[poison heart]

Yes I know my car's history. I was a pile of crap when I bought it.

hahahaha That's the story of all my Pontiacs...and They're usually pieces of crap when I sell them. Maybe only slightly better

[north]

Thought this thread was worthy of resuscitation so here are some of my cars' interesting stories;

....My 69 GTO hardtop was for sale by the original owner in Tucson Arizona in 1993 and I spoke to the owner and she sent me 5 minute video tape of the car. I passed on the car and instead bought my 69 Expresso GTO convertible in San Antonio instead (still have it). Both cars were in the same issue of Hemmings back then. Fast forward to 2007 and I found that same GTO hardtop for sale literally a mile and a half from my house in Canada, I bought it and still have it. The original owner sold it in 93 to a guy in Los Angeles who sold it to a "flipper" in Montreal who bought it to make money on it, he didn't. Fate

2...When I was buying my Expresso GTO convertible in 1993 I already owned a red on red 69 GTO that I had bought near Santa Barbara in 1985. I had bought that red one from the widow of the original owner who was a career USAF man at Vandenburg AFB. When I received the Brown GTO I noticed it had a Lackland AFB parking sticker so I called back the seller (who was the original owner); he told me he had retired as a General in the USAF recently. I mentioned my red GTO and he knew the owner! He told me that the reason he bought his GTO was because of going for a drive in my red GTO in 69 while visiting Vandenburg for an inspection tour. The two owners stayed friends for years. (my red GTO was built many months before my very late production brown GTO)

[1965gp]

Some of ours we know the history and some we don't- I usually try to get as much info as I can from the owner. A lot of our cars are vehicles my dad bought when I was growing up. A lot of the 80's-90's cars we have we are the second owner so it's pretty easy.

No really impressive stories except for the 68 LeMans that a friend notified me about in a storage shed locally- no keys, 4 flat tires. Mom died and kids didn't know she still had it. After a few oil changes and a tune up it's a different car.

68 LeMans vert we bought from 2nd owner who bought it in late 69
70 GTO was pulled off the road in 81 to build a race car that never happened.
66 GTO was bought from the 2nd owners daughter who had it since the early 80's
86 GN I bought from a friend that bought it new.
86 Iroc, 84 Anniv TA, 89 TTA, 91 TA, 97 WS6, 95 Impala, 87 Saleen, 96 Cobra all 1 owner cars.

Some were past around so many times there is no telling...
94 Anniv TA had chickens living in it
65 GP was dragged out of the mud
69 Charger was bought from a flipper that got it as a package deal
69 firebird was someone's eBay impulse buy gone wrong
72 firebird was flipped several times before I bought it from a friend

[The Boss]

Great stories here - can't believe I've never read it before.

My 71 GT-37 has had multiple notable owners, most friends of mine & I'm proud to be it's current custodian. Rick Write of Purely PMD bought it back in the 80's, Gary Daniel of OK bought it from him. Steve Hoog (RIP Brother!) had it next and sold it to Todd Kozak who restored it to it's present state and likely to the presentation Rick had in mind for it so many years ago. I've been lucky enough to enjoy it and got to do with it what all of them intended to do - which was to race it!



My 73 TA had the original owner, Randy, who did all of the modifications, had the motor built & paint work done to it. He raced it out at Sears Point and got to ride shotgun while Bob Bondurant tested it's limits. His best friend John owned it next for over 30 years and only drove it 3 times before the distributor gear broke while it idled in the driveway on a Saturday morning! They pushed it back in, covered it up and there it sat. John got married, raised 5 kids, started and ran his own business and never quite got back to the car. John finally sold it to a customer of Steve Schappaugh's who harvested the HO Racing built SD 455 out of it and then passed it off to Steve. Steve put another motor in it, changed it over to a 4spd and posted up a couple of pictures here. It was love at first sight for me & luckily Steve answered his phone the next morning & was caught in just the right mood....and it was mine!



There's more but I'll save those for another day.

[will slow gto]

Originally Posted by 71GP76TA

I put the skirts and headrests are on a shelf.... I think it looks better without them.

Understatement of the year, especially for a 4spd GP

[north]

3...I bought my 69 LeMans from the son of the original owner in 2005 in Birmingham Alabama. The original owner was one of the two founders of a very large law firm in the South Eastern states.

