The Association, Never My Love

It's 1968 and I'm in high school. A neighbors grandfather dies and leaves him a '48 Pontiac 4 door silver streak. I fall in love with the car and the neighbor gives it to me. It's 20 years old but the 20 year changes in styling made it look much older. We had great fun in that car! The one I had, had the starter button on the floor just above the gas pedal. You had to use your toe on the button and heel on the gas pedal to start it. The glove compartment could hold two six packs of beer. Today I own a 1948 Oldsmobile 4 door 78 series. Yes, similar in styling. The dash has tons of chrome and the steering wheel... omg! The details, the quality of materials and fluid styling makes these cars works of art that will never be seen again.

My father bought one of these, a 4-d sedan Silver Streak with Hydramatic. Never had any problems with the trans but of course Hydramatics were battle tested in WWII tanks and in Oldsmobiles since 1938. As for the heater, many Pontiacs had an underseat heater-- an actual hot-water radiator with a fan that worked really well and this '48 may have one. The Pontiac flathead 8 was the sickest engine GM ever produced and the Hydro soaked up so much power from that weak engine, it had trouble in the mountains out of LA. He later sold it for a stick shift 1951 fastback which put more power to the pavement and that car ran pretty good for a while until the piston pins came loose and destroyed all 8 cylinders of that flathead boat anchor. I later found that the Olds and Pontiac V-8's fit nicely under the hood where the flat-8 once resided and then you were good to go. Our next car was a 1955 Catalina HT with the super new V-8; Pontiac had been redeemed.

Beautiful automobile! Funny how a car built & sold as a practical family auto in 1948, now has a classic, almost Rolls, look to it! As if you owned it now you should be chauffeured around in it. Definitely has room in the back seat for it! Loved it!! Great job again! So encouraging to see a person young as yourself have such enthusiasm about these awesome old cars & appreciate their quality, workmanship, and artistic flair!!!

What a magnificent specimen of that era. I 100% agree with you about GM (and others) who did nothing more than sheet metal smoke and mirrors for model year change. And BTW that is why it is easy to quickly identify cars from that era.

Jay, you mentioned the indian on the hood ornament looked like Crazy Horse. In point of fact it's Chief Pontiac. ( General Motors appropriated the name Pontiac itself from a Native American. Pontiac was an Odawa (Ottawa) chief famous for leading an attack against British forces at Fort Detroit in 1763.) that was a great 48 - - The factory installed rear wiper ran on vacuum. in reality it didn't work very well as the hose ran the full length of the body. Also, on the heater? In 48 the heater was located under the front seat, sent air to front and back.fed by a 9 ft hose.

I love all the 40s GM streamliners. Wish more people were into them bc you don’t see them at shows too often

The coat hooks are incorporated into the grab handle brackets. You forgot to mention the sliding rear quarter windows. Fun fact, even though the entire car was redesigned, the 49 Pontiac retained the box pleat and button upholstery style for the seats and door panels.

Of course you are correct that these are basically facelifted 1942 models. Even GM at the time admitted that in advertising the 1949 models as "all-new postwar designs." The 1948 Oldsmobile Futuramic 98 previewed the way as a completely new body.

Those GM products utilized an under-seat heater, and they blew WARM. It's the same system I have in my '54 Pontiac Star Chief, and it works beautifully. And, that rope on the back of the front seat was a "grab handle" for back seat passengers to hold onto as they exit the vehicle. I grew up in cars like this. Good profile!

My favourite cars are from 1939 to 1948 . Had lot’s in the 50’s and 60’s , and still do , one of these days , i’m gonna get me ???? In the 40’s . This car is stunning ! I would take that in my stable lol well done !

Agreed. Looks like one of this century’s ‘refresh the old stuff’ stuff. Lol. Thanks for great, as always, vid.

