1946 Pontiac Torpedo 8 Sedan Coupe 🇺🇸

This 1946 Pontiac started life as a six-cylinder car that was spared from oblivion by The NB Center.  The NB Center was restoring another Pontiac and acquired this car from a junk yard in the Western United States to be a parts donor. When the “parts” car was examined closely, it was determined that the body was very solid and the car was way too nice to dismantle it for parts. Another parts car was located, this time an eight cylinder, and the eight cylinder driveline and badges from that car went on this car. This was possible again because of the Pontiac body sharing strategy, any car could be six or eight cylinders. The restoration lasted from 2013 to 2015, during which this Pontiac was returned to pristine condition.  

Company
General Motors

Make
Pontiac

Model
Torpedo Eight, 27LA

Body Style
Sedan Coupe, 2-door, 5-pass.

Body Manufacture
Fisher Body

Model year
1946

Wheelbase
119 inches

Length
204.5 inches

Engine
inline-8, L-head, 248.9 cid

Horsepower
103 hp @ 3500 rpm

Transmission
3-speed manual, column shift

Original Base Price
$1,399

Brand Production
137,640 model year

This Car Production
18,273  of all Torpedo Eight body styles

“A car for every purse and purpose.”  That was how Alfred P. Sloane,  General Motors President and eventual CEO described the pricing structure of General Motors brands beginning in the 1920’s. Pontiac was a value brand, originally slotted just above Chevrolet in the pricing hierarchy. In fact, beginning in 1932, Chevrolet and Pontiac were the first two GM brands to share basic bodies, the beginnings of what we call badge engineering today.  In the period from Pontiac’s creation in 1926 through the post World War II era of the early 1950’s, Pontiacs were little more than fancy Chevrolets or Oldsmobiles.

Buyers seemed very satisfied with Pontiac’s position as a low mid-priced move up car and sales of the brand were brisk from the start. In 1942, before the war curtailed production, Pontiac managed to attain 5th place ranking based on production, just behind 4th place Buick. When the war ended and the car starved public got their chance to purchase new cars again, Pontiac picked-up where they left off. The 1946 Torpedo series were nearly identical to the 1942 cars and Pontiac ranked in 6th place.

The Torpedo series continued utilizing bodies shared with Chevrolet and Oldsmobile  and could be fitted with either a six-cylinder or eight-cylinder engine. The slightly larger and more expensive Streamliner series shared bodies with Oldsmobile and Buick. Streamliners could also be six or eight cylinders.

The body sharing program allowed Pontiac to keep prices low. At  $1,399 this Torpedo Sedan Coupe slotted right in between a comparable Oldsmobile or Buick.

There are no breakouts on production by body style but 44,909 1946 Pontiac Torpedos rolled off the assembly line. That was about 33% of the 137,640 Pontiac’s produced for the 1946 model year.