This hill climb is the oldest documented Pontiac race car in existence. It was manufactured very early in 1926, Pontiac's first year of production. It began life as a standard two-door sedan sold to McRorie-Sautter Motor Company, an Oakland dealership and distributor located in Utica, New York. General Motors introduced the Pontiac as part of its Oakland line - a quality six-cylinder car, designed to sell at the price of a four. The car was a runaway success; Pontiac bears the unique distinction of being the only GM offspring to kill its parent company as Oakland became Pontiac in 1932.
Shortly after the car's sale, the owner suffered a fire, which destroyed the passenger compartment. The car returned to the dealership where the chassis was taken across town to the Willoughby Company, a local coachbuilder with a national reputation for building custom, quality vehicle bodies on high-end automobile chassis. The rough finish of the boat-tail body and the lack of a Willoughby number plate seem to indicate that the conversion was a quick and dirty job, certainly not in keeping with their usual high-end coachwork.
The car first raced at the Sherrill Hill Climb on August 14, 1926 where it won first in class and in unlimited displacement, taking home two trophies and $20 in prize money. The car was named 'Hill Climber' and went on to compete as a dealer-sponsored racer until its retirement in 1932. The car stayed in the McRorie family through three generations. It left the Utica area in 1983 after the dealership closed. By that point it had fallen into disrepair.
In May of 1997, current owner, Arnold Landvoigt responded to a computer bulletin board ad for a 'one of a kind 1926 Pontiac Boat Tail Racer.' He and his wife, Lois, fell in love with the car and purchased it on the spot. They have since restored the car and researched its history along with that of racing in upstate NY in the 1920s. Hill Climber is now a certified AACA Competition vehicle that has toured the country.
by AACA Museum
by Dan Vaughan