The transmission in my 1953 Chieftain wagon had been leaking for a while, but up until recently it seemed fairly minor and manageable. My plan was to continue driving the car through the summer and pull the transmission in the fall to replace the front seals. That plan changed after attending the first car show […]
I’ve been working on the hood of the ’53 wagon over the past few days. One of the biggest improvements was replacing the old worn-out hood hinge assembly with a NOS (New Old Stock) hinge assembly I’ve had hanging in my garage. The difference was immediately noticeable. The hood now opens and closes much smoother […]
The car is officially licensed and back on the road! Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve put about 80 miles on it, mostly staying close to home. There’s still plenty left to do, but at this point I can enjoy driving it while continuing to improve things along the way. The 1955 287 engine […]
At a time when most aftermarket speed equipment focused on flathead Fords and early V8s, Eddie Edmunds quietly offered performance parts for engines that were never meant to race—Pontiac’s smooth, torque-rich Straight Eight among them. Best known for its finned aluminum cylinder head, Edmunds gave Silver Streak owners a rare opportunity to improve performance while […]
Bringing the Project Up to Date My original plan was to document this project in small increments, starting from the day I brought the car home. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to locate many of the early photos. Because of that, this post will focus on bringing everything up to where the car sits today. […]
It’s going to take a little time to get this project fully caught up on here, but I’ll start with how I found the car. I often use Google to search Craigslist for 1949–54 Pontiac cars and parts. Over the years, I’ve had good luck finding solid deals that way — that’s how I ended […]
In the first part of this story, I shared how I tracked down the history of my 1951 Pontiac Super Deluxe Catalina and was finally given the chance to bring it back to life. Now the real work begins. After sitting in the same spot since 1968 — a full 52 years — it was […]
My name is Jace Allen, and when I was just 19 years old, living in Michigan, I stumbled into a project that would change the course of my life. What started as childhood curiosity about an old, abandoned car hidden away in a barn slowly grew into a passion — and eventually, a full restoration […]