Hey Jay, this Post War Pontiac is absolutely gorgeous!!! I love the detailed hood ornament & the two tone paint really sets it off. You really out did yourself with this beauty!!! 👍👍🙂

My grandfather had a pea green '47 Silver Streak that I remember riding in and getting quite car sick on a trip when I was 4-5 years old. My uncle won a new red '48 Silver Streak through a contest with the American Legion. It was originally red but he told me it faded badly and he had it repainted dark blue, which is how I remember it. In 1954, he traded it for a new '54 Chevy Bel Air which he only kept for a year when he traded for a '54 Pontiac Chieftain because the Chevy was "too light."

Awesome Pontiac! My great uncle always drove mid-level Pontiacs. The first one I can remember was a green 59 Star Chief, but there are family vids from before then that show him proudly standing beside an early 50's Silver Streak! ( He was born in 1907 and was a WWII vet, so I'm sure he had a few before that) His last car was a 78 Catalina! Personally, I like the dash of the 42 better than the 48.

I love old cars that had coats of arms!

2:10 I would remind you that the later '42 models would not have had exposed chrome trim inside or out. Unsold cars were modified by painting over exterior brightwork. Chromium was a strategic metal for the defense industry. Cars were even sold without spare tires to conserve rubber and other tire materials, all for defense.

You chose a really nice example of this car, Jay. Well done. Also, I think you're right -- I don't know of another that featured a rear window wiper as an accessory. I know it was offered on '49 Lincolns, which I previously thought was the first car to have this feature.

When I was a pre - teen in the late 50's, one of my friends' fathers owned a 1948 Pontiac with a straight 8 engine and a Hydra - Matic transmission just like one of those in your story. This was the oldest car that I had seen then with an automatic but I thought that it was pretty neat.

Gorgeous choice, Jay! This old girl looks like she would have fit in well in a scene in "The Godfather"

This has the 1st generation Hydra-Matic, with a single drive position. The 2nd generation had a dual drive position. This version is the one which Rolls-Royce licensed to build their own version through the 1967 model year. The 3rd and last 4-speed Hydra-Matic was introduced in 1956 known as the Jetaway or 315. It used controlled couplings, changing gear ratios by filling and draining the fluid couplings. At this time, it also gained a legitimate "Park" gearshift position. This version of the Hydra-Matic was used in the "Senior" GM cars through 1964, all except Cadillac which used Buick's S.T. 400 and was the first Cadillac to only have one drive position since the first gen Hydra-Matic and when it used the Buick Dynaflow for a short time after the Hydra-Matic plant fire of 1953.

Thanks for featuring this car. It was one of the first cars that got me into the hobby. I always thought it was really attractive.

The 1942, I like better in exterior design, but, this beauty of a car IS a beauty design by designers as well as those who had put them together. Fantastic room! The engines back then were designed to not set speed records...just give nice and easy starts. The "mystery tune" : The Association's "Never My Love" (1967)...which always brings me to my sophomore year in L.C.H.S in Indy and memories of Mary Murdock who graduated that year...what a beauty she was to me!

The automatic that came with this car was innovative for its time for it had four speeds. The transmission was so sophisticated and superior that GM sold it to other automotive manufacturers, I think that included Rolls Royce. Unfortunately a catastrophic fire destroyed the plant in 1953 causing GM to manufacture 100,000 cars less that year. As to the styling, I liked the somewhat cleaner chrome of the 1942 model on the outside and the round dials of the 1942 dash as well.

Jay Found your site thanks to your Hudson videos. Beyond the information and nostalgia aspect, though, I think they offer another solid value, viz. relaxation. This very old man finds them calming and even reassuring amidst all the clamorous violence that's poisoning our world at this moment. I honestly believe that they have a strong therapeutic effect, that they offer relief from stress. At least that's the case for old guys like me. I'd like to see what others think of this, especially those younger than I.

