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1955 Pontiac, $2,223.81 out the door.

dheffleydheffley Member Posts: 25,000
edited January 2009 in General Discussion
I gave my baby sister a bunch of my father's old files. She wanted to look through them just to be nosey.

She found an old window sticker (for over $2,800), a receipt from the dealership in Ft. Worth, Texas, an owners manual, some miscellaneous paperwork on the car and it's sale, and a canceled check to the dealer signed by my dad for the amount of $2,223.81, all stapled together. It was for a 1955 Pontiac Catalina he bought and paid cash for.

I remember that old car. It was kind of an aqua green and white or maybe a butter cream white, and he bought it new for mother. That thing was wider than some of the lanes on the roads and as big as a house inside, and it had the nicest seats I had ever sat in up until that time.

As I recall, he sold it to my aunt and uncle around 1959 or so and bought a 1960 Chevrolet stationwagon when they first came out (he didn't like the 1959's tail lights). I don't know what happened to it after that, but mom said that Pontiac was twice the car the Chevy was.

We went on two vacations in that car, one to Yellowstone National Park, and one to see the Grand Canyon. That was the one I remember most.

My dad's only complaint on that car was that it burned up ignition points too fast, and he always carried an extra set and a condenser in the truck, which was almost as big as my bedroom!

My brother and I were goofing around in the front seat and I kicked the dash and broke the knob off of the radio. Back then you could order parts (and vacuum tubes that would burn out) for the radio without having to buy a complete new radio. He spent $12 getting the radio repaired, and I had to work a month (felt like all summer) around the farm to pay him back at $0.50 a day if I worked all day or $0.25 a day if I didn't do a full day in his eyes.

Man, that dairy barn was so clean you could have eaten ice cream off of the floor.

I've got some pictures of us on vacation in the Catalina somewhere around here in an old picture album. Baby sister wasn't born until 1966, so she never knew the car. I'll have to find them and show them to her.

Wow, I wish I had that old car now!

Comments

  • footlongfootlong Member Posts: 8,009
    edited November -1
    D-I think that was the first year of V8 power for Pontiac. 287 cu inch they were. I remember a guy at the strip who ran one.
    His name was "Dan The Hatchet Man"[;)]
  • dheffleydheffley Member Posts: 25,000
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by footlong
    D-I think that was the first year of V8 power for Pontiac. 287 cu inch they were. I remember a guy at the strip who ran one.
    His name was "Dan The Hatchet Man"[;)]


    It was a V-8, and it was mom's first "automatic transmission" car. She loved and babied that thing like one of us.

    I also think it was the first "new" car they had bought. Dad bought a "new" truck two years later, and I remember him saying it was the first new truck he had ever owned.
  • MMOMEQ-55MMOMEQ-55 Member Posts: 13,134
    edited November -1
    That car is worth way more than that now.
  • asphalt cowboyasphalt cowboy Member Posts: 8,904 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Gotta' love them old land yachts. Made to be fixed, well before planned obsolescence. Built like a tank with seats that were wider than a wh,, err, hookers nightmare. Not as luxurious as the Pontiac, but sure miss my '55 Mercury.
  • select-fireselect-fire Member Posts: 69,453 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    First car I remember was Dads 1957 Pontiac star chief. Had a 347 with 3 carburators and that car would go. I always got told by mom to quit playing with the light switch on the side in the back seat. I would flip the lights on and off at night and they would get mad. I do know where a 55 pontiac is sitting in fair shape about a mile from my home. I think it is green and cream also.
  • bobskibobski Member Posts: 17,868 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i'll bet it still burns points!
    i gotta laugh at new old car owners. for some reason they think nothing is ever going to break.
    i chuckle that thought when i see those car auctions. 100,000 for a vet that requires the front wheel off to change a sparkplug.[B)]
    Retired Naval Aviation
    Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
    Former NSSA All American
    Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
    MO, CT, VA.
  • iwannausernameiwannausername Member Posts: 7,131
    edited November -1
    I've got Dad's purchase paperwork for what is now my '65 Porsche 356. Took delivery 7/26/65, had an Artic Kar AC unit installed by dealer, no radio, out the door price was 3700.00. Still have the original "service reminder" coupon booklet... with all coupons in it.
  • KnifecollectorKnifecollector Member Posts: 3,270 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
  • mateomasfeomateomasfeo Member Posts: 27,143
    edited November -1
    I found it for ya!

