Projects Winter Project: 1957 Pontiac Starchief

Looks great so far. '57 Pontiacs in my estimation on of their best body styles. Pls show us pics after painting.

 

Looks really good Bryan...great choices on the color...

Glad to hear Ogden Chrome treated you well...their quality is something I'm very happy with....I've had a few more things done on my Caddy since...just had some pot metal pieces done by them and they came out excellent...

Looks like you're going to be driving that Poncho by this fall anyway...!!!

R-

 

Very impressive build..
And will be a really top notch Poncho when you are done!
Cheers...........

 

That color looks even cooler than I thought it would- sweet!

 

Thanks for all the nice words! I am in no way a body man, so I'll pass the compliments on to Neil and the guys at Wright County Collision. There is no way I could have ever done this on my own. Mechanical, yes sir! Body shop, not so much... You have to know when to pass the project baton, obviously the results will be worth it.

gotta56 & Gman- You're not going to have to wait to long to see it all colored. I talked with him today, body is all sprayed out, just got to color sand and clear and move on to fenders and doors and all the small metal body colored pieces.

Roger- Thanks again for the recommendation with Ogden. Of course I was moving stuff in the garage and managed to drop a piece, DOH!!! Just a few little nicks I'm going to try and buff with my small buffer, should be ok... Was curious how pot metal turned out with them. I guess I'll start with a few small parts as $$$ allows. Plan was to have it rolling for 50s in St Paul in 2 weeks, probably not going to happen unless I have a bunch of helpers and one EPIC thrash. One thing about having this so long is having stuff pre-bought, pre-assembled, pre-sorted and ready to bolt on. I know there will be snags and stuff I can't locate, etc... Realistically i need to finish wiring and bleed brakes to roll it, we'll see, not holding my breath at all.

skoh- Seeing the colors actually on it was the best, hard to tell with just a sample. Seeing it on the car was the moment I knew 100% it was right. Glad I didn't do red, black, blue or any Easter egg color that guys seem to overuse on any mid-50's car.

Thanks again for looking, will pass along updates as they come, Bryan

 

Hey, I have one of those Easter egg colored cars- but mine is stock. Admittedly, I wasn't in love with it at first, but it has really grown on me. It sure is easy to spot at a car show (Sea foam green).

What is the name/brand of the green you are using?

 

Nothing against original cars, I just have a hard time believing the majority of these cars left the factory in those colors. Or the massive number of 55/56 Chevys that are red & white, its mind numbing to me, especially when they line up 6 or 7 together at a show.... enough about that!

They actually were able to match the factory colors, Limefire Green and Kenya Ivory. The green actually made a re-appearance in '74 as Limefire ?______? depending on what GM car line it appeared on. The white/ivory color mixed out to be a mid '70s VW color, can't remember the exact name of it now.

 

Got some more photos today! Bums me out that I can't get up there as much as I would like right now, but I've got Wee-Man pick-up everyday after work until Momma's done with school, 2 days left! Just not enough hours in the day or they aren't arranged in the right order sometimes!

Anyways I heard from reliable sources, Titus, that it's looking really good! Some color sanding and buffing and re-assembly and it'll be headed back my way! Also had his guy polish and straighten all my side trim and I heard it all turned out really nice. Glad I had that done, it will make the paint and body look all that much nicer, with it all straight and clean.

 

Sweet!

 

Looking awesome Bryan! Funny enough, it's my dad's shop and I'm not too far away, but I look for your posts to keep me updated these days as Titus and I are busting ass on my own project. Can't wait to see it hit the road my friend!

 

I'm excited to see both our projects rolling! I think between these 2 cars there's 35+ years of project time, enough of that shit, let's drive 'em!!

 

Bryan, just got six small pot metal pieces back from Ogden...they turned out really good, especially since a couple of them had bubbles on them...Bill from Ontario, Canada donated them to my project Caddy...but I don't have the pics in my photobucket file yet...I'll put them in and then add them to this post to let you see them.

R-

 

Thanks Roger! Would love seeing before and after shots. My tail light housings are EXTREMELY pitted. Going to be saving awhile to get those done......

 

Was out check on progress yesterday. Everything was painted and in the process of being buffed. Fenders were hung temporarily at this point....









They had to re-clear a couple of spots on the driver's side, no big deal...



Got to bring home a couple of small parts and pieces....



And yes, that is my 1 year old bopping around in the lower right. ^^^^^

We also grabbed my extra hood and re-furbished side trim. Since we had my brother's truck we dropped the hood by my storage (Mom & Dad's) and picked up my front bumper and the old, delaminated, windshield to toss in the dumpster at work. Hopefully things will be wrapped up in the next few days and we can start re-assembly.....

 

Lookin' Good!

