Polynesian (custom car)

Polynesian is a customized 1950 Oldsmobile Holiday 88 built by Neil Emory and Clayton Jensen at Valley Custom Shop. It was built at the request of original owner Jack Stewart in 1952.^[1]

Unlike most owners at the time, Stewart wanted the car built all at once.^[2]

The car was inspired by Ron Dunn's sectioned '50 Ford, also built by Valley Custom, essentially to Stewart's original design;^[3] only his desire to have the top chop was changed, under persuasion from Emory.^[4]

The car was built over a period of nine months. It was sectioned 4 in (10 cm), wheelwells re-radiused, and the rear fenders bulges fitted with brake vents.^[5] It was nosed and decked, and the doors converted to electrically-operated solenoids.^[6] 1947 Studebaker taillights were tunnelled into the rear fenders.^[7] The exhaust pipes exited through a modified rear bumper.^[8]

The engine was a 303 cu in (4,970 cc) Olds from an Oldsmobile 88, with 1952 heads and 4-barrel (4-choke) Rochester carburetor.^[9]

The interior was done by Wayne Tipton of Burbank at a cost of US$450,^[10] It was finished in lemon yellow and eggshell white tuck-and-rolled Naugahyde.^[11]

The car was finished in a shade of purple dubbed Orchid Flame, which lent the car its name.^[12] The total cost was US$1800.^[13]

Shortly after taking delivery, Stewart showed Polynesian at the Detroit Auto Show.^[14]

Polynesian was featured in the August 1953 issues of Hot Rod^[15] and Rod and Custom in September,^{[citation needed]} and also saw 54 pages of construction details in Motor Trend Custom Car Annual in 1954.^[16]

Stewart bought the car in 1950. After customizing was complete, he used it as a daily driver for several years before selling it to John Zagray.^[17] Zagray made some modifications of his own.^[18] Some time later, the car disappeared.

It resurfaced in 1971, when the owner of the Red Lacquer Room body and restoration shop, Gene Blackford, found the car in a barn near Robertsville, Ohio, where sixth owner Warren Wise had stored it.^[19] Blackford, who had first seen the car in its original custom form at age 12, paid Wise $1000 for what was left and put it in storage for thirty-three more years.^[20] In 2004, he and six friends began a complete restoration to the Valley Custom standard, a process which took nine months.^[21]

The newly-restored Polynesian won the Preservation Award at the 2006 Detroit Autorama.^[22]

Blackford gave the engine a rebuild in 2006, and rebuilt the transmission in 2007.^[23]

Polynesian went on display at the Peterson Car Museum from 2006 to 2010.^[24]

Polynesian is currently owned by Ohio car collector Myron Vernis.^[25]

The car inspired John Ballard's 1950 Oldsmobile, Polynesian II.

• Hot Rod, September 1953
• Rod & Custom, September 1953
• Trend Book 109 Custom Cars 1954 Annual
• Car Craft, March 1954
• Auto Craftsman, December 1956
• Custom Rodder, June 1958
• Custom Cars, December 1958
• Custom Rodder, February 1959