On April 30, 1958, Mary Alice Teagardin traded in her 1951 Chevrolet two-door delivery for a brand-new 1958 Pontiac Chieftain. Haydocy Pontiac in Columbus, Ohio, gave her $263.55 in trade for her Chevy, and the Chieftain was offered at a generous $800 discount, bringing the retail price of $3,475.15 down to $2,675.15. Haydocy Pontiac charged $6.15 for license and title fees.
Some 67 years later, that Chieftain is still on the road—and it could now become yours.
Featured on AutoHunter, your trusted source for classic rides, is this 29K-Mile 1958 Pontiac Chieftain Tri-Power offered by a dealer in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
Mary Alice didn’t drive much: The Persian Black car’s odometer shows a remarkable 29,339 miles traveled since new. The selling dealer calls the car a “true survivor,” and for good reasons. Aside from some areas of the exterior which have reportedly been repainted, the car retains its original interior, engine and trunk. A description of the car written by the dealer says, “I do not believe the car has ever been apart. Runs, drives and functions phenomenally.”
The Chieftain model was produced from 1949 through 1958. For all except the final year, the car used the General Motors A-body platform. In 1958, it rode on the B-body—alongside its assembly-line siblings the Chevrolet Biscayne, the Oldsmobile 88 and the Buick Special. Some of the key design elements for final-year Chieftains were the quad headlights and taillights, as well as honeycomb grilles. The black steel wheels with dog-dish hubcaps on this car give it a unique monochromatic look (especially coming from the late 1950s when so many cars were finished in two-tone or even tri-tone).
As for the running gear, power comes from a reportedly numbers-matching “Tempest 395” 370ci V8 with factory tri-power. The transmission is a four-speed Super Hydra-matic automatic. Based on the driving video that is included with the listing, the car runs, accelerates, handles and brakes predictably. The car “gets tons of attention at shows,” the narration says.
The documentation that accompanies this Chieftain is as compelling as the car itself. Included with the sale are an order form, the original sales invoice, an owner’s guide and an owner service policy pamphlet.
Unfortunately, Haydocy Pontiac won’t be able to perform a chassis lubrication for the next owner, because the dealership doesn’t exist any longer. The spiritual successor to the dealership is called Mark Wahlberg Buick GMC, and it happens to still be located on Broad Street in Columbus—just quite a bit further west than the original Pontiac retailer. I wonder what the service advisors would say if you pulled up in this car and asked for an oil change?
The auction for this 29K-Mile 1958 Pontiac Chieftain Tri-Power ends Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at 11:15 a.m. (MST)
Visit the AutoHunter listing for more information and a photo gallery
