Pontiac Star Chief

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1956 Pontiac Star Chief hardtop coupe

While no longer the top-line Pontiac, the 1958 Star Chief was well appointed and offered in as two-door and four-door Catalina hardtops, sedan, and station wagon models.

1955 Starchief Convertible

The Star Chief was a car built by General Motors' Pontiac division between 1954 and 1966.

Between 1954 and 1957, the Star Chief was Pontiac's prestige model; the car was easy identified by its chrome star trim along its sides. When the storyline of I Love Lucy pointed towards a Hollywood setting in the 1954-1955 season, the characters "drove" (in episode 100) to the West Coast in a 1955 Star Chief convertible.

In 1957, the high performance Star Chief Custom Bonneville was introduced as part of its divisional head's push to raise the marque out of the doldrums.

In 1958, the Bonneville was first given its own position in the Pontiac lineup as the ultimate Pontiac, and was only available as a two-door hardtop and two-door convertible. While no longer Pontiac's prestige model, the Star Chief remained a well appointed car. However, in 1959, when the Bonneville gained a full range of body styles, the Star Chief was limited to sedans and hardtops, while the Bonneville and the new Catalina models received the lion's share of Pontiac's attention in the marketplace.

In the early 1960s, Star Chiefs were nearly identical to the Catalina, however, the Star Chief's engine output was higher. The Star Chief also came standard with interior trim upgrades, and it was built on the longer Bonneville platform.

In 1966 the car was rechristened the Star Chief Executive as the first step towards retiring the name, which by the mid-1960s had become dated. In 1967, Pontiac dropped the Star Chief name for sales in the United States and renamed the mid-priced model the Pontiac Executive.