When was the last time you saw a beauty like this on the showroom floor?

I was just ten years old when the '57 Pontiacs hit the showrooms of St. Louis Pontiac dealerships or "agencies" as they were often called back in "the day". Although I was still six years away from getting my driver's license, that didn't stop me from jumping on my Schwinn Traveller (with three-speed shift) and cycling my way down to the Pontiac dealer on South Kingshighway. And that was quite a trek from my home in Cool Valley! But a friend of mine and I would make a day of it, hitting the Steak 'n' Shake for lunch and Southtown Famous-Barr to check out the latest plastic Pontiacs from AMT.

It was quite by chance that I stumbled across the Star Chief shown here, as I motored south on Lindbergh Boulevard past the Daniel Schmitt & Company's wonderful Motorcar Collection located at 3455 North Lindbergh Boulevard one day last week. There, parked right out front, was this beautiful Star Chief Custom "Catalina"* two-door hardtop decked out in Kenya Ivory over Tartan Red with a spotless, matching two-tone interior. What a head turner this one is! And, it has all the right stuff— fifties styling, wide whitewalls, a continental kit on the back and no post. This example of Pontiac engineering is a beautifully restored car with only 59,225 actual miles on the clock and has been updated with a/c. The triple carbureted, 347 cu. in. V-8 was available in three versions.

The original purchaser of this car paid a base price of $2,901 plus options, delivery and dealer prep. The list of options on this car include power steering ($108), power brakes ($39), am radio ($99), heater and defroster (yes kids, they were optional at $91), electric clock ($10.50), whitewall tires ($58.70), deluxe wheel covers ($21.80) and Strato-Flight Hydra-Matic transmission ($231). Let's see, that adds up to $3,560... or about $29,440 in 2011 wampum.

If Daniel Schmitt still has it, you can pick this one up for a mere $42,900 and have it all polished up in time for the first Chuck-A-Burger cruise of 2012. And based on the 2012 issue of Old Cars Report Price Guide, that number is right in the ballpark. Pontiac was just beginning to flex its muscles with the introduction of the Bonneville and even better things were to come down the road with GTOs, Gran Prixs, the Judge and more.

Pontiac rolled up the teepee on Halloween, 2010 becoming the ninth North American automobile brand since 1987 to be phased out, after Merkur, Passport, Asüna, Geo, Plymouth, American Motors (AMC) (renamed Eagle in 1988, only to be phased out a decade later), and Oldsmobile. (Mercury would become the tenth brand to fall later in 2010 and an abbreviated 2011 season.)

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Trivia Answers:

1. Chevrolet; Oldsmobile; Buick and Cadillac.

2. The powerful and glamorous Bonneville first appeared in the 1957 model year as a limited-production (630 units, 1 per dealer), fuel-injected convertible.

3. Air conditioning units were built by GM's Harrison Radiator Division.

For a detailed history of Harrison (including a vintage magazine ad), more photos of the '57 Star Chief coupe shown above, visit my web site at www.thefinman.com.

*Catalina was Pontiac's name for their pillarless "hardtops". Chevrolet's was the Bel Air, Oldsmobile hardtops were called "Holiday", Buicks were Rivieras, and Cadillacs were DeVille (sedan and coupe).