[Mister Pontiac]

Well Gents, she's baaaaack!

Earlier this week, I flew out to Missouri to retrieve the GT from my brother's care. He realized he was spread a little too thin with all of his toys, and decided something needed to give. I told him I'd take the GT back, so here we are!

In two days, she did 1330 miles, pulling a U-Haul trailer loaded with the original 350 and associated spare parts. All that stuff wasn't going to fit in the trunk.

I had to cannonball the adventure as things demanded my attention back at home sooner than later, so I was in the car for 36 hours, with a 3 hour nap along the way. Of course with the factory tank, it meant I had to stop about every 150 miles or so, which took up some time. Nevertheless, what another fun road trip adventure! Man, I just can't get enough of these.

I hit some pretty severe Thunderstorm's in Oklahoma overnight Tuesday, so much so that with wipers and lights on high, hazards on, and 20mph, I could only see one stripe in front of me. That was exciting.

Other than that, there was only one mechanical delay. As the miles wore on, I could tell she was developing a bit of a miss, and just wasn't running quite right. I thought I'd wait until I got home to take a look at things, but when I exited for my last fuel stop an hour and a half north of Phoenix, she wouldn't have any of it. She could barely get out of her own way pulling away from a stop. I spotted an O'Reilly's down the block, and pulled in. Pretty quickly, I realized the point gap had gone to nearly zero, and I had to wonder, how was she even running?! There wasn't enough adjustment left in the screw, but I walked out of the store 5 min later with a new set of points in hand. With a matchbook cover from a kind stranger, I had the new ones installed and set in a few minutes. She fired right up, and once again purred happily. I was actually thankful it happened when it did as I had to pull the 5 mile uphill grade out of Camp Verde heading south right after that. That would have been no fun without good spark.

Needless to say, another wonderful adventure for me with a vintage Pontiac, but now my dilemma begins. Do I keep the GT and finish the body/paint, or do I put the original 350 back in, keep my 455, and let her go to a new home as is? After 6 years of prior ownership and realizing how much of 'me' there is in this girl, it's awfully hard to think of letting her go to someone outside of the family.

Give me your thoughts. Which way would you go, and why? Boy, I sure love these first world problems.

I've attached a couple pics of the adventure. When was the last time you saw a 72 LeMans pulling a U-Haul?