The Last Judge
 

On February 11th, 1971, Pontiac issued Car Distribution Bulletin #71-71 stating that The Judge option was discontinued. All new orders for Judges beginning February 15th, 1971 would be rejected. A few Judges were still in the Order Bank when this announcement was made. The latest Ship Date I had was Starlight Black car with a Ship Date of 03/01/71. I have a couple examples of Canadian cars with later Ship Dates, but cars destined for Canada had much later Ship Dates as they had to be processed through U.S. Customs. For example, a 1971 Judge destined for Canada was shipped 03/17/71, but has a build code of 02D. I have another example of a 1971 Judge (U.S. destination) with a Ship Date of 3/22/71, but it's a re-invoiced car built much earlier.

June 2018 - A sibling to an original owner of a 1971 Judge (his father-in-law) has come forward asking questions about his father-in-law's Judge. He stated that his father-in-law claimed his 1971 Judge hardtop was ordered after Judge production stopped and built with special paint, Orbit Orange, a 1970 color. The car was parked back in 1980, moved once to be put up on blocks around 2003. The father-in-law recently passed away, and now the sibling is trying to gather info.

Well, turns out his father-in-law was not crazy, his car was indeed built after Judge production stopped. The trim tag confirms it was built the first week of April 1971, and the color was indeed Orbit Orange.

How did this order get through the system in April 1971 when Pontiac stated that all requests for Judges would be rejected after February 15th, 1971?

I'm guessing that this dealer managed to push this order through because the buyer was willing to fork out the extra $115.85 for special paint, and some dealers would do anything to close the deal. Still interesting that Pontiac accepted the order. Makes you wonder what other cars were built outside the norm...

Mike

Unpainted endura?

That is something special!

Whoa, that is interesting. Hansord must have had a connection somewhere at Pontiac to get that built. I bought a car from that dealership back in the 90s, an 85 T Type Regal.

Thanks to the owner and yourself for sharing the car with us.
Its an amazing story and an amazing car.

Even the stripes are special request alternates.

Wonder if the original owner was a U.S. service man back when he was ordering.
And maybe the order purposely got set into hold que, with certain circumstances surrounding. just guess work



About the time we get comfortable again with given rules of thumb and standard protocols ,
another one comes along and reminds us.

Mike
Thanks for posting, love this kind of information.

Mike, what if the original order was received before the deadline but a change of order from the Dealer was submitted prior to manufacturing. Thus the original order would have been canceled and a new order generated along with entry and delivery dates.
Just throwing a dart but must have been something like this since a manufacturing deadline was written in pen not pencil.

Mike, i have a 71 dealer sales book. A salesman had hand written note in it. They had x'd out The Judge package and wrote in "not available after march 14th 1971". Maybe they extended the deadline and this order just made it in?

Wow...cool story, and one special car. Awesome that it's still around!
Thanks for posting, Mike-

That's interesting! I haven't seen a reference before to March 14th.

I have a 1971 album page where a salesman wrote in that the The Judge was not available after March 1st.

The official Detroit News article from Feb 19th, 1971 states that Jim McDonald announced the GTO convertible and Judge option would be discontinued March 1st.

The Feb 11th, 1971 Car Distribution Bulletin #71-71 states that all orders for Judges would be rejected after Feb 15th, 1971.

It's possible that this Judge made it into the order bank just before the cutoff date, and maybe because of the special paint, it was held up in channels until corporate or zone finally accepted it.

The build sheet may still be in the car. Would be interesting to see the special paint notation and the original date it was scheduled for assembly.

Mike

Great story and a "killer" car! If I was a betting' man I would say the special paint had something to do with the late build.

Hopefully, we can see more of this car? Can't imagine better pix can't be had.

Wish I could see more of it since it's in my backyard. Hansord "downtown" Pontiac was a good place to purchase vehicles back in the day. I wonder if the regional manager was the same one who got my Judge stripe-delete car ordered.

I agree with this.

I know for a fact 16 Judges were built in March. How many in April?:cool:

Wow that's a crazy story
I need to check date on my 71 I'm thinking its a Jan 71 build

Seeing the light of day for the first time in decades.

Waiting on more pics...

Keep’em coming Mike, this is a cool story.

Yes I'm sure there are more anomalies out there . I. E. cars built with different engines that some say the factory never produced and before a time.frame that the special bulletins say weren't built .
Interesting thread here for sure .
Great information Mike.

this is SUPER cool!!

Let's blow this thing up!

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...pszoapyint.jpg