I own a 47 olds 76 2 door fastback. Basically the same car with trim differences and IMO a MUCH cooler dash design in patina rod condition. That non-symmetrical rear light is a reverse light (it appears to be optional equipment based on switch mounting and the lone wire outside the body running along the frame feeding it on mine). Mine has locks on both sides as has every 40's car I've seen in person. Remember LOTS of people had homes with driveways back then. That car has both the park lamps and optional fog lamps. These cars (except the Buick version) didn't yet offer factory turn signals back then. I added a 3 relay logical XOR circuit to make my front park lamps do double duty as both turn-signals and park lamps when I added a turnsignal switch. There's actually a hidden Park feature on those Hydramatics...If you shift into reverse with the engine off (or shut it off in reverse and hold the brake till transmission fluid pressure drops off) it locks the drive shaft with what is essentially a parking pawl. Interesting Hydramatic side note the first year Hydramatics didn't have a neutral safety switch on the starter so you could start it in ANY gear and as soon as the trans built pressure you'd move if you weren't in neutral. (Had to bypass that switch once and on a stop on the way home from where it acted up forgot about it while dealing with carb vapor lock and it almost got away from me.)

The guy that said you don't know what your talking about, doesn't know what he's talking about! 😅 lol. You probably get a lot of that. We love your shows Jay, that clown can watch something else....😊 Cheers from New Zealand 🇳🇿

Great car Jay. The low sloping back is so cool. I never realised how handsome the Pontiacs were compared to the other manufacturers. I can’t stand Fords from this era and Cadillac was over stated. The returning servicemen must have thought what the hell. No wonder the independents did well. Cars in Europe and Britain were hopeless for obvious reasons. Repairing the war economies took decades and the threat of Soviet aggression dominated the purse strings of government. The car took me straight back to the movie Grease and the whole nostalgia for a new confidence in the USA.

It is one beautiful automobile!🤩 It looks without a doubt like a really incredible quality built auto, with beautiful lines and details, love everything about it!

great vid, actually the robe is for the coats to hang on👌🏼

Yeah Jay , put those trolls in check ! Lol !

Stellar review of this car!

Personally, I think I'm more partial to the post war design elements of this car as opposed to the 1942 model. GM, like many auto makers at that time, didn't really undertake a full scale stylistic update of their cars until 1949 or 1950. Case in point is the 1949 Ford. That said, this Pontiac is actually very nicely appointed with what looks like a super comfy interior.

I want the DeSoto……plain fact. In goes a hemi….Disc brakes…..tech suspension ! A sleeper.

Love the two colours combination.

Thank you for sharing

I believe the song is Never My Love by the Association. I googled the words and that’s the name that came up!

Adjust speed to 0.75 to maximize learning and enjoyment.

Great vid, really enjoyed!!!

Newer pickup trucks have protruding hood centers. Dodge trucks were the first in about 1995 and GM and Ford followed suit.

This is now on my list of must have cars.

I can see this on the designers board, the way you show the body. It really is an American Silver Streak of the time. Thanks for everything, Jay. Including the singing at the end.

Well Now, pull up a chair and sit right down, let me tell you about the 1947 Pontiac Four-door Silver Steak Deluxe that I owned. It had a flat head eight with a 3-speed transmission. The exterior was finished in a two-toned blue paint theme, being dark blue fenders and a lighter brighter blue body. The interior was a tan pin-striped mohair cloth with deep brown wool carpeting. The dash was fake wood finish as were the door window surrounds and the back and front glass surrounds. Together, it looked rather business-like. The Pontiac had a clock, a radio, a lighter, ashtray, a heater, and a defroster. Mounted on the dash was a rubber blade two-speed fan. With the cowl vent open and that little fan going, and the windows rolled down, you could manage to keep the interior temperatures down to a survivable level during the summertime. It also had a large glove box and double sun visors with a Pontiac mirror on the passenger side. My car had aftermarket dual spotlights that were interior operated, side windows rain deflectors, anti-whistle shields on the vent windows, dual mirrors, curb finders, front GUIDE fog lights, and bumperette override guards, Over the Windshield was a large sun visor. Whoever owned that Pontiac before me had every conceivable option you could buy for it. Most of it was probably from J.C. Whitney Co. The tires were 3-inch wide white wall types on 16-inch rims sporting the original full hubcaps. I had roof carriers for it, and a large 1940s picnic woven basket with melamine dishes, and tableware. Plus, I had vintage coolers and thermos bottles. The trunk held a full-sized spare tire with a jack lift. That Pontiac could touch a little over 100 mph and that was fast for that year's automobile. It was a smooth comfortable riding vehicle. I received lots of cars honking horns with drivers waving as I passed by. At filling stations, it always drew admirers and the curious with questions. Then I began to realize lots of Hispanics loved looking it over and asking me if I wanted to sell it - thus after 3 years of ownership, I sold it for $5,900 in 1989. The new owner was indeed the happiest Latino man I had ever encountered. That car is somewhere in Los Angeles, California. At that time I lived in Huntington Beach. The car came from Texas. Somewhere, someplace, a family of Latinos is riding low-rider proud in that Pontiac Silver Steak all decked out and bedazzled in her finest jewelry.

