This month's feature car belongs to a fellow who has been a member on Canadian Poncho for quite some time. His car I have seen several times in person and quite frankly I should have featured it a long time ago. I'm talking about Bob and Carol Crocker's gorgeous 1958 Pontiac Parisienne. To learn how Bob came about owning this great car, we have to go back about 50 years. You see, this isn't Bob's first 58 Parisienne.



 Back in 1960, at age 22, after driving clunkers for six years, Bob was fortunate enough to purchase a loaded 1958 Pontiac Parisienne Sport Coupe for $1800! It was two-tone Burma & Calypso Green, with the darker shade on the lower portion of the car. It was equipped with the 348 four barrell engine, powerglide transmission , power brakes, windows and steering. It also had a Wonderbar radio with rear seat speaker and backup lamps. In 1963, when Bob and his fiancee Carol decided to get married and purchase a house, the Pontiac was sold to help with the down payment. Bob was back to driving clunkers again!



Bob and Carol often wondered what happened to that Parisienne. In 2007 they asked Bill Sherk to write an article about it in Old Autos. A number of responses to the article were recieved, but none lead to the exact car. However one response led to Bob and Carol purchasing the 58 Parisienne you see featured this month.

 Only July 31st, 2007, Bob recieved a phone call from a car buff in Montreal who had read the Old Autos article. He mentioned that he had seen an ad for a two-tone green '58 Pontiac on a French auto sales website and thought Bob might be interested in it. This car turned out to be a Parisienne Sport Coupe with a numbers matching 261 six with a Powerglide transmission. Although it didn't have power steering or windows, it did have a radio, rear speaker, back-up lights, white wall tires and tinted windshield. The two tone green paint was opposite to the Parisienne that Bob used to own. The interior was identicle to the first car and was 100% original. 


 
  When Bob called he was able to find out the history on the car and that the current owner after purchasing the car in 1976 had done a six year body off restoration. Photos were emailed to Bob and they showed the car to have held up very well  and we well worth the trip to view and test drive. It was arranged on August 26th Bob with two friends would drive six hours to Cornwall to meet with the owner, who would make a three hour trip from Quebec.





When the car drove into the hotel parking lot, it was deja-vu again as the Pontiac was in better condition than Bob had expected! Paint, chrome, interior and mechanics were all excellent! While Bob and the owner were doing the paperwork, Bob's two friends loaded the car into the enclosed car trailer for the trip back home.








Since owning the car Bob has recieved information from GM Vintage Vehicle Service. It was sold through Omer Barre Pontiac Buick in Verdun Quebec and according to the second owner, the original owners were seniors, living in Verdun. They owned the car from March 1958 to May 1976. Total mileage was 72000.



Bob and Carol are now the third owners and the Parisienne now has about 108000 miles. This Parisienne is one of only 525 built making it one rare bird and a real survivor!