He bought the car for his wife as a 25th anniversary gift in December 1968. She used it as a daily driver for two or three years but they decided to keep it after that as a Sunday drive car. He passed away in the early 2000's and she lost her license in 2005 which triggered the decision to sell since their children didn't want it.

Now I'm getting contacted by some of the grand kids who recall going for drives with grandpa and would like the car back. However since my kids grew up riding around in that car for the last 11 years I couldn't sell it even if I wanted to!

Btw, when I bought it the only thing missing was the headrests. They told me that their grandfather was a good Conservative thinker and he was very upset about the new for 69 mandated headrests, he threw them out at the dealer taking delivery of the car.

Took me a few years to find nice replacements!

[north]

4...My Sprint Firebird has had only two previous owners, kind of a funny story; summer of 69 a student had graduated high school in upstate New York and as per the deal with his dad was looking for a new car to take him to college in San Diego California (UCSD). His dad had agreed to buy him a car if he went to collage and there was only one proviso, no V8's!

So he set out to see what he could buy, he wanted a convertible but that 6 cylinder rule was a problem. His first choice being in a Ford family was a Mustang but even the bigger six was only 155 horse. He checked out the Mopars, other Fords, Camaro but all were 100 to 150 or so horses. Then a friend told him to go look at a Pontiac since they had that OHC six. When he saw it had 175 horse he was ready to buy but the sharp salesman pushed him into a 230 horse Sprint and he took the Firebird figuring it was faster because it was smaller.

They had to order the car to get the options he wanted (stick shift, 8track, all the appearance options but no PS or PB).

It arrived just in time because they picked up the car on a Friday afternoon and Saturday morning he drove to San Diego. After Graduating in 72 he sold it to owner number two in San Diego who had it till 2010 when I bought it and shipped it back East.

[Old Blue 66]

Wow this is an old thread started by me while I had another car. Great to see it surface again. My current GTO has an interesting story. I'll share it another day.

[Frank R]

I'm probably better off not knowing the history of my 67. It doesn't appear that anyone cared for the car or drove it more than a few miles without hitting something. My GTO was purchased new in Hartford, CT and I purchased it in Naugatuck, CT. I have the bills of sale going back to the early 80's and it looks to have spent it's entire life in CT. With the internet it would be easy to track them down. I started to a few years ago but decided against it. When I tore the car apart it looked like it was abused since day one.

[tom s]

I kind of made a mistake and looked at a 63 tempest convert from a lead by a board member.Found a original 58K car owned by the daughter of the women that bought it new.Got sucked into buying it and restoring it to save it.Was never intended to be around long.Now I'm into the car for way more than I can get for it but really not sorry.Great piece of Pontiac history.Virtually every part it was born with is on the car except carb and things I added like power steering and a tach.Tom

[north]

Boss, have you heard from Rick Wright? haven/t spoken to him in probably 20 years! I know John of Purely had health issues back then.


My Ventura wagon has an interesting story. I"m the second owner, the original owner was a pilot who had his own hanger which is where he kept the car.

He won the car on a Good Morning America type TV show in the fall of 1968. Actually he won a new 69 Firebird fully loaded with white wall tires and a radio! But they gave him the option to buy any new Pontiac and just pay the difference, over the $3,000 price of the bird. He took the Wagon instead which had a $5,000 sticker so it cost him $2,000.

He passed away in 2014 at 100 and his son is at a loss why he chose the wagon. He says he never used it as a regular car and never used it as a wagon. The mileage (20 something k) was all monthly Sunday two drives in the country to keep it in running order. In 2014 it still had its original tires.

Maybe he thought of it as his lucky rabbit's foot. He didn't seem to excited about winning a car as I have letters from the PMD zone office in Portland (Oregon) trying for a few months to get him to contact the dealer to collect his prize.

[unruhjonny]

Every time I try to learn more of my car's history, I come up hitting a brick wall...

I would love to know more about it, but all I have for now is a little bit that I was told by a couple people...

I believe I bought it off the third owner in Riverton Manitoba circa July 1995.

[400 4spd.]

I'm saving my story for a magazine. I think most people I describe it to can't believe it.

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by north

Boss, have you heard from Rick Wright? haven/t spoken to him in probably 20 years! I know John of Purely had health issues back then.

I believe at this point they both have passed. Not long after they had finished the RA V Judge project John's son passed away and the heartbreak that went with that loss ended up killing the business.

