1949 to 1954 Classic Pontiac Chieftain: A Fascinating Tale of Transformation

[@WilmerCook]

Friends dad had a 54 chief wagon, nice car!

[@411Soulman1]

I heard the radio of a ‘49 model. It played like a high end living room HI FI set! Wonderful tone!

[@michaelbenardo5695]

Pontiac really got screwed when GM came out with new bodies for 1948 - the big C body cars - and 49 - the smaller A body cars. Through 48, Pontiacs came came in two sizes - the cheaper A body models and the big B body Streamliner models, but for 49, only the A body. This hurt their sales, as the bigger models were good sellers. Pontiac was supposed to introduce their 287 cube V8 for 1953, but protests from Oldsmobile forced them to delay it until 55. The 53 and 54 Pontiacs were bigger cars, but the 55, despite being the same size, looked smaller, which, again, hurt sales. The 58, though, was a nice big car and looked it, and the Wide-Track 59 was Motor Trend's Car of the Year.

[@mossysaddle]

Great Historical Video, Thank You

[@southerncross3638]

Works of art.

[@tomtransport]

In 1958 my first car was a 1950 Pontiac Silver Streak two door hardtop. Cream with the burgundy roof as seen here, 3 speed standard shift. I was 15 (age to get drivers license in my state was 16) that summer but bought car. I turned 16 that November. I traded the car even up for a 1951 Ford Convertible that December so I did not drive it much. I was taken advantage of as the Ford developed a rod knock and needed engine by winter of 1959.

[@stuartosborne3013]

1950 my favourite year

[@pharoah1200]

I owned a 1951 coupe and a 1941 coupe.

[@peterruddick1952]

Transformation ? Pontiac saw almost no transformation '49-'54. That changed big-time in '55

[@srercrcr]

John DeLorean took over Pontiac in the mid-Fifties. Vowed to shake it up. Big things were coming.....wide-tracking, LeMans, and GTOs.

[@kirbywaite1586]

It was a clever way of using up outdated Cadillac sheet metal. Those dies are very expensive.

[@ReddThreee]

Not much overall difference between 49 and 54.