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Shifter's 51 Pontiac Chieftain


Shifter

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Bit of a lurker but always enjoy following the build threads on OS. Came across a few pics of my car so figured I'd post a few up to now, and then update going forward.


Got the car off a friend in stock form. It was "restored" in the UK at some point but from what I understand the guy emigrated to NZ but had health issues and passed away once here. I think the car sat for quite some time after.


Anyway, I got the car and promptly broke it. The OG six needed a rebuild which priced out pretty high and as I had always planned to make it more of a daily driver I figured there was little reason to throw $ at the six.


Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing. That's exactly what I should have done. Oh well...


 


So, the short version...


Jag IFS, 350 SBC crate motor, TH375 trans (yes 375!), HQ diff, rewired. Some other stuff.


Would like to point out rather quickly that I'm pretty hopeless with the tools and although they entertained my efforts knocking round their shop, all the real heavy lifting was done at Valley Custom in Cambridge.


However, Valley Custom wasn't the first lot to have a crack at it and I'm picking this up from when I dragged it to their shop. Long story short, none of the first lot of work was up to cert standard inc engine mounts (had even bent on trailer ride over), gearbox crossmember, rear Jag IRS mounts, and steering rack mounts. But the firewall was painted so totally worth it.  :shock:


 


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Right, so we got it legal and drove it round for a couple years. Kept losing the full wheel covers so changed them out to Chev dog dish and most recently baby moons with beauty rings. Stuck a visor on and started collecting more bits and trim.

 

 

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Ebay find:

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Took about 2 years to finally track these down via the HAMB: 

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They're now gray with black lettering. Staggered SBC pattern. I mount them to the centre bolt crate motor with adapters.

 

Recent find - rear overriders and bar, needs chrome.

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Anyway, hope this isn't getting too boring but the next problem was this:

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I don't mind patina and this car had the good version in places, but the variations between panels just annoyed me - so this happened.

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It is actually a real solid old beast so it was a case of tidying it up rather than back to bare metal.

Unfortunately the rear guard didn't get that message...sigh. Was a rather poor mud job done previously, but hidden by chrome.

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Better to catch it sooner rather than later though. And fortunately the rest of the car was good.

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  • 1 month later...

Ok. Bit of a change of plan. Chaz the painter has been tied up with other work so not much movement on the car in the last month. 

Obviously given me too much time to think because I'm now planning to change the colour. I liked the white but didn't love it so makes sense to throw a bit more time and money at it now than regret missing my chance later.

But now comes the real tough decision of picking a colour so any suggestions, feedback most welcome.

 

This is a colour I've really liked for a long time and if my interior wasn't grey/deep red I'd go for it. Unfortunately I think it'll look like a christmas tree. And the interior is pretty mint so don't really want to go down that track of changing it.

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So, the other favourite for this era of car is a blue/gray. And after years of thinking "yeah, I like that" I can't seem to work out what car I've seen it on. But it looks a bit like this...

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To me it's more of a 40s/early 50s flat colour rather than the brighter blues that came in 53ish.

Closest I've found is a '50 Windsor Blue which I think would look pretty cool, but could possibly get a little more gray mixed in plus be a little flatter rather than metallic.

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Decisions...

Anyone know of anything along those lines worth considering? Or anything left field?

Always thought this car would end up black but while I like black chevs, the few black Pontys I've seen haven't really done it for me. Too much contrast.

Cheers.

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  • 1 month later...

Stuff all to report really 2 months later. Not painted yet but hopefully it'll be underway shortly.

Disappointing news is that the colour I wanted to go isn't going to work. Was hoping the Windsor Blue would be gray enough to not look silly with the red interior...but it looks silly with the red interior.

So a real left field colour choice going on - a VW colour is now the plan.

 

Anyway, pics for awesomeness.

 

It looks like this now except all masked up to spray the door jambs etc.

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I bought some mens speciality rubber products.

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And the garage has gone downhill since the car is missing.

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Discussion:

//oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53947-shifters-51-pontiac-chieftain-talky-stuff/

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