[#1WideTrak]

A neighbor's friend comes over to visit from time to time in a '70 Trans Am RAIV 4 speed. The first time I saw it was in 2003. Had I not gone to the T/A Nats in 2002, this '70 T/A would have been the first time I ever saw a '70-73 Trans Am in person, and I think I would have just passed out or thought I was dreaming. LOL That is my favorite Trans Am of all.

[Jerry H.]

Originally Posted by mnfatcat

I could claim 2 Pontiacs that would qualify. The 1st would be Don Gays' 62 aluminum front end Catalina. When the Gay family sold it, a guy from Virginia Minnesota bought it, Don Visavotti. He was a member of a car club of pretty savy racers who came to the conclusion it was cheaper and faster to buy a proven car than to build one. Another fellow in the club bought Jere Stahls' 56 Chev wagon G/S car.

The second would be the 67 GTO, "Limelighter" B/S national record holder, owned by Greg Murnane. Greg was a close friend, and was nice enough to have my name on the trunk, it was still there last I heard of the car. He wanted me to buy it when I got back from Nam, should have done it, another in a long list of regrets.

Here's a picture a the 'Limelighter' that I took back in the late 80's. I also had the opportunity to purchase the car, but for some crazy reason I turned it down. What a neat piece of history. I took a bunch of pictures, but this is the only one I could find.

[71GP76TA]

Back in the early/mid '70's... Down the street from my grandparents house in Spokane WA.... there was a white '63 Catalina with a Ford truck hood scoop and the nose sitting high.... It sat backed into a driveway.

Believe it or not my grandpa owned the actual hot rod Lincoln back in the late '60's early '70's. My grandpa and Charlie Ryan were old drinking buddies... Charlie Ryan ran into some financial troubles and my grandpa bought the car and some of his guitars. When Charlie got back on his feet... my grandpa sold the car and stuff back to him. I used to play on that car when I was a little kid . My dad got it running once.

[A.W.Dille]

When I was in high school a guy I knew and graduated a year ahead of me brought a 70 RAIV Judge into the auto shop at my high school for a tune up. Four speed with 3.90 gears, pretty nasty in stock form. In a small county in Southeastern Ohio with a population of around 22,000 there where several fast cars around. For quite awhile there was a 65 Hemi Belvedere running around, a 70 440-six pack four speed Road Runner convertible, a 67 lightweight Fairlane with a Holman-Moody 427 Tunnel Port, a 69 Talladega, a 70 383 four speed Super Bee, my 69 Cyclone CJ, and the baddest car was a 66 Chevelle SS396, looked stock with a four speed and 4.88's, ran 11.80's through the mufflers with stock manifolds. Also a couple of 427 Corvettes, a couple of 69 Z28's. Wasn't many Pontiac's but alot of Mopars and Chevys plus a few street rods.

[Bet Winner]

In 1979, I had my 69 4-speed Judge and my best friend had a 71 TA. The fellow that had the Judge before me bought and sold a nice muscle car every few months or so. He had a 1968 Shelby GT500, a Superbird, another 71 TA and many others that I missed. There was another Superbird in my neighborhood in Jamestown, NC plus a 69 427 Corvette and 69 440 six pack Charger.

Bill Blair lived close by in High Point, NC with a 62 421 SD Catalina and a 63 421 SD Tempest which was serial #0000001. (I may have left out a zero.) There was a 68 428 Cobra Jet Mustang also in High Point in addition to a couple of other Judges that were decent driver type cars and a nice 69 automatic RAIV Judge.

I still own my RAIII Judge, but all the others have been sold unless Bill Blair kept the 62.

[67 LeMans 326]

My friend's 68 GTO is somewhat rare based on the fact the he is the original owner and the car has only 22k miles on it. He has every piece of paperwork, every receipt etc. He lived in OH and used to race it on the weekends, has tons of pics etc. To this very day HE IS THE ONLY PERSON to have EVER driven the car. He is a member on this site as well. The car is April Gold w/blk viynl top. It's just incredible to see a car so original and also VERY fast! A few people on this site know the car as he had it up at the stock appearing drags at Gainesville Raceway last winter...

[LandBarge]

Dont know which is rarer or even if theyre all that rare at all. My friends 68 Firebird 400 H.O. or the 69 Beaumont 396SD that shows up at the local cruises. Or the Rust familys can -ams or my other friend Johns 1962 Catalina ambulance. Or the 71 Catalina hearse I used to drive as of all things a pizza delivery vehicle back in the mid 80s. Or is it the 72 Grand Prix based Stutz my friend Dan has sitting in storage. Guess I actually do know of some at least if not rare .... offbeat Pontiacs.


