In the last installment I had purchased a 1961 Pontiac Laurentian but still needed to haul it home. A few days later I secured a twenty foot rental trailer and hooked it up to the Ford truck. Rod and I again made the journey north through the southern Alberta prairie landscape. This time we got a little eye candy along the route.
Soon after setting off we spotted a 1962 Chrysler, 1947 Studebaker Champion and a 1958 Chevrolet Impala. Something was clearly afoot as these are not your average vehicles in traffic.
As luck would have it we followed the Chrysler for roughly forty five minutes to the small town of Lomond. Here we discovered a small gathering of classic vehicles which we soon found out was a local club gathering for a coffee break before heading off to a private event.
Taking a closer look at the participating cars, we noticed the 1947 Studebaker Champion appeared to be a salesman type special coupe with the extra-large trunk.
The 1958 Chevrolet Impala was joined by another 1958, this time a Buick Special with a lovely two tone paint job.
Next it sat a pristine mid-seventies Buick LeSabre.
The 1962 Chrysler two door wore matching classic license plates, which are legal in Alberta if for the correct year.
It was not a particularly warm day, so both the 1964 Cadillac and 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible had their tops up.
Around the corner a 1972 GMC pickup truck sat next to a 1963 Chevrolet Belair four-door sedan with vintage slot mag style rims. The F150 and trailer snuck into the photo. Rounding out the group was a 1970s Ford F-series pickup and a modern Chrysler Sebring.
As we were preparing to leave, a 1963 Ford Fairlane 500 pulled in followed by a 1950s Chevrolet truck. The modern wheels on the truck likely meant it had a modern chassis and drivetrain underneath so we queried the owner for details. He had mated an accident damaged modern Chevrolet pickup with the classic 1951 body shell into a reliable and comfortable classic. The truck had been built as a tribute to his son who had unfortunately died young. Further adding to the story the owner/builder detailed the painful registration processed that he underwent to get this hybrid registered legally.
Unfortunately, we could not admire other people’s classic cars all day while I had one of my own to retrieve. Reluctantly we pushed on. Once we arrived at the seller’s property with trailer in tow, we gathered up a couple extra rims that were included in the deal and prepared the car for loading.
When it came to time to load the trailer we were aided by the fact that the car ran, but hampered by the fact that the brakes were not functional. The seller offered to do the actual driving since neither Rod nor I had driven a three on the tree manual transmission before. The sheer size of the car soon became a factor as we had to supplement the trailer ramps with extra wood in a bid to improve the approach angle and avoid high centering the car.
We noticed the remains of the stock exhaust system nearby under a tree; it had been a victim of when the car had originally been unloaded from a trailer. Likely past its best regardless.
Once on the trailer, we disconnected the coil and used the starter to fine tune the car’s location on the trailer. After securely strapping it down we hit the open road.
Well, we fully intended on hitting the open road and the seller said he would like to see us off but had to attend to a fellow who showed up to retrieve his hardtop for the winter. We took this an excuse to wander his yard again.
This time we came across a fantastic vintage RV and an International Metro van. The RV would have made for a fantastic camping unit if it were given a modern power-train swap.
Assuming one had the time and desire to clean it up first.
The International Metro van was a very rare end of run model that neither of us had seen before. Unfortunately it was quite rusty in the seams so probably best suited to the role of storage container it was already playing.
We helped load the ’70s GMC hardtop before finally hitting the road, although I have to say for being made of fiberglass it was rather heavy. Thankfully the drive back went smoothly although we did stop once to double check the tie downs. Before getting home it seemed like a good idea to fully clean the several decades’ worth of grime and dust that had accumulated on the car. Rather than risk taking the car off the trailer and being unable to load it again we decided to leave it on for the wash.
The hot water powered through the grime in the engine bay, making it a much more pleasant place to work in. The seller had mentioned earlier that he had started to restore the paint finish on one side of the car with metal scrubbing pads(!!). Certainly not the tool or method I would choose but it had left one side a slightly lighter color than the other. Fortunately our power wash did the same thing the metal scrubs had done but in a more gentle fashion and evened our the car’s color.
As we arrived home my wife wondered how it had taken all day to drive two hundred kilometers or so. I tried in vain to explain that we had come across a tour of old cars, wandered a storage yard and cleaned of twenty five years’ worth of dirt. She did have a bit of a point as the rental trailer needed to be returned in less than an hour and we still needed to unload it. Using the curb to flatten out the departure angle we suspected extra wood was unnecessary this time. It felt right to drive the car off and into the garage so I got behind the wheel of the big car with no brakes. With less fumbling around than I expected I found reverse gear and started backing off the trailer. As I descended down the ramps gravity became more of a motivating factor I could hear Rod urgently yell “Stop, stop … STOP”. Instinctively I stabbed the brake pedal, which just flopped toward the firewall uselessly. As I was fumbling around trying to shift from reverse into first gear, the rear wheels hit the driveway. While I had come off a few degrees from true the car had managed to hang on to the last few inches of ramp. It had been a closer call than I would have liked but the car was off the trailer.
