I've decided to list the car in an ebay auction, which ends on Monday 2/15 at 9pm Nashville time. Below is a new description with additional information- cheers! Feel free to contact me via message with any questions and I will get back to you within a couple hours :)
In 2012 I helped my Grandma find a 1951 Chieftain exactly like the one she had as a teenager, and we got lucky coming across this one. She bought the car from Mike Auclair of Sandpoint Idaho, who was doing well enough in life to have an airplane hangar full of classic cars. He had bought the car locally in Idaho in 2005 having pestered the prior owners for quite some time to sell it to him. The car was in Idaho its entire life until my grandma bought it, and it's been in climate controlled storage & insured by Hagerty ever since. The pacific northwest is kind to cars and this one does not have any original rust. During restoration the frame was coated, the body was professionally painted, the chrome was triple dipped, and the interior redone (along with a bunch of other work).
I have copies of all the receipts and can email them to anyone who would like to see them. Basically Mr. Auclair did a full restoration beginning in 06. In addition to all that other work, the rebuilt motor only has 650 miles on it! This is because no one has been driving the thing, just admiring it. Auclair bought it and wanted to make it museum quality, which he certainly did. My family have been keeping it in tip top shape since 2012, but it has only been driven to a couple car shows and around the block once a month since then. As per how it runs- it starts up and drives like it did in the early 50's. My grandma had bought hers new back then, and she says this one drives exactly like the one she had back then.
Unfortunately no one in my family that lives near the car can take great photos, so I only have the limited quantity of mediocre photos available at present. I stepped in to help sell the car because my Grandma is 89 and is no longer comfortable driving it, and she is not very internet savvy. I am in Nashville otherwise I would have done a much better job with photos and could have easily sold this online for 40K last fall. I know 2 owners of vintage shops and they both say that all of the work done to this car in todays money would be around 60K, and that as a private seller I should fetch at least 40k for it. All of that to say- this car is surely an investment that will increase in value over time, especially considering we're willing to let it go for a song compared to what its worth.
There's a couple things to me that make it not a 10:
The original radio is in the car, though sometimes it doesnt work. The entire wiring throughout the car was recently replaced and it still is an issue so I suspect there is a contact issue somewhere in the radio, which is not uncommon in old stereo equipment and not too difficult to remedy. Also I noticed in pics that a little bit of paint in between the chrome on the hood could use touching up. There is also a very slight sag in the rear drivers side, of which the leaf springs on that side need to be bent ever so slightly. I've driven the car a few times and can assure you it is not at all noticeable when driving the vehicle & does not affect drivability whatsoever, and when looking at the car it is barely noticeable. These issues are small and fixable enough that the car still won the class A dealers choice in both of the car shows my grandma took it to.
Below you'll find a more thorough overview of the car than I had originally posted. Feel free to contact me via message with any questions and I will get back to you within a couple hours :)
Please do not bid on this car unless you intend to purchase it! You will be bidding on a fully restored 1951 Pontiac Catalina Chieftan, 2 door Super De Luxe Coupe with an inline 8 cylinder motor & 3 speed manual transmission. There will be no rush for you to pick up the car, however you will need to pay for the vehicle within the time specified.
In 2012 I helped my Grandma find a 1951 Chieftain exactly like the one she had as a teenager, and we got lucky coming across this one. She bought the car from Mike Auclair of Sandpoint Idaho, who was doing well enough in life to have an airplane hangar full of classic cars. He had bought the car locally in Idaho in 2005 having pestered the prior owners for quite some time to sell it to him. The car was in Idaho its entire life until my grandma bought it, and it's been in climate controlled storage & insured by Hagerty ever since. The pacific northwest is kind to cars and this one does not have any original rust. During restoration the frame was coated, the body was professionally painted, the chrome was triple dipped, and the interior redone (along with a bunch of other work).
I have copies of all the receipts and can email them to anyone who would like to see them. Basically Mr. Auclair did a full restoration beginning in 06. In addition to all that other work, the rebuilt motor only has 650 miles on it! This is because no one has been driving the thing, just admiring it. Auclair bought it and wanted to make it museum quality, which he certainly did. My family have been keeping it in tip top shape since 2012, but it has only been driven to a couple car shows and around the block once a month since then. As per how it runs- it starts up and drives like it did in the early 50's. My grandma had bought hers new back then, and she says this one drives exactly like the one she had back then.
Unfortunately no one in my family that lives near the car can take great photos, so I only have the limited quantity of mediocre photos available at present. I stepped in to help sell the car because my Grandma is 89 and is no longer comfortable driving it, and she is not very internet savvy. I am in Nashville otherwise I would have done a much better job with photos and could have easily sold this online for 40K last fall. I know 2 owners of vintage shops and they both say that all of the work done to this car in todays money would be around 60K, and that as a private seller I should fetch at least 40k for it. All of that to say- this car is surely an investment that will increase in value over time, especially considering we're willing to let it go for a song compared to what its worth.
There's a couple things to me that make it not a 10:
The original radio is in the car, though sometimes it doesnt work. The entire wiring throughout the car was recently replaced and it still is an issue so I suspect there is a contact issue somewhere in the radio, which is not uncommon in old stereo equipment and not too difficult to remedy. Also I noticed in pics that a little bit of paint in between the chrome on the hood could use touching up. There is also a very slight sag in the rear drivers side, of which the leaf springs on that side need to be bent ever so slightly. I've driven the car a few times and can assure you it is not at all noticeable when driving the vehicle & does not affect drivability whatsoever, and when looking at the car it is barely noticeable. These issues are small and fixable enough that the car still won the class A dealers choice in both of the car shows my grandma took it to.
