Do 1954-and-earlier Pontiacs have enclosed drivelines?

With GM it seems to be a ****shoot. I'm particularly interested in the '49-'54 model years. Are they open-drive like same-year Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles or do they use torque tubes like the Chevrolets and Buicks? If they do use torque tubes, can you use a later ('55 style, perhaps) center section to eliminate the enclosed driveshaft?

Thanks,
Dave

 

well its the same frame as a 54 chevy i have a spare 47-54 GM frame here im it came from a Pontiac and im pretty sure when i got it it ad a inclosed driveline in but they took it out before i got it... i know a 55 chevy rear bolts rite in..

 

Nope.....pontiacs never had enclosed drivelines. I've owned 'em back to '37 and they're all modern open driveshafts.

 

Pontiac frames are completely different from Chevy up through '57, they have a big X crossmember in the middle and the 49-54 cars have a 4-inch longer wheelbase. They have rectangular box section rails where the Chevy has a more square two-piece welded rail with a thick bottom plate and U-shaped top channel.

Only Buick and Chevrolet have the torque tube drive, going back to the mid-30s if not older. Pontiac, Olds, and Cadillac are open drive.

The exception to the rule is in Canada to beat some import restrictions, Pontiacs were built on Chevrolet frames and beginning in the mid-50's used Chevrolet motors. That lasted into the '70s, to the point that some Pontiacs were mildly rebadged Chevrolets (and that practice, the rebadging, continued into at least the 1990s).

 

I looked through my old Motors manuals and it appears Pontiacs did have torque tubes prior to about 1935, but since then they were all open drivelines (except of course for 1961-1963 Tempests and the last generation of the Firebird.)

 

You have a Motors that covers prior to 1935? I didn't know such an animal existed.

 

Had a '54. It was open. Used Pontiac third members in my '50 Olds from pre war cars to get the 4.11s. Open.

 

This is the fourteenth edition, it covers back to 1935. I figured if a '35 Pontiac had a torque tube, earlier cars had them as well.

Actually, reading it again it appears the torque tube was still used in 1936, and they changed to open driveline in 1937.