Another new member from the Antipodeaa

[RHB785]

, Hi to everyone. Thank you for providing this forum Larry. I'm from Newcastle NSW Australia and I'm considering buying a 1939 Australian GM-H bodied Pontiac to restore. There doesn't appear to be too much to do, a repaint and a bit of work on the interior and she should be ready for work. I notice you also have a '39 or is it a '40 Pontiac Larry. I'll no doubt have some questions for you vintage Pontiac fans. Actually Ihave one right away. The 39 Aussie Pontiacs had only one stop/tail/number plate light on the right hand side. This was the same as the '38 US production Pontiacs. My question is, were both sides the same on US '38 cars?I want to fit another to the left hand side and I'm looking for help and info with this for a start. thanks in advance for any info anyone can give me. I'll be joining as a full memebr shortly.

Cheers,
Ross.

[Larry]

I have a 1940 Pontiac 2519 (Chevy-bodied 6-cylinder, 4-door sedan).

I'm a bit confused discussing 1939 and 1938 back and forth. They are quite different in the taillight department.

The 1939 U.S cars had a license plate mount in the middle of the trunk, and two separate lights on both fenders.

The 1938 was the opposite of your Slopers with a taillight and license plate bracket on the left side. They had a similar taillight (without the bracket) on the right.

Whichever yours is (38 or 39), the two sides are different. But the two sides for the '38 might be different only because of the license bracket (that is, still fit the fenders regardless of which side). For 1939 they are listed in the parts book as LH and RH, so the fender shapes were different.

If the Slopers had different fenders than ours, then perhaps a second lamp was never made.

[RHB785]

, Thank you Larry. From what I can see of pics of both the 38 American cars and the 39 Aussie ones the Aussie ones had what appear to be the same tail light assembly as the 38 American ones, only we only had one of them till 1940 and then they appeared to be the same as the Chevs, Oldsmobiles and Buicks with one on each side and a single number plate lamp in the middle of the deck lid. I'm still learning and no doubt still have a lot to learn about older Pontiacs, or any Pontiacs for that matter.

Regards,
Ross.

[RHB785]

A little more about me. I'm also interested in old aeroplanes and was looking forward to getting the Pontiac Sloper's photo taken (if I buy her and restore her) next to a 1934 DeHavilland DH84 Dragon whose owner and pilot I have met at an airfield west of Brisbane. The Dragon and the Sloper are the same colour just about and they'd look good sitting together on an unrestricted airfield. Sadly, yesterday afternoon the Dragon, named Riama and the six elderly people aboard radiod for navigation assistance in thick low cloud to get back to Caboolture north of Brisbane. They were in the Brisbane River Valley near Kilcoy at the time.

Like the 39 Sloper, the Dragon has limited intsrumentation and now hopes are fading that they will be found alive. In 1954 when he was 10 years old the pilot survived the crash of another Dragon flown by his father which killed his father and older brother and a couple of years before that his father had walked away from a crash in Riama at Archerfield Airport near Brisbane. The owner/pilot, Des Porter is a well known motor mechanic in the Brisbane area and was attending an airshow Near Bundaberg giving joyrides to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor service here.

Ross.

[Larry]

YIKES! Not such good news about the airplane incident. Let's hope something good happens to produce some better news. A flying hobby can be dangerous, and sadly at times when some good is trying to be accomplished.

Keep us posted on your Pontiac purchase... hope you still do it. From the taillight standpoint, it sounds like a '38 set of lights would work on an Aussie '39. Is it possible the '39 you are looking at is really a '38 and just titled a year later? What is the front end, '38 or '39 in appearance?

[RHB785]

, Hi Larry, Yes it can be a dangerous hobby. I do hold a private pilot's licence but I let the medical lapse years ago and I'm going through the process of trying to get it back now. I had an incident of chest pain 10 years ago which wasn't a heart attack but the Civil Aviation Safety Authority medical officer wants me to have the full works and jerks; stress test etc and won't issue me with my full medical until I have done that to his satisfaction.

From what I've learned so far it seems that the front end of the Pontiac is an American '39 model but the rear of them (even the sedans) is the same as the '38 American models. I know that from the firewall forward they were whatever they were in the US, even the other GM brands sold here but from the firewall back they were our own pressings even in the sedans. I have to do some more research but I don't know even if our '40 models had the round tail lights mounted half way up the sides of the boot; sorry, trunk. The tail light is definitely on the body, not the fender. If you have a look at the maroon one in your threads it's similar to that one, but the tail light is on the body.

Regards,
Ross.

[Larry]

I am willing to bet that perhaps all Slopers had something Holden sourced. It would be interesting if they used U.S. '38 lights, but I would investigate before buying some.

Yes, the '40 has rectangle shape lights on the body.

[RHB785]

Hi Larry, How about I email you some pics of the car? If you could pm me your email address I'll do that, plus a site that has some other external pics of it. I noticed some '38 tail lights on ebay that look to my eyes exactly like the one on this car, except for the number plate bracket.

Regards,
Ross.

[RHB785]

Some sad news on the DH Dragon. The wreckage was found today after the weather cleared and it's been confirmed that all six people on board have died in the crash.

Ross.