posted at the Cohort by nifticus
Unless you just joined the CC party, by now you should be well versed in the “Cheviac” story line; Pontiacs built in Canada that were actually Chevys under the skin. Generally, the basic body styles matched with the US versions, but even then there were differences. Pontiac stopped selling a sedan delivery in the US in 1953, but up north, Pontiac continued to offer that body style through 1958. But then except for the front clip, this is a 1956 Chevy sedan delivery.
The only difference are the different tail lights set into the Chevy rear fenders, and the logo on back. But then thta was the the case with US Pontiac wagons too; they lacked the distinctive little fins and other details that tried hard to make their rear ends look different than a Chevy. But obviously, Pontiac didn’t bother to tool up for new rear ends on the wagons.
The exception was the Safari, Pontiac’s version of the Nomad, which did get car-like rear fenders. That propbably explains the big jump in price for the Safari (and Nomad).
But there was a difference: US Pontiac wagons gad a 122″ wheelbase, compared to a 115″ wheelbase on the Chevrolet. Those extra inches were added to both the front and rear ends, even though the middle and rear part of the bodies were the same as the Chevy. The rear wheels were just set further back in the body, without and real benefit except for bragging rights, and probably a slightly better ride. Bit it hardly makes the Pontiac better looking, in terms of its basic proportions, unless you’re into the long hood look. Plenty of room for a straight eight up there; Pontiac should have kept theirs around a couple of more years for lovers of inline eights. Pontiac was the last popular car to have one, through 1954.
Here’s that flashy Pontiac front end. It looks like the US version, but of course it’s shortened to fit on the Chevy’s shorter wheelbase.
Nice Panelvan I like it,
I never noticed the differences before, between a Chevy and Pontiac wagon, all that added length….for what?
I think I would like a 57 or 58 Pontiac panel sedan, even more than a “tri-five” Safari, if for no other reason than I like the obscure.
Very cool find and thank you for the back story on these mish mashes.
Hey Paul did you get my E-mail about not being able to register on Curbside Classic last week due to some glitch?
Interesting that the name Pathfinder was also in use by BMC on their Riley sedans in the same year.
So cool to see the variations in the US spec vs the Canadian spec cars!
Question. The rear wheelwells and tail light housings of both the black and the cream and white Pontiac wagons look more like they were based on the 55 Chevy instead of the 56; am I looking at it right?
That is right. It appears that Pontiac couldn’t be bothered to change the tooling for the ’56 wagon back there.
I had never realized how much alike Chevy and U.S. Pontiac wagons of this vintage are (though to be fair I don’t see too many Pontiacs from this era, and when I do, they’re almost never wagons). In some cases, it’s obvious that multiple wagon models had a common body because they shared the same wheelbase. It’s interesting how GM disguised things here by putting the U.S. Pontiac wagon on a normal U.S. Pontiac wheelbase. And a very astute observation on Dave’s part that U.S. Pontiac was still using the ’55 style rear fenders on 1956 models. A few random thoughts:
If the U.S. Pontiac wagon basically has a Chevy wagon body with a stretched front end, I take it that the front clip on a U.S. Pontiac wagon must be different from those on other U.S. Pontiacs? It may be similar, but I would think that the fenders and hood must be longer, if nothing else?
In the photos, I notice that the ’56 U.S. Pontiac wagon has a fuel filler door on the rear fender, while the ’56 Chevy wagon doesn’t. A Google image search suggests that ’55 Chevy wagons have a fuel filler door in the same location, but not ’56s. I take it this is another by-product of U.S. Pontiac keeping the ’55 style rear fenders for ’56.
The ’56 Canadian Pontiac sedan delivery also appears to be using ’55 style rear fenders. So it looks like Canadian Pontiacs kept the ’55 style rear fenders just like their U.S. counterparts. This makes sense; it kept a consistent appearance between the two, and where no uniquely Pontiac treatment existed for the ’56 style fenders, what else was Canadian Pontiac going to do?
The US Pontiacs shared the GM A Body with the Chevy. But that only applies to the basic body (passenger compartment). The front end on the US Pontiacs was longer, as is obvious in the picture of the two wagons together. Also, although the rear of the Pontiac is the same as the Chevy, the Pontiac has its rear wheels further back, but still within the same body. Does that make sense?
The GM bodies (A,B, C) all had variations within the same body. Some versions had longer wheelbases, which was typically taken up in the front end (longer front clip). But sometimes it was also extended in the rear.
This Canadian Pontiac sits on a Chevy frame, so it has a shorter front clip, like a Chevy, and its rear wheels are not pushed back a couple of inches in the body.
The reason there’s no fuel filler door is because I flipped that Chevy wagon so I could compare it with the Pontiac. Sorry to confuse you with that. I wondered if anyone would notice.
