Stromberg Pontiac Project update

AfterWe haven’t posted much on the Stromberg Pontiac project for a while. So here’s a few ‘before and after’ pics of the body. After 38 years in a barn she needed a lot of TLC, but the body cleaned up real nice with a box full of red Scotchbrite pads and a sore shoulder. We cleaned the chrome, the Buick Wildcat wheels and other trim with very fine wire wool. The new whitewall radials from Coker really set the car off. On the mechanical side, after checking it all drove fine, we have recently treated it to new plugs, points, distributor cap, condenser, all the usual tune-up stuff. Plus we swapped out a leaking core plug at the back of one of the cylinder heads, fitting new head gaskets at the same time. The ’55 Pontiac heater system is pretty crazy – it pipes hot water right under the driver’s side of the car to a small radiator and then ducts the air out under your seat. This is why dual exhausts are tricky on this model – it’s right where the pipe want to go. Anyway, we’ve managed to get new rubber seals for that underseat heater duct, and it works great, which is handy here in the UK winter. We just found a little rust in the floor just above it so that’s on the list for fixing soon.

Other jobs? Well, we found new wiper blade rubbers at the local parts store. New rubber pipes got the vacuum wipers working. We fixed the brake light switch. And our buddy Flat-top Bob at Owens Salvage in Wellington, Texas kindly sent us the correct cigar lighter to fill the hole in the dash. The interior is next on the cleaning list. It’s actually in great condition though some of the vinyl has gone a little sticky in storage. And the driver’s seat area needs a little sympathetic repair – a cool tartan blanket works for now. We bought some dropped uprights to get the front end a little lower so we need to install those soon. I suspect we’ll be trimming the front coils too, though it won’t be crazy low. Then finally we need to address the carburetion issues. It looks like the awesome 6×2 intake we bought for the car is a marine piece, so that’s not good news as the water outlets are tiny. So we’re looking for an Offenhauser 5028 3×2 intake for ’55 Pontiac now. If you have one, please let us know! To read our first blog about the Stromberg Pontiac project, click here Thanks to California Pontiac Restoration (Santa Ana, CA) for helping source all the parts we need. Thanks to Rick for keeping on keeping on when the car has bitten back. And thanks for listening!

2 thoughts on “Stromberg Pontiac Project update

  1. I came across a link to this project on a station wagon forum I am a member of. I am currently getting ready to start a similar project to your 55′, I am working on my fathers old 55′ Safari. Its been in our family for almost 30 years, originally had a 389 with 3- deuces & Offenhauser high rise intake and valve covers, now has 389 from 59′ or 60′ Pontiac with large 4 barrel. Not sure what brand the 3×2’s are haven’t looked at them in a few years. Two of them were damaged when the engine caught fire in 88′ and he ran it with one single 2 barrel for as long as I can remember. I would like to go back to the 3×2 eventually. I was wondering what grade of steel wool you used on the trim and chrome, on yours. Thanks for the help. Brandon

    • Hi Brandon. What a cool car..we used the finest grade we could find. I think it is sometimes called either 00 or 000. The stuff we bought was just called ‘fine’ I think. It didn’t have a grade listed. You know it is smooth enough because you can grab it in your fingers without it hurting! Thanks, Clive

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