Shortly after my family and I moved to Bad Axe, MI in late '68, my dad decided that we needed a new car. The '63 Chevy station wagon that was at the time serving duty as Mom's family hauler, was starting to give us some maintenance problems. Our new back-fence neighbors, one of the "sons" in Flannery & Sons, just happened to own the local Pontiac/Buick dealership of that name. After going through all of the sales brochures for the 1969 Pontiacs, Dad settled on a new Catalina 4-dr sedan. It was Verdoro Green with a gold interior, 400 2bbl/TH400. It was a great car and never gave us a stitch of trouble over the seven years that various members of our family cared for the "egg sucker."
In early 1977, when Dad and I started a search for a suitable first set of wheels for me, we started with a local used car lot owned by a former local school teacher. He had a '74 GTO on the lot. It was Buccaneer Red, with black bucket seat interior and a 3-speed stick. The cost was $3,000. A little steep for a three-year old car that only sold for $3,600 brand new. The next stop was at Flannery's used car lot where a '74 Ventura coupe was sitting in the front row. It was Denver Gold with a 250/3-speed, bench seat and only 22,000 one-owner miles. As I recall, the mileage was about half that of the GTO. Best of all, it was about $1,000 cheaper than the GTO. The dealership offered to repaint the lower body (first owner lived on a dirt road) and add a Sprint accent stripe to the upper beltline. That was my first Pontiac. It still resides in my garage.
I stopped in at Flannery's a couple of summers ago and obtained a Flannery & Sons license plate frame for when I complete the restoration and upgrade to GTO specs. That frame and YoM license plate with be the last items I screw onto the car to complete the project.
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