Have you ever seen such a fine old Pontiac napping in the sun?
Go on, then, put up a sturdy argument against this nose. I dare you.
I double-dare you.
Stocky presence by dint of graceful proportion, line, and curve.
Yup, this angle works, too.
Weren’t we just discussing olde-tyme backglass wipers? I don’t guess they worked too well, with vacuum “power” supplied by many feet of hose, but still.
Really, I like this better than the ’47 Chev the other day. That one seemed to be trying a bit too hard, singing a bit too loudly. This one doesn’t have to.
There are two names on the taillight lens; Guide were GM’s in-house lamps and lights operation. Stimsonite were early heavy hitters in retro-reflectors.
This looks like a fun place to spend time. Not out on the highway at 100 km/h, but on a scenic country road at maybe 75 or 80. Windows down. Sun shining. Radio off, thanks; I’ll listen to the machine, though I might make an exception for Benny Goodman doing “Stealin’ Apples”:
I think you mean Benny Goodman not Benny Hill 🙂
Groan. My brain musta been unplugged. I loathe Benny Hill!
I wish people wouldn’t slap on aftermarket schlock like fender skirts and extra lights, but they get bonus points for the parking brake and color coordination with the building.
From my own experience, people want to put their own stamp on a used car, but why isn’t a good cleaning and touch-up enough?
Benny Hill? I was sure he’d been cancelled.
Ralph L,
In the immediate postwar years, it was very common for dealers to order the more expensive models, check off all the option boxes, and then install even more minor options once the car was on display. And why not, when they could sell every single car for above list price, at least thru the first half of 1948. Most of the upscale 1946 to 1949 US cars I’ve owned were well optioned, and even some of the 1946 & 47 cheaper cars like Ford, Plymouth and Studebaker were loaded up with dealer installed accessories.
I suspect this Pontiac has displayed most of the options seen in these photos, since new.
The fender skirts are standard equipment. The fender opening has a recess along the edge to accomodate the skirt, if the skirt is missing the fender looks bad. Also there shouldn’t be a black outline on top of the skirt, not sure what they did on this car, but the seam should look invisible.
That is a fine Torpedo-back Bomb. I think “Slow Boat To China” by Peggy Lee says it best…
Front of this thing is a snooze fest. Mate the front of a Graham Spirit of Motion to it, THEN you got something. The proportions would have to be adjusted, but the result would be wild. Anyone care to photoshop it ?
I love this car and its era. 1948 was a time of post war optimism; when my parents and their siblings shook off the twin trials of the Depression and WWII which had defined their lives growing up. I love looking at photos of them from that era; their happiness seems to just leap from the frames.
This car captures that optimism well, but there are two jarring elements – the wheels and the building. The rust and fade on the wheels reveal that we are far beyond 1948, and the building looks a bit faded as well.
I too love these GM fastbacks, especially in two-tone livery like this one. They had an all too brief existence thanks to the war and changing postwar tastes.
While I find the styling of this, or any postwar fastback sedan to be interesting, having owned 2 cars built in the early 50s and having driven a few fastback models of newer cars, I would agree (?) that these are best for those lazy afternoons on nearly deserted back roads where you don’t have to worry about how fast or slow you are driving.
As far as this particular car? I would find it much more attractive in one shade of green, preferably the darker shade.
Oh yes. I’m sold.
Seeing the third picture confirmed that this one has Pontiac’s straight-8, which is icing on the cake! The sensations provided by eight-in-a-row just go with the demeanor of a car like this, to me. Knowing that you’ve taken a full step above the most pragmatic solution to transportation, yet your decision has netted you full pressure lubrication and insert bearings on both mains and rods. Even with the radio turned off, you’ll have to listen close to hear that engine whispering while it works.
And in today’s market (yesterday’s too), you’re more likely to get a Pontiac for quite a bit less than a same year Chevy. It’s interesting how many people will pay more money for less car, even when they have an option that’s very similar in style, yet a skosh nicer, available for less.
That rear wiper wasn’t a super common option, was it? I’ve yet to drive a car with vacuum wipers in the rain. Closest was a 1950 Studebaker, though it had a separate booster section in the mechanical fuel pump to power the wipers when manifold vacuum dropped… Almost all Studebaker cars, save for a few occasionally whipped together for fleet use, got electric wipers standard for 1951-forward
Ah, yes. Vacuum wipers in the rain. Dad’s ’47 and ’52 Cadillacs had them, and my ’41 Chevy had them. Driving was an adventure with them when a summer downpour would hit; step on the gas when the light turned green, and the wipers would quit. Let up on the gas, and they would flail madly back and forth. I don’t think the Cadillacs had any kind of booster pump, and I know the Chevy didn’t.
