Vehicle Description
Unveiled in 1955 alongside the Chevrolet Nomad, the Pontiac Star Chief Safari two door wagon shared its platform and styling with the iconic Nomad, and when production of the two door sport wagons ended in 1957, Chevrolet had cranked out 20,092 Nomads while Pontiac's Safaris numbered less than half of that, with 9,094 rolling off the line during the three year production run. Out of those three years, 1957 was also the lowest production year, with just 1,292 Safaris being built. This 1957 Pontiac Safari was car number 964 built that year, and according to the VIN and cowl tags, while the body of the Safari was built at the Euclid, Ohio Fisher Body plant, final assembly was completed at GM's South Gate Assembly plant, located in Los Angeles County. Purchased by a well-known Pontiac collector and enthusiast in 2003, the Safari was found residing in San Diego, making it a true original California car. Chock full of options, the Safari was ordered with power brakes, power steering, power windows, power bench seat, air conditioning, E-Z Eye glass, lamp accessory group, and the De Luxe option package which included an under seat heater and defroster and a rare Wonder Bar radio with power antenna, all of which are still present and accounted for. First released in 1957, the original numbers-matching Strato-Sreak Tri-Power 347ci V8 has been completely rebuilt to follow Pontiac's NASCAR 347 specs of the era, and it is mated to the original Strato-Flight Hydra-Matic transmission which has also been fully rebuilt. It is worth noting that although very few Safari wagons were built with manual transmissions and thus rarer than the automatic models, 1957 was the first year Pontiac offered the legendary Tri-Power setup and it was only available on Hydra-Matic equipped Safari's, of which this car is equipped with both. As for the body and frame of the Safari, all metal work was completed at Dagmar's Customs of Los Angeles, now located in Inglewood, California. The body was completely taken down to bare metal and any and all rust was repaired and the body was phosphate coated to protect the bare metal as it waited for paint. All receipts and invoices for the work performed up to this point will come with the car, as well as loads of photos documenting the restoration process up to this point including all the metal and bodywork. The Safari also comes with a plethora of factory literature and is currently registered and insured with a clean California title. Although this Pontiac Safari remains to be finished, the quality and caliber of the work performed is second to none, and as collectors of old cars know, although some cars by themselves are so rare as to make them highly special in and of themselves, as this Tri-Power Safari undoubtedly is, to have the ability to make a car personally special by choosing the direction in which to complete it is something extra wonderful.
