[455Grandville]

In the late 90s my wifes POS 96 Cavalier was giving her trouble. So, one night she took my 76 400 powered Bonneville to St Louis. We had drove this car from Missouri to Arizona, and never worried about not making it back, it never let us down ! Nothing beats a big, tall geared car on a long trip.
Anyway, it was raining hard when she called to inform me the temperature light was on. She told me it still had heat (enough coolant) , so I suspected a stuck thermostat. I didnt want my wife stuck on the side of I-55 with my kid. So, I told her just drive it, as I had a couple complete good running 455s anyway. She drove it from Fenton Mo to St Genevieve, Mo hot (about 45 - 50 miles) Just as she pulled up the cap let off, so I know the idiot light was right. Next day I did a compression test & pressure test. No damage, I couldnt believe it. I continued commuting in that car for another 3 years !

[punkey]

I have/hope to agree with you. It seems something chewed on my oil pressure line last time I had "punkey" on the road. My dad drove it about 20 minutes to his house all the while losing oil. We added oil to it and it started right up, knocked a little then smoothed out. It"s been sitting for awhile now but my dad starts it and moves it around once in awhile. This weekend I'm going to re-register it and start driving it again. I think he'll hold up just fine. Gotta love them old Pontiacs!!

[fbody_mike]

That reminds me of my old P350. My mother had borrowed the car to go the pharmacy, about 7 miles away. Well she comes back and tells me the car is making alot of clacking noises and the oil light is on. Go to check it out, and no oil pressure, but plenty of oil. Drop the oil pan, and take off the oil pump, and I find the pump shaft had sheared in two pieces. I replaced the pump and shaft, buttoned it all back up. It started and ran fine, drove that engine for many years after that. Amazing!

[george kujanski]

When I was young, the family car was a '59 cat, 389. Handled a family of seven with ease. One day dad came home and said all the warning lights went on and the engine stopped, and there was oil all over the engine, both sides.

He took the valve covers off and oil sludge was caked inside the covers and all over the valve train. I guess the reason it stopped was the return holes got clogged and the oil collected under the valve covers until it blew past the gaskets.

In any case, he cleaned it all up and we continued to drive it; took my driver's test in that car, parallel parking and all.

George

[satman]

Long told story of mine, back in 78 after graduating high school, my uncle and granddad owned a used car lot in San Diego. My grandfather told my uncle not to take that 100,000 mile Bonnie to Texas, but he did. He brought my younger brothers back home and made that trip out in about 22 hours, do the math, that’s hauling a….

He picked me up and turned right around and headed back to CA. He didn’t let me know but I am sure she was overheating and somewhere in the middle of New Mexico she blew. The engine caught on fire, a passerby helped put it out and we were towed to some two-horse town.

They guy rewired all the necessary electrical components and put some snake oil into it because it had blown a head gasket and he didn’t have the parts or us the time.

We limped through New Mexico stopping to put in water and check the oil every so often and somewhere in Arizona that snake oil started to work and the car had better compression and we were off. My Uncle (a 50’s/60’s Elvis wannabe) drove like a mad man.

If any one has traveled that route, you know that in CA just outside of El Centro, you can see the mountians you have to cross to get to San Diego. That old Pontiac started heating up again, half way across we lost some of the rubber on the front tire. My uncle just kept going, tires flapping, steam flying, and engine knocking. As we pulled into San Diego he went straight to the lot to get another car and as we pulled in I swear, the tire let loose and the car gave out.

That old girl made the trip from heck and back and got us safely home before she quit. Big ole Pontiac’s always will have a place in my heart!

[72LemansFreak]

I can't top any of these stories, but I rescued my `72 from a friend's front yard in September 1998. She had been sitting since 1989 and had only been started a few times since then.

The original owner put fresh gas in it once or twice over the years. An oil change and jumpstart got her going again. He didn't prime the motor, so a couple of lifters went bad.

The engine ran great in spite of and passed emissions after sitting in line for a while on a hot September afternoon. I'm still driving around on the original 350. Although I've done lots of work on the car, the long block is essentially untouched other than a timing chain!

I don't drive the car more than a few times a month, but she always starts and gets moving pretty well. I can't wait to get started on the 400 I have in store for her.

I'm amazed. I'd love to see someone buy a new car today, drive it for 17 years doing only normal (and not super-meticulous) maintence, let it sit for almost a decade, then bring it back to life and still have a pretty sound car.

Yup, these cars rock.

[Tennesseestorm]

Back in the 1980s, when one of my uncles was a teenager, he went through about 4 or 5 Pontiac 455 engines! However, they went through EXTREME, EXTREME abuse. He blew up the first one that was in his 77' T/A, as well as a 71' T/A he owned at the time. I think he went through more engines in the 71 Trans AM. After that, he would just buy another engine, one after another. Back then, they were plentiful. One engine he got out of a 71' Grand Ville 4dr in 1986. That was a 1-owner, like new car with 40K miles at the time. He bought it for a measley $300., then took out the engine! I remember us beating up the car before the junk yard hauled it away. At least that was one 455 he was never able to blow up.

That was crazy, I would love to have that Grand Ville now, if it were in the same condition. My 73' Grand Ville I have now is about in that condition, but I like the 71's better than the 73's, but I still love mine.

Even the 400 Pontiacs in the 70s were good. Grandmother had a 1974 Catalina 4dr sedan in the late 70s through mid 80s. We had a crash in it in 1985. Dad thought it was not worth repairing, so we (HE) removed the engine, junked the body and placed the engine in a 74' GTO body that he had.

Now, I wish I had the Catalina.

[Brian Baker]

Spring 1991. I'm returning home from a week vacation with the family at Disneyworld. Travelling through South Carolina, I'm passed by a mid-70's Datsun B210 with New Hampshire plates and what looks like 4 college kids going home from Spring Break. I'm running 80 and they pass me! So I fall in behing them.

It's early AM and we're rolling up I-95, and as we pass cars, they fall in behind us. My speedo in the truck tops out at 85, and it's buried. At times I suspect we're running in excess of 90.

I pass a '68 Catalina wagon with 428 emblems on the fenders. It's riding low in the back and high in the front, and it's loaded down. Father driving with wife in passenger seat. In the back it's loaded with kids and luggage, even has luggage on the roof. The left 1/4 is rusted out so bad that it's falpping in the wind, and the car has a slight exhaust leak (sounded like a manifold donut). To my surprise, he pulled in line behind us...AND WAS KEEPING UP!

This went on for about 30 minutes, when I had to exit to get gas. That Pontiac wagon blew on by with the others, running in excess of 85 MPH. Unbelievable.

[6T1Cat]

Middel of the winter about 1964.
I stayed too long at my girlfriends house and had to drive home about 6 miles through the worst snow storm I had ever seen.
I had my '58 Starchief 4 door and I'm blasting that big ol' bumper through drifts about 2 feet high. There would be just enough of a break to get up some speed before the next one. Just as I pull in the driveway it starts to miss. I opened the hood and all I could see was the top of the air cleaner. Everything else was packed solid, and I mean solid, with snow.