[ramairthreegto]

when you were growing up?

I remember one Judge i saw.

My first GTO had originally been a RA car, but the engine had been sold already for a good price before I got it.

Basically,
what I am saying is it was way more common for me to see a 68 Lemans someone had thrown a 455 from a land yacht in, or a Malibu with a 427 or 454 put in, or a regular 400 GTO than to see a Judge, RA GTO, or true SS Chevelle.

but it was the 80s when I was a teen, and a very small town, country area. What I am getting at, is that if you were a teen in the 60s and 70s and from a bigger area, did you actually see a lot of the top shelf stuff,
or,
was it like where I was in the 80s where the baddest car was likely a 70 NOVA with a 427 from a totalled Impala in it or something else along the "home made muscle" lines.

Now, don't get me wrong, plenty of 442s, big block Chargers, Chevelles etc. had their day in my area when I was a kid, and some were still kicking around in my teens-

but's it like we did not even know about bobcats, copos, yenko, LS6, RAIV, etc.

[Stuart]

I grew up in a small town (~1800 people) but there were still a fair amount of muscle cars. Several GTOs including a couple Judges, 396 Chevelles, 4-4-2s, Road Runners. For whatever reason I don't recall that many Fords, although there was one guy who had a 1962 Galaxie 406/4 speed convertible. At one point there were seven Trans Ams in town, including a '74 SD455.

[The Boss]

There was a Pontiac dealership in my home town in Massachusetts, I remember being in there one day with my Dad and there was a White/White 73 Super Duty in the showroom - I was 10.

[Ron Landis]

The town I grew up in was a Chevy town...like most, I suspect. First fast cars I recall...a 409 /425 '57 Chevy...fastest car in our town and a 409/425 '63 Corvette from the neighboring town. Don't laugh...the combo worked! Later it was a '68 Chevelle 396/375 roller motor, same guy that had the '57. Although relatively small cube, this phenomenon cranked 10k rpm and ran TWO Dominators...on the street! Sported 5.38 gears!Other local noteables were two COPO '69 Camaros,a '65 Biscayne 396/425, a few L-79 Chevelles, which are both still tucked away in friends' garages, a couple of other 396/375 Camaros and Chevelles and various Hemi and 440 cars...none of which were actual contenders against the BB Chevies. Anyway....I digress. As far as Pontiacs go, I was not that well-versed on them to actually know what I was looking at, but in retrospect, I now have some suspicions. There was a '66 GTO with factory 4.33 gears, which I always thought was odd. There was the '65 GTO with the "dealer installed" 421 Tri-Power. There was an Atoll Blue '70 that was purchased new by the owner of an L-79 '65 Chevelle SS. The goat ran better than It had any right to, and I suspect it was possibly a RA IV, because the kid that bought it NEVER bought just a "regular" car. He trophied with the L-79 at the local track at will. Then there was my good friend's early '71 GT-37. Tropical Lime...green vinyl top...green interior and the eyebrow stripes. Just a 400/400 car, but was the screamingest stock Pontiac I had EVER driven! I would LOVE to recover the VIN on that one and check the PHS just to see what the story was on that one. Never saw another one like it! Other than that...no real Pontiac performers crossed my path until the mid-eighties, when I got involved with the GTOAA. Probably overlooked some neat rides out of sheer ignorance. Just didn't know what I was looking at! Ron

[screamingchief]

I owned a rare pontiac in the late eightees,paid $500.00 for it too.

The car was a '72 WW5 455 H-O auto trans GTO.

One of 325 auto cars IIRC,and when you do the WW5 breakdown,it was even rarer yet.

I think there were like 310 manual trans 455 H-O GTO's that year.

So yeah,that's pretty rare in my book.

At the time,one friend had a starlight black '70 RAIII/auto judge,that's pretty rare too (he still has it).

Another friend had a '70 440-6/auto superbird back then too (still has it as well).

I almost bought a basket case '70 LS-5 chevelle from hs brother,but it was in pieces,so I passed on that one.

My first car was a '70 nova that I cloned into a SS-396 car from scrounging wrecking yards and swap meets.

