1959 Pontiac MSRP Window Sticker

Neat Sticker. I used one of those Buick stickers as a base for the first attempt at making these, before Brian hooked us up with a genuine article. The Pontiac version is pretty austere compaired to Buick, with the bottom section having the advertisement on it. John, yours is coming along nicely, albeit slowly, since I'm in Boise, ID right now. Just for a few more days. Putting the finishing touches on a new restaurant to open soon. I do have a couple questions regarding your sticker, though. Under the DC Decor Group, it lists "Deluxe Wheels Discs" and as an option under S, "Custom Wheel Discs" is listed. Would the option "S", override and omit the Deluxe version in the decor group? Makes sense to me, but just wondering why two different options would be listed for the same car. I guess buy one to get the other options and upgrade to the better hubcaps or was that the case for convertibles? I laughed at the Buick version for Q- Permanent anti-freeze.....Permanent?? Anyway, so far so good. I can't print anything while I'm away, so I will print my test stickers for you, John, when I get home on Monday. Until then...Happy President's Day!..??

I may know what 'permanent' antifreeze means. I remember from the shop manual, that there is a section on antifreeze. For temporary use (e.g. a trip to somwhere cold) methanol is recomended. However this evaporates and dissapears from the system in warm weather, and needs maintenance. The alternative - refered to in the text as permanent antifreeze - is propylen glycole, like we use today. Maybe it was expensive back then...there seem to be no other reason to use methanol.

Chad.....Take your time, no hurry here. There were two prices for the Custom Wheel Discs (spinners.) $35.30 if you ordered a Catalina without the Decor Group, or $17.65 if you ordered the Decor Group, or ordered a Starchief or Bonneville. The price differential was because you already paid for the Deluxe Wheel Discs in the price of the Decor Group or in the price of the more expensive models. If you look at my Firebird sticker, Deluxe Wheel covers and Deluxe Steering Wheel are part of the "Custom Trim Option." But it also lists the Sports Steering Wheel and Wire Wheel covers as an upgrade. These would have been more expensive had the car not been ordered with the "Custom Trim Option." Do you think it's all going to fit?.....John

Brian.....Two things that I remember most about that '55. Just prior to Christmas of 1954, my parents took me to a Schwinn dealer in Philadelphia. There I picked out a new "English Racer" as we called them back then. The skinny tire 26" bike with the 3 speed Sturmey Archer gear shift and calliper brakes front and rear, and the generator that snapped against the rear tire for the lights. I thought it was the coolest thing, even if I had to share that big box with the back seat of our '52 Plymouth on the way home. On the way back that evening, we stopped in Bristol at the Pontiac dealer and they ordered the '55. I guess that was their Christmas present to each other.
My parents liked to take nice vacations each summer. The only problem was that I used to get car sick on long drives. I personally christened the back seat area of a 1948 Cheverolet, and 1948, 50, and 52 Plymouths. I don't know if it was the better ride, or the smoothness of the Hydra-Matic, or the open air feeling of back windows that rolled completely down or not having a "B" pillar, but I never got car sick again......John

Brian.....That sticker adds to the crazyness of the whole destination charge thing.

Flint MI. to Prophetstown IL.......407 miles.....$67.....$0.16/mile.

John

OOPS.....I meant a 1938 Chevrolet. Their first car, and the only used one they ever bought......John

John- Did you get the email I sent you? Anyway..Sorry for the slow response, My Mom is having some medical issues right now, so I need to be there more for Dad than Mom..He's kind of lost with out her...He's never cooked a day in his life! On top of that, we got 4 inches of fluffy global warming last night, kind of snarls people around here! Okay...Window Sticker.....The wheel discs (hubcaps) makes sense now, just trying to get all my ducks in a row. I want to get this right. To answer your question, yes I managed to get all your options to fit with some space to spare. It looks good, so far. I need to replenish my printer ink supply, no store bought ink here, it has to be ordered. I'm waiting on a guy who might have something to go with your sticker, but have not heard from him, as of yet. Such as life. I will definitely keep you posted on the ongoing progress...until then....Happy Motoring.

Chad.....Yes I got your E-mail. Didn't reply because I figured you would see my explaination in the previous post. I'm not in a big hurry for the sticker, since no one but me will see it until the show season starts in a couple months. Do what you have to do. Family always comes first. We just had a warm rain here that finally melted the last of the snow. I usually need the snow thrower once or twice at most a season. This year I used it six times, and that doesn't count the couple snows that were not worth firing it up for. Al Gore is a horse's ass......John

John- Thanks for the concern, I appreciate it very much. Funny, what you said about Al Gore, I could not agree more! I think he's right about 5% in what he says, the other 95% about global warming is all the hot air that comes out of his pie hole (and I'm NOT talking about Tipper, either). Anyhow..It's going well here, now if I can just get Dad to actually use the microwave! I took the garbage out for him today...it was half full of fast food wrappers.....I guess the old dog/ new tricks theory applies here. We took him out to a nice dinner at his great little Italian place that has about 20 tables with my Wife's Aunt and Uncle. When we were leaving, Auntie says, "It was okay, but it's NO Olive Garden!" Olive Garden? She cannot be serious? Like that's authentic Italian......I'll keep you posted on the sticker.....

Chad and Brian.....Check this out on Ebay! Item # 320737357119. Looks like the front of the 1959 sticker, and is included with some other items that are for 1959. However, the back side has the 1960 emblem......John

After having computer and hard drive issues as well as my jump drive disappeared only to be found in a floor vent (thanks to my 4 year old "storing" it for me in there (his words). I'm back on track with the template, but finding time to sit long enough to work on it, has been a chalenge latley, with other projects.

More later when I can, things to do, so little time! Such as life.