    Merry Christmas!!


    Pontiac.jpg
  • select-fireselect-fire Member Posts: 69,453 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by mateomasfeo


    I found it for ya!

    Merry Christmas!!


    Pontiac.jpg







    Holy crap.. that is the twin around the corner from me.
  • mousemouse Member Posts: 3,624
    edited November -1
    Don, your post brought back some old car memories. Kid next door
    to be had a 55 chevy in highschool he fixed up.
    Also remember an old studebaker my dad bought in 1970 when money
    was tight. He gave my brother and sister and I a ride to school
    one winter morning when we missed the bus. "Skip a rope" was
    playing on the radio. We'll the old car needed new shocks,
    and that car was bobbing up and down as we we're going up and
    down some hills. Funny to remember. I thought the song was
    appropriate for the ride.[:D][:D]
  • cbxjeffcbxjeff Member Posts: 17,401 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The cars I remember best:

    1955 - '48 Pontiac Convt - $400.
    1957 - '53 Stude Lowery coupe - $500.
    1963 - New Pontias GP - $4,400.
    1967 - '65 Vette - $2,300.
    1969 - New Vette - $5,100.
    2000 - New Vette - $51,000.

    My how things (and prices) change!
    It's too late for me, save yourself.
  • scottm21166scottm21166 Member Posts: 20,723
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by cbxjeff
    The cars I remember best:

    1955 - '48 Pontiac Convt - $400.
    1957 - '53 Stude Lowery coupe - $500.
    1963 - New Pontias GP - $4,400.
    1967 - '65 Vette - $2,300.
    1969 - New Vette - $5,100.
    2000 - New Vette - $51,000.

    My how things (and prices) change!


    Do you still have the CBX, Jeff? those are becomming quite a collectors item as well
  • jon ojon o Member Posts: 1,755 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Originally posted by knifeusercollections
    1955starchief041604.jpg


    Drool!!Drool!![^]
  • footlongfootlong Member Posts: 8,009
    edited November -1
    Talking about repair prices of new vs old. Saw my neighbor's Suburban on a rollback Mon. Saw it back yesterday. Said the fuel pump went out to the tune of $880. The last one I changed was on my 66Ford 240 six. Cost me $42 out the door and that seemed high. Theres only one REAL service station left in my town. You know the kind. Pumps out front and a service bay with lift.EXXON.
    Town hates it. It does not Architectually Conform with cities' new building codes[:(!][:(!]
  • grumpygygrumpygy Member Posts: 53,466
    edited November -1
    Got my Drivers License in a car almost like that, it to was a big old thing.

    56 Merc Montclair Phaten(Not sure of spelling)

    Just floated down the road. You would be driving on the freeway look down and be doing 80-90 MPH and it felt like you were still going to slow.

    One of these but white top Sea green bottom.

    viewmercury56.jpeg
  • SpartacusSpartacus Member Posts: 14,415
    edited November -1
    Dad had a 1949 olds 98.the print ads called it the "Futuramic" and stated "a burst of almost unbelievable power without shifting gears or pushing a clutch. words can't describe it!"
    the ad was in the may issue of "Country Gentleman".
    the back page of the ad is a story about how much time you can save by putting and electric pump on your water well![:0]
  • HAIRYHAIRY Member Posts: 23,606
    edited November -1
    Before I went to 'Nam, my wife got one exactly as the one you described.

    I tried to get her a new 67 Firebird but she said nope, she wanted the 55 because it was "safe" for her and our son.
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