When I ran across this, I thought: Nice load of ’62 Pontiacs; wonder if there’s a GP with 8-lug wheels aboard? I zoomed in and sure enough, the white two door coupe is a GP and it’s sporting those iconic 8-lug wheels. Strictly speaking, they’re alloy hubs/brake drums, with a steel wheel attached with eight lug nuts.
Here’s a close-up of one:
These are another of so many engineering advances instigated by the dynamic duo of “Bunkie” Knudson and John Z. DeLorean. They were unhappy with the typical mediocre drum brakes, and did something about it.
They didn’t exactly invent the concept; GM’s 1953 Firebird had something similar, although with five lugs.
In France, the Panhard had been using the same principle for some time, going back to 1948. And there may have been others too.
These 8 brake/wheels were first offered mid-year 1960, and there were some changes through the years, including a black-painted drum (before the fins were machined) starting in 1965. They were last available in 1968, due to the growing popularity of disc brakes. That’s the one downside of discs: no more splendid 8-lug Pontiac wheels.
These 1962 Pontiacs are very attractive cars, nothing like for example, the Chryslers of the era.
Those 8 lug wheels do indeed look splendid. A shame there were no disc brakes hiding behind them.
Early 1960s Pontiacs, especially the 61s and 62s, will always be my favorites.
I have fond memories of getting up early on cold Sunday mornings, putting on an ugly brown and orange wool sweater (why I recall this is weird) and taking the family’s new 1961 Ventura 4 door hardtop (still warm from my parent’s late Saturday-nite carousing), and taking it for a studied break-in run along southern Long Island’s Altantic Ocean coastal parkway.
Let’s see: drum brakes all around, bias ply tires, 389 2bbl, 3 speed roto-hydramatic, and red-red-red inside and out. A 17 year old’s dream on wheels.
Early 1960s Pontiacs, especially the 61s and 62s, will always be my favorites.
I have fond memories of getting up early on cold winter Sunday mornings, putting on an ugly brown and orange wool sweater (why I recall this is weird) and taking the family’s new 1961 Ventura 4 door hardtop (still warm from my parent’s late Saturday-nite carousing), and taking it for a studied break-in run along southern Long Island’s Atlantic Ocean coastal parkway.
Let’s see: drum brakes all around, bias ply tires, 389 2bbl, 3 speed roto-hydramatic, and red-red-red inside and out. A 17 year old’s dream on wheels.
Looked like this (but without the 421 call-out):
If there was someone who had their styling finger on the pulse of the domestic buying public, it was Bunkie Knudson and his Wide-Track Pontiacs. Seems like everyone else (including GM’s other divisions) were always playing catch-up.
The 1960-62 Ponchos were great, but the real styling tour de force would come the very next year with the stacked-headlight 1963 cars. They would have made a bigger splash if it weren’t for the stunning new Corvette and Riviera.
Five nice Catalinas and a fine Grand Prix. Although Bunkie Knudsen was promoted to head Chevrolet in 1961, the 1962 GP was his baby. He originally wanted a separate personal luxury model, but GM nixed that idea, fearing competition with the upcoming Buick Riviera. Instead, he tarted up the Catalina, resulting in the Grand Prix. A really nice package. What an interior!
1962 was the year Pontiac really hit its stride, vaulting to third place in sales. John Delorean wasn’t finished though. Hid iconic GTO would hit the street in two years.
Third place was easy when the public saw the ’62 Plymouth. Ford proved way back in the ’30’s that styling sells cars.
Actually, GM announced the 8-lugs NOT in 1960 but in early `59. I have a press release that explains it. At that time, they were a dealer installed parts dept. “option” and not an RPO from the factory. Once Pontiac’s reputation of performance with the new 389 caught on, owners couldn’t wait to buy a set!
It is interesting how Pontiac bet all of its chips on improving drum brakes, and this setup might have taken them to the peak of their development in US cars.
It is also interesting how resistant the US industry was to disc brakes. Other than the Corvette, GM seems to have been the most resistant of all.
