My First Car: '51 Pontiac Chieftain sedan, Will Miller, 64, Belleair Bluffs

'51 Pontiac Chieftain sedan

In my third year of college at Virginia Tech, I bought this pristine four-door Pontiac Chieftain sedan from a college professor. The massive "Straight-8" engine required a hood so long that turning this car was like looking down the bow of the Queen Mary. With four doors built like bank vaults, a four-speed "Hydromatic" tranny, a lighted "Chief Pontiac" hood ornament, tufted gray wool seats and lots of chrome, this car was my dream dating machine! Just prior to my first deployment to Vietnam, the old girl's electrical system failed during a driving rain on a mud-slick mountain road — at night! I sold her the next week for the same $200 I'd paid for her. The pictures were taken in Norfolk, Va., near the naval base and home of my first ship, destroyer USS Leary (DD-879).