[ponyakr]

i've mentioned my 1st ride in a gto. it was a 65 4sp. our pilot that day was a boy we called Howard. i recently talked to him on the phone. i know his real name was not howard, so i asked him how he got the nickname howard. he said that me & some of the other guys had given him that name back in hi school, because of the goofy kid on the show " bachelor father " who dated the daughter on the show. i can't recall that character & T.J. says she barely can. howard said, "i guess ya'll called me that because he talked sort of countryfied like i do". folks, i ain't kiddin, we live in the sticks. howard & his family brought about some of my earliest & fondest memories of pontiacs. he grew up in a family of gearheads & continued after hi school. he started his own mechanic shop & worked on all the area vehicles. even got his own log truck & worked on other peoples 18 wheelers. he's now worked for many years at our parish(county) school bus barn, keepin the fleet of buses rollin. now, fast forward to '08. there havin a car show down at our local ford dealer. i had to go there to pick up someone. so while in town i decided to look around a bit. now for nearly 20 years i had, on purpose, stayed away from all races & car shows. i simply could'nt bare to be close to these old musclecars i loved so much & not be part of the action. i'd stopped racing & spending all our money on hot rods. i was trying to hold on to our family business(which was doomed to failure by wal-mart). & T.J. was saving & secretly planning for the house & horse barn of her dreams. & Lord knows she deserved it after living in cheap trailers for 25 years because i spent all our money racing. now back to the car show. i imediately spotted a '68 bird sitting next to a shiney black '68 gto. of course i had to get a closer look. they were both real nice & reminded me of our racing days when i ran a goat & she ran a bird. well, all those old familiar feelings came rushing back in. it was a very emotional moment for me. i soon spotted a familiar face. it was howard, sitting in a lawn chair under a shade tree. we began to talk & i soon found out that the '68 bird was his. so i got the low down on it. he has consented to a photo shoot. so on the 1st sunny day T.J. & i can make it we'll go over & get the details & pics & share 'em with ya'll. i also asked howard about another old car we used to ride around town in that had a 389 in it. he said he probably had a few old pics of it stashed in the attic somewhere. he had'nt seen 'em in years. i can't wait to see those old pics. he told me something i did'nt remember. he said he painted the letters "the blob" on the side of it, from the movie of the same name. i vaguely remember the movie. it was some life form that resembled a huge hunk of liver that went around terrorizing & eating people. oh it was a real "thriller". lol. we'll share all the pics when we can. thanks howard for all the pontiac memories.