Hot Chief No. 1 1960 Pontiac Catalina

I like it Norm. Nicely done. :)

Thanks Karen! :-)

Nice! Looks like it was some sort of race car in days gone by?

Thanks Kenny! Yes ... very much so!

Asa 'Ace' Wilson, Jr. wasn't interested in the dairy business that his father had established. His father bought a small Pontiac dealership for Ace in the late 1950s which Ace renamed Royal Pontiac. Royal Pontiac was located at 400 North Main Street in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak, Michigan.

In Sept, 1959 Pontiac advertising account hotshot Jim Wangers took his performance campaign to the next level. Wangers had unofficial factory support behind his plan to create a "test" dealership that would package performance as the basis for sales. The factory sponsored racing and performance parts counter would translate directly to increased sales at Royal Pontiac. Wangers went to Ace Wilson Jr. and gave him the sales pitch. "He was so enthusiastic about it he went ballistic and would not let me out of his office until he signed a contract," Wangers recalled. "I told him besides selling high-performance parts, he had to put a car on the dragstrip and he did."
With factory support, Royal successfully campaigned a 1959 Catalina in National Hot Rod Association drag racing. On Labor Day 1960, Royal-tuned Super Dutys won three races at three venues.

Those were certainly fascinating times. Thanks for the info, Norm!

Quite the history there! Some of those cars from the 50's were really long ... :)

Milt Schornack was there too! He was the master mechanic/driver for Royal Pontiac. They got a lot longer after 1957!

Very nice effect.