The only think I can say about the post war Pontiacs is that the straight 8 cars had an illuninated head that came on with the headlights.The six cylinder cars did not. My parents only new car was a 53 Pontiac with the straight 8. I like the 65 El Camino next to the Pontiac!

Thanks, Jay‼Unraveling more Pontiac badging for us. Great car. One could get SO much more car for the money in the GM line up by going Pontiac, all the way. 👏Wait, what are you doing at the end of your video? 👀Singing? Stop that⁉👎😂

Love your channel More 40s fastbacks please

The "Indian Chief's' head on the hood ornament, was meant to represent Chief Pontiac, an Odawa Native American leader who led a rebellion against the British and American colonists in the 18th century in a war named for him. The city of Pontiac, Michigan and the automobile were also named for him. Pontiac kept the chief hood ornament until into the '50s and I think some of the later ones lit up when the lights were on. Strongly agree that the high beam switch should definitely be on the floor.

Buttons Switches and knobs O My! 😮

COOL CAR! GM was WAY ahead of the pack when it comes to offering automatic transmission. I'm shocked rear window washers were around then.

The Indian war chief doesn't look like Crazy Horse, it is suppose to resemble Pontiac or Obwaandi'eyaag (c. 1714/20 - April 20, 1769) an Odawa war chief, hence the name of the car.

California Dreaming , Mama Papas , mid 1960's , probably 1968. Beautiful car , poor fuel ⛽️ mileage get a 1948 Chevy fleet line, alittle lighter in weight , 20 MPG. Hy. Kevin Phoenix ✝️

Thanks for this, interesting car and a good overview. I don't know of any regulation or law prohibiting entry or exit from the driver's side of cars. I know that people generally liked using the passenger side door in cities for convenience and safety. For years cars had bench seats and plenty of room to slide over from the driver's side to the passenger side. Ford may have started the trend of using the passenger side door as early Ford cars only had a keyed lock on the passenger side door. I wanted to say that I have a 1948 Chrysler Windsor sedan and it has all of the design and styling manufacture that you showed on this Pontiac. It's remarkable how similar these two brands are but that tends to be so for cars of each decade. The rear window wiper is new to me. It looks factory. I've often wanted that on various sedans I've owned. Did anyone notice the high-bean indicator light is a stylized side view of Chief Pontiac's head? Look right above the mount for the speedometer needle, in the stainless section of the speedometer. The coat hook appears to be built into the top of the assist strap. An identifier to tell that you were looking at a Pontiac from a distance, are the stainless strips running over the hood and picking up again to running down over the trunk. Those strips were on Pontiac's for years lasting into the 1950s. Over the years I've met a lot of guys that think a Pontiac is just another version of a Chevrolet and by the 2000s they were, as well as other GM makes. But prior to the 2000s Pontiac was a step up in the line of GM makes ascending in price. If anyone viewed a Chevrolet and Pontiac of a given year, the differences are remarkable. The Pontiac is a much nicer car and got you a more powerful base engine. However, there was a long-time difference in Canadian Pontiac's though they looked like an American Pontiac, the Canadian market Pontiac's were Chevrolet based. Even the frames and wheel bases were Chevrolet as well as actual Chevrolet pieces such as steering wheels could be seen throughout.