Here is a copy of the title from when Rick owned it dated 1987 - almost 30 years now.

[FireJudge]

Purchased 1968 Convertible Firebird in January 1993. Bought it in Central IN. It was sold to me as a 400 4spd. I ran the numbers and it was a 400 4spd. I purchased it and then sent in for the PHS. It came back as a 350 3spd. Originally it was Verdoro Green but it is red now. Only paid 5K for it and it has been a great car.
Purchased 69 CR Judge in November of 2013 from NW IN. I took the Title to the BMV and ran into a problem. The guy I bought it from never titled it. He bought it without an engine. He had a correct block purchased from Butler Classics. He had the #48 heads from another project. The car had the original Tranny and rear end and is still wearing 60% of the original paint. Back to the BMV problem. The Maryland title had "Gift" in the selling price. Since the guy I bought it from never titles it and the bill of sale had this guys name on it their was a problem. After a few hours the BMV agreed to issue the Title with Exempt on the mileage. I am OK with that. I looked up the guys name on the Maryland Title and found a phone #. I called it and got lucky. I asked the guy why it had "Gifted" in the selling price. He told me his son was in a bind and needed to get a loan. He gifted the Title over to him for a loan but he was not suppose to take the car. This gentleman had 12-15 cars and did not notice it was gone before it was to late. He was able to tell me he purchased the car from a divorcing couple in South Carolina in 2003. That is all I know.

[importsmasher]

I have shared my 66 GTO convertible story several times on this site....short version...my parents bought it new, I wanted it when I was in kindergarten, bought it when I was 16, and still have it. I have the original window sticker, Protect-O-Plate, and pictures of the car the day they bought it.

My 73 Firebird Formula was inherited from my uncle. He traded a 73 Ventura (with a Buick 350 in it) straight across for it in the mid 80s (85-86). It was his daily driver through college. He was gathering parts to restore it when he passed in 1995.

I also had a 62 LeMans I picked up in 1997. It had sat in someone's back yard since 1970, because they thought the block was cracked (it was the aluminum 215 V8). The husband died in 97, and the wife was preparing to sell the house, so she had it pulled out to the front yard, which is when I saw it. I asked if it was for sale, and she said she was waiting for a junkyard to come get it. I offered to match the yard's offer of $100, and she accepted. I bought it planning to part it out, but decided to try getting it running (it had 74,000 miles on it). I cleaned the carb, changed the oil, and lubed the cylinders, and it fired right up, even on 27 year old gas (the smell had me choking in the garage after a few seconds). Then I added water to the radiator, and it started leaking from the side of the block. I thought, "ok, that's what they meant about the block being cracked." I climbed under, and it was leaking from two of the freeze plugs. I changed the freeze plugs and the problem was fixed! I replaced the radiator that had rotted out, and hit the road. I put 90,000 miles on that car before I sold it when we moved to Utah. My understanding is that it went to England. One of only a few cars that I miss.....

Importsmasher

[north]

Boss, sorry to hear they are gone. I recognize the address, I really liked those guys, remember their monthly booklets with the girls in the centerfold?

[Frank R]

I was the second owner of my 68. The original owner gave me all the original paperwork. I had the original sales contract, finance contract, vehicle inspection checklist, protecto plate and warrantee book and the owners manual with the salesman's card stapled to it. He also gave me a dyno tune slip from 1970, most of the old registrations, service receipts. I found the build sheet on top of the gas tank when I pulled the car apart.

[unruhjonny]

/\ /\ too cool!!

[sts]

The pos-when-I-got-it is a common thread around here. Yes, I got ripped off @ $150 because it was a $35 car. Actually a -$35 car because that's how much it would have cost to haul it to the junkyard.

Po claimed his uncle bought the car new. If true, that his uncle's registration card, dated January 1983. The car's “only” attribute is a 100% rust-free 400 shell. Lots of blood, sweat, and tears, very little money.

Sold new @ Mustier Motors, 1212 W. Moore Ave, Terrell, TX on 12/26/68, possibly a Christmas present.

I bought it in April of 1985 in Seagoville TX.

I put it on the road, 11/5/86.

I transferred the TX title to a MD title in 12/23/92.

I have been driving it for a little over 30 years.

The rest of the history: It's the only Van-Guys-built, first-gen bird I have ever seen in the state of MD, and registration expires on 6/30/17.