Projects 51 Poncho found in barn

my son just picked up a 50 in really nice shape also. came with a load of parts also.

 

Somewhere I have a '51 or '52 Pontiac dealer promo collecting dust, looks just like this car! Damn, I need to start poking around in more barns... kudos to you, Sir.

 

I really like your Poncho, keep everyone posted as to your progress--- good luck

 

that's the kind of find that we all dream of. gotta love that light-up hood ornament!

 

Cleaned it up a little yesterday evening... I plan to try to get it fired up within a week. I want to go over the engine good, soak the cylinders for a few days and change oil, plugs, points etc. Will post a video once I get it running.

There's little specs of surface rust in places where the paint was thin... I plan to drive it some this summer, then tear down for a paint job when winter gets here.

 

looking good!

 

Hi P:
Great find on the Pontiac. It looks in remarkable condition. Always nice to see another oldun saved and put back on the road. Enjoy. Thanks. TEB

 

Wow that is sweet. I restored a '52 in '79 had 49 thousand miles on it. Little old single school teacher bought it new had dealer install seat covers so I had like new interior when I removed them. Flathead 8 ran like a champ wow talk about torque! Clock even worked. They are a great driving car - have fun with it.

 

Tear down for a paint job!? That thing looks great like it is. I wish the paint on mine looked that good. But it looks like it time to buy SOS pads and polish the chrome!

 

I agree that it looks great as is, however, it has small spots of surface rust in places on the sides of the car, and the only way I really see to remedy it would be a full repaint as every panel has some spots. I know over time those little spots will turn into big spots if I don't take care of it.

I've started polishing the chrome and it's looking great also.

I let the cylinders soak in a little marvels oil for a day, changed the oil today, put on a new fuel pump...cleaned points and put in some new plugs. I cranked it a little today also to throw the fresh oil around a little... plan to start it tomorrow.

 

If that is original paint, flaws or not, I'd have to leave it as-is. It's your car though.

 

Great find - looking forward to when you get it started!
You said it was ordered as a police car - does it have any "police package" heavy duty parts?

 

It runs! And I got to drive it to the end of my driveway today.

 

Looking and sounding good so far.

 

I've been waiting on some brake parts to come in, so in the mean time I've been polishing up the old paint. After hours of elbow grease, and some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, I've just about got the front clip cleaned up.




Also, here's some straight eight music.

 

.......Thats just so some lucky******** can dig it out 30 years later!
That will make a hell of a nice ride!

 

Boy does that bring back memory's..A friend had a 49' two door, think it was a fast back back in 62' or so for a field car..Got it from the original owner, free..ran great, about 70k miles on it, 4spd Hydro eight cylinder...trans started slipping some after our abuse and he sold it in 68' or so when his dad sold the property...$20.00...Would have made a good DD..What did we know...

 

I'm told the previous owner got too old to drive it, but he continued to start it for an additional 10 years and let it run.......... But I like your reason a lot better!

That's cool..thanks for sharing. My 52 Pontiac has a hydra-matic and I remember I went out to take it somewhere one day and the transmission was stuck, would not budge, felt like it was stuck in park... we hooked a 4x4 truck to it and drug it about 30 feet and it popped. Has been shifting great ever since. That was 10 years ago. They're pretty tough, so I can only imagine the abuse your friend's 49 took! Mine has taken some abuse too.

 

I fully agree, they're only original once.

A few small spots of surface rust can be minimized and maintained without too much trouble, or even carefully spotted in and blended by a skilled painter.

That car looks fantastic now that you've begun polishing it out.

 

I'd love to keep the paint if possible, I'll play with it some this summer, see if I can touch up the spots and leave it. Repainting it is going to be a last resort if it looks like things are getting worse. I don't plan to drive it daily, so it shouldn't see any bad weather, but I'd like to run it around town, or to work on nice days.

Once I get it cleaned up real good, I'll take some pictures of the spots on it, and post them... see if anyone has any suggestions for fixing so I won't have to paint it.


Dave

 

Repainting the car will snowball into a huge project that you'll likely wish you'd never started.

I'd say leave well enough alone and enjoy your fairly well-preserved old injun. Just do some detail work that won't take the car out of commission.

Once you repaint it the car loses some of its charm and history, finding one in that condition that's survived as well as yours isn't easy.

 

Sounds like good advise.

 

Found this old raffle ticket in the glove box earlier along with a 1952 penny.... something tells me it wasn't the winning ticket as the 55 Chevy wasn't tucked away in the barn or on the farm somewhere as well

 

I've been slowly getting the front suspension cleaned up and painted with por-15. Also rebuilt the wheel cylinders and got my new brake hoses in... should get the front back together within another few days.

 

great find, and job cleaning up

If you keep wax on it, it won't rust anymore...... gotta love original paint, any condition.

 

Great thread. Now that's a real barn find! It makes me smile to see that someone who loves old cars finds something like this and gets it back on the road.
I'm with the keep it original group. Repair the bad paint or seal it to prevent rust and enjoy it.

 

I've got the front end back together finally, all gone through except the brake hoses. I had to send the ones I got back as they were 2x as long as the originals. I have the correct ones on the way though. still have a good bit of work to do to have brakes on it, but if my work schedule permits, I plan to have it road worthy within another month.

The front end on this car was very tight, no play in the steering. King pins had no play either.

Here's a look down the side after more polishing. I've been convinced to keep the original paint on this car, despite the flaws.






Anyone have any suggestions for cleaning and conditioning the upholstery in this car? I'm pretty sure it's all imitated leather. I don't want to use anything on it that may cause problems, or dry it out. It's all in pretty good shape, just moldy and dirty from sitting in that barn.

 

try saddle soap . its for real leather , we get it at the tack shop for horses , its gentle and removes stink too

 

Nice work on getting the paint cleaned, survivors have a charm all their own.

 

Thin out some Simple Green with plenty of water until it's just barely pale green, and it will go a long way towards cleaning and removing odors.