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Final Parking Space: 1946 Pontiac Streamliner 4-Door Sedan
We’ve admired some examples of discarded Detroit iron from the postwar era in this series so far, including a 1951 Buick Roadmaster and a 1952 Chrysler Windsor, and today we’re going back to the very first model year for post-World War II GM civilian car manufacturing. Here’s a once-stately 1946 Pontiac Streamliner, found at a family-owned yard about 30 miles north of Denver, Colorado.
Speedway Auto Wrecking is located on the Colorado High Plains near Interstate 25, with a nice view of Long’s Peak to the west. It’s a sprawling, old-school yard with thousands of vintage American cars and trucks in stock. These days, it’s only open on Saturday mornings.
The exclusive operating hours allow the owners to concentrate on their good work rescuing abandoned animals, from dogs and cats to donkeys and burros (some of which live adjacent to the vehicle yard).
Most of the inventory at Speedway is weathered Detroit machinery from the late 1930s through middle 1970s, though a sprinkling of imports and 21st-century vehicles may be found. In addition to this 1938 Ford, I’ve documented such junkyard rarities as an AMC Gremlin Levi’s Edition, a 1954 Nash Ambassador, and a 1957 Mercury Montclair Phaeton at Speedway.
This section of 1950s-1970s Ford products would bring bitter tears to our own Sajeev Mehta’s long-suffering eyes, and I’ll have to bring him here next time he visits Colorado.
You’ll see plenty of bits of Centennial State history as you wander this place. Here’s a Dodge Dart wagon with a late-1970s-vintage Rocky Flats Action Group bumper sticker, which is appropriate given that this car’s final parking space is located in the path of the plutonium plume from the 1957 Rocky Flats fire.
I was introduced to Speedway Auto Wrecking by my friend Paul Heaston, a well-known Denver artist who loves to draw and paint vintage vehicles. Here he is capturing a 1954 Dodge sedan in pen-and-ink.
Since the postwar Chrysler section at Speedway is a bit sparse to offer much for my 1941 Plymouth project (the inventory emphasis is on Ford, GM, and the companies that became American Motors), the main reason I visit is to shoot photographs with my collection of ancient film cameras.
This trip, I brought a trio of large-format roll-film cameras from the very early 20th century, loaded with 3½-inch-wide NOS Kodak scientific film from 1971 (as one does). You’ll see the resulting photos in the not-so-distant future.
Now let’s get a closer look at this ’46 Pontiac, located close to the Speedway entry gates.
I think this car has been sitting for many decades. There’s an oil-change sticker from 66 years ago inside the door jamb.
The 1946 Pontiac, like nearly all American cars for the 1946 model year, was a mildly facelifted prewar design built as GM’s factories shifted away from war production.
Pontiac was just a short rung up from proletariat Chevrolet on Alfred Sloan’s “Ladder of Success” in 1946, and definitely a rung below mid-priced Oldsmobile. Still, the Pontiac Division gave postwar car shoppers excellent value for their money, as well as features unavailable on any Chevy.
For 1946 through 1949, there were two Pontiac series available: the short-wheelbase Torpedo and the long-wheelbase Streamliner. This car is the latter type.
Both types could be purchased with a choice of flathead straight-six or straight-eight power. This Streamliner has the eight, a 249-cubic-inch (4.1-liter) Silver-Streak rated at 90 horsepower. With a narrow 3¼-inch bore and 3¾-inch stroke plus 6.5:1 compression, this was a very nice engine for a low-priced car, providing a smooth idle combined with useful torque.
Straight-eights were still mainstream automotive hardware in the early postwar era, though it was clear that they were fated to be replaced by V-8s in the near future. Within GM, Oldsmobile and Buick offered straight-eight power (Buick’s featured overhead valves), though Oldsmobile got an overhead-valve V-8 for 1949. Buick had to wait until the 1953 model year for its V-8, while Pontiac soldiered on with I-8s all the way through 1954.
