[bird72]

Dealer Presentation Albums. I didn't know anything about them until recently. Anyone have one? They were hardback fancy "books" that had color pics, info of models and features. Many had tabs on the side for easy reference. I see they can go for big $$ by sellers. Pontiac did them as most manufacturers evidently. Don't know what years they were in vogue, but 50's, 60's and early 70's it seems. Post pics if you have one and can.....

[Stuart]

I have one for my 1961 Bonneville. In that year there was also a smaller book that was similar to the big dealer album, but was designed for the salesmen to keep in their coat pocket. It has a bunch of information on dimensions, specifications, available options, etc.

[bird72]

Stuart, that is extremely cool. Thanks for posting. The artwork in those years is fantastic. What I discovered in my searching around on these things is that some years had two volumes. One was the presentation album and the other a color and fabric album.

[Rocky Rotella]

Originally Posted by bird72

What I discovered in my searching around on these things is that some years had two volumes. One was the presentation album and the other a color and fabric album.

That's exactly correct through about 1977. At that point they began incorporating the two albums together. Then in later years, they simply included artwork of the interior.

The albums are a wonderful resource. I have them from 1966 to 2002. If you're lucky you'll sometimes find Sales Blueprint sheets or Car Distribution Bulletins that contain detailed updates on option/equipment changes that occurred throughout the model year.

[takid455]

Great bits of info. I grab them when they pop up at swap meets. Some I look for purposely. Have 72-89 Pontiac Sans 73 & 6. Hunted for my 56 Olds one. I like the older ones better. As Rocky said, some have extra dealer goodies in them.

I do need the 74 trim book and a 72 binder if anyone has a spare.

[carbking]

The first dealer presentation album for Pontiac was a combined Oakland/Pontiac album printed in 1927.

From that time, some form of dealer album was printed each year. Different formats were used from year to year. Example: the 1965 and 1966 books were available to the dealership as either complete books or pages only. The format for 1965 and 1966 was the same as 1964, and the dealers could acquire only the pages and reuse the 1964 binders.

At one time, I had virtually a complete set from 1927. Still have a lot of them.

Jon.

[The Champ]

My dad saved many of the dealer albums from his career in GM car sales.

I have 2 left.

I scanned much of his 1964 Pontiac album's Tempest, LeMans and GTO section in this thread in the 1964/65 GTO, LeMans, Tempest section:

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=736940

The 1979 album is for sale here:

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=825917

[carbking]

A similar item that may be of interest to some are the "Engineering Manuals".

During one of my frequent telephone conversations with John S. (RIP - friend), I mentioned an Engineering Manual to him. He was quite excited, as he stated that the group he was then with was trying to acquire one from each year. He stated that generally 6 of these, discussing engineering features for the year, would be prepared by the Engineering Department, and presented to some of the GM executives, and for some reason, Engineering no longer had copies of each.

We compared inventory, and I had several which GM did not have, thus made copies and sent to John. He was having copies of theirs made to send to me, but got too sick to follow up, so I still only have a few originals.

Lots of really interesting documentation was prepared by the car companies, especially Pontiac.

In my first post in this thread, I mentioned that 1927 was the first year of the dealer album for Pontiac (I have both the album, and the bulletin stating this fact), but there was at least one earlier album for Oakland before Oakland began producing the spin-off Pontiac - 1920. I also have the 1920 Oakland album. Oakland literature is much more difficult than Pontiac, and the 1920 is the only pre-1927 Oakland album I have seen, but there might be others. Some of the "prestige" sales brochures for teen Oaklands had almost as much information, but were not hard-bound.

Jon.

[72GTOMN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGA4PD5HoZA

[MikeNoun]

The Pontiac-Oakland Museum is the resource for these items. I believe they have most every year, including some Canadian albums.

Even more fascinating are internal documents called Notice Of Decision, which have confidential proposals and decisions for models or options sometimes 1-2 years ahead. It's interesting to see how Pontiac kicked around ideas of special models, special limited production options, etc.

Here's a 1956 Pontiac Engineering spiral bound document, and a beautiful triple-fold 1958 Pontiac Sales Album, one of the most elaborate ones I've seen.

Mike

[unruhjonny]

these are definitely cool.

I think I would like to widdle down my collection of stuff, and one day get these books which apply to my car.

I have something similar, and I have seen only one or two others;
It's a GM model year press kit;
I believe it was sent to some media personnel to appraise them of the forthcoming model year vehicles;
All divisions are included;
Press releases on models and changes are included;
some glossy pictures are included, and many colour slides are included;
All in a 6"(?) wide three ring binder.

I have the 1991 book, and I bought it because of the 1991 Grand Am LE/Sport Performance Package car I own.

[carbking]

Pontiac offered press kits as early as 1950.

Up through about 1965 or so, Pontiac would have generally released one per year, that was sent to press personnel; but could also be ordered (gratis) directly from Pontiac.

Generally, these would include text, and 1 or more black & white pictures.

Later, in addition to the normal annual release, Pontiac might release a special for one of the automobile shows; or a special for a new model introduction.

In the 1970's and 1980's press releases could contain 35mm slides, VHS tapes, and later ones contained CD's.

During this time period the number of releases per year proliferated, with specials for engineering designs, shows, show cars, etc. I have hundreds of different Pontiac releases.

Since a number of not overly common Pontiac literature has been mentioned in this thread, perhaps some might be interested in the various audio/video Pontiac releases (normally in-house only). I have collected this material for about 50 years. Here is a link to an article I did several years ago:

http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Pontiacaudiovideo.htm

Jon.

[Goatracer1]

I have the 1959 copy. If anyone is interested let me know.

[bird72]

So I did run across a 1957 edition and decided to get it. The cover reminds me of a high school yearbook. Interesting step back in time.


cover


quite the couple


what is this car worth now?


engine art


green is cool


Tri Power is tops

[Stuart]

That 1957 album is pretty nice. Some of those pages also appear in the dealer brochure, you can look at them at the Old Car Brochure website: http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/stati.../dirindex.html