Ponchos top honchos at the Raleigh Classic winter auction
The Raleigh Classic Winter Auction on December 2-3 saw Pontiacs holding there own.
Reports From the Field With Charles Farley
The Pontiac brand is alive and well judging from the results of the Raleigh Classic winter auction.
A pair of 59’s drew crowds and energetic bidding. A 1960 Ventura with a factory floor shifted 4-speed was one that I would have bid on if I had known that I would be outbid on a 58 Edsel!
A very nice original '56 Star Chief was also a foot traffic show stopper. Not to mention of course, a very nice '68 GTO droptop with all the period desirable options, plus a remarkable pair of Safari wagons.
The top honcho was a 1958 Pontiac Bonneville that hammered for $178,200 including 8% commission. This Bonneville appeared to be lacking nothing and has been a show car all its life. I awarded this 1959 Pontiac the coveted # 1 Old Cars condition rating.
This '59 Bonneville spent the majority of its life in a private dealer’s collection. It has 53,860 miles accumulated on the odometer. The 1959 was the year that Pontiac bested all of the other GM adaptations of this one year body style. With the venerable 389 cid rated 300 bhp coupled to GM’s Hydramatic this fine example must be a delight to drive. For a car that’s not a stranger to highway use this is good as it gets! What a bargain at the hammer price of $68,400.
This “bubbletop” Ventura was the all the rage in this era with triple carburetion. This version of the 389 generates 348 bhp, directed to the pavement by a 3:64 Saf-T-Track differential through a floor shifted 4-speed. By this time Pontiac was no longer known as “Grandfather’s car.” With 8-lug signature Pontiac wheels, correct whitewalls and original paint and interior this is what this auction is famous for! $61,560
This is the top of the line Star Chief for 1956. For an unmolested original 67-years-young, this was the top draw in the pre auction foot traffic. The Strato-Streak OHV V8 was in its second year, and Pontiac was starting to move ahead in sales. It was nicely optioned, with a “cherry” dash that would make a jukebox blush, this was just the ticket for '56. It was a good deal and hammered at $18,800.
Full report and details will be found in an upcoming issue of Old Cars.
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