Norwalk 2025 Observations.
 

We from Western Pa have been coming every year but missed the first. This year again was enjoyable,fun, lots of laughs. We had good meals at Berrys in town.Talked to many friends ,we see once a year,we made over the years.Our local Greensburg Diocesan Bishop Larry Kulik was there with one of his Pontiacs in car show,he received a 1st place trophy. We ,about 8 of us had dinner with him Friday night at sports bar in town. Very humble knowledgeable man. Talked to Arnie about racing Pontiacs and his loyalty to the brand in the early 60s. The racing band and Pontiacs demise. I was asked to help Arnie! Yes me I just had a golf cart,he needed to go somewhere! Anyway our local POCI club brought home 1st place trophies about 5 if i remember in the car show. Enjoyed chocolate ice cream in the suites. Bought more parts. All in all a very nice time. Thank you Ames again. I hear we are the longest running event and best
people.

Great time, too bad Sunday was a blow out due to weather.
I wont go into our Crack Whore Motel issues, next year, I think I will just camp.

They were probably expecting younger men. :welcome:

Over the years we have found what I call very unique motels/hotels. We are staying at Best Western Norwalk. Clean. I was talking to a guy from Canada there Friday night he had reservations at another hotel near turnpike. Good price, when he got to hotel the mgr was belligerent arguing about the price as he wouldn't honor it. One of the hotel employees agreed with Canadian that price should be honored. So he left got room at Best Western. Another motel we used to stay at the woman would take our money ,down from counter top , count it and say you are short! I witnessed thst. Soo we do not go there any more.

We had a blast. Since we were not selling parts, searching for parts showing a car, or racing, we were all over the place from one end of the track to the other. The only place we didn't go was within the campground If you are on facebook, you've seen the 900 photos I took trying to capture the feel of the event. I thought this year's theme was tripowers- I saw them in every level of completion.
Here are the links to my 3 days worth of photos. They are the original resolution and you can download any of them that you want.
Day 1- Thursday
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135383...7720327681308/
Day 2- Friday
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135383...7720327665256/
Day 3- Saturday
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135383...7720327672387/

Great to finally meet you Andre! Another great Pontiac weekend!

After going through all the photos just clicking the "Thanks" button is not enough.

Thank you for doing that. And thank you for linking them here not to Facebook (for those who are not on Facebook).

K

I see Jeff Boucier brought two cars:

The beautiful black "Big Wampum" '62 Catalina, and what we affectionately know as "the Tiger Car" (the striped Untamed Tiger '63 Tempest/Lemans).

K

This is the car that launched PHS -

Fred Simmonds and his OHC Tempest.

The rest of the story: https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...8&postcount=75

K

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1753362508

I guess for some reason I never noticed that Tempest Sprint was a 4 door. Wow!! Does anyone know if a stick or auto trans?

Thank you for posting links to all those GREAT pictures. Not a facebook user so I appreciate that very much.

Finally, does anyone know the ET's and/or MPH of the quickest and fastest cars on the property this year? Always like to keep tabs on that data. I noticed Rodney Butler had his car there for the race for the first time in a few years. Of course Kauffman had their impressive lineup as usual. Any other "heavy hitters"? I had a family medical emergency and missed the event this year. Only 3rd. one I have missed out of 34.

What do we know about this little Indian?

K

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1753363182

PY member BeemerGary -

K

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1753364446

Reminds me of a story:

When I was a kid my parents took me to a petting zoo. We drove our new(ish) '68 GTO.

After we were done we were walking out to the parking lot and somebody said "hey - look: there's a goat on the hood of that car".

As we got closer we realized it was on the hood of OUR car.

We kids thought that was hilariously funny: a goat on the hood of our Goat.

Dad did not think it was hilariously funny.

K

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1753365181

PY Member Mike Davis (from Athens GA):

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1753365802

We missed it this year. How was it without all the scooters etc on the show field?

What a great looking event - wish I was there - maybe someday....

Thanks for sharing.

There were quite a few rental golf carts with people who looked like they could have walked just fine.

A solution may be that only those with a state-issued handicap placard can use the carts on the show field.

I saw aftermath. A young girl on Saturday ran over a curb and hit a tree with golf cart. Tree bark skinned off in front of tire shop. I thought only licensed drivers could drive carts. Carts gave me quick access to whole event when racing.A lot of very nice cars.

That white 63 is a very nice clone,the give away to me was the trans hump in the front.Has the access hatch in the trunk like the SDs had.Tom

It's a 4-speed with bench seat. Not a Sprint, actually. Window sticker says the option is the overhead cam 4-barrel engine, peculiar to 67 only as not being the full Sprint package.

I believe there were 3 Tempest Custom 4-doors built with the 4v and 4-speed, this being the only one with A/C.

@kingbuzzo: You've got to plan to make it there and why not next year? It's Pontiac Overload and should not be missed!

That white ‘63 Tempest has a hand fabricated aluminum front end. He had a guy in Nebraska build it for him. Unbelievable quality and detail. I spoke to the gentleman at Louisville this year. Super nice guy. The induction was built by my friend John Reeder out of Texas. The owner told me it even has the original style (maybe original) SD radiator.

White 63 SD
 

Radiator & Rear

Might have been the same craftsman that did the replacement aluminum front end for the Stan Long car after it's rediscovery.

That radiator is shocking . Never seen such an animal as that.
Awesome !

DeWitt make a alu corvette radiator almost the same dimensions of the original 63 SD Tempest radiator.I bought one for a fraction of the price of the 63 and put it in my 63 Tempest wagon some years ago.Looks identical.FWIW,Tom

The massive amount of time Mr Simmonds spent hand sorting & tabulating engine/transmission Production numbers in various models! Still astounded by this effort!

