62 Pontiac Flower Car

[pyro]

DSCN1662.jpgFound this car in a parts yard a few days ago. This is a documented car, only one made into a flower car in 62 or 63. Engine runs, and car has rust. No roof rust, quarter oanel rust, and trunk rust. Stainless trunk trim is all there. Only trim missing is the rocker panel covers. Spare back bumper and other trim parts come with the car. The guy wants 5,000 for it. Clean title. There are jump seats in the back too.

This isnt my car, so dont PM me about it. The guys # is; 520-405-7112 DSCN1658.jpgDSCN1659.jpgDSCN1660.jpg

[pyro]

more pics

[pyro]

and more,

[Dr.Feelgood]

Thats cool! I like the jump seats too. Was this on Craigslist recently?

[pyro]

Not on craigs list that I know of. Just a discovery while talking on the phone with the yard owner.

[creepypt]

I'm really digging those suicide loading doors!

[Psychoholic]

The doors are pretty neat - and someone is going to give me shit for this, but it's kinda ugly.

[pyro]

Ugly, like the stripper you want a closer look at.

[creepypt]

Ugly, like the stripper you want a closer look at.

I think I've been to that bar....

[hotroddwayne]

How cool is this... Pyro, YOU found a prototype! This is the first ever flower car (their prototype) built by Armbruster & Company in 1962.

Over on Coachbuilt.com they talk about this particular car at length... and describe it perfectly from memories of long ago:

During the early 1960s Armbruster started building their higher-priced coaches on Pontiac chassis and even built a prototype Pontiac flower car built using a 2-door 1962 Catalina sedan. The unusual car featured the 2-door sedan's roofline and front doors and also included a pair of smaller rear side doors for easier access to the space behind the driver's seat where a pair of forward-facing jump seats were installed even though though the car was not intended to be used as a limousine. The rear side doors didn't include any upper section with windows, and ended at the beltline, making the longer front doors necessary for access to use the jump seats. Instead of an Eastern style deck, the vehicle had an open stainless-steel well similar to the ones found on McClain flower cars and may have been removable as well.

Whoops... it did surface on Ebay in January 2009: http://www.nationalhearse.net/forums...wer-cars/page2

Still a very awesome car and it's whereabouts shared, too bad it's so crusty from the doors back... eesshhh

[R U INJRD]

The doors are pretty neat - and someone is going to give me shit for this, but it's kinda ugly.

It's ugly because it's a flower car. I have yet to come across a picture of a flower car that did not look like it was crudely forged out of something else that was preexisting, especially post-war. There are a few Packards and early Cadillac flower cars out there that look like some thought went into how they would look when they were done, but most everything else looks like something that was built in a two car garage. Surprising really, given the amount of fabrication some coachbuilders did on some cars, basically fabricating everything behind the fenders. I don't know if it was just that the demand wasn't there for flower cars to warrant building one from the ground up or what, but they always look like someone cut the roof off a hearse and spliced on a sedan back window. While the rear doors may be convenient, they don't help the lines any either.

[60Crown]

I'll agree that some flower cars look much better than others but damn Todd - that was harsh.

Now Im curious what you would like to see in flower car design. Provide enough inspiration and I'll bust out Photoshop.

[Dickey]

I've always wondered why I haven't seen one rolling around with a hot tub in place of the flower box.

[R U INJRD]

I'll agree that some flower cars look much better than others but damn Todd - that was harsh.

Now Im curious what you would like to see in flower car design. Provide enough inspiration and I'll bust out Photoshop.

Actually, some of the photoshops you've done already look just fine, and that's kind of my point. With photoshop you have almost a clean slate, you can change things to suit your fancy with little more than a bit of time involved. In real life I imagine it's much more difficult, and that many coachbuilders didn't spend a lot of time on flower car design because the demand was never there, so you get cars that look like other cars that have been hacked up and put back together. I looked through Gregg Merksamers entire book before I responded to this thread, and I didn't see a single one that didn't look like a compromise.

You or anyone else are free to prove me wrong with pictures of well designed and thought out flower cars. I'd love to see them. Heck, I'd love to OWN one, but not one of these half-door, half-top rolling compromises.

[60Crown]

Getting O/T but Pyro probably doesn't mind...

Always thought this '60 McClain (which happens to be earliest known surviving) is really nicely proportioned. Granted, B pillars could still use massaging and it wasn't built on a long commercial chassis. Helps too that current CA owner, Scotty, made great mild custom changes. Love the wheels, stance, and '59 front bumper swap. Looks a lot better than when Darlene owned it. This pic is a few years old already too. Wonder if more work has been done.