Didn’t all ’56 Chevies have the gas fill hidden behind the left-side tail light, rather than in the fender?
Doh! Of course.
All ’55-’57 U.S. Pontiac A-Body station wagons use the same front clips as the other line-mates. The difference between the Chevy 115″ wb versus the Pontiac Series 27 122″ wb is all accounted for in the longer front ends as had been their practice for years.
The Pontiac station wagons were only available in the 122″ wb Series 27 models. The longer Series 28, 124″ wb Star Chief did have the two additional inches added to the rear proportioning, noticeable in wider doglegs. The oddball was the Star Chief Custom Safari two door (Nomad-body), nominally a Start Chief but still classed as a Series 27 with the 122″ wb. GM could and did get away with a lot of that mixing and matching then.
Carryover of 1955 model year quarter panels on 1956 station wagons happened on DeSotos, Chryslers and Studebakers as well. Mercury just continued using Ford wagon quarters, fitting a unique miniature version of the sedan taillights to the mounting shape.
The difference between the Chevy 115″ wb versus the Pontiac Series 27 122″ wb is all accounted for in the longer front ends as had been their practice for years.
That’s a commonly accepted fact that doesn’t hold up to closer scrutiny. It was very clear to my eyes that the Pontiac wagon’s rear wheels are further back in the body than the Chevy’s, which is why I made that side-by-side comparison.
But your comment made me go back and double check, by adding box lines from the axle centerlines. Sure enough: the Pontiac wagon’s rear wheels are clearly further back than the Chevy’s.
Pontiac added the additional 7″ of wheelbase (on the 122″ wb models) in both the front and back. Now the only question is wher the further 2″ were added for the Star Chief. I’m guessing another two more inches in the back, as they certainly wouldn’t have tooled for another longer front clip.
Using your reference frame, I’ll concede the seven inches was not all apportioned to the front. It looks as if it was 4-5 inches front, 2-3 inches rear. This would make sense since the Chevy wagons had 6.70-15 tires (7.10-15 opt.) but Pontiacs wore 7.60-15. The beefier treads wouldn’t center in the wheelhouse were the rearward wheelbase not adjusted.
For the Series 28 Star Chief, 124″ wb, the additonal 2″ was added to the rear as was Misterl-GM practice for creating the popular extended deck models; all U.S. Pontiacs used the same front clip.
58: Tire size and “centering in the wheelhouse” had nothing to do with this. Pontiacs had been using a longer wheelbase for decades on the A-Body, some of the extra length on the front, some on the rear. That rear wheelhouse is moved further back; maybe it’s larger too, but that’sa separate issue. The 124WB Star Chief simply moved the rear wheel even further back, another 2″, as well as having different sheet metal in the back, giving it a longer tail. That’s why there was no 124″ wagon.
Look at the FRONT fenderwells on the black sedan delivery…they appear to be ’55 Chevy too, like they took a ’55 Chevy stamping and adapted the ’56 Pontiac features to the front!
The ’58 is the most Pontiac of these, because it got the full “rocket exhaust” side sculpting.
I’ve seen a lot of Cheviacs, but never a ’56 for some reason. There was a ’57 sedan delivery in my home town way back when though. Couldn’t have been more than a couple hundred made each year. Very cool. Great place for a warmed up 261 inline 6.
That looks like the Kitsalino area of Vancouver, they used to make a pretty good after bar pizza at the Olympia!
Correct. That picture was taken at the corner of West Broadway and Trutch, right across from the Olympia. Great food!
Cool! It’s been a lot of years, but the place looks the same. Not many places in Van you can say that about…
Nice feature which reminds me of the young man who lived downstairs in our house. He was a sales rep for “Nutty Club” candy company which back in the fifties and sixties was very popular here. There was or still is a picture somewhere in my files of my father standing beside the guy’s 56 Pontiac sedan delivery parked at the boulevard in front of our house. The picture shows details of the car very well with “Nutty Club” in bold letters and the candy cane man painted on the top rear panel behind the passenger door.
Not a very comment Pontiac model, the Chevrolet versions were more popular back in the day
VERY nice ! .
IIRC , the base engine in Cheviacs was the Chevy 261 CID truck engine .
-Nate
Yep, the 261 was the standard until ’62. My buddies old ’62 winter beater had one, surprisingly torquey though very hard on gas. They were also common in GMC pickups from the late ’50s, at least here in the great white north. Years ago I ran against a ’53 or ’54 Chevy pickup with a built 261 at Spokane in my V-8 Vega. I was running 13.30s and he was right with me until the last 100 feet. I’ve wanted to build one ever since just for kicks. Maybe when I retire next year….
Used to see a 56 Cheviac Pathfinder 4 door sedan at a lot of shows( it was in the car park and well used daily driver) in the mid 80s. It had a straight 6, I’ve never seen an American 56 Pontiac with a 6.