There was a redesigned body for these cars for the 1949 year,the 8 cylinder engine got a displacement increase to about 270 cubic inches for 1950,despite a low horsepower rating of 108 the much heavier than a certain Ford Falcon of years later Pontiac was much faster and quicker although the weak small 6 in the Falcon had almost the same horsepower rating. Must have been larger horses in the Pontiac or the rating was deliberately understated to favor the higher ratings of the more expensive Buicks and Oldsmobiles (although Oldsmobile did have an advanced overhead valve V8 which was a novelty for 1950) The hydramatic in these cars was sort of a mark of distinction,shared with Cadillac and Oldsmobile and much much better than the cheap one or two speeds in some other GM cars,however the 3 speed manual with its heavy clutch made the car quicker,I think the shift scheduling in the hydramatic upshifted at too low rpm for the engine to use its power curve during acceleration. The performance figures sound much much slower than real world,a fully broken in 1950 Silver Streak with an 8 could turn the speedometer all of the way to indicate 100 mph although it was common for speedos to read about 5 mph. optimistic so I would credit the car for 95 top speed which undoubtedly was putting the engine rpm in top gear dangerously high. The 1950 Eight did indeed have a two barrel carburetor. Also by 1950 these cars had heaters mounted under the front seat where copious heat could be thrown out both to the front and to the back seat footwell area. You had to change to light oil such as SAE 10w (or even 5w in arctic) in winter or the car could become impossible to start,at least for the Straight 8. Often when the cars got some mileage on them they would start burning oil and smoking although I think there was an optional Fram oil filter system that could be installed by the new car dealer which would have greatly helped to delay the onset of such problems. Also air filters weren't very efficient on most of those cars and people didn't like to service the messy oil bath air filter systems. And remember the dusty unpaved roads in those days that did much to put abrasive wear particles into the air for the cars to ingest. The workmanship and quality of those cars was quite good and I think the Pontiac used heavier gauge sheetmetal in the body than did the cheap Chevrolet. Also at least by 1950 there was an optional lighted Chief Pontiac hood ornament although the car my grandfather and later my father had did not have it. A good comparison car with the Pontiacs would be same year Packards or Packard Clippers,preferably with their 327 cubic inch straignt 8s and manual transmission or manual transmission plus overdrive (don't think Pontiac offered overdrive),Packard didn't have a very good automatic transmission (at least for performance) and in 1955 Packard's automatic transmission woes helped seal the fate of the once storied brand.

I liked what you did with the 1942 and 1948 comparisons. You should do that again on other car makes, like the 1942 Ford and 1948.

The deluxe model was not called Silver Streak. Deluxe was called Deluxe. Pontiac never had a car model called Silver Streak. Silver Streak was the name of Pontiac's inline engines, the 6-cylinder Silver Streak and the 8-cylinder Silver Streak 8. Silver Streak could also rerfer to the iconic Pontiac chrome trim appearing on the cars from 1935 through 1956.

Hey Jay! Think about the year this is (1948) look how difficult it would be to keep a car like this looking new. Now think of the products they had back then to keep your car looking new. Polishing all that chrome and metal and wide white wall tires and Glass area with products from yesteryear would be so timely.

Jay in The Series Happy Days Howard Cunningham is Teased For driving A 49 Desoto

What a classy and roomy car. I wonder whether it was one of the first with a rear wiper? Doesn't seem too common considering the range of vehicles offered by various manufacturers.

My father had a 1946 Dodge that had a rear backlight wiper, but it may have been an aftermarket accessory.

The "Indian" face is of Chief Pontiac himself. Look up his history in wiki sometime. 😀

6:40 My dad said the old Pontiac Indian Head hood ornaments lit up at night. Alas, I'm a little too young to offer first hand confirmation.

excelente, parabéns.

You gotta do that 1953 Ford truck sitting behind this car.