After rushing to return the trailer I could finally give my purchase an assessment in greater detail. But that will have to wait for the next installment.
The whole Affordable Classic series:
- The Search Is On
- Landed One – 1961 Pontiac Laurentian
- Dragging It Home
- Assessment and Planning
- Little Fixes
- Shocks and Brake Removal
- Disc Brake Mounting
- Cooling and Fueling
- Back into the Brakes and Other Odds and Ends
- First Drive!
- Last Minute Fixes
Few things compare to the thrill of hauling your new project home. In 1983, I purchased a
73 340 Challenger (INTACT! including owner’s manual) from a junkyard. As I sat in it, while being towed home, I found myself unconciously “steering, braking, & accelerating”! 🙂
Glad it was a (mostly) uneventful retrieval. Can’t wait for the next installment!
Fantastic. Love that car (I myself came home from the hospital in my mama’s arms in a 1960 Pontiac with 6 cyl / 3 on the tree).
Couple of questions, why such a big trailer? Was that all that was available on short notice, a U-haul car carrier would have been easier to load?
And, photos on a screen can be deceptive but is the car really as good as it looks in the photos? The chrome looks really good in that lead shot (which is a wonderful photo by the way)
Loving this adventure….
U-Haul for the whole province had no trailers. Very odd. So I had to rent a giant and very heavy one from a local outfit.
The car is in really nice shape body wise – amazingly solid underneath. Chrome is generally excellent too. The back bumper took a little hit at some point but otherwise chrome is fine as is. Needs work in the interior. Been sitting a long time (37 years) so brakes, suspension, cooling, etc need attention but it is a very dry, southern Alberta car.
I’ve twice been hit by U-Haul having no car haulers to rent in Eastern BC + all of Alberta, causing me to scramble to find other arrangements. Also their online reservation system allows you to “reserve” equipment that doesn’t take effect until someone calls you to confirm the reservation days later. Makes no sense.
Fortunately, I’ve secured one locally this weekend for my own classic retrieval in Calgary. I much prefer the light U-Haul aluminum trailers to the bigger units from equipment rental places.
Your Pontiac looks like an ideal big cruiser, I love that it’s got the big 6, 3 on the tree and manual steering.
1958 Buick two-tones were roof only. Yet I see quite a few ’58 Buicks with the lower bodysides painted a contrasting color like the one shown above. I wonder why that is. I prefer the roof-only jobs.
Looks like the car was styled so that it could be painted that way.
The split grill part of the hood looks like a real head whacker. Best wishes on your project.
I can confirm it hurts like a bugger when hitting your head on the hood.
I wonder why that ’63 Bel Air has the “6” decal. I think I remember some Chevies of that vintage with it, but IIRC, usually cars would show their engine type or size only if they had an optional powerplant. The main exception I remember were ’55 Fords, which had the L6 decal on their front fender.
Then again…not important at all.
I remember seeing the “6” emblem on a lot of Belairs, Biscaynes and Chevy II’s back in the ’60’s. One of my Dad’s company cars was a ’63 Belair identical with this one in the picture only a 2 door. Had a 6, 3 on the tree and I remember the front emblems on there as well.
The 63s had the emblem because the six was all-new that year. A 230-cubic inch unit replaced the 235 “Stovebolt.”
Hmmmm, old mailbox, ash cleanout door from the “Sunshine 300” woodburning stove and a trove of Dutch ornamental wooden shoes. That’s quite the eclectic junk collection
Good eye, didn’t notice that. Those shoes aren’t just ornaments, my Grandmother kept a set by the front door and used them every day. They are surprisingly comfy if you get the size right, and surprisingly painful if you don’t 🙂
I’m loving this. I’ve always had a major soft spot for the ’61 Pontiac, but this is icing on the cake: a big straight six under the hood, and three on the tree. And a sedan, too. I can’t even speculate the last time I saw a ’61 Pontiac sedan. Decades.
Gee, Mister, didn’t Pontiac only make GTO’s and Trans Am’s?
Also, Pontiac was an “independent performance car company”, that “in no way was related to cheap Chevys”. 😉
Theres a blue Cheviac that model here in Napier I see it driving quite often but its a V8 rare car here though Chevies were cheaper and more popular as CKD imports.
This may be a stupid question but was the parking brake inoperable as well? Going from reverse to an unsynchronized first in that 3 speed might not have been as effective as you were hoping for, so it is good that it all worked out as it was.
This would be a good time to put a dual master cylinder into that car. Those old time single circuit systems were great, right up until the moment they weren’t.
I am loving this story, so more please!
I did actually apply it but it did not work well enough to stop the backward motion. Will it hold while parking on reasonably level ground? Likely. A big hill? Doubtful.