Interesting comparison.
OOI, when CC refers to a Canadian Pontiac or Cheviac, is that a car built specifically for or in Canada, or both?
And is it still happening, without the Pontiac nameplate?
Roger, we have been covering the Canadian Pontiacs and other brands for years here, in many posts and in great detail. It’s a rather complicated history, when one gets down to the details of all the model variations. But it’s a theme/issue that comes up here on CC regularly. Do you actually read CC posts?
It’s not an exact comparison, but it’s like asking the differences between all the various BMC marques over the decades, including versions built in Australia and other oversees plants. It’s a bit much to expect an answer on the complete history of the Canadian car industry in a comment.
In a nutshell: GM had factories in Canada going way back, since 1908, in part because of import duties on US-built cars. But since there weren’t factories and dealerships to sell a complete mirror-image line of GM’s cars in Canada, some brands were not built the same way as in the US. Specifically, Pontiac, which had always shared the same basic body shell as Chevrolet in the US but with a longer wheelbase and its own engines and such, were just Chevrolets under the skin in Canada. It was expedient.
That mostly ended in the early 70s, but there continued to be variations, especially in Pontiac’s line-up, because Pontiac in Canada was comparable to Chevrolet, not a more expensive brand.
It would be a mammoth undertaking to account for all the differences. But yes, that’s all pretty much in the past, and no, the cars built or sold in Canada are now mostly the same, except for minor trim/model variations. The import duties are long gone. The market is global. A Chevrolet Camaro sold in Germany is the same as in Canada, the US and China.
These Cheviacs are historical artifacts form a different era.
here’s an article from GM: https://history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/index.php/Canada_Only_General_Motors_Cars,
And this is from Wikipedia:
In Canada, the post-World War II Pontiac brand sold well. General Motors of Canada offered a line of full-size Pontiac cars that were styled like U.S market models, but were actually Chevrolets under their skins. Model lineup during this period included the base Strato-Chief, mid-range Laurentian, and top-of-the-line Parisienne series. Under their exteriors, however, these cars featured Chevrolet frames, engines, and even dimensions. Interiors (except for instrument panels which were Pontiac-based) were a combination of Chevy and Pontiac styling. During the early 1960s, Pontiacs featured the controversial “X” frame used on the big Chevys, as well as the complete Chevy lineup of OHV straight Sixes, small-block 283 and 327 cubic inch V8s, and the big-block 348 and 409 V8s. This scheme was used well into the 1980s, and the Caprice-based 1984 and later Parisienne made it into U.S. Pontiac showrooms to replace the recently discontinued Bonneville. This strategy helped keep the price of the cars to a minimum, as was needed in the then less-affluent Canadian marketplace. GM of Canada was already building Chevrolets in Ontario; they only needed to stamp Pontiac-styled body skins (these were styled like, but not interchangeable with, US Pontiac body parts) and import Pontiac-specific trim from the United States, to convert these Chevys to Pontiacs. It also reduced the cost of tariffs GM would have needed to pay, had they imported US-market Pontiacs Up North.
GM of Canada also executed right-hand drive versions of Pontiac for export. These cars were popular in Australia, where GM faced competition from the big Ford Galaxie and Dodge Phoenix.
Pontiac dealers in Canada also sold smaller Chevrolet-based cars under the Acadian and Beaumont badges. These models are often referred to as Pontiacs, but in fact were never marketed as such, nor did they ever wear Pontiac badges (although the Acadian and Beaumont emblem was in fact, similar to the Pontiac Arrowhead). However, some Chevrolet were badged as Pontiacs later on in Canada.
I would say the short answer to the question is yes the “Cheviacs” were Canada-specific, including exports to other Commonwealth countries whether built-up or CKD.
It is not still happening because Pontiac was killed off in the GFC!
The whole Canadian market-specific variations built there by U.S. companies is a vast and frequently confusing subject all by itself. One book that covers it in detail is “Canadian Cars, 1946-1984” by R. Perry Zavitz if you can find or borrow a copy.
The terms ‘Cheviac’ or ‘Plodge’ are verbal shorthand enthusiast use to identify these variations that are more in content one make but sold under the other marque nameplate.
Clear as mud?
What an interesting vehicle to American eyes. Also credit to the owner for the restoration, though I wonder what’s under the hood. If the base engine was the GMC/Chevy truck 261, I wonder what the higher options were? Chevy or Pontiac?
First time that I have seen my car pop up from a Google search, pretty cool man. Learned a few things too. Can anyone recommend a body man, some jerkoff clipped a taillight and pushed it into the body causing some damage. Thanks for any help. Haha that’s my fantasy football profile pic, nor idea why that came up.