1965 Pontiac 4 door in Borden PEI

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

1965 Pontiac 4 door in Borden PEI

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Nice cruiser.

Accepting offers. They have become like real estate.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

Frame has been fixed. If it's an original island car you'll want to take a really good look at it.

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Looks like a decent driver if it was repaired properly (and depending on the price - ad says "accepting offers"...). Nice colour combo but not perfect so you wouldn't be afraid to park it anywhere.

Re: Cars from PEI. A buddy of mine once had a '48 Plymouth that lived its life in PEI until the grandfather gave it to his son in NS. On highway #2 on his way back to Halifax the engine developed a rod knock, so he had it towed the rest of the way and it sat in a garage until my friend bought it in the mid 1990s. When he went over the car he dug out all kinds of red PEI mud from the frame rails and other spots underneath, but the car wasn't rusty. I was the one who had originally found the car before it was for sale, and was told by the son of the original owner that PEI cars didn't rust so much back then because they didn't salt the roads. I do believe that road salt is imported to PEI because it is basically a sand bar, so I'm wondering when they did start using road salt? Do you have any info, Don or other PEI experts? Was his story true?

Ad info:

Quote from ad:

1965 Pontiac Parisienne for sale. Original miles = 75878. $4000 paint &; body work 3 years ago. Floor &; frame repairs completed &; undercoated New tires,brakes,shocks &; springs, New water pump &; carb repair kit installed. Accepting offers until 30 May 2022 Engine = 283 V/8

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

They used pei sand forever, a 1948 may not have seen road salt. Winters used to be much colder and salt was not used much in the cold, plus with the wind, snow blew back on the roads every day, so any salt got plowed off. Id say widespread salting only happened starting in the 70s. The older vehicles also got stored inside on wooden floors a lot, way less humidity than a concrete or gravel/dirt floor. PEI also had way less humidity in the winter than say coastal NS.

I do remember lots of mid 50s Dodge/Plymouths severely rusted and then lots of those square 73 fords shot completely in a couple of years. GM did not have good inner fenders that kept mud off the inside headlight area until 1962, before that youd see lots of cars with rust through just behind the headlights. PEI also has a lower speed limit, 90kph, so salt spray is less?

Just remember you are looking at cars that survived, a very small percentage of what was sold.

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Thanks Don. I knew you'd have good info. I'm guessing that before the Confederation Bridge was built, they must have had to truck it via ferry from Malagash or Pugwash NS, which I think would be time consuming and a little expensive. Maybe if less salt was being used, people might be inclined to drive less in the winter as well, which might have been the case with the '48 - plus it came to NS and was stored inside just before PEI started widespread salting.

Anecdotally, as a kid in the 1970s I'd recall on our family trips to PEI that there seemed to be more 1950s and 60s cars on the island than I would see in NS. This really stood out to me as most of those cars were toast back home by that point. At the time, I thought the apparent higher survival rate must be due to people taking better care of their cars.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

I recall an older fellow who worked for "Highways" back in the day telling me there weren't a lot of plows for the rural routes. When I first moved here I was commuting from near Wood Islands to Charlottetown and so many people couldn't believe I'd take that drive every day. For me compared to Ontario the 40 minute drive was a cakewalk with little to no traffic- especially in the winter when the tourists have gone home. This is when this fellow told me that it would have been almost impossible to do that commute as recent as the 60's as there was only one plow servicing that route. Maybe a lot of cars got put away for the winter because of this. I do know a lot of rural older folks would (and still do) move to Charlottetown over the winter.

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Interesting, Todd. I recall 40 years ago that the highways there were more like secondary roads to me, and not always in good shape. I know that has changed somewhat since then, though I imagine the less-travelled rural areas maybe not so much.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

Indeed there were quite a few dirt roads back in the day. These roads are pretty much impassible for a few weeks during spring thaw as they turn into mud. Folks with dirt laneways often park at the road and walk up to the house during the thaw. I remember not long after moving here a friend of my wife decided to come for a visit. It was mid April and she decided to take a shorter route to our place which involved taking a dirt sideroad. Her small car got stuck in the mud up to the floorboards. A local farmer towed her out with his tractor. Another fun fact I was told by the locals is our area didn't have electricity until the 1950's. Here's an interesting CBC article about the island getting electricity. Sorry for the derail!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-electricity-bygone-days-dutch-thompson-1.5045419

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I dont remember not having electricity but I remember when we got a phone in the early 60s. We also had an old radio with many bands on it, I listened to Radio Moscow during the Vietnam war, it was a whole different war. Early fake news but I think some of the news from both sides was fake. We could sometimes get am radio from New York City or Wheeling West Virginia if atmospheric conditions were right.