#81  
Old 07-13-2016, 07:16 PM
red1975pacer red1975pacer is offline
Chief Ponti-yacker
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 577
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by TTOP350 View Post
Chris, Sorry to highjack for a second..



Here is my 89 formula 350 ASC vert.
I'm told its the only dark blue top formula 350 left, there were 2 tans and 2 dark blues built (other dark blue was totaled in 92ish)
I had a feeling it could be done,rare as it may be

  #82  
Old 08-22-2016, 06:39 AM
The Boss's Avatar
The Boss The Boss is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Newtown, CT
Posts: 15,454
Default

Well, it's official! The September issue is at the printers & the car got the centerfold! 8 pages total - great article - thanks Don!

http://ponchoperfection.com/

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	Centerfold.jpg
Views:	2914
Size:	77.4 KB
ID:	435178  

__________________
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece,
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin' in the street.


Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978
  #83  
Old 08-22-2016, 07:44 AM
muscle_collector's Avatar
muscle_collector muscle_collector is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Tulsa
Posts: 3,742
Default

congrats. really cool pic. I don't think I have seen that magazine on any shelves around here.

  #84  
Old 08-22-2016, 02:34 PM
78Macho 78Macho is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Lee's Summit, MO
Posts: 201
Default Poncho Perfection

Chris-

The car turned out perfect! Congratulations on the huge spread in Poncho Perfection, very cool indeed!

Jim

  #85  
Old 09-01-2016, 04:06 PM
The Boss's Avatar
The Boss The Boss is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Newtown, CT
Posts: 15,454
Default

It's out - got the cover, thanks Don!

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_2648.jpg
Views:	2916
Size:	108.4 KB
ID:	435912  

__________________
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece,
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin' in the street.


Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978
  #86  
Old 09-01-2016, 04:07 PM
The Boss's Avatar
The Boss The Boss is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Newtown, CT
Posts: 15,454
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by 78Macho View Post
Chris-

The car turned out perfect! Congratulations on the huge spread in Poncho Perfection, very cool indeed!

Jim
Thanks Jim - BTW, been voting for your car on Hemmings.

__________________
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece,
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin' in the street.


Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978
  #87  
Old 09-01-2016, 04:24 PM
RamAir's Avatar
RamAir RamAir is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,037
Default

I'll check it out tonight Chris. Congratulations


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  #88  
Old 12-18-2016, 11:35 AM
The Boss's Avatar
The Boss The Boss is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Newtown, CT
Posts: 15,454
Default

So in November I got contacted by someone who used to work with John Bennet at GM Chassis & had seen the car on one of the boards - here's one of the e-mails...

Quote:
John Bennett was a draftman in the Chassis group at GM. He was very good and worked his way up to being a "design leader - technical" which meant he supervised and delegated work for draftsman in the chassis structure and suspension areas.

Outside GM, he built A-sedan cars and owned/managed an IMSA team which raced Firebirds. He mantra was: "If you are not cheating, you are not winning". His cars were very trick, with many hidden body reinforcements. In IMSA, he built what he called "50-50" engines, where one bank of the engine was the bore for a 305ci and the other bank was the bore of a 350ci engine. He wanted more displacement and by overboring one side of the block, he had a "50-50" chance of being caught for cheating during tech inspection, as usually only 1 cylinder head was asked to be pulled. He was sponsored by Sunoco, but liked Mobil One oil, so he would pour Mobil One oil into Sunoco bottles to maintain his sponsorship. I think his cars were purchased new and immediately turned into race cars.

Honestly, I only worked around John for 1 year, so I don't know that much about him. He was quite a character: loud, light brown hair with a Fu Manchu, always wore cowboy boots. I bet he would not remember me if you asked him. My friend Brad Bromley knew John better than I, as he worked with him for probably 8 years. Brad owns a 1982 Firebird which was a street car until around 1990, then converted into an American Sedan race car. John Bennett built the cage for it. When Brad put it into the wall at Mid-Ohio, John referred Brad to a body shop in Pontiac, Michigan where John took his cars for frame straightening and body repair. When Brad took his car in, the owner of the shop said: "if this car has John's frame rail reinforcements, I cannot straighten it!" That is how we learned about John installing tubing inside the body rails of his race cars. Brad's car did not have this modification, so it was able to be repaired. When John got out of racing, he sold many of his leftover parts to Brad (aluminum hood, radios, etc.) which Brad used to update his A-sedan Firebird. I used to crew for Brad and we are still good friends to this day (now that his kids are older, I am trying to talk him into getting his Firebird out of storage and back on the track).

That is about all I know, to be honest. John retired from GM in the early 2000s. My friend Brad has not heard from him since. I hope he is well.

