| Pontiac Star Chief |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT PONTIAC STAR CHIEF | |
| pontiac vehicles | |
| star chief | |
| rear wheel drive vehicles | |
| full-size vehicles | |
| convertibles | |
| coupes | |
| sedans | |
| station wagons | |
| 1950s automobiles | |
| 1960s automobiles | |
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Canadian.]] The Star Chief was a car built by General Motors Pontiac division between 1954 and 1966. Between 1954 and 1957, the Star Chief was Pontiac's prestige automobile model; the car was easy identified by its chrome star trim along its sides. When the storyline of I Love Lucy pointed towards a Hollywood setting in the 1954-1955 season, the characters "drove" (episode #100) to the West Coast in a 1955 Star Chief convertible. In 1957, the Star Chief line introduced the high performance Star Chief Custom Bonneville as part of its divisional head's push to raise the marque out of the doldrums. In 1958 the Bonneville was first given its own position in the Pontiac line up as the ultimate Pontiac, and was only available as a two door hardtop and two convertible. While no longer Pontiac's prestige model the Star Chief remained a well appointed line of cars. However in 1959 when the Bonneville gained a full range of body styles, the Star Chief was limited to sedans and hardtops, the Bonneville and the new Catalina lines received the lion share of Pontiac's attention in the marketplace. In the early 1960s, Star Chiefs were nearly identical to Pontiac's price leader Catalina model range, however the Star Chief's engine output was higher. The Star Chief also came standard with interior trim upgrades, and it was built on the longer Bonneville platform. In 1966 the car was rechristened the Star Chief Executive as the first step towards retiring the name, which by the mid-1960s had become dated. In 1967, Pontiac dropped the Star Chief name for sales in the United States and renamed the mid-priced line Pontiac Executive . |
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