Retroautos. From drawing board to driveway. Styling the 1963/64 Pontiacs.

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By David Burrell In this first instalment of a two part feature story, takes a look at

1 Collectible & Classic It s about The cars!! From drawing board to driveway. Styling the 1963/64 Pontiacs. By David Burrell In this first instalment of a two part feature story, takes a look at what Pontiac stylists were considering for the 1963 models. Next month we cover the 64s. All images: Copyright 2012 GM Corp. Used with permission, GM Media Archive.

2 The 1963 and 1964 Pontiacs are universally hailed as the designs which defined Pontiac s youthful and exuberant image. They started the industry wide trend of stacked headlights and coke bottle side styling. Work on the 63s started in 1959 when styling boss of General Motors, Bill Mitchell, gave the goahead for an across the board redesign of GM s full size cars in Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, Oldsmobile and Pontiac. Many ideas were developed by Pontiac s head of design, Jack Humbert, into a life size clay models, as seen here.

But only one of the models really captured the style Mitchell and Humbert

which starts to set the design language for the 1963/64 range.

3 But only one of the models really captured the style Mitchell and Humbert were looking for to support Pontiac s rapidly growing wide track, performance image. It is this variation in both clay, and one month later, in fibreglass, which starts to set the design language for the 1963/64 range. The clean lines of this model would dictate the future styling direction, though the idea to use stacked headlights and split grille was not yet resolved.

4 By February 1961 the recognisable shape of the 63/64s was fully defined. The Pontiacs would share their upper body glass house and roof structure with the other GM brands, thus saving costs and production complexities. As you can see from these images and those on the next page (taken on 23 rd February, 1961) Humbert and his team were comparing two front end themes. The horizontal headlights were deemed to be too close to what Chevrolet was designing, so the decision was made in favour of stacked headlights.

5 Both themes features a chrome trim strip on the front mudguards and this would appear, in modified form, on the Bonnevilles, and in Canada and Australia, on the Parisienne hardtop.

Defined as a personal luxury car, the GP sold 30,000 units in 1962.

6 The Grand Prix was added to the Pontiac range in 1962 after the division lost out to Buick in the competition to produce what would become the Riviera. Defined as a personal luxury car, the GP sold 30,000 units in It stood out from the crowd because of its lack of chrome. For 1963 Humbert and his team put a lot of effort into the GP, They gave the roof a unique shape and Thunderbird sail panels. But it was the

was so deep you could lose an elbow in it. The 63 GP was a sales sensation.

7 restrained use of chrome which again set the GP apart. David Holls, who was head of the Cadillac design studio at the time said that the split grille was so deep you could lose an elbow in it. The 63 GP was a sales sensation. It found almost 73,000 buyers, and accounted for 15% of total Pontiac production. Sold at a premium price it made Pontiac loads of money, and outsold the Riviera.

Pontiac s styling influence The clean cut looks of the 1963 Pontiac

The 1965 Ford Galaxie and Plymouth Fury (Dodge Phoenix in Australia) are

A joke going around GM at the time suggested the 65 Galaxie was the box

Locally, the 1969 Ford Fairlane adopted stacked lights too.

8 Pontiac s styling influence The clean cut looks of the 1963 Pontiac influenced both Ford and Chrysler. The 1965 Ford Galaxie and Plymouth Fury (Dodge Phoenix in Australia) are almost direct copies of the 63 Pontiac. A joke going around GM at the time suggested the 65 Galaxie was the box the 63 Pontiac came in. Locally, the 1969 Ford Fairlane adopted stacked lights too. In the August issue of we look at the 64 Pontiacs and the styling ideas considered for what would become one of Pontiac s biggest sales years in its history, and cement its image as the excitement division of GM.

13 Collectible & Classic It s about The cars!! Next issue, it s the 64s! In the August issue of RETROAUTOS we look at the styling alternatives for the 1964 Pontiacs. The image on the right is a sneak preview! The image below shows the unmistakable front end of a 64 Pontiac.

Retroautos. Designing the 1963 Buick Riviera The style Endures. It s about the cars! Collectible & Classic

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