That kind of talk about engine modernity was less relevant in 1946, when Americans were desperate to buy new cars after years of deprivation. The 1946 Streamliner Eight sedan was a great deal for its time, with an MSRP of just $1538. That’s just $28,845 in 2025 dollars. You could buy a ’46 Torpedo Six business coupe for a mere $1307 that year ($22,813 after inflation), which was nearly 300 bucks more than the cost of its $1022 Chevy Stylemaster counterpart. Of course, inventory shortages often pushed real-world car prices up well over list prices in 1946.
This car has some good body and trim parts, but the interior probably passed beyond redemption while LBJ was still in the White House.
The Lincoln on those aftermarket wheels, what can I say besides those wheels are so dang ugly and too big.
Sorry, but you need to maybe pull back a bit. Every young photography student has taken black and whites using a pinhole camera made from a Skechers box. Done a video using an old Tyco children’s video (audio cassette tape ) project. It’s a bad trap and bad habit to fall into – ” Every hot girl who can point a camera thinks she’s a photographer. Ooh, you took a black and white picture of a lawn chair and its shadow. You must be brooding and deep. ” – If you’re going to stay with film ‘Advertise Kodak, shoot Fuji.’
The author and photographer is sharing this content and significant work to entertain Hagerty visitors like you. You will not find these images or research elsewhere. You should think on that before commenting PSM.
If you don’t like it, don’t look at it.
This is how photography people talk online, it’s nothing personal. Most photographers are very angry about photography, it’s just part of the culture.
Yeah I prefer to enjoy, not analyze. I admire the pics regardless of how they were taken. Wrecking yards have a beauty that only a name would stain.
As a counter to the above thought, I wanted to say that I read every one of Murilee’s articles and have for years, going back to his work with AutoWeek. Adding the photography aspect, I believe, has only enhanced these off-the-automotive-beaten-path.
I enjoy this series. Ever since I was a kid I was always more drawn to the cars with “patina” over the nicely restored ones, and I’ve always enjoyed junkyards. There are no yards around here with any vintage iron. Thanks for sharing your finds with us.
I have a completely restored 48 Chevy 2 door
very similar. I know the GM body style changed in 49 but not sure what year this body style started? Maybe 46?
Most 1946 models were nearly identical to the 1942 models. No new models were developed during the war (which ran, for the United States, from 1942 through 1945). As this article states, this car was a “mildly facelifted pre-war design.”
Thanks for good information and read. Didn’t know it was so close to my home. Plan to definitely visit.
I truly enjoy your articles Murilee. There is a similar yard in Scullville, NJ, outside of Atlantic City. Truly a museum.
Regarding vintage cameras—-I have a Bell & Howell 16mm movie camera on display in my home office. These beauties are circa WWII, much of the battle footage seen on documentaries from WWII thru Vietnam was shot with these workhorses. Mine shot hundreds of high school, college and pro football games from the 70s until the early 90s.
Oh man, this was wonderful. Keep these stories coming.
Speedway!! That place is near Elliot’s Auto as well. Both are great yards.
Here in Vancouver, Wa I am a counter guy at All American Classics.
We have 10 acres and 1600 cars!
Allamericanclassics.com
Murilee, Not angry, not critical, just a simple critique. Sometimes beneficial others not. Wave this one off or maybe a bit of something from someones opinion you respect. Sometimes wave them off too, sometimes it sinks in, sometimes a bit of both or neither. You clearly know this gig. Just do.
I owned a 1948 Pontiac Silver Streak 4 door sedan in high school, 1968. What fun we had with that car. Two six packs could fit in the glove compartment. The back seat was like being in your living room. It was only 20 years old but the style made it look as old then as it does today. I always liked being different . Not sure the generations of today want that experience. Today one of my old cars is a 1948 Oldsmobile 4 door sedan… very similar!
Murilee… thanks for the pics!
I had a 1954 Pontiac with the straight eight engine in high school. By then I believe it was around 268 ci and about 120 hp. I drag raced it at the San Fernando drag strip in California. It went 60 mph in 20 seconds! I believe this was basically the same engine that was in the silver steak. Could never beat the Buicks!
In 1957 I had a 1947 Pontiac Silver Streak 8 black conv. It was loaded with accessories, I paid $100 for it! All original including paint and top.