l4stout

I have decided to sell my 1958 Safari wagon. I bought it without a motor or trans. with plans to restore it but have gotten distracted by another old Chevy truck so will not get to it in the foreseeable future. It is 100% complete with very little rust. I have it advertised on the Spokane, WA and Bozeman, MT Craigslist for $7500 and am wondering if I overpaid in the first place. I got some good advice from this forum when I first bought the wagon so I would appreciate any thoughts on a fair price for the old girl. (he asked in a totally non-sexist fashion). I posted it twice on each site so that I could show 40 plus pictures if anyone wants to take a look. Thanks.

Here are a couple of pictures. I don't think it is missing any trim or anything else. I found a Pontiac 350 tranny today at a transmission shop. The guy thought he might have a line on a motor as well. This might end up all Pontiac after all.

Thanks! This helps a lot. I'll ask around about some later Pontiac motors/transmissions and see if I can find a pair. As I said, I don't plan on starting this for a few months so we will see what turns up. Thanks again.

Thanks for the reply. I am thinking of the SBC because I have two of them in decent shape along with a pair of TH350s sitting in the shop from other projects so it would be a low cost option compared to finding a 370 and likely having to rebuild it. Plus, I know Chevys pretty well but Pontiac motors----not so much. I am not going to start on this until this Fall/Winter so have some time to look for a good 370 but not optimistic about the search. The front end question was about putting a newer Camaro/Firebird or similar front end under the car to include power steering. The existing front end seems tight but I am going to pull the front clip off to make the motor/transmission install easier so there would not be a better time to do it. There are arguments to made for keeping this relatively rare car original but anymore, I am not sure it makes much difference in the end value or desirability. I know they only made 2905 Star Chief Safaris in 1958 and I wonder how many are left? Good news on the steering box. Maybe with a set of Ram Horn exhaust manifolds it will not be an issue. Who is Mrs. Grundy?

I just bought a 1958 Custom Safari wagon with no motor or transmission but a very good original no bondo body. I think the odds on finding a 370 motor to get it running stock are slim so...I am wondering what folks have done for motor and transmission mounts to install a SBC Chevy 350/350 combo in this vintage Pontiac. If I am reading the history correctly, the Safari is built on the Chieftan chassis. Also, (and I expect to get slammed by purists for this question, has anyone bolted a newer front end into this chassis? It looks like the steering box may need to go outboard of the frame to accommodate the the 350 and at that point, a newer front end might make sense? Thanks in advance for any info. Dan