A dream finally realized..............

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knife7knut
Posts: 10061
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:02 pm
Location: Tecumseh,Michigan

A dream finally realized..............

Post by knife7knut »

I have always liked station wagons not only as a mode of transportation but a practical vehicle to use in my business as a sign artist/pinstriper. My first wagon was actually a sedan delivery which is basically a station wagon with no side windows in the rear and no rear seat. I bought that one;a 1960 Chevrolet sedan delivery that had been originally owned by the American Tobacco Company and used to deliver cigarettes to retail stores.
I bought it from Rampy Chevrolet in Ann Arbor Michigan for the grand sum of $150. It had a six cylinder engine(as most did)and the front shock absorbers were non-existent.It had been re-painted a sort of,"ugh tan" over it's original white finish and if you looked closely you could still see the outline of the package of Chesterfield cigarettes that had adorned the panel where the windows were supposed to be.
Someone I managed to drive it back to where I was living without killing myself and hitched a ride back to the dealer to pick up the car I was getting rid of;a 1960 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible.Although the convertible didn't look all that bad the transmission had developed a severe case of hemmoraghing and the cost to repair it was twice what I had paid for the sedan delivery. Now I was faced with getting rid of the convertible which proved to be a real problem.
I had bought the car in Massachusetts which at the time did not require a title. Michigan on the other hand was a title state and I soon discovered that I could not even junk the car unless I had a title. Time being of the essence(my landlady was screaming for me to get rid of the car)I asked a friend what I could do.Let us just say that after removing all identification items from the car and filling the transmission with fluid one more time,a brick on the gas pedal and the car aimed into a body of water solved the problem.
The sedan delivery stood me in good stead for several years and I put many miles on it.I did some body work to it and re-painted it and outfitted the interior so I could sleep in it if necessary(it was necessary many tines) and even installed V-8 engine that I got in trade for a paint job on a car. Unfortunately it met a sad end when I was involved in a head-on collision with some moron who was late for a softball game. The broken ribs I received from that little fiasco still act up every now and then.
Anyway I bought many other wagons over time but the one wagon I had always wanted seemed to elude me;a 1955 Pontiac Custom Safari.The first one I had ever seen was at a local Pontiac dealership when I had just turned 11 years old.They had been introduced to the public in January rather than the usual(at the time)September unveilings.
The color was a turquoise and ivory and the considerable amount of chrome and the lighted Indian hood ornament were a sight to behold.With a sticker price of over $3,000 it was the most expensive Pontiac of 1955. I did find one that a friend of mine had at his used car dealership years later but his asking price was way above what I could afford.Although it wasn't the same color,it was an Arizona car with factory air conditioning which was a $560 option when new!
So fast forward to the end of 1993. I move back to Michigan to marry the girl I should have married when we first met in 1966(a story for another time)and we settled into our new lives.The car I had driven out to Michigan(my custom Ford Pinto Cruisin' Van)had developed some serious engine issues so I set about looking for a replacement.
I wanted to get something "different" that I could decorate up a bit to use as a showcase for my pinstriping and lettering business that I hoped would take off so I started looking through the various auto trader papers that seemed to proliferate around here.
While going through one of them I came across an ad for a ...........(drum roll please)1955 Pontiac Safari! It was advertised as having been completely restored at a cost of over $13,000 and they listed a bunch of stuff that had been done and no asking price. I called the number listed and a gentleman answered and I told him I was calling about the ad for the Safari.
He asked where I had seen the ad and I told him the name of the paper.He said that was strange because he had put the ad in there over two years ago(!)and had gotten no response! He mentioned that he had thought about advertising it again but hadn't done so as yet.
He then gave me a very detailed description about what the car was(and was not).I told him I was definitely interested and he gave me directions to his home(about a three hour drive from where we live).I told him I would be down on Saturday.
When we got down there the car was sitting outside running(warming up actually as it was pretty cold that day).My first view of it made me hapy that it was the same color as the first one I had ever seen so many years ago.He showed me his other cars(all Pontiacs)and mentioned that for some reason he never drove the Safari all that much and showed me all the receipts for the work done on it as well as a bunch of in construction pictures.
I drove the car for about ten miles and came back and said I would definitely like it and what was his bottom price. He told me and it sounded very reasonable so I gave him a deposit of $500 and he said that he could deliver it to me in about two weeks.
He was going to drive it up but that day it snowed so he loaded it on his trailer and brought it to the house. After he left I took it out for a drive and it handled itself well in the snow. That was in February of 1994 and since that day I have logged over 180,000 miles on the car with an absolute minimum of problems. It still has the original engine that was rebuilt before I got the car. I bought a spare engine awhile back just in case and it still sits in my shop under cover.
Sadly I haven't been able to drive it of late due to the intake manifold gaskets leaking and medical issues have prevented me from repairing it. Hopefully my son and his friend will get around to repairing it this spring.
Here are a few pictures;one of my first wagon and some of the others I have had over the years. Hope you enjoyed the story and the pictures.
Pictures #1 & #2 are of my first wagon.
#3 is of one of my many Pinto wagons and my 1963 Pontiac Catalina with the,"five body trunk";a Boston joke.
#4 through #6 are 3 of my Cruisin' Vans.The Mercury Bobcat was a made up one and had a 302 V-8 in it.
#7 is my 1964 Austin Mini Cooper estate that had a highly modified engine in it that was capable of over 110 mph.There is an interesting story that goes with that one as well.
#8 is my 1957 Pontiac Safari that is a whole other story for another time.
#9 finally is my dream come true;my 1955 Pontiac Custom Safari wagon.
Attachments
1960ChevroletSedanDeliveryFront1.JPG
1960ChevroletSedanDeliveryBrownSide.jpg
1963PontiacCatalina&1973FordPinto@BeverlyMass1978.JPG
1978FordPintoCruisinVanFront.jpg
1978PintoCruisin'VanSilverRear.JPG
1978MercuryBobcat.jpg
1964MiniCooperEstate2.jpg
57Safari.jpg
Left3-4FrontView1.JPG
RightRear3-4View1.JPG
Adventure BEFORE Dementia!
kootenay joe
Posts: 13373
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:36 pm
Location: West Kootenays, B.C.

Re: A dream finally realized..............

Post by kootenay joe »

I like the old station wagons too. They died out once family size vans were created. Your 2 old Pontiac wagons are Beautiful.
How difficult is it to find parts, like a gasket for the intake manifold ?
Enjoyable read Ray. Thank you.
kj
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herbva
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Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:18 pm
Location: The Old Dominion

Re: A dream finally realized..............

Post by herbva »

Great story, and great cars. I particularly like the last 2 Safari wagons. Thanks for posting! ::tu:: ::tu::
"Better to do something imperfectly, than to do nothing flawlessly." ~ Robert H. Schuller

Herb
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Quick Steel
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Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:39 pm
Location: Lebanon, KY

Re: A dream finally realized..............

Post by Quick Steel »

k7k, Thanks for the very interesting post and photos. You took me back to the days of yore when men were men and cars had chrome. In love with your Safari.
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TPK
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Re: A dream finally realized..............

Post by TPK »

Cool story, cool cars, cool pictures! Enjoyable read! Thanks for posting! ::tu:: ::super_happy::
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