Talk:Pontiac Star Chief

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The black car in the "Pontiac Star Chief" article that is described as a 1960s Star Chief sedan is actually a 1967 Pontiac Strato Chief, which was a Canadian-built car. The Strato Chief was the lowest-priced full-sized Pontiac offered in Canada and powered by Chevrolet engines and transmissions as were all Canadian Pontiacs at that time. The Canadian Pontiacs also differed from their U.S. counterparts in the fact they were built on shorter Chevy chassis and wheelbases (119 inches vs. 121 to 124 for American-built full-sized Pontiacs) - the only true Pontiac parts on those cars were sheetmetal and instrument panels.

In Canada, Pontiac had a lower market position than in the U.S. and in fact competed directly with Chevy model-for-model rather than as a step-up from Chevy as in the U.S. The Strato Chief was an equivalent to Chevrolet's low-end Biscayne, while the mid-line Laurentian was paralled to Chevy's Bel Air and the Parisienne similar to the Chevrolet Impala. The top-line Grand Parsienne had front and rear styling similar to the U.S.-built Grand Prix and was an equivalent of Chevy's Caprice in market position. The Grand Parisienne coupe also used the Grand Prix's more squareback roofline with concave rear window rather than the full fastback roofline found on Parisienne coupes in Canada and Catalina/Bonneville coupes stateside.

Mpotter 19:08, 25 March 2007 (UTC)