You do realize that this car wears a non factory custom two tone paint job, don't you? Factory two tone is shown on the thumbnail picture and the brochures.

What a gem!! Can I have BOTH??? I noticed that the car had a central Va AAA sticker?? Is in central Va and if so where? I'm in GUM Springs. Is it for sale? Great video!!!!

I am guessing, because no cars were produced for three and a half years, car manufacturers thought they could get away without much change to their products. People wanted new cars. I've noticed, for 1948 there was no change at all for a lot of cars...I can't tell the difference between a '47 and '48 Ford, for instance. At any rate, I prefer the '42 to the '48. Although I like this car.

I like the 48 better with the exception that the two tone execution just doesn't thrill me. The speedometer gauge combination and the radio set on the dash look to me like jewelry craftsmanship. This is the second time I watched this. I love the 42 to 48 GM's.

Grandfather bought a new 40, Silver streak 8, on advice from my uncle who was in the navy at the time. “Best you buy a new automobile dad, we’re going to war with Japan soon “. Unfortunately uncle spent 4 years as Japanese prisoner of war. Grandad drove that car 20 years till his death.

They were such beautiful bathtubs. 🛁 🚿 😊I like the 42' better looking from the front, the 48' has a cooler two toned side look. Far Side cartoon cars. 🔬

Great old Pontiac! Wow, it they had a rear wiper why didn’t they continue offering it?

Toyota should've bought Pontiac from G.M. Unfortunately my old 2003 Suzuki Aerio SX Hatchback started to have mechanical problems, so I had to get rid of it and buy a 2016 Scion TC the Scion TC is way more cooler and better then the Suzuki I had.

I don't remember ever seeing a rear wiper back in the old days. This is a 1948 car ... and I don't ever remember seeing electric wipers back then, either--they were all vacuum powered. The earliest electric wipers I remember were late '50s Chrysler products (and I'm not saying electric wipers didn't otherwise exist). SO, it makes me wonder if a) was that rear wiper powered by vacuum? or b) is that some kind of cool retro-mod ? Or, was that really a stock item?

I was going to check it out but it already sold. Are these old Pontiacs gaining in popularity? I want one with the hydramatic trans.

Cherish/Association.

Hi Jay, I often wonder on the relatively poor performance of the post-war engines, especially after all that was learned following WWII in aircraft and tank engines. I suspect that GM were the least likely initially to provide any upgraded features in their new car line up? Now I could be losing it here, yet I recall the Allison division of GM and their engines, even if they copied the RR Merlin, it used tech that is still current today, with even more advanced features in some respects, like sodium filled valve stems.

The '42 looks nicer

My question of this time period is, what was the Pontiac brand identity? I know in the last generations of Pontiac, it was more sporty, what is it here?

Was the in-line 8 the same engine used in the Buicks of the time?

the steering wheel is alabaster

It still is illegal to enter or exit from the driver side

Actually I prefer the 42

I have a 1948 torpedo

It is illegal to enter or exit the drivers side

What would automobiles be today if it weren't for wars? Makes me wonder !

Cherish the Association

Never my love by the Association.

Yeah bro, it's no mystery that car manufacturers paused their design dept during the war and didn't pick up until 1949, and it's fine! Cool channel still, these are some almost "autistic" level details you're schooling us over, it would be cool if you did an episode on the kustom car legends of the 50s and 60s, such as Winfield, Barris, Watson and them all. No? Edit: it just crossed my mind I might get misunderstood, everything I said was meant as a compliment, no criticism from my side 👍🏻🖤🏴‍☠️

The '42 is better-looking.

Never my love by the Association

yes those are fog lights on the front. yes thats a back up light. no door locks are common going back throughout the 40s as were locking gas caps as an option. Floor heaters were a thing and even a device you would fill with ice then place in your driver side window as air conditioning or electric windows on a Cadillac. I suggest more research before making these videos.

..... ??? .... "Looks like Crazyhorse"......what ??? .......no, I would say it looks like Chief Pontiac ! are you on drugs ??