Editor’s note: David Krumboltz’s regular column is on hiatus until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its place, we’re running some of Dave’s favorite past columns. This one originally ran in August 2018.
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Pontiac was the second step in General Motors’ parade of cars, being one step up from Chevrolet. But before there was a Pontiac, there was the Oakland Motor Co., founded in 1907 by Edward Murphy, a manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages. The next year, William Durant founded General Motors, which had Buick as its only car line. GM then acquired Oldsmobile and Cadillac and, after Murphy’s death in 1909, got a hold of Oakland Motor. Oakland became a GM Division and introduced a less expensive line in 1926 called Pontiac. Pontiac was basically a fancy Chevrolet with a six-cylinder engine instead of the four-cylinder Chevrolet used. It didn’t take long before Pontiac became more popular than Oakland Motor, so after 1931, only Pontiac was produced.
The Pontiac brand honors the America Indian chief who led the fight against British occupation of the Great Lakes region and the city where the cars were built, Pontiac, Michigan. Pontiac also manufactured cars from knock-down kits in Osaka, Japan from 1927 to 1941 (guess what stopped that operation). The last civilian car built in America during World War II was a Pontiac on Feb. 2, 1942.
The years between 1955 and 1965 were important ones for Pontiac. Some big automotive names were involved with Pontiac, such as Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen, Pete Estes and John DeLorean. These were the years of the “wide-track” Pontiac and the creation of the GTO. In this period Pontiac developed the split-grille design for many of its models that became its trademark. Rear fins came and went, and Pontiac became the performance division of General Motors.
Walnut Creek resident Rich Berendsen, known to his friends as “Bear,” owns a 1960 Pontiac Ventura two-door hardtop. He bought the car in 1995, and I think it’s accurate to call Berendsen an accidental car collector.
“It was in terrible shape when I got it,” he said.
Twenty or more years ago, Berendsen had a fellow senior softball player, Rich Francisco, with whom he would travel to various softball tournaments in the West. This friend’s mother was the original owner, having purchased the car from Richmond Motors, a Pontiac-Cadillac dealer.
“It seemed that on every trip we took together he would ask, ‘Do you know anyone who would like to buy my mom’s car?’ It wasn’t anything that was on my mind at the time, so I would say, ‘no.’ ” Years go by, and we’re coming back from a tournament, and again he asks ‘Do you know anyone who would like to buy my mom’s car?’ ‘What is it?’ I asked. ‘A Pontiac,’ he said. ‘What year?’ ‘1960.’ ‘Two doors or four doors?’ ‘Two doors.’ I said, ‘Let’s go look at it.’ ”
“It had been parked in a carport with the rear end facing west, so all the taillight lenses, all the backup light lenses, were all crystalized. It needed new tires, it needed front end work, it needed a new transmission, a paint job, a new windshield, it needed new upholstery, it didn’t have any upholstery, it didn’t start and needed a new battery, and that’s where I started.”
The initial purchase price was $1,500. This is Berendsen’s first and only collector car. I suspect it is his last collector car as well.
“It’s like owning a boat,” said his voice of experience.
Often collectors don’t know how much they’ve invested in their collectible. Sometimes they don’t want to know. But Berendsen, who did very little of the restoration work himself, said, “I know exactly — $36,700. It seemed like everything I did to it — like transmission, upholstery, front end work — was $3,500. No matter what I had done to it, it was $3,500.”
He bought a transmission that was guaranteed for a year. In the 13th month, that transmission went out, and the owner of the shop where he bought it essentially said, “tough.” That meant another shop, another transmission and another $3,500.
The six-passenger Pontiac hardtop is painted the factory color combination of a white roof over a baby blue body. The comfortable leather interior is gray and black with white trim. It hasn’t been his best financial investment. Berendsen ballparks the current market value at just $12,000 to $15,000.
“But it has been fun. My wife says that when we’re in it and we drive down the street, everyone notices.”
He drives it about 6,000 miles a year but just for pleasure. It’s not a show car, just a driver. It has a 389-cubic-inch V8 engine with Hydramatic drive. It has dual exhausts with a great sound. The car is tight, quite responsive, and it looks good. The Pontiac has factory air conditioning, but it doesn’t work. However, it is repairable for about $3,500.
Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles or to read more of Dave’s columns, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.