Arther Billings amazing find

[kennb]

I have come into some files last month from a life long friend in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He said the files were from his cousin that passed away in 2012. The following information was gotten from those files. I will be posting more information from those files in the coming weeks.

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In 1998 Arther Billings was invited to a relations house in Gary Indiana to look over one of his distant relatives belongings after the old gentleman passed away. The main concern of the family was what to do with an old unidentified car that was in the basement garage. They asked Arther because he was into old cars and they knew Arther would be able to identify it so they could sell it, Arther arrived on a cold February day and went to the house where the car was located.

The took him downstairs to the dimly lit garage and uncovered a faded metallic green bodied car, the likes of what Arther had never seen before. The fiberglass body looked like something he had seen before but the trimmings and chrome work defied anything he had knowledge of. It had suicide doors on the back and regular doors on the front. The interior had leather and cloth combination swivel bucket seats like he had on his 76 Monte Carlo. Very strange indeed. It almost looked homemade. The top looked like it was from a 57 Buick or Olds, the front looked like a turned upside down 56 Caddy and had taillights from a 58 Biscayne. The overall look was oddly shaped and the grill looked very weird and awkward.

The family showed Arther the information they had which was minimal at best, Nothing more that a handwritten paper that the old man had bought the car at a junkyard in August of 1960 for the sum of $50 for a "fiberglass bodied car from 1954". The junkyard was in the outskirts of Detroit. Arther said he would take the car and determine what it was and pay the family a few hundred dollars for it. They were just delighted just to have the thing out of the house so they could finish getting the estate settled.

[DrKerry]

Do you have photos of the car at all?

[kennb]

Photos are coming forthwith,,,patience

[DrKerry]

K, sorry. Just got my curiosity peaked now!!!!!! LOL

[kennb]

[DrKerry]

Yer teasing me now!!!!!

[Kennyboy]

I'm in for the photos too Kenn!

[kratvmnd]

My gut says XP-37..?? What do I win?!? I don't recall much about what the front end looked like though. I have always loved this as it is Corvair-ish. I have been wanting to try this one for awhile now,so hopefully I'm right..don't keep us waiting too long!

[1930fordpickup]

This is not right, teasing us like this.

[b_lever1]

The Mad Plastic Master is at it again can not wait to see this one! Your stories are the best your models even better,I bow to the Master!

[blunc]

hmm, based on the door description, I have an idea of what this is...

but I'm not gonna ruin Kenneth's big reveal.

[Joker]

Uncle ! ! !

[Mack_Mechanic]

[kennb]

Arther rented a trailed and loaded the car up and took it to his home outside of Milwaukee. For 2 years he spent time trying to figure out what this car was and researching it. He mailed off pictures to everyone he could think of and finially in 2000 he got a hit from a letter he sent to Hemmings Motor News. They told him it was a motorama car from 1954 called the Pontiac Strato Streak. Suposedly it was reworked and painted red for a later motorama but apparently this was not the case. It was supposedly destroyed in 1958 but that could not be documented. There was also pictures of the same car painted blue. Was there actually 2 different cars then? They told him it was most likely sent to a junk yard to be destroyed but it was known for them to save a lot of these old motorama cars. They sent a copy of the motorama information they had and wished him luck with the car.

He now had some confirmation on what the car was since the pictures from the 54 motorama were identical to the car he had in the garage. Did he now have a unknown second car that matched the first one that was reworked and painted red? There is no documentation to this second car but he did have it in his position so that had to be the case, unless the reworked car was actually built from the ground up and a different car altogether.

Arther started to carefully photograph the car and the details as he slowly started to restore this relic from GM's hayday. The years slide by as he did more research, now on the internet, and slowey brought this car to a new life. He took his time and the car was slowly reassembled and restored to its former glory. Today we can see the pictures of the restored car next to the original photos he got from the net and the letter from Hemmings Motor News. I will take some time to post a few selected photos from the collection of the restoration process that Arther had of the car. The frame was a built up tube frame with a Pontiac straight eight under the hood
which was period correct. This is a fully functioning car unlike some others that were made for shows but not unusual,

[blunc]

looks a LOT better than the car I was expecting to be revealed...the 1955 Chevy Biscayne concept car, which had similar roof line and same door config.

this should be interesting to follow.

[DrKerry]

Very kool, I'll be watching, bag of popcorn in hand!!!!

[kratvmnd]

looks a LOT better than the car I was expecting to be revealed...the 1955 Chevy Biscayne concept car, which had similar roof line and same door config.

this should be interesting to follow.

That's the car I was thinking of too. Like you said-similar roof,doors,swivel seats,same color-it even has a similar story,as it was found in a scrapyard and pieced together fairly recently. That did have a hideous front end though,but the rest of the car was quite striking.

Can't wait to see this come together,should be fun!

[DrKerry]

Is this car still in the Milwaukee area?

[kennb]

The location of the car right now is under wraps as too there would be too may wanting to see it..

It is obvious from first glance, this new concept car was something like never seen before from the design studios of Pontiac. It was a large four-place sedan of totally unfamiliar styling. Some say it was “European” in design, and while there is a hint of Ghia styling in the front treatment, that is where the European theme ends. The overall look seems to hint more to an advancement of the Hudson look from years before with the addition of yet-to-be-seen Cadillac Eldorado sloping rear fenders and a ‘58 GM slanted rear roof pillar design. And, what’s with the ‘57 Oldsmobile rear quarter windows? Obviously, this Strato Streak was the amalgamation of a lot of design ideas of what the most futuristic car, viewed in 1954, would entail.

Most striking of all, however, were the pillarless doors with the rear ones opening in “suicide” fashion. This was a throwback to at least 1940 with sedan rear opening doors, but updated with the now popular hardtop style. The structural support required by the elimination of the center pillar was made up by frame reinforcement. Weight was reduced by using fiberglass for the body, something still pretty new at this time, only recently gaining fame with the Corvette. This new medium sure sped up the body creation process for the design studios who used to have to hammer metal for entire new concept bodies. This new body stood only 54.5-inches tall and was slightly longer than the new ‘54 Star Chief at 214.3-inches. more later

[DrKerry]

You mention a lot of styling cues that were later brought out. I know a lot of the concept cars from back then did that. They tried out the styling but didn't put it into an actual production car until later.

[Danno]

Mmmm