Joe is pretty much the reason I got into Pontiacs as well. I'd met him just after I bought my first Pontiac, a 27,000 mile, sitting since 1967, 64 Grand Prix 389 4 speed that a coworker begged me to take off his hands for $400. My mailman (also a car guy) told me about a guy restoring the same car a few blocks away. When I got to his house I saw the Beast parked on the street and the body of the Grand Prix he was restoring about a foot over the 5 foot fence ( a real body-off restoration!) I introduced myself and asked him a thousand Pontiac questions and he answered all of them. When it got to the "where do I find these parts" question, he took my list and gave me just about every part on it. He then followed me home (because he just couldn't believe I also had a factory 4 speed) and spent a lot of time inspecting my car and giving me advice. From that moment on we became good friends. I actually quit my job and started working on cars with him. He taught me almost everything I know about engines and "junkyard carousing" an almost daily activity. He went out of his way to be helpful and honest in all of his car dealings (well, except for the street racing with a sleeper and taking some poor import driver's money...but I sure don't fault him for that)
Joe's family sold all of his cars to cover his medical expenses and I couldn't afford to pay anything at the time so I had to watch them be sold. He had given me several items before he died that I still cherish today...his "thinking t-shirt" to be worn only when really stumped (practically in rags right now) and his old, digital wristwatch that I still wear often.
Five years after Joe's death, I was in the market for another Pontiac project, I answered an ad for an engineless 64 Bonnie convertible in Hemmings. The car was local (Pomona) and as I got to talking and talking about Pontiacs and Joe and all of Joe's cars, the seller, Jon Fiedler, said the descriptions sounded familiar and opened up a garage where he was parting out Joe's race car (the Beast) and also had the restored frame of the restoration Joe was doing. It turns out that Jon had bought every one of Joe's cars from different owners in the years since Joe's death and had no idea of their history. Jon was moved by my reaction to Joe's car and threw in Joe's old motor with the purchase of my Bonneville. (Some of it was unusable-too much nitrous, I'd say, but I am running as much of Joe's parts as I could) The first call I made when I got home was to Joe's mother...She was very happy to hear the news!
Jon and I also became friends over these Pontiacs. It was as if Joe wanted me to meet Jon and get back into Pontiacs. Well, things happen, break-ups, mortgages, life's ups and downs and I've been away from the Pontiac world for 3 or 4 years now. I parked my projects and even lost touch with Jon over this time. Well, life is on an upswing for me and the urge to finish my convertible started building up so as a re-starting point I logged onto the PY website and, wouldn't you know, one of the first things I see is Chris' post about Joe. It's as if Joe wants me to finish these cars....
All I can say is thanks, Joe....I'm baaack!
Now, speaking of losing touch with old friends, does anyone know if Jon Fiedler is on this board or TATODD who gave me great engine advice years ago or Old Man Taylor who helped me through my first tri-power rebuild???
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