ISTR aftermarket booster pumps for vacuum wipers in the J.C. Whitney catalog.
At some point in the late 1940s my mother was in a car showroom where one or more of the cars had backglass wipers. She suspected, probably correctly, that the dealer was trying to foist backglass wipers on the prospective buyers whether the buyers wanted them or not in the seller’s market at the time. She said something like, “What, no popcorn popper?”
I can’t really see whether the car has a Hydra-Matic shift quadrant, but ’48 was the first year Pontiac offered H-M.
Ahh… My brain missed a shift, and I forgot that Pontiac got the Hydra-matic in ’48, not ’49. I only have a couple miles worth of seat time with an early Hydra-matic, but it felt like a transmission that I’d like… so I’d likely be just as happy if this car had the manual or automatic. This nets the Pontiac even more of an advantage (in my book, anyway) over the Chevrolet once the PowerGlide debuted in 1950. I’m only speculating now, but the thought of struggling to churn yourself away from a stop in the early, non-shifting PG, seems like it might take more patience than I’ve got on tap.
The building matches the color of the car. The rear wiper was ahead of it’s time, it looks like the rock behind the rear wheel is the parking brake. The car appears to be rust free and in nice condition. I like the fender skirts, they look period correct.
I lived that time period and had those cars.
I would have another today and drive it, but I would adapt power steering to it. And maybe also A/C! Oh, and front disc brakes….LOL!
Another nice looking Buick .
Those are aftermarket Foxcraft skirts, the GM ones were slightly different .
This is only the second GM rear wiper I’ve ever seen, the other was on a similar vintage Pontiac .
The straight eight engine also had overhead valves, a big thing at the time .
-Nate
This one is a Pontiac. Buick Eight was OHV, Pontiac and Olds were still flatheads. Pontiac was the last flathead holdout at GM, through ’54.
@Nikita ;
My point exactly .
I had a 1954 Pontiac two door and loved it ~ I normally don’t like flat heads because they don’t like open highways but my Poncho had the most excellent dual range Hydromatic drive to it cruised at 85 + MPH silently and smoothly .
Buick’s Dyna-Squish slush box was horrible then as now .
-Nate
Ah, vacuum wipers! I had my first test with the vacuum wipers on my 56 Cadillac 60S on Saturday, returning from the first in over a year Cars and Coffee at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac. I was hoping the rain would hold off but I had to drive west towards home.
I found the system to work well enough. Obviously, when sitting at a light in a downpour the wipers basically stopped as there was little vacuum available. After accelerating the vacuum increased and worked pretty well. I also put Rain-X on the windshield so the combination did the job. I also replaced the wipers recently.
I am sure that some people were winding why my wipers weren’t moving when stopped! They move opposingly so that also is not too common these days.
I inspected the wiper system and it seemed to be in working in order before this big test. My Cadillac only has under 40,000 miles on it but of course all systems at that age may not work despite low miles.
JB,
As far as I know, Ficken Auto Parts is still rebuilding all Trico wiper motors [wiperman.com] and they do a great job. The founder [long deceased] Dave Ficken was a friend of mine, and he managed to buy the entire parts inventory of Trico about 40 years ago when they stopped making the older models.
The vacuum wiper motor has a D shaped chamber with a paddle that swings back & forth inside. The grease inside it probably dates to 1956, and has hardened. So not only does it allow vacuum leaks, but the hard grease makes it difficult to move. Once rebuilt, and the under dash mechanism treated to a few drops of 10w lube oil, your wipers should work like they did in 1956. And don’t forget to replace the rubber hoses too!
@JB :
Your Caddy had the dual action fuel pump incorrectly connected .
Engine manifold vacuum is highest at idle .
Chevy’s and others that used vacuum wipers in the 1940’s & 1950’s could get a dual action fuel pump as an extra cost option, it was two pumps in one, a fuel pump on one side and a separate vacuum pump on the other .
Or, your F.L.P.S. would usually have one on the shelf for under $10 although $10 was a lot of cash back then .
Ramblers used vacuum wipers into the 1970’s and they worked well *if* anyone ever bothered to do the special lubrication routine at every oil change like you’re supposed to do .
I’d not be surprised to hear the AMC Gremlins used vacuum wipers .
-Nate
Live and learn, as always on CC. I must have missed any previous discussion of rear wipers in this era, as I thought they were a novel thing on the ‘68 Volvo 145 wagon, which was the first time I noticed them. As the for the rest of the car, fastback and straight-8 are nice but I prefer the later (1949-) style. These seemed a bit dowdy in my youth when they were still in the roads but mostly surrounded by newer longer/lower/wider cars.