Traded that car for a '72 SS 402 El Camino,not super rare,but still fun & pretty cool.

So for me,there has always been lots of cool/rare stuff out there,but you gotta know where to look for it,and how to wheel & deal to acquire it.

Right now I'm fixing up a '68 S-code (390 cid/C-6) Ranchero GT for my brother,my parents got that for just under a grand a few years back.

Was a bucket seat GT ranchero too,that is one of like 727 GT Ranchero's like that in '68.

That's relatively rare too.

My current "street" car project is a '72 firebird esprit,not very rare in it's own right (like 11,000 auto/esprit that year),but that was the lowest production year for second gen F-bodies,pretty unique car though,factory manual disc brakes,low options,not to mention it was a rear seat console car as well.

Yeah,that's just a few.

I could go on.

But I digress for now.

Bret P.

[Stuckinda60s]

The little town I grew up in boasted a bunch of GTO's, probably as many as there were Chevelles, some 442's, 2-Yenkos, 2-Thunderbolts (one of which I missed out on when the guy sold it in 1980, for 2200!, I'd just been feeling him out about it the week before; a couple of LS-6's, a couple of Z-28's and a couple of GTX's, the Chryslers weren't very popular.

[71 T/A]

I saw a 69 T/A and 73 SD-455 T/A growing up. Oh, and a 69 Judge convertible.

[saltman 1965]

Worked at a Mobil station in in the late 70s. A beautiful white 73 Grand Am came in.The guy claimed it had a 455 SD in it.Had a friend with a Super Bee 383 4 speed used to save used tires for him just for burn outs. It was one of the best jobs a high school gear head could have.

[blue goats]

Growing up in north Wilmington it was kinda small as cities go, but Union Park Pontiac was less than ten minutes away with all sorts of cool stuff coming out of there and Rockhill Pontiac was 25 minutes away too. It almost seemed like there was competition between them ? It was not that unusual to see a Judge parked in a driveway growing up. The GM cars were all over northern DE . Mopars were unusual where I grew up but if you went to southern DE it seems like it was chevy,ford, or mopar land. There were no BOP's or amc's down there. When me and my friends would go to the Front St races in Philly thats where we would see a Baldwin Motion"454" 70 Camaro ,Macho Trans Am, Superbird etc. Its funny though the fastest car of the night would end up being a Duster or pos looking Mustang or something like that.One night some guy in a RX-4 was cleaning house.D'm chain saw!

[salem1912]

The year was 1972 I was 14,had three older brothers with GTO's GTX's and Roadrunners. Our house was the first from the stop sign of a wide road in the township (start line). Every friend of my brothers felt the need to launch there car from that spot. This when on all nite,noa/c then so the windows were always open. The smell of rubber would get bad sometimes. The street looked like a drag strip. A half a block away was a drug store with two young pharmacist one had a AAR 'Cuda and the other a TA challenger,every nite at closing time i would sit on the curb and watch these two battle for the next days bragging rights. Those were the days for sure.

[goatman65]

My cousin had bought a 69 RAIV Judge new.A friend of my dad's went to Royal Pontiac in 65 and bought a new 65 Bobcat GTO.Late 1970's went to look at a 64 2+2.My dad's 66 GTO that he bought new.The reason it's rare is because it is 98% orig.unrestored,numbers matching tripower car.I'm sure there can't be too many left in this condition.Now if you want include other 'makes'the list gets longer.

[Shiny]

I was in high school in west texas from 69 to 72 and like you say, really wasn't aware of the truly rare cars. It was common to see Mach I mustangs, SS and RS Camaros, and I remember several 442s... but, probably because I was too young to know people with real jobs, seeing a Judge or even a big-block Chevy was rare. The "rumored" fastest car at school was a mid-sixties Belvedere with a transplanted 426 wedge. Some kid had an AAR Cuda and the strobe stripes were soooo cool (still are). We used to cruise in a 383 Super Bee that my friend borrowed from his grandma... but to me, an SS396 Chevelle was the highest form of muscle at the time. I do remember my sister's boyfriend had a blue Buick GS, but I doubt it was a 455, and the novelty at the time was the shifter... go figure... I definitely never heard of a 69 T/A or understood what an LS6 Chevelle was about.