I had the same thought. Shifting into first while rolling backwards would have been essentially impossible. Even double-clutching wouldn’t have likely helped, as the output shaft would still be turning in reverse, with the rear wheels.
Good thing I did not get time to give it a try!
I am eagerly looking forward to the next installment of this story. For those of us in the U.S. it is somewhat odd to see an early sixties Pontiac with anything under the hood other than the 389 CID V8. My family owned several Pontiacs of this era (never a ’61 though which might be the best looking of the lot), and all of them had the V8. I have driven vehicles with a “three on the tree” but not for many years; I’m sure I could drive one now if I needed to but there might be some relearning involved.
Many had the 326 V8, not all Pontiacs were ‘drag race specials’ in the 60’s
The 326 was never used in full-sized Pontiacs in the US. The smallest engine in any full sized Pontiac between 1960 and 1969 was the 389/400. Starting in 1970, the 350 was standard on some Catalinas (sedans/coupes), but all the rest used the 400 as the base engine.
The 326 was only used on the smaller Pontiacs.
Regretfully, or not, none of our Pontiacs were hot rods. The 389 came in many different flavors, the HO versions were very much optional and rather expensive. Several of the Pontiacs we had were strangled with two barrel carbs (the economy version!) and even the ones with four barrels had mild cams and single exhaust. Perfectly adequate for everyday use but no threat in the quarter mile or any other type of race.
Nothing like a trailer at least big enough for the load! I always got roped into helping with friends hauling tasks, with a totally inadequate trailer for the job at hand. Like hauling an old International TD6 Cat back from the prairies two provinces over on a CAR trailer. Mind you, there was no C-Frame or blade, but holy cow the trailer squawked when loading it. And the tires needed about 200lbs of air to look round again. Only two, maybe one of the four brakes working and one too few pieces of crap transport chain and load binders to really feel safe. Ah well, the trailering gods were still looking the other way for the whole trip, but good for you on your new purchase. The first shot has a lot of my moms ’61 Olds F-85 in the styling of the headlights and grille.
I just noticed the rental agency for the trailer! I just bought a rowing machine from their fitness division yesterday! Go figure!
I grew up in Manitoba, and now live in Ontario, so what I’m seeing here is really throwing me for a loop — no snow, dry fields, and classic cars out on the road in mid-February? Is this normal for southern Alberta?? Wow. No wonder your new Pontiac made it this far in such amazing original condition. Impossible here in the salt-encrusted east…
Playing a bit of catch up. This was September. We are currently sitting at -19C and a foot or two of snow. They generally did not salt the roads here at all until a couple years ago. It is just not effective at the low, dry temperatures we get. They generally use gravel/sand instead. So lots of cracked windshields out here.
Ah, OK! And I am aware of the lack of salt use there, as I once owned a Datsun 510 wagon that had spend most of its life in the Lethbridge area — it was original and almost rust-free, which is especially amazing given those cars’ vulnerability to rust. The Pontiac is a great find, really enjoying following your story!
This series is a lot of fun to read. I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment.
You will enjoy that three-on-the-tree. It’s an entirely different experience (obviously) but there is a weird enjoyment of having your hand just above your knee for the shift out of first and there is something gratifying about dropping it into first from third. Hard to explain, but you’ll discover it soon enough.
Loving (and slightly envious of) this series! The old girl cleans up rather nicely. It’d be a real treat if she turns out to have keeper potential. 🙂
Also enjoying this series, David.
So what’s the plan? Fix it up just enough to stay under budget for the Beater Challenge, and then after it’s over do the complete restore?
That old girl looks like she’s got good bones for a car show someday.
Eagerly looking forward to the next installment.
Funny that you mention the plan – that is the theme for next week’s write up.
Still can’t believe you got an (almost) complete and running 61 Ponch for that money. This is the best read on CC so far this year.
You got a steal of a deal with this old beauty. About as easy to work on as a car can be, big straight 6 and three on tree with manual everything, just as God intended.
Makes me so happy to see more-doors getting some lovin’. Very much love that Poncho 🙂 !
That six caught me by surprise. It does not look quite like the 235 I expected to see in a Cheviac. Oldcarbrochures to the rescue. It is a 261, like in GMC trucks prior to 1960.
Thanks very much for this series David. I really like these early 60s Canadian Pontiacs. I look forward to the follow-up posts.
The ’51 Chevy bodied truck speaks to me. I learned to drive a stick in grandpa’s ’53. Five lugs probably means a GMT400 C1500 chassis. I would ditch those rims for steelies with baby moon hubcaps for a more authentic look.
In California it could be titled as a ’51 using the body serial number.
Just read this. Now try driving 30 miles with only your stick shift and parking brake.
This car looks good from every angle .
I wish I could get a drive/ride in it when road ready .
Kudos .
-Nate