1947 brought little change in the Pontiac product lineup or in the design of the cars. Outwardly, the cars had the same appearance as their 1946 counterparts except for the elimination of engine identification badges ahead of the front fender speedlines and the use of new grilles with horizontal bars only.
Silver Streak styling was still the keynote of the Pontiac design motif. Five bands of chrome swept over the hood and down the trunk on most cars. Twin-striped triple bead speedlines were used on both the front and rear fenders.
A total of 230,600 units left the factory by January 9, 1948, the final date 1947 models were built.
The Pontiac line for ’47 was a complete carry-over of the models that Pontiac had in production by the end of the
’46 model year. The major automobile manufacturers were struggling with labor unrest and materials shortages, while trying to satisfy the demand for new cars that was caused by the lack of civilian automobile production due to World War II. Studebaker released new models this year, the first major manufacturer to offer post-war designs to the public. Kaiser-Frazier released their respective cars as well; the company set up production at Willow Run in part of the huge assembly plant built by Henry Ford to build B-24 Liberator bombers. The Kaiser-Frazier nameplates didn’t exist prior to the war, but the automobiles they released in 1947 were absolutely conventional in construction and styling, so hardly could be considered “new” post-war machines.
Pontiac continued with the Torpedo and Streamliner designations. The short wheelbase Torpedo, Series 25 or 27 depending upon the use of the six or eight cylinder engine; offered a Business Coupe, Sport Coupe, Sedan Coupe, Convertible Coupe, plus 2 and 4 door Sedans. The Streamliner models used the larger B-body, Series 26 or28 designating the engine installed; was limited to the Sedan Coupe, a 4 door Sedan and 2 Station Wagons, in either Standard or Deluxe trim. It is a matter of fact that the Series designations were not strictly adhered to; there were Series 25/26 cars built with the straight eight. In some cases, a supplementary body tag listed this fact; in others, the “option” line on the standard body plate was stamped with the number “8” to indicate the installation of the larger engine. It would appear that Pontiac did not expect the demand for eight cylinder engines to be so great, regardless of why Series 25/26 cars received straight eights, it is also a fact that for the first time in Pontiac history, eight cylinder automobile production exceeded that of the six cylinder models when the final count was tallied.
Pontiac designers revised the front-end styling slightly for 1947, the grille consisting of 4 rounded horizontal bars while the parking lamps remained within the grille just below the headlights. The Pontiac name and a highly stylized Indianhead adorned the top of the grille; the famous Silver Streaks began just above, with 5 bright lines running along the centerline of the hood to the base of the windshield. There was no engine identification on the grille or the hood side trim; nor was there any difference in the hood ornament to distinguish which engine was used. This broke a long-standing tradition at Pontiac, in years’ past, the eight cylinder models were always identified by a unique hood ornament and/or by the number “8” or lettering to denote the fact the car had an eight cylinder engine under the hood.
There were seven solid colors and 3 two-tone combinations available this year. The Streamliner sedans got Grey Stripe cloth upholstery; the Torpedoes were either Grey Tan cloth or Tan and Blue Dark Pattern cloth. Convertibles featured five colors of genuine leather in combination with Tan Bedford cloth; Black, Tan, Green, Blue or Red. There were also 3 combinations of imitation leather and Tan Bedford cloth; Red, Tan or Blue. Genuine leather was apparently also in short supply during 1947, some convertible are known to have been built using the imitation leather in its place. The dashboard and window garnish moldings were Berwick Beige and Autumn Brown. All models featured dual sun visors, automatic dome light, cigar lighter, front and rear ashtrays and an inside hood release.
Dual windshield wipers and tail lamps were also standard equipment on all Pontiac models. The station wagon tail lamps pivoted so they still shone rearward when the tailgate was in the open (horizontal) position.
Production began in December, 1946 and 230,600 cars were produced for the model year; with 109,461 Six cylinder cars and 121,139 Eight cylinder cars. The break-down along model lines was 101,940 for the Torpedo, while the larger B-body Streamliner accounted for 128,660 cars.