America built a see-through Pontiac in 1939 and it still shocks everyone
- Pontiac once made a see-through ‘ghost car’
- The car was made with clear acrylic
- It sold for more than $300,000 in 2011
Published on May 31, 2025 at 6:29 PM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on May 27, 2025 at 11:56 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
The 1939 ‘Ghost Car’ Pontiac was a four-door sedan crafted out of completely see-through acrylic and it looked awesome.
The car was unveiled at the New York World’s Fair as part of General Motors ‘Futurama’ exhibit.
The Pontiac was the ‘first full-sized transparent car ever made in America’.
And decades on, it’s still a real head-turner.
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These days, if you have enough cash, you can style your car pretty much however you want.
Kim Kardashian once turned her Lamborghini Urus into a giant fuzzy slipper, and JoJo Siwa decorated her Lambo with a giant decal of her face.
However, a decade before all of that, this 1939 Pontiac Deluxe Six had all of its metal panels removed and replaced with ones made of crystal-clear acrylic, making the entire vehicle see-through.
To make the car even more eye-catching, the 1939 Pontiac’s structural steel panels were plated with copper, and the dashboard was finished in gleaming chrome.
The car was given some white tires, which matched other white elements, including its seals and gaskets.
All in all, the car wasn’t something you see every day and was an impressive feat for those behind the design and build.
According to reports, the Ghost Car had a budget of around $25,000, which is the equivalent of more than $460,000 today.
But can you really put a price on such a cool-looking motor?
Speaking of motors, the Pontiac Ghost Car came with a fully functional 222.7 cubic-inch L-head six-cylinder engine paired with a three-speed manual transmission, which could produce up to 85 horsepower.
However, as you might have guessed, the car was built to be looked at, not driven, so when it went up for auction in 2011, it had just 86 miles on the clock.
Photos shared alongside the listing back then showed the car to be in tip-top condition despite its age.
It sold at auction for $308,000 to an unnamed seller, but what happened to the Ghost Car since is a bit of a mystery.
The car doesn’t appear to have been placed on public display, nor has it popped up at any automotive shows – it seems as though it’s vanished into thin air, like a ghost.
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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Claire covers a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on cars, technology, planes, cryptocurrency, and luxury.
