Classic 1951 Pontiac Chieftain still cruises Indiana streets after 46 years
Have you seen Jim Biddle’s 1951 Pontiac Chieftain driving around Bloomington, Indiana?
I had not until a recent afternoon when I noticed the backside of a really cool old car just ahead.
Yes, I followed. When the driver turned west, I did too. Fingers crossed the driver’s destination was close by, the Pontiac’s right turn signal started blinking two blocks later, and the old sedan veered into the Bloomingfoods’ grocery parking lot.
“Eureka,” I said, or something to that effect. I wouldn’t have to stalk the car and driver across town and beyond, which I certainly would have done.
Behind the wheel was Jim Biddle, with wife Holly in the passenger seat. The Bloomington man explained he’d had the Pontiac 46 years, really, and that it had stayed with him through several moves around the country.
It’s a beautiful car with no embellishments beyond its original equipment, which includes a hood ornament that lights up. Original yet faded paint, dents and dings here and there, lovely worn upholstery.
This is not Biddle’s first vintage Pontiac. He owned a 1951 and a 1953 long, long ago, both involved in crashes and hauled off to the salvage yard.
“This one’s my third,” Biddle explained. “The Pontiacs I had before were wrecked, both of them. The 1953, my brother was driving it down Walnut Street and someone had left a child in a car, and the kid put it in drive, and it smashed into my car. The other one was totaled in a wreck in a sharp curve on Smith Road.”
In 1979, he was looking for a 1949-1952 Pontiac and found a Chieftain for sale in Colorado. He flew out and drove the car home to Indiana. The car was in its original state, upholstery and all, and had its original paint.
“I’ve always liked General Motors cars from that era,” Biddle said.
The V8 ran well then and still does after 46 years. Biddle has done minor engine repairs over time and put about 40,000 miles on the car. The Chieftain, with its conic light-up hood ornament, gets washed and drained of fluids as cold weather sets in, then spends several months under a cover in a heated garage.
“These 50-degree days late in the fall, it’s a good time to be driving the car,” he said. “But I’m getting ready to put it up for the winter.”
Biddle has another cool car, a rare 1979 German-made Opel. But it’s not really his and belongs instead to his dogs, rescue terriers named Rocky and Zeus. He takes them for daily drives on one-lane roads near their home, going 10 mph for five or six miles, their furry heads extended out the open windows.
“They love their car,” Biddle said. “They’d like to drive.”
He promised I could come along on one of their road trip adventures. I can only imagine the great photos to be taken.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times
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