 

The '57 Pontiac was to me, a better looking , better designed car than the '57 chev. I had a few '57 chevs when they were not very old, and were selling cheap. I wish I had known they would be collector cars one day. Most of the "57 chevs I saw in Canada were 6 bangers with 3 speed standard trannys. Not in great demand then. I always liked the chev dash, but the skinny fins did not look like they belonged on that car.The gun sights on the hood likewise. I'm just an old bodyman what do I know...?

 

More pics!

 

Will have an update soon with more photos, have just been really busy working on it, working at work and working at being a family man. Wheels are turning, rest assured...

 

That is freaking awesome man! Light is at the end of the tunnel! Car sure looks great-

 

Thanks for showing me the completed photo at the shop today
with the door on and the chrome shining she's looking super sharp
Great build

 

Okay, its update time. Going to start with the story followed by pictures. So my original goal was to have this rolling for Back to the 50's..... We all know how that goes with set backs and delays, etc... Had been really pushing the body shop and I knew they were working hard on it. It was supposed to be done at the body shop Friday before 50's, giving me a week to put it all together.

Well, I got there on Friday to pick it up and they were still trying to get it perfect, as in body panel fit. So I tried to help a little but could tell things were close, but just not quite there. Also there was a feeling of something getting REALLY screwed up in the air. So instead of really pushing it, we worked out a deal to get it flatbedded to my place so I could thrash all weekend and they would tow it back on Monday morning.

So we worked all weekend hanging parts, wiring and generally just gettin' 'er done! Didn't fire it but got close.... So they hauled it back Monday morning, got it all right and had it back to me Monday evening, AMAZING!

So we worked Monday & Tuesday evening after work. Wednesday i had off and my brother in law, Eric and slim53 came to help out. Lots more progress... Also had my brother Kevin, Baggs plus Jason, Dave C. & Dave W. from Ravenworks/Porter Mufflers come by and help. Was good to have the extra help and show off the car too!

Finally got to firing it up...... BAD NEWS!!!! BAD lifter noise from the right side head/bank. Basically spent a lot of time trying to figure it out and was really frustrated by Thursday evening when I left for our clubs pre-50's picnic. Got a lot of sympathy and encouragement there.... Got home on Thursday night and sent off a couple e-mails to Pontiac engine guys, not expecting too much....

Friday morning my phone rings at 9:45. Its Jim Butler from Butler Performance, calling to say he just got my email and wanted to call and talk to me about my problem. Spent 25 minutes on the phone with me going over my engine build and what we knew so far. Gave me a lot of old time Pontiac engine wisdom and a few good leads on solving my problem. I will say before Friday I had NEVER done one cent of business with this man, but he took the time to call me and in his words, give me a pep talk and encourage me to get out there and figure it out. AMAZING, NOTHING BUT GOOD THINGS TO SAY ABOUT JIM!!!!

So we played around again on Friday with most of the hopes of making the show completely dashed. We came to the conclusion that the pushrods in the left head ride directly in the center of the pushrod hole in the head. Whereas on the right side they are at the very top of the hole. We believe the pushrod actually binds in the head, bottoming out the lifter causing our noise. Cause of this would be our right side head being milled too many times, which would really throw all our valvetrain geometry off.

Soooooo, at this point we didn't make 50's, again. But have the car to the point where I want if for now. Glass in, trim on, completely wired, brakes bled... Interior in blankets for now, but something we can drive and enjoy instead of constantly working on a project.

I got a set of heads from oldsranch here on the HAMB and they are at the machine shop now getting set to go. Hopefully will have them back this week and be burning gas by the weekend....

 

So here is a few pictures. Sorry we don't have any working pictures, but we were just so busy it's really tough to stop for pictures...

 

Big thanks again to Neil and the guys at Wright County Collision. Plus all the fellas who came over and helped; Bro in Law Eric, Big Little Kevin, slim53, Baggs and the boys from Ravenworks/Porter Muffler, Dave C, Dave W and Jason.

Still have a couple pesky things to finish besides the head but nothing too major. And it'll have to go back to the body shop for a couple touch-ups. I think I've made good progress despite the setbacks, but I think that will make the 1st drive that much sweeter!

 

Beautiful!!! Congrats!!

 

I wish my car looked half that good. Congrats...

 

Nice Bryan!

 

very very nice dont see many of them

 

Nice, I had one 30 years ago and my wife hated it. Then after I sold it she spotted one that was finished and said what a great looking car it was, my buddy about split a gut on that one as it was him that I sold the car to.

 

Looks absolutely gorgeous! Sorry to hear about your setbacks. Sounds like Jim Butler is one heck of a fella.

 

Thanks all for the nice words! I guess I'm going to have to learn to take compliments now for having something nice, ha!

skoh- Jim Butler is the man! Old time hot rodder for sure. He told me all the little things they did back in the day to make these engines go. Amazing he remembers all the stuff and is willing to pass it along without holier than thou, or a total jerk who needs an ego stroke to tell you a thing. I even called back later in the day and he got right back to me, and responded to an email the next week. Jim Butler = Class Act!

Just in case you missed it, here is where I was about 2 1/2 years ago....