Early family cars

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

Ours was a Laurentian - I think the other names were for cars of the mid-50s.
The other model was the Parisienne. I can still remember the little 'body by Fisher' plate on the sill. It was powered by a Blue Flame motor.

OK .. this link will interest you Keith

http://www.ozgm.com/1959_retro_1.htm

And.. another link
http://www.chevcarclubvic.org.au/pho...s59pontiac.htm

That is a fancy looking car .. is it your old one ?

Mike

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

OK .. this link will interest you Keith

http://www.ozgm.com/1959_retro_1.htm

And.. another link
http://www.chevcarclubvic.org.au/pho...s59pontiac.htm

That is a fancy looking car .. is it your old one ?

Mike

What an interesting article - also to see that GMH were still using the same letter code for the different assembly plants.

The car in the link is the same model as ours, rego HBF 789 I think it was, although ours was a creamy white with red leather upholstery. It had the sludge-o-matic transmission and power steering which was quite a novelty at the time.

My grandfather, the previous owner bought it directly from Holden as he had close business ties with them as a customs agent. I can remember him going on about the engine being the 'truck' version so it probably was the 261 mentioned in the article. It certainly was quite adequate although the 'aircraft carrier' handling was dreadful. Sometime in the late 60s my mother rear-ended another car in the wet and the Pontiac was almost written off until we found one with good front end metal in a parts yard. The other thing which gave up was the differential - we bought the last one GMH had in stock - I drove to Dandenong in the Sigvan to pick it up.

[hrpearce]

The oldest vehicle I know of in our family was Great Grandfather's 18 bullock bullock wagon My Grandfather did the 30 mile mail run from Adelong to Yaven Creek in a Model T Ford, with 20 odd gates each way it would have been a days work. The run is longer now and the round trip is done in around 4 hours. Grandfather also ownd a Summit, there is a restored one at the Birdwood Mill Museum, I'll try and find a copy of the book on the restoration to scan a picture.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

You're taking me back here!

I remember when my father bought us a 1957 Jaguar Mk.VII (in '59 I believe) and drove it for a couple of years. The only problem is that it cost him as much to maintain it over two years as it cost to buy the damned thing! Nice car, though, leather and real wood, as well as those door-frame pop-up turn indicators.

After that it was an early Plymouth Whatever with the slant-six engine and a push-button transmission. When my parents divorced in '66, he bought my mum a 1957 Morris Minor, which I got my driver's license on in 1969. In '70 I bought my first car - a 1959 Austin-Healey ('Bugeye') Sprite, for $100... I sure wish I had the damned thing now!!

After that I got into motorcycles...

[Keith Webb]

Yesterday I drove down South to pick up a 16" wheel I'd bought and what should be just ahead in the traffic? A '59 Pontiac! This one was red and had no rear number plate, but it was the first one I've seen on the road for many many years. Amazing coincidence!

[hrpearce]

My first car inmy collage days was a Hilman Minx paid $200.00 for it drove it for two and a half years then got my $200.00 back when I traded it in on a second hand Nissan Patrol soft top.

[Keith Webb]

Here are a couple of pics showing the crucial relationship of our Pontiac and MVs...

The Singer was my $25 first car, and the GMC the first MV I drove, before I had my licence.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

Yesterday I drove down South to pick up a 16" wheel I'd bought and what should be just ahead in the traffic? A '59 Pontiac! This one was red and had no rear number plate, but it was the first one I've seen on the road for many many years. Amazing coincidence!

That is weird ... serendipity . I spotted one driving down Boronia road in Wantirna South ... many years ago .. the tailights are very distinctive ... Reading that article, it appears the aussie version was built on a 59 Chev chassis and differred a lot from the US model . it was typical of GM , we got the lower end 'export' models 'jazzed up' to imitate the real thing.

Mike

[Mike K]

Seems that most of us began with British cars ( me Triumph Herald ) ... the next generation had the Jap range .. older Datsuns and Toyotas as a first car .