About your car, my guess is it was ordered by a GM executive on John's behalf. The executive would have driven it for the required 4 months, then turn it is. John could have worked with a fleet coordinator so he could "tag" the car through the employee purchase program. In the 1990s, there was a lot of shenanigans played by GM employees who raced by ordering special edition high performance cars as their company cars. John Heinricy (another former A-Sedan racer, and my former Director) ordered several ILE Camaro and Firebird cars over the years, drove them as his company car, purchased the car at a discount then converted them into a race car. The employee purchase price would have been 80% of the MSRP: meaning Bennett probably paid $14k for this car. As a side note, I almost bought a 1998 Firebird 1LE hardtop that Heinricy ordered but decided not to buy, as he started racing for Phoenix Motorsport (based in Pittsburgh). It was Hugger Orange with manual windows & locks. I passed on it, as I was a recent college graduate and figured driving it as my only vehicle would be too much of a compromise. That car is probably 1 of 1. Just bad timing for me, as I started at GM in July 1998 and literally had a negative net worth (with college loans, etc.).

I hope this helps. Again, I don't know anything else about John Bennett. I'll ask my friend Brad if he would be willing to talk: he may have more information to share.

__________________
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece,
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin' in the street.


Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978
  #89  
Old 05-30-2017, 06:35 PM
The Boss's Avatar
The Boss The Boss is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Newtown, CT
Posts: 15,454
Default

Car got some more press today - thanks Doug for texting me the link.

http://www.gm-efi.com/news/1990-trans-1le-sunoco-scca/

From what I understand it's also been circulated on Facebook - I'm not a member so I wouldn't know.

__________________
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece,
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin' in the street.


Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978
  #90  
Old 05-31-2017, 11:08 AM
mrrat1 mrrat1 is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Shamong NJ
Posts: 1,840
Default

That's very cool car and write up!!

  #91  
Old 09-29-2017, 11:46 AM
The Boss's Avatar
The Boss The Boss is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Newtown, CT
Posts: 15,454
Default

Time to put a little closure on this story - the car is going back to Florida! Bill Warner, owner of The Amelia Island Concours D'Elegance has purchased the car and intends to race it! I could not be happier with this ending!

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	WWHT7770.jpg
Views:	731
Size:	110.5 KB
ID:	464388  

__________________
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece,
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin' in the street.


Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978
  #92  
Old 09-29-2017, 12:20 PM
72projectbird's Avatar
72projectbird 72projectbird is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: N.E Massachusetts
Posts: 2,003
Default

Congratulations! It's a beautiful car, and it sounds like it's going to someone who will truly enjoy it!

__________________
"Those poor souls have made the fatal mistake of surrounding us. Now we can fire in any direction"

1970 Trans Am RAIII 4 speed
1971 Trans Am 5.3 LM7
1977 Trans Am W72 Y82
1987 Grand National
  #93  
Old 09-29-2017, 12:35 PM
Bentwheelbob's Avatar
Bentwheelbob Bentwheelbob is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Charleston, WV
Posts: 2,503
Default

Congrats Chris. One down and ......

  #94  
Old 09-29-2017, 03:48 PM
78Macho 78Macho is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Lee's Summit, MO
Posts: 201
Default

Good news, congratulations Chris! Going to the right home is what it is all about!
Jim

  #95  
Old 09-29-2017, 04:21 PM
The Boss's Avatar
The Boss The Boss is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Newtown, CT
Posts: 15,454
Default

...6 to go Bob.

It is Jim, it is.

__________________
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece,
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin' in the street.


Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978
  #96  
Old 09-29-2017, 05:36 PM
RamAir's Avatar
RamAir RamAir is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,037
Default

That's great news!

  #97  
Old 08-08-2018, 02:12 PM
camerjeff's Avatar
camerjeff camerjeff is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Belleville , Mi
Posts: 1,982
Default

Great to hear, congrates on saving a little piece of history!

__________________
Jeff R
60 Jaguar Mark 2, 3.8L Automatic
67 Sprint Firebird 230 OHC-6 4-Speed A/C
78 Catlina Safari, Pontiac 400 powered
77 Astre Formula, 215 Buick V-8 T-5
73 Lemans Safari, 400 4bbl 4-speed
71 Catalina Enforcer, 455 4bbl
06 Mallet Solstice #024 LS2, Now with a Tremec 6060 6-speed!
2012 F-150 Echo Boost (My local Ford Dealer SUX!!!)
2020 Dodge Charger Scat pack (recovered)
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:11 PM.

 

About Us

The PY Online Forums is the largest online gathering of Pontiac enthusiasts anywhere in the world. Founded in 1991, it was also the first online forum for people to gather and talk about their Pontiacs. Since then, it has become the mecca of Pontiac technical data and knowledge that no other place can surpass.

 




Copyright © 2017