While the 1957 “fuelie” Chevrolets get lots of attention, there were other manufacturers dabbling in the fuel injection situation at that point as well. Chrysler actually had the balls to try electronic fuel injection in 1958 with the Bendix system that the company used but it ended in tears. One of those babies floated through eBay a couple of weeks ago, actually. Pontiac was another one and they played it a little more conservative but almost as successfully as Chrysler. Pontiac worked with Rochester who had developed the system for Chevrolet and ended up with a very similar program for their cars starting in 1957. Well, there’s a 1958 Pontiac fuel injection system for sale on eBay right now!
The seller is very straight ahead with the ad, mentioning that the specialized water cross over and specialized distributor may actually be 1957 pieces but the intake manifold, pump, and other parts are from 1958. While that may seem like a small deal, the reality is that the person looking to pony up for this stuff wants it to be perfect so that a nut and bolt resto of a rare car lives up to full value and billing. Imagine the shame of having your 1,000 point car reduced to 998 points because of errors such as those! We’re guessing the only market for this stuff is those guys because who else wants a unit that was not generally considered to be good, let alone functional most of the time.
The level of guts that engineers had in the late 1950s is inspiring. They were pushing the boundaries back then and while they were breaking the cardinal rule and using their customers as the R&D department, we still give them credit. Yes, fuel injection had its rocky start in this country about 60 years ago but now it is the standard of the world. Check out this system. It is both interesting and strangely recognizable.
eBay link: There’s a 1958 Pontiac fuel injection system for sale on eBay right now
‘Anyone remember when fuel injection “tent” gaskets came in SBC aftermarket gasket sets?
“We’re guessing the only market for this stuff is those guys because who else wants a unit that was not generally considered to be good, let alone functional most of the time.”
Could be somebody who wants to convert it to EFI – although I’m not sure if there’d be many takers at that price.
Fuel injection was used pre-and post War on aircraft engines. DIRECT fuel injection was used on turbo-compound R-3350 engines during and after the war. The bendix system would not function well on any engine requiring multiple throttle/load changes, but would work great on marine or aircraft engines. You wanna know about the R-3350? Ask the camfather…his specialty in WW2 and the catalyst for some amazing feats in hotrodding.