Since my Wife's computer has a better operating system and updated docoument creator, I think this is a better format for making the window stickers. They will be crisp and less likely to "break down" form repeated saving. I noticed between sessions of working on the dcoument and bringing it back up to the screen, the lettering and colors would "degenerate" each time I pulled it up. Not sure why, but when I would do test printings from this "Master", it would look worse than before, with each one "fuzzier" than the last. I would make changes and "Save" the these changes and come back later and there would be little discolored pixels around each letter, cuasing "ghosting", which in turn make the document appear fuzzy and less "crisp".

All is not lost, but I just need to spend some time on it and "just get them done".

I know John (CATBIRD) is anxiously awaiting his, and I'm disappointed in myself for not getting it to him sooner, I hope he hs not written me off, yet! It sonds trivial, but I don't want to produce a substandard product, if its not right, just to have it "finished" for the sake of printing it.

I am kind of a perfectionist and can be frustrating (for me and others), but I would never give a car back to a client, until I'm happy with the results, regardless if the client wants it back sooner. They have grumbled, but are always happy when I put the extra effort and there is a little delay in delivery of thier investment.

With that being said, I am working on the stickers, between "Leverage" and other projects. It is spring and my Wife has come up with a loooong list of Honey-do's to complete! Jeez, I thought retirement ment not having to do so much work! It seems like I am busier that when I was working full-time. Such as life, I suppose!

I hope all is well with everyone!

Chad

Hello Chad, I am a new member to this group and am trying to catch up with all the posts! I would love to purchase a reproduction window sticker from your for my 59 Bonneville if that would be possible? Also I have an original "1959 MODEL WHOLESALE CAR ORDER PONITAC MOTOR DIVISION GMC," (form 516) which would have been used by the dealer to place an order for a new car for a customer. The order form has boxes for the dealer to check off the model, color (body and top), options and acccessorys, dealer name, financing, routing, customer name, etc. In all there were 80 separate boxes on this form! The original top copy was sent to the zone office and the carbon copy was kept by the dealer. If you don't already have this 59 Pontiac new car order form I would be happy to send you a copy for your collection.


03-02-2013.......Any progress on making the window stickers available for sale? I would really love to buy one!!! Don Weston

Don.....welcome to the forum. I think you will find this to be a great place to find and share information about our cars. There seems to have been very little interest throughout the Internet, until this site was created, thanks to Robert. Any problems that you may have, or information you seek is here for the asking. Any information you have, or helpful knowledge you could pass on I'm sure would be appreciated. Again welcome......John

P.S. you have a PM

It has been six months since the last post on this topic. Any idea when the window stickers will be made available for sale? I would love to buy one and know of several other 59 Pontiac owners who would definitely like to order one as well. Please advise....thanks!

I am working on them again. I was able to recover the basic code version of the template I made from the "original" surviving document I got from Brian.

It has been another horrendous 50+ hours of recreating the outer scroll work, lettering and type font for the "information" of each individual car. Recreating this typeset is not only time consuming, but code has to be written to save it and get it to "type" the letters correctly, with the flaws. these flaws include, but not limited to, uneven letters and making each letter have a "personality", to mimic the original teletype machines used in the factory.

This portion is done and I am now working on the MSRP document portion (blue border, font and scroll). I can only work on this at night, when I am alone and cannot be disturbed. This does not happen every night, unfortunately. I do it in sessions, as I cannot stare at my computer screen too Long, as I go stir crazy. Anyone who has ever done data entry or photoshop, knows what I'm talking about.

I appreciate everyone's patience, especially CATBIRD who has waited the longest. Only when I am satisfied, will I release them, but hopefully it will be soon, before show season.

Chad

Thanks for the rely Chad. I had no idea it was so complicated! Naturally I and everyone else will wait as long as it takes for the window sticker to be done. I don't expect you to work for free and suggest you charge a price for the window sticker that will make your long efforts worthwhile but still afforable enough for the serious amateur collector like myself to purchase. if you will provide me with your email address I have some additional background information on the 59 Pontiac window sticker I think you will find interesting! Regards, Don Weston.

Don- Thanks. I started this arduous task and I'm going to finish it one way or another. John (CATBIRD) and I came up with what we think is a fair price at $50.00, for a completed sticker with all the information for each individual car.

Included will be a "new" version and an aged version, to appear as an original surviving document. They will also be double sided, to include the original blue back (see older posts, for examples). You will receive two copies of each...one for display and one for archiving.

I try to get an hour a night, but I have been working on restoring some rare Nomad sheet metal from an original surviving family car, that needs to be preserved. It is for a special customer. This is in addition to other projects I have on the burner as well. I am down to 5 hours of sleep a night.

On top of that, my wife and I are raising a very curious and smart 5 year old. He is my buddy and he can push my lazy button very easy. I never thought I would ever play in a sand box again, but he proved that theory wrong! I enjoy every minute of it!

OK Chad. My email is donald.weston@cox.net. Please email me your home address so I can mail you a CD with some additional information I think you will find really interesting on the 59 Pontiac window sticker. The file is too large to send by email. Don Weston

Just check in Chad.   It has been almost another six months since the last time the subject of your reproduction window stickers was discussed.    Sure hope you can get to it soon as I and many others would love to order one!    

On another subject I attended both the "Hot August Nights" car show in Reno and the "Woodward Cruise"  in Michigan this past month.   Saw only one 59 Pontiac in Reno and the only 59 Pontiac in the Woodward Cruise was the Bonneville convertible I drove.   Borrowed it from a friend who lives there and owns two of them.

Best wishes,
Don Weston

Another six weeks has gone by with no response. Very disappointing!

May 2014.....Yet another six months with no window sticker reproduction source. There must be someone out there with the computer skills needed to do this!!!