Sort of kind of what drawings of cars looked like in my mid 1950s first grade readers. To this day, there is a little bit of nostalgia, and the way cars are suppose to look, about the late 1940s car designs for me – due to those first grade reading books. Wholesome and great generation reminders.
Pontiac shouldn’t have switched to round taillights. The previous square Deco taillights harmonized with the Silver Streaks. The round ones weren’t unique.
Count me as another fan of this car. I do not see any Hydra-Matic badging and the interior shot is not good enough to tell if this one is so-equipped, but there would be nothing wrong with a Silver Streak 8 mated to a 3 speed, I suppose.
As much as I love that record, it would have been nearly a decade old when this car was new. The big bands were dying in 1948 and bebop was ascending. But the buyer of a Pontiac 8 would have eschewed such modern nonsense. Fortunately, Benny Goodman was still recording new stuff in 1948, like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utRf_Gvonx4
It’s two tone green, I love it. I had a daily ’57 Cadillac back in the mid 70’s. The vacuum wipers were a challenge but kept you from accelerating too hard away from a stop in the rain. I suppose some folks might have seen that as a safety feature.
It is amazing that, of all carmakers, Cadillac kept vacuum wipers in use as long as they did. I could understand (maybe) them being used as standard equipment on inexpensive Chevys and Pontiacs, but shouldn’t shelling out the kind of money to buy a Cadillac have at least guaranteed a guy some electric wipers? I understand the slow universal adoption of heaters and air conditioning, because there are climates in the US that seldom need one (or both) of them. But it rains almost everywhere. A real head-scratcher.
Concerning the Guide and Stimsonite logos, Guide made the lamp assembly. Stimsonite made the hardened glass lens. Some Packard taillights used Stimsonite lenses thru 1953. Stimsonite had perfected a way to keep the red color glass from fading out from sunlight. I’ve seen pre-war glass taillight lenses by other companies, that had faded to a light orange.
And one more quick comment; In the 1980s I had a 1948 Pontiac fastback like you see here, but mine was a flathead 6, and it had Hydra-matic. IT TOOK FOREVER TO START MOVING ONCE THE GAS PEDAL WAS PRESSED DOWN TO THE FLOOR. I had to plan ahead if driving in suburban or downtown traffic, and push the gas pedal down all the way once the cross traffic light turned yellow, so once my traffic light turned green I might be able to begin moving. Not exaggerating!
Sounds like your hydramatic wasn’t working correctly or you were in second gear. That hydramatic has first gear so low that takeoff should be instantaneously.
Vacuum wipers were all kinds of fun in San Francisco on rainy days, going up those hills!
A popular accessory was the vacuum pump, so the wipers keep going even up hills.
It’s been driving me crazy all day but I finally remembered that it was a Pontiac of this vintage that was a flying jalopy in one of the Pippi Longstockings movies I watched when I was really little. In my head I thought it was probably a 46-48 Ford but the rear end of this completely jogged my memory, and sure enough, quick googling confirms it! I was pre-k last time I saw that movie, my car recognition memory is better than I even thought!
Just beautiful. Shape, colours, everything.
But–but, what are we looking at, in the Pippi Longstocking Pontiac ? Is that the shape of a convertible ? Is the trunk lid being opened (somehow) the wrong way ? And let us hope Pippi isn’t pouring water into the gas tank . . .!
Beautiful car those aero sedans are some of the best looking cars GM ever built, but vacuum wipers nope hate them had them on a MK2 Zephyr I owned may as well stay home if its raining for all the use they are.
WIPERS! clap, clap
https://youtu.be/ZvzXLz8SWjs?t=269
LOL!LOL!LOL!LOL! Now I’ve got to clean the coffee from my keyboard!! 🙂
It really does look like a big gloop of big band music, this Ponty.
Curvy, smoothed, classy, a bit fat and certainly a lotta brass under all that stretchy chrome. Hunched over and streamlining rapidly towards a collision with bebop by ’48 as JPC suggests, and a terminal grounding on rock not too long after.
I’m happy to stay stuck before all that happened, and to let the the beauty snooze for a bit, here or anywhere.
And to let the music play meanwhile.
At times people have compared the shape of this body to the Bentley Continental of the early 1950s.
A well-known & respected [and successful] automotive racing driver owns a 1948 Pontiac Eight fastback similar to the featured car. A few years ago he contacted me about a complete Bentley S-I grill shell and emblem I had for sale. He purchased it with the intent to install said grill shell and emblem on the Pontiac.
Said he would name it his Bentley Incontinental.