Members

Names(s)
William & Ann Barker

 

Vehicles(s)
1950 Chieftain
 

Bio:
The Restorer:

The car was restored in 1980 by Ernest Vonne (E.V.) Davis for his wife Jennette.  She picked it out from a junkyard in 1979 and fell in love with it.  She named it “Blue Beauty”.  He lovingly restored it keeping the car as true as possible at his home in Burna, Kentucky.  After he restored it he wrote an article and sent it to Antique Automobile Magazine for publication.  I don’t think it was ever published but I have a copy of what he wrote, unfortunately he didn’t date the submittal.  This article states that the car was complete when he got it from the junkyard with the exception of the hood chrome piece and hood ornament.  He states that he was fortunate to find a NOS piece to replace it.  Remember this is before the internet.  The odometer read 79,000 at the time.  He also gave the names and addresses of where he obtained the upholstery fabric and paint, both correct for the car.  I actually have a half full can of the original nitro-cellulose paint used.  In 1981 he suffered a stroke and was unable to drive on the road.  After his death on 5/31/1995 Jennette sold it to a collector on 10/10/2000, who only drove it about 246 miles the entire time he had it as verified by title mileages.    This was one of many cars he owned.  I purchased the car from this collector.  Odometer read 89,094 when I acquired it (can’t account for about 9,000 miles not that it matters).

Why I Wanted The Car:

About the time I was learning to drive a close family friend owned a 1954 Pontiac Chieftain nearly identical to this one.  He let me drive it many times.  Although it was almost 20 years old at the time and we could see that it was quickly becoming a classic we used it as a daily driver.  I really enjoyed sitting in the driver seat with the very large steering wheel and looking down the very long hood with the Chief leading the way.  Unfortunately we realized why the 6V system was abandoned.  The car was very hard to start in the winter and we went through several starters.  We simply got tired of the starters giving out at the most inopportune times.  The engine probably needed some work as it was also dieseling when we shut it off.  We towed it to the junk yard located on 7^th North Street (now called Henry Clay Blvd) near route 31.  I was the one driving the Pontiac being towed and therefore was the last one to drive it.  We parked it next to an old Pierce Arrow.  I always felt that we did the wrong thing that day but we weren’t equipped to keep spare cars around.  So I am paying my penance by owning one that was restored form a junkyard.

How I Acquired The Car:

I couldn’t control my urge any longer for owning a classic car.  Although I wasn’t that particular as to what type, I did really prefer a car of the ‘50s with styling like the old Pontiac that was junked.  Well it became apparent that there was no reason to settle for something else since I had discovered Ebay.  I watched Ebay for several months learning about car pricing and bidding methods.  I was looking for a 1954 but knew that any Pontiac from 1949 to 1954 was essentially the same.  A black all original 1950 StreamLiner kept coming up for sale.  The StreamLiner is the sloped back version of the Chieftain.  This car was a beauty but never sold although the seller was slightly lowering his “Buy It Now” price each time and presumably his reserve price.  This car was just too expensive.  But as my wife Ann will attest I just couldn’t shut up about it.  It was exactly what I wanted but I wasn’t going to pay that high price anyway.  Then one day this blue 1950 Pontiac Chieftain came along.  It was fully restored and ready to drive.  The owner was very good about answering any questions and I got a good feeling about the sale. The seller posted many pictures many of which I am reusing in this article including a very clean undercarriage.

This car also had a “Buy It Now” price that was very reasonable.  I showed it to Ann and she said at least the color is nice.  I knew I was wearing her down.  We went on vacation while the car was going up for auction so I took my laptop with me (to stay in touch with work of course).  In the car ride from Syracuse to Connecticut I kept talking about it and Ann finally threw her hands in the air and said “go ahead and get it”.  Great now I don’t have an excuse.

The next day in the hotel room Ann told me she was going to take a shower so I decided to log on to check my emails of course.  Somehow I wandered onto the Ebay web site and saw that the car was within only a couple of hundred dollars of the “Buy It Now” price and there was at least two days left for the sale.  Two other potential buyers were showing strong interest and the reserve was met.  Somebody was going to get this car.  With my heart pounding and a couple of simple mouse clicks later I bought it at the “Buy It Now” price.  When Ann came out of the shower I said “guess what I just did”.  I am sure I disappointed a couple of other potential buyers that day.  She hates me telling this story but it is just too good to leave alone.  I had bought a car sight unseen, in Cincinnati, from a hotel room in Connecticut, on my laptop.  Isn’t technology wonderful.  A couple of more clicks and I paid the deposit for the car.

I could have had the car shipped but I really wanted to meet the seller face to face.  Since my brother is a race car driver and I worked on his crew for a couple of years, towing a car long distances didn’t bother me.  My brother’s race car trailer was too small for this car so I rented a trailer from a friend of a friend.  My pickup was also a little weak (V6) so I borrowed a good friend’s truck.  My brother and I drove to Cincinnati and back without incident.  The seller was very honorable and stated the car absolutely correctly.  He told me that both of the other potential buyers had visited the car (one was close by and the other was a couple of hundred miles away) and was surprised when I popped up and grabbed it.  He told me what he knew about the car and gave me spare paint, spare wheel cylinders, a spare voltage regulator, a repair manual, and other assorted items.  That twenty minute conversation with him was worth the trip.

We got back about 2 AM and decided to leave the car on the trailer in the driveway until the next day.  At 10 AM the doorbell rang and a woman was inquiring about the car.  I hadn’t even unloaded the car and it was drawing attention.  It turned out that the woman was fellow POCI member Joe Leombrone’s wife.  He has a ’53 nearly the same color.  She gave me his phone number and I talked to him a couple of days later.  That is how I first found out about the Six Nations Pontiac club and POCI.

Footnote: I think Ann likes the car too.

 
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