2014-01-29 — Keith Thelen
If you’ve been visiting CC for a while, you probably remember the small parade of Pontiac limousines that made their appearance last year. There was the white one, the Swedish one, and the black one (which used to be mine)–each unique in its own way, each with a story to tell, and each a member of a very exclusive club.
So far, this site has managed to cover at least 30% of the total production of these cars in detail–no small feat! But still, there are a few others which remain unaccounted for.
By most accounts, Superior Coachworks only produced around ten of these uber-long Poncho conversions for the 1965 model year. It seems that most (if not all) were used as funeral limos–“family cars”–before being retired and subjected to the many paths which would, eventually, lead them to where they are today.
Which leads me to today’s question: just where are they? With so few produced, making a list is easy; tracking them down, not so much.
As the former owner of one such limo, my curiosity was piqued. So I decided to try and gather as much history as possible on these strange beasts, especially since their time in the limelight brought out previously unheard details.
What follows is a list of all the cars I know about, and all the clues I’ve been able to gather on them. If anyone has further details, please comment below. Perhaps if we put our heads together, we can find them all!
1) Alive in Texas – One of the better documented examples out there, owned by a guy named Vince Welling. His has been featured in magazines and around the interwebs, and is probably the best known of the bunch. It may also be the most heavily modified–at last check it was sporting a new light blue paint job, an interior that looks to have been lifted from a late ’80s Suburban or some such, and a blown 455 stroked out to 467 cubes and hooked to a “switch pitch” THM400. Family truckster indeed!
2) Deceased in Texas – Mr. Welling also owns a parts car. I don’t know much about it, but as of fall 2012 it did still exist.
3) Auctioned in Oregon – Around August 2012, another car appeared on eBay–shame on me for not making a copy of the listing! It was located somewhere in Oregon, tan if I recall, and in rough shape. The seller appeared to be a tow service; he said he’d retrieved it from a local airport where it was DOA. Mr. Welling’s site mentions one limo was “wasting away in a wrecking yard in Oregon.” Could this be the same one?
4) Alive on Lopez Island – This is “the white one” that was previously featured here. It appeared to have spent much of its life in Washington State. White with black top, vinyl or leather interior (original!), mini-moons. At last check it was running and driving; it appeared on eBay in February 2013, and ended with a winning bid. Its current whereabouts are unknown but its VIN ends in 6657.
5) Alive in Minnesota – I used to own this car before it was featured here, and it was a Minnesotan car through and through: solid, but by no means spared by the tin-worm. It has black paint, a black cloth interior, and steel wheels with chrome trim rings and no caps. Notable as being the only “three on the tree” car built, at last check it was north of Minneapolis, running and driving. It appeared on eBay in December 2012. I’m not sure whether the auction resulted in a change of ownership or not. Its VIN ends in 0964.
6) Missing in Nor-Cal – Mr. Welling’s site mentions a limo having turned up somewhere in northern California. No further details were listed.
7) Restored in Sweden – Another car that was previously featured here, owned by a fellow named Mike Lindholm. It sounds like he did quite a bit of body work on it. It has black paint, a grey cloth interior, and steel wheels with ’61-’63 Tempest/LeMans wheelcovers (which would appear to be correct for the conversion).
8) Alive in Sweden – In the aforementioned article’s comments, Mr. Lindholm mentions having seen another limo in his home country, which showed up to a meet/show he attended. Its whereabouts and status are unknown to me (I suspect this picture may be the car, but can’t tell for certain).
9) Missing in Sweden – Swedish Car nummer tre was also spotted by Mr. Lindholm at some point; however, I have no details on it.
10) Torched in Sweden – Mr. Lindholm also makes mention of the fourth Swedish car having burnt, either in 1970, or sometime within the following decade (not sure which). No idea what the circumstances were, but it would be interesting to hear the story, if there is one.
11) Alive in California? – Shortly after this post first ran, I came across a previously undiscovered car for sale on a dealer’s website. Black paint, gray cloth, red pinstripe down the side, the usual steel wheels and covers. It was claimed to be a repaint with a rusty underbody (“Currently no brakes as I’m replacing the brake lines. The floor boards have rust.”), and sporting some incorrect engine (“Not sure what year it is just know its a 70’s engine with a 2bbl”). The dealer is located in Indiana, and the car wore Pennsylvania plates. Further digging revealed that the car had recently been sold to someone in California for $3900.
So, there you have it: The List! If you know any of the missing details on any of these ten cars, please comment below.
But Wait, There’s More! While scrounging around Flickr last fall, I happened upon this picture of another limo, which I’ve been referring to as the “deteriorating wreck.” It has no license plates, and there are no details around it that I’ve been able to use in determining where it is located. To make things even more difficult, I’ve been unable to get a response from the photographer (who recently closed his Flickr account).
Probably one of the biggest mysteries surrounding this list lies in determining that car’s location. If it’s the missing Nor-Cal car, then we know the general recent whereabouts of every one of the ten. If it’s the missing Swedish car, then only the Nor-Cal car remains to be found. But if it’s neither of them, then perhaps we’ve unraveled a whole new piece of the mystery.
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