Met Fred Simmonds for the first time @ 1990 POCI Nats in Lenexa Kansas. Had done a dealership cleanout/big NOS parts stock deal a few months before. Was honored to hand Mr Simmonds a correct NOS muffler for his '66 Sprint, wish had something else that could have given him for his '66.

Amazing level of craftsmanship. The tanks on that radiator, WOW!

https://www.dewitts.com/collections/...21235702792274
When he did mine he made a change to the lower hose to match the SD unit.Tom

Out of respect to Fred , there was only one 6cyl 4bbl.
It's listed as
4bbl. 230 cu. inch overhead cam 6 cyl engine
Stripes only available with coupes and convertibles = no stripes on 4 doors.
He does have Sprint fender badges.

Can't imagine the godfather of documentation is parading a fake car. (?)

https://cdn.dealeraccelerate.com/gaa...67-pontiac-gto

If his BHC doesn't have Code 332 , he is in hot water .

Fred's Tempest is a '67.

In 1967, the 4BC engines were offered as an optional upgrade.
It wasn't the "Sports Package" aka, SPRINT, just the engine.

This was available on any Tempest model,
hence why you might see a few '67 Wagons as well with the 4BC engine.

He knows this and, over the years, took some creative freedom by adding the fender Badges.
His show sign shows all the details.

No Harm No Fowl

Thanks for all the details. What a cool car. So many way to have a car built in a very personal configuration in the 1960's. One of the things that makes that decade so special.

I did my best with the pictures and videos, so thank you.

As best as I understood the white Tempest... aluminum front end. I was told it was a clone. The work looked very similar in quality to the 1963 Wagon that is in the collection of the "Factory Lightweights" here in Stuart Florida that was done by Scott Tiemann. Another local fellow here Mike Glass has an aluminum front end, but won't part with it.
I've known Fred Simmonds for over 30 years as he once lived down here in the Orlando area. For a while I had a one owner 1967 Lemans 4 door OHC6.It was not a sprint, but it had a/c and rally gauges and tilt. Fred's car is a stick car. The 4 door hardtop was Lemans only I think and had the sunken back window, while the 4 door Tempest has a concave back window
Regarding the golf cart issue, we can walk, but there is absolutely no way that we are not going to use a golf cart out there. Why? because we travel back and forth between the car show, swap meet and meeting and chatting with folks in the pits.We probably go from one end of the track to the other end of the swap meet least 4 or 5 times per day. And while Ames had a courtesy shuttle for taking parts to the parking lot, we helped at least a dozen strangers get their heavy and bulky parts to their far away parking spaces. (gratis) though one guy insisted on giving us $$

Must have been a revision to order sheet perhaps.
On the sheet we get , the only way to get the 4bbl. engine is by checking option 332

Am perplexed now and would like to study his BHC
Hunching it could show 332 and 621

Could be that not only they didn't get stripes on 4 door , but no Sprint emblems either ?
Would be a tough car to find other originals to compare.

AGAIN, Fred's car (IS NOT A SPRINT), the 4BC ohc 6 engine was a $63 (+-) option in '67.
This would NOT include the suspension upgrades and/or body side stripes; it was just an engine upgrade.

Yeh , I read that before I posted.

Just trying to clarify, you know how the misinformation keeps rolling on.

Completely , and for sure.
I'm just always overly-interested in nit picks with or about BHC and Invoice details.

Even if Fred had Judge decals on the 67 , I wouldn't begrudge him.
Anybody else , would have to roast them like a marshmallow.

The Godfather of Documentation

I have the sheet detailing all 24 23369 Tempest sedans built with manual transmissions. Half had the 332 option, half did not, Fred's is in that group. Only three were 4-speeds, and of those, only one (Fred's) has A/C.

He sent me this when I asked about option 332 on his car:

No, it was done by a different guy from Nebraska.

The cars owner is Ron Chamness from Illinois

For the wife and for me, this being our first time, we booked kinda late. Got a "trackside" RV spot, non-electric. Got on waiting lists for an electric space, a golf cart and a mobility scooter.

We got calls an hour apart from Dornan and Stride Mobility, and we reserved the golf cart. I'm glad they called first, since our RV space was at the dragstrip's extreme end, so a half-mile from the starting line. Scooter (little Pride 3-wheeler) would have been unsuitable, and the golf cart was cheaper!

Golf cart made the event most enjoyable and provided new experiences for our 3 dogs to buzz around with us and get all kinds of attention!

For early years we use to walk around. Bringing quad one year helped getting from race side to show side .Then renting cart was the easiest,quickest. When your class is called up.Where the time goes i can't believe it's been so long. The anticipation for the event,then the event, now a week later,time flies.

Randy Ferguson (Robinson Illinois) did the front end for the Stan Long/Stan Antlocer ebay car.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=607313

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...5&postcount=45

I love how there are not one but two guys in this day and age with this level of talent.

K

Yes that level of creativity is amazing. I've never really done bodywork just tinkered.

Observations
 

I observed about 90 percent of registrations on the show field belonging to Ohio
Where are all of the other cars these days?

Old friend of mine Ron Chamli
ss (wrong spelling) All the real sd stuff and aluminum front end. He brought my 63 Tempest from Nevada for me.

Hope this works,pic of the Dewitt SD radiator I had him do,in my 63 wagon.
https://stories.hemmings.com/wp-cont...ow-off-the.jpg

My biggest surprise was how many 61-63 Tempests were at this event, especially the race side.