Tin Indian

I’ve seen this green 1960 Pontiac Star Chief at several different car shows and cruise-ins in the Cleveland area. It’s one of 5,797 two-door Star Chief Sport Sedans built in that model year.





The Star Chief was distinguished by a row of four-pointed chrome stars on the rear quarter panel.





The Star Chief was Pontiac’s top-of-the-line model from 1954 to 1957. The 1957 Star Chief Custom Bonneville was Pontiac’s first true high-performance V-8 model, part of division general manager Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen’s initiative to transform the Pontiac brand from a sensible-shoes family car to GM’s fire-breathing musclecar division.



Beginning in 1958, the “Bonneville” name was used for the top trim level of Pontiac. By the 1960 model year, the Star Chief was the second-rank model in the lineup, better appointed than the Ventura and Catalina, but with a less-powerful engine than the Bonneville. It has the low, wide, relatively clean look that had come into favor after the chrome-and-tail-fins frenzy of the late fifties had run its course.



This particular Star Chief has been given the “lowrider” treatment, with modern alloy wheels, a lowered suspension, a suitably rumbly exhaust system, and a bit of pinstriping.



 



Pontiac stopped making Star Chiefs in 1967, and GM will soon stop making Pontiacs. I expect that the “Tin Indian” will still roll into the Medina Dairy Queen on Wednesday nights, bringing a measure of joy to its owner and those who stop to admire it, and reminding us all of a time when Pontiac really did build “excitement.”



May it ever be so.



–Cookie the Dog’s Owner