I suspect you had to be a few years older than me to really be aware of the rare muscle cars, as they cost money that high school kids didn't have, and their parents sure weren't going to buy them for the drive to school.

[mike nixon]

There were several locally for no bigger than the community is.

70RA4 GTO, non judge but had the rear wing and a 4spd.
Carosel Red 69 Judge RA car.
65 2+2 'vert, burgundy /white
68 Firebird RA 400 4spd car
2 74 GTOs, Both 4spds
66 GTO tripower 3spd car
Iris Mist 65 Grand Prix
73 Grand Am 455 Auto
67 Bird 'Vert Sprint 6 3spd
3 Turbo Trans Am Pace cars
3 86 Pontiac 2+2's
2 Comp T/A's


WE Had a GOOD Pontiac Dealer in those days

[The Champ]

My dad sold Pontiacs from 1964 - 1995.

I remember his company car in the fall of 1969 was the very first Trans Am to hit my home town.

Lucerne Blue with the white stripes. 400 Ram Air and a 4sp! I had a lot of "seat" time behind the wheel, but I never drove the car. I was 15 at the time....

[Brian Baker]

In high school, this young woman who lived around the block from me (in her early 20's) owned a Can Am. This was between 1982-1984. It had been repainted black, and had a set of American Racing 5-spoke chrome mags on it (I think they called them the CP-200 back then, I had a similar set on my '73 LeMans I bought in 1985). No decals or call outs on the car indicating it was a Can Am, but it still had the shaker and spoiler on it. The car sat low too, presumably from worn out springs and shocks, with just a tad bit of rake to the rear. We called it Darth Vader because it looked so menacing coming down the street. Fast forward to just a few years ago and I learned that fellow PY board member Scott Weddle from Gettysburg, PA now owns the car...and it's still black! I remember cold winter mornings though, standing at the bus stop when she would come out and crank it up, rev the bejesus out of it, letting it run for maybe 20 or 30 seconds before blasting off down the street to go to work. She was not kind to that car at all.

[tom s]

being around Jess Tyrees shop growing up,I saw the M/Ts 63 421 SD lemans,62 and 63 SD cars,swiss cheese cars,the Thunder Bolts,the 426 max wedge cars,was at the winter nationals in Phoenix when the funny car Mopars were first run.VERY lucky.Tom

[Stuckinda60s]

I forgot a really rare one. My older sister had a '69 or '70 GS 455, 4-speed,convertible! The first time I drove it I hit the brakes about 105 and put it sideways across the road, managed to keep it out of the weeds, brought it back to my lane, got it straightened out and hit the brakes, again. I'd never driven a disc brake car, before, and hit the brakes a tad hard.

I was going through the gears, winding 3rd ( it was geared high), and coming up on another car in my lane with a car coming toward us. I hit the brakes because I didn't want to change lanes to pass with that car coming. The front brakes were so good that the rear started to come around. I managed to slow enough that I avoided the car in front me as the approaching car passed.

My sister was not at all pleased, although she told me years later it was some impressive driving. At the time she was just a little frightened.

[Steve C.]

I know the local owner of a unique 1969 Trans Am. It has a factory installed automatic with the shifter on the column and it has been documented. I saw it the other day at a local upholstery shop while delivering my sons '64 Corvette for a new top.

[Rapdron]

The one car I bought when I was in college (and working full time at the local gas station) Was a 1970 bright Red, white interior and white vinyl top Monte Carlo, 402 BB, 4 speed, 3.31 12 bolt posi, A/C, AM with 8 track, bucket seats and rally wheels.

Many trips to Englishtown Raceway in the early 70's with that car.
Not the fastest car on the block, but it surprised many a Camaro & Mustang back then.

I sold it in 1975 to start my own business, only have seen one other 4 speed Monte Carlo since then.

Still wish I had it now, but at the time starting my own business was a good reason to part with it.

[Scarebird]

Saw one of the manual 1969 T/A ragtops at a drive in in the late 80's.