It was a quiet, smooth running, cheap to produce engine that served the needs of the 1930s and '40s Pontiac buyers adequately for power.

By 1953 the 287-cubic-inch (4.7 L) Strato Streak V8 was ready to go, with Pontiac chassis and steering already adapted for it, but it was held back by the protesting Buick and Olds divisions.

[citation needed] It was a truly modern, durable but affordable design perfectly matched to Pontiac's target market.

The "eight" was a typical American built engine for its time, a side-valve L-head, or "flathead", with a chain driven cam.

Bores need be of small diameter to keep the engine length down, and so strokes must be long to obtain larger displacements — such configurations (called "undersquare") exhibit good low-rpm torque and are capable of slow idle speeds, enhancing both drivability and quietness.

While Chrysler vehicles had similar engines they were not targeted for the lower middle price range enabled by General Motors' manufacturing expertise and volumes of the time.

At the General Motors Motorama for 1954, Pontiac debuted its all new Bonneville Special, a concept car envisioned by head designer Harley J. Earl.

Similar in appearance only, this was a high compression variant, modified with a high-lift cam and fitted with four Carter YH side-draft one-barrel carburetors, the same used in the 1953 Corvette, under open-mesh breathers.