Pontiac Parisienne

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Everybody is familiar with the GM Motorama cars of 1953. The Cadillac El Dorado, Buick Riviera, Olds Fiesta, and Chevy Corvette. This is an article from May 1953 True Magazine for AC Spark plugs showing a 1953 Pontiac Parisienne which I had never heard about.

http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac245/DaveMellor_photos/PontiacParisienne1.jpg?t=1290735222

http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac245/DaveMellor_photos/PontiacParisienne2.jpg?t=1290735222

[Guest ken bogren]

Here is a page at Conceptcarz.com that has more photos of this car

1953 Pontiac Parisienne Images. Photo: 53_Pontiac_Parisienne_DV_06-AI_03.jpg

[WQ59B]

Of course, by "Buick Riviera" you meant "Buick Skylark".

To be clear here, the Parisienne, as a Motorama car, is the 'sibling' of the Olds Starfire, Buick Wildcat I and the Cadillac LeMans- all of these were Motorama cars. The Fiesta, Eldorado & Skylark were production models.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Yes, I did mean "Skylark,excuse me. My confusion from the aforementioned post by WQ59B lies in the AC Spark plug ad which mates the Pontiac Parisienne to the Corvette which went into production. Nice restoration job as seen in the Amelia Island pics, anyway.

[WQ59B]

Understood, Dave. To be accurate- the Corvette shown is the Motorama unit, also.

[Rusty_OToole]

For many years Canada's most luxurious Pontiac was called the Parisienne. The Canadian Pontiac was really a Chevrolet dressed up to look like a Pontiac. So that is where the name originated, on the show car, and where it went.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

I remember seeing a Pontiac Parisienne from the early 60s in Wildwood, NJ and couldn't figure out what it was. Later on I realized it was a Canadian Pontiac as Wildwood was always a popular vacation destination for French Canadians. There was also a Rideau and a Chevy II Acadian.

[Rusty_OToole]

In the 50s there was also the Meteor (Canadian Ford) Monarch (Mercury) and the 1960 Frontenac (Falcon).

Dodge also had their Plymouth based models in Canada so all the majors made unique Canadian models.

[earl e rizer]

For anyone interested in the Canadian Pontiacs and their history check out this informative website Canadian Poncho Always good info and a great bunch of guys to deal with.