But I agree that these make for splendid looking wheels!
Even the Corvette had to wait until ’65 and still offered drums as an option for those that didnt trust this new fangled ferrin technology.
Yes, GM was resistant to Disc brakes! Studebaker offered them early, standard on the Avanti. AMC made them standard on the new Marlin in ’65. Ford made discs the power brake option-at least on the full-size cars in ’68. IIRC, Buick was one of the last holdouts, but I will say Buick worked hard to make some good drum brakes, using finned aluminum drums with liners on a number of their upper level cars in the ’60s and even to the ’70 Riviera.
Is it safe to assume that finned brake drum sticking out so far cooled better ? .
I don’t remember seeing these apart from magazines back in the day but I do remember when I medium blue 1963 LeMans parked in front of our hose in 1964 ~ I was entranced, mom not so much .
-Nate
Yes, and the drum is aluminum, which greatly improves heat transfer. (There’s an iron liner, so the shoes work against that rather than the bare aluminum.)
Sort of like the brake drums on my 1963 Porsche 356 Coupe .
-Nate
It is interesting that at least five of the six new ’62 Pontiacs are pillarless hardtops. Maybe that blue one right behind the cab is also a hardtop; I can’t see a “B” pillar.
Hardtops were popular. However my dad’s ’62 Olds was a four door sedan.
Its funny in a way, the oldest car with disc front brakes I can remember owning was a 60 Austin Westminster, 1 1/2 + tonnes of 100mph capable sedan, so boosted discs up front,
These Pontiacs would have been heavier and faster but had drums all round, yes they look great but were they single or double acting up front?
Duo servo with leading and trailing shoes.
I would take any one of them! Very nice clean styling on these…love the subtle bracket style tail lights. I struggle between my admiration of the 62, 64 and 65, but the 62 is the most athletic and timeless to my eye.
I used to own a 1968 Bonneville station wagon that had been the personal demo for the owner of one of the largest Pontiac dealers; King Pontiac in Gaithersburg, MD. A family member was close friends with Mr King, and every few years he bought his demo car once the new models came in, including Mr. King’s car. Once my family member was finished with the cars, I would buy them cheap.
Mr King had a standing request for his sales manager to place his car order, and make sure it had every possible option on the car. I was surprised to see that unlike his prior cars, the wagon didn’t have 8 lug wheels, as it was known Mr King loved the look. I also noticed the wagon didn’t have the automatic temperature control HVAC, but it did have everything else, even the GM fabric rooftop luggage bin, and the twin GM air mattresses!
Years later I ended up talking about the wagon with the retired King Pontiac sales manager who remembered ordering it. He said the ’68 Bonneville wagon, when equipped with the 428, came standard with disc brakes, so it wasn’t possible to order the 8 lug wheels. As for the Auto-Temp HVAC, he knew about these early cars having a lot of problems with the Auto-Temp, so he didn’t order it.
Forget the focus on ‘wheels’ my attention is immediately drawn to one the four door hardtops on the carrier. Simply love the roof line and styling of the 1961-62 Chevrolet / Pontiac 4 door hardtop roof styling. It’s a real knock out in looks and it’s a real shame that so few survive today.
Car shows around the world seem to only show coupes and convertibles to the point that the younger generation must wonder if 4 door hardtops of any description were only built in small numbers. Give me a maroon with red interior 1962 Pontiac Bonneville 4 door hardtop with every available option including the all important wheels!
Here is a photo of my export RHD 1962 Impala Sport sedan which shares the same roof design with these ‘62 Pontiac 4 door hardtops.
Damn that’s pretty Carl .
-Nate
Thanks for your very kind comments. When its all said and done we are simply ‘caretakers’ when it comes to ownership of classic cars, and It’s my hope my factory correct export RHD ‘62 Impala Sport Sedan will ensure these cars are remembered long after I am gone.
