panel to the door cap with pop rivets being careful I choose a spot that the protruding back of the rivet has a depression behind it in the door panel to not cause a problem.  This is the first door panel blank done: the remaining pink foam is now removed from the cap piece and all four door blanks are awaiting upholstery.

IMG_5384.JPG

 

 



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Sandy Gray

Can't be a car collector with only ONE car!

Our current garage: 1964 Acadian Beaumont Custom Wagon

1960 Pontiac StratoChief 4 door Wagon

Three - Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire factory Turbos 2 door hardtops

65 Buick Riviera, 63 Chevy C-10, 76 Camaro LT

Fall into savings UP TO C $50 OFF Shop now
Fall into savings UP TO C $50 OFF Shop now


A Poncho Legend!

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Carry on!

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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 (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Great idea on the abs.

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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



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Date:

DonSSDD wrote:

Great idea on the abs.


Yes, I did some kick panels on my 63 Olds wagon in FL using 1/8" ABS. I used a torch and formed the curve over the work bench, turned out fabulous and they will never rot again! I am not inserting the photos here large as they are not in the Strato Chief but they are below.  I will have to make some for the Strato Chief but they are fairly flat.



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Sandy Gray

Can't be a car collector with only ONE car!

Our current garage: 1964 Acadian Beaumont Custom Wagon

1960 Pontiac StratoChief 4 door Wagon

Three - Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire factory Turbos 2 door hardtops

65 Buick Riviera, 63 Chevy C-10, 76 Camaro LT

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