In the early 60's I owned one just like this one....54 two door Sedan. I tossed the anemic six cylinder flathead engine (employed in many fork lifts...and, later used it on my lawn mower) and intalled a 58 370 Pontiac V8 engine. Put many miles on that car and made several trips from CA to my 1st wife's native MO....and surprised a lot of other cars along the way.

@joe_preston

6 ай бұрын

Did yours not have the supercharger like this one?

@blackholeentry3489

6 ай бұрын

@@joe_preston No.....just the anemic flathead six. Actually, my 54 had NO engine....Someone had tried to install a different engine, couldn't make it work and when I bought it (for $10) it had no engine....and no hood. In the process of tracking it down, discovered it had belonged to a soldier in the nearby Fort Ord, who had been shipped overseas, had Utah license plates, and the car had been abandonded. I was able to locate the hood (about 30 miles away, his former commanding officer took me under his wing, ''forged" a few papers for me, but when I fnally got everthing together to go down to the CA DMV, I had 19 different papers. Even the DMV took pity, helped me out a bit and I finally managed to secure a clear title. Like I said before, with a lot of work, I installed a '58 Pontiac 370....had to cut into the frame and toss the steering box, but was able to make a 58 Pontiac steering box work (by shortening it 4"). Lot of work, but finally got it up and running. Drove it 100 miles each day for a couple of years to where I worked and made several long trips back to MO with it. I drove it for several years, then one day I was in Oregon on a major highway (US 101) A train was stopped at a crossing and traffic was building up both ways, so I pulled up and shut my motor off. I'd been there for a little over a couple minutes when I saw this car coming up fast behind me, then smoke started boiling up from his tires and he slammed into me. I had to pull the left rear fender out so I could even drive it and it was about 800 miles to my home...... it had been so badly knocked out of alignment I ground off a set of brand new tires in the process by the time I reached home. It was then I decided if I were going to put Pontiac engines in whatever I drove, I'll just switch to them and did. For many years I drove the Pontiac Safari wagon (56) but in 89 started driving a Pontiac Fiero and still do.....an 88 with V6 and 5 speed. This car has a special history.....As it was the final year of prodution, a dealer in Mankato, MN displayed it on his showroom floor for seven years, then took it as his own personal car, moved it to Florida and drove it only when he was on vacation. When I bought it ten years ago, it barely had 20K on it but now has about 80K. I am staring at 84 this year and right now think it may be my last car...and recently, just made a 1500 mile round trip with it down to Laughlin, NV, to take advantage of a three night's free stay. BHE