I have simply never followed or understood the view that unless a car has two doors its not worthy of classic status. I remain firmly of the view that in the future the rare 1960s cars will be the few 4 door models that have survived. The four door pillarless body in particular will eventually be appreciated for the unique style that it is.
Thanks again for kind comments
@ Carl ;
As a youth I remember hard tops were a huge thing, because I was always the driver I tended more towards roomy four door sedans the better to haul my friends instead of wondering if BoBo was going to wreck us on the way home drunk or not .
Plus, as driver I allowed open containers and joints in my cars, some of the smarter than I group didn’t .
In time I got old and treated my self to some lovely hard tops, sedans and coupes, recently I decided to pare back the fleet and the coupes are all gone, my daily driver is once again a 40 year old plebeian four door sedan and I’m loving it like I did when I was 17 Y.O. .
These Ponchos are beyond fabulous, if I had one I’m sure it’d be the one car I kept .
-Nate
Carl,
I’m curious as to what the heater assembly is like on your RHD Impala. The reason I ask is because a friend in the UK used to have a ’59 Impala with RHD, and it had an aftermarket “box” type heater under the left side of the dash assembly. We’ve always assumed GM didn’t want to spend the money on a mirror-image heater system for the RHD cars.
Bill,
Heaters in early RHD 1960s Chevrolets & Pontiacs went as follows:
From 1955 until 1968 the heater / demister unit that General Motors Holden (GMH) offered for Chevrolet & Pontiac was manufactured by Smiths Industries. Until 1960 it had a single speed fan. From 1961 to 1968 a two speed fan was used.
The heater itself was of ‘fresh air’ design, or in other words it would draw outside air in and then heat it. I guess you could describe this heater as being a “box type” heater but it was a fresh air heater and not a simple recirculating heater.
It would not surprise me if the UK and other export markets used these Smiths heaters also. GMH in Australia fitted them as standard equipment from 1963. Prior to 1963 they were extra cost options.
I could go on and on about these heaters, but perhaps the above answers your question. Let’s know if want to know more.
Carl, thanks, that answers my question very well.
I’ve always wondered how much the eight-lug wheels weighed. The answer is “a little less than the standard steel wheels, although not by much”:
http://www.teufert.net/pontiac/8lug/8lug.htm
(Granted, as unsprung weight, saving even a few pounds may be worthwhile.)
I assume these wheels were more expensive than the standard, even including the hub cap. While that is a pity, I wonder how much more expensive they were. Rear drums continued as standard equipment for decades after these appeared, at least partially because it was cheaper to have a drum brake that could also be the parking brake. It would have been nice to have had these more functional drum brakes than the less functional ones we were relying on for all those years.
Squint a bit, and the jade green 4-dr Bonneville or Catalina facing rear, could be the face of a toilet-seat Edsel with a nose job.
(Doesn’t that sound attractive?!)
I know many love Pontiac’s stacked headlights and crisp lines for 63 but the 62 is my favorite full size Grand Prix, hands down.
The finned drums are cool even if an engineering dead end, I think that’s what makes old cars interesting, there wasn’t a clear cut standardized right way to do things like this yet and you got a variety of different approaches. Wheel spokes don’t really serve much purpose in their aesthetic other than to support the rim/tire adequately, so there’s an unlimited and confounding array of designs, yet this drum spoke design in its functional cooling fins for “spokes” looks better than just about every alloy wheel ever made.
Sharp looking wheel, but with a career in building maintenance I’ve got to wonder about parts availability. What happens when those gorgeous drum/hubs wear thru to aluminum? Guessing the spindle is the same, new wheels, hubs and conventional drums?
There are rebuilders out there. Along with those who rebuild Buick’s alloy front drums,
It’s just so hard to believe that only 6 model years separate these sleek 62’s from my family’s old 56 Star Chief. The 56 was nice but looked like a loaf of bread next to a 62.
I wonder how well these compared to Buick’s alloy drums? My guess it the greater surface area of the Pontiacs would give them the edge.
I did ask on V8Buick.com if the alloy front drums made a real difference, the concensus was that they did.