Pontiac remains as one of General Motors’s most famous brands long after the last Poncho left the assembly line in early 2010, simply because Pontiac still has a strong legion of loyal fans.
However, the Strato Chief name may cause some confusion with American Pontiac enthusiasts because it was only sold in Canada as a low-end entry vehicle at Canuck GM dealerships.
Jim Sutherland
In fact, a 1959 Strato Chief shared most of its lineage with Chevy models in Canada because it was smaller and had many Chevrolet engineering features in its DNA. Nevertheless, a Canadian-built 1959 Pontiac in any model shared its unique style with its American-built counterpart-just not as large and blingy as the US Ponchos.
Ross Dyck is a body man by trade, plus he is old enough to know the fundamental differences between a 1959 US-built Pontiac and a Canadian version. He liked the unique style of a ’59 Pontiac from either country, so Ross bought a 1959 Strato Chief about 30 years ago.
Ross told MyStarCollectorCar his ’59 Pontiac was a barebones 2-door sedan with a 6-cylinder and three-on-the-tree manual transmission when he became its owner. The car required a frame-off restoration, along with a major powertrain upgrade to handle bigger loads such as towing a vintage holiday trailer, also a part of Ross’s overall future game plan.
The 1959 Poncho’s entire frame-off restoration process took over 2000 hours by Ross’s estimate but, like most car guys, he eventually stopped counting hours because of the large numbers. He described the project as “a complete nut and bolt restoration”.
Ross’s old school approach included a list of donor vehicles to improve the ’59 Pontiac’s performance, style and comfort levels. For example, the front seats are from a 1966 Ford Fairlane while the back seat came out of a 1964 Pontiac because Ross liked its center speaker style.
Other car donor add-ons include a floor shifter out of a 1970 Chevelle and extra exterior bling from higher end 1959 Ponchos on both sides of the Canadian/American border to enhance the car’s overall style.
Ross also chose to include aftermarket 4-wheel disc brakes, ac, power windows, tilt power steering, modern sound system, and 22-inch custom wheels on the car.
The ’59 Strato Chief’s new engine is a 350 Chevy rated at 400 horses and the transmission is now a 3-speed 350 automatic that is an excellent fit with the transplanted Chevy small block. The new combination can easily handle Ross’s vintage holiday trailer, namely a 1963 Shasta that was “a total teardown” in Ross’s words.
As mentioned, Ross is an experienced body man, but he still had to sell his 1969 Camaro to cover the build expenses. Ross concluded there are almost no 1959 Pontiac Strato Chief 2-door posts left in the world, given their low production numbers in Canada, but there are still many 1969 Camaros on the road by comparison–so he sold his Camaro.
The net result is a vintage car and trailer combination that turns heads whenever Ross hit the road in it. Even better, his 1959 Pontiac Strato Chief resto mod can handle the highway pace (and then some), according to Ross.
Ross told MyStarCollectorCar that “it took forever and a lot of money”, but it was clearly worth every penny and hour he spent on his very cool 1959 Poncho resto mod and 1963 Shasta trailer.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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