The seller of this 1956 Pontiac Safari for sale on Hemmings.com goes to great lengths to point out where it’s received touchup work here and there since its restoration years ago, but even after studying the photos of the wagon, we’d be hard pressed to find any of those spots. It looks straight, clean, and in need of little more than standard care to show well, and barring that, it reportedly drives just as good as it looks. From the seller’s description:
Finished in Nimbus Grey (actually it’s white!) and Olympic Blue, the wagon’s original colors. This is a highly unusual Safari wagon because of options it has. First, it has by data code the rarely seen cloth and leather interior, which is much flashier than the all-leather. It also has an extraordinarily rare padded dash, power front windows and a six-way power seat–all factory-installed options. You’ll likely never see another Safari with this combination of factory options.
The wagon received a frame-on restoration some years back, and still shows very well. At that time, the paint, chrome and interior were all restored, except for the headliner, which is in good original condition. Mechanical restoration was done as needed. The underside was also highly detailed. Everything still looks very nice. It appears that the rear of the wagon was repainted at some point after the restoration. The wagon has zero rust or rust repair and was a CA car most, if not all of its life, until to coming to NC. The car runs very well and is surprisingly fast. I recently installed a set of valve lifters and checked the compression at that time and discovered it has perfect compression on all cylinders. The Hydra-Matic shifts smoothly. Every option works on the wagon, except for the spotlight, windshield washer and the clock. Since owning the Safari, I have had the lift gate straightened and rechromed by Mad Mooks Nomads in CA. The lift gate fits like a glove now. I also replaced the torsion rod system with hydraulic cylinders, so that now the entire tail gate and lift gate function and fit beautifully.
There are several areas where the paint has been touched up over the years, but the wagon still looks beautiful inside and out.
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