Dan

[Stu Norman]

Wow. As I think back, growing up in the Seattle area, I really wasn't cognizant of any rare cars. I'm sure they were out there, but from my eyes cars were either fast or they were not.

I remember seeing a few Cobras in the late 60s, plenty of Fords, Mopars Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Chevrolets and a few odd AMC fast cars.(Fastest at High School was a 401 dual quad AMX, gold). Most cars were highly modified with big meats, traction bars, carb changes, headers, loud exhaust, air shocks and hood scoops anyway, so the original pedigree would be hard to determine.

The one stock car I remember and wish I had belonged to a guy named Walt Moss. he ran a stock '68 Firebird Convertible, Vedoro green with a black interior, 400/auto. I loved that car.

[mikeb]

When i was about 15 i knew a guy that had a 74 sd 455. Even took a few rides in it. Another friend had a brother that had a 73/74 455, but he was disgusted with it because he kept bending pushrods.

A cousin got a 69 camaro vert with a 350/4 speed. His dad sold it because it had a bad syncro in the trans.

I wish I had any of those cars now.

[BIGBLUE]

I road in a Judge when I was about 16 years old. A buddy of mine who owned his own repair shop had a 1973 SD 455 firebird, I road in that and it was pretty dang fast IMO. Road in a 421 six pack Catalina 2+2 (too bad only the first 2BBl worked, but it was still quite fast !).

Other makes: Saw a Shelby mustang with a 428 in a rich kids garage. Road in a LS5 454 Chevelle frequently (my buddies car), Another friend had a 1970 Buick GS with the dual hood scoop (functioning) air cleaner, (only a 350 version, not the 455, and for that alone probably pretty rare, and it was 100% legit). Road in a few 'Road runners' with 383's also not slow cars, a 70 charger or two. Saw a 396 Nova (looked like an ordinary grocery getter, except for the 396 badge! Most of these I rode in, or saw when I was a teen, or at the latest just around 20 years old.

I guess in retrospect, the rarest car I ever saw was the twin 4bbl 428 Shelby, and probably the rarest I ever road in was the 421 Catalina 2+2, or perhaps the 73 SD bird. I saw plenty of other when I was in my mid to late 20s, but by that time a lot of them were restored. Some original un-molested cars though, just less and less as the years rolled on. OH, just remembered a 426 Max Wedge in a small dodge with an entirely aluminum front end !!! I raced it won (my Camaro was pretty worked with Bordix heads), but that dodge was one super fast show room race car, and it was also super rare. The guy that owned it asked if I thought it was worth $25,000 at the time (the early 80's) and I thought it was, to the correct buyer. It was just about perfect, with Twin four barrells on cross ram manifold. Today at auction I could see it fetching well over a hundred grand, perhaps much more! Super cool.

[cuz68]

I SAW A 64-67 Gto at a car show in JC tn in the 80s it was red with 24krt gold carbs on it , It was on a stand that went around, I have a photo of it, I read in the paper that it and the hauler was stolen and burent to the ground, Do any one remember this car?

[codyyy]

I would guess that the rarest car I've ever seen, like up close and personal was my friend's dad's Shelby Series 1. I think he still has the car. Last I heard he was also custom ordering a Ford GT, I never saw that car though.

[67 LeMans 326]

When I was a kid we moved from Buffalo, NY to Nashville, TN in 1977. My older brother who was in HS would take me to Shoney's Big Boy on Friday nights right on the main drag. All the kids with the cool cars would cruise the parking lot, litterally cruise around and around in a big circle. It was the coolest thing.

The rarest thing I can actually remember seeing was a pair of Yenko Camaros. One blue one yellow. They were there EVERY weekend and we just sat and watched all the cars cruising. What a fond memory. My brother had a 69 maybe 70 GTX Hemi car but it was rough and needed work even though at that time the car was only 7-8 years old! My brother went into the Marines when he grad in 79, put the GTX in storage and ultimately abandoned it as he failed to keep mailing his payments for the storage place etc. He thinks of that car all the time and kicks himself like so many others...

[dadsformula]

I grew up in Essex MD. We had one of the last operating old style drive-ins
called the "Thunderbird drive-in" Complete with the in car service. This was in
1972 to 1975. Essex was a big Car town and if you were lucky enough to
get a parking spot, the place was a rolling Car show. Two Cars i do remember.
First was a 31 Model A with a blown big block called the "Blue Max" and the other
pretty much set me on the Pontiac path. It was a customized 69 GTO called the
"Jigilo" To my knowledge that car never lost a race, and very few would even run
the guy. Back in those days, you impressed your freinds by seeing how fast you
could take the Back Riverneck Road. There are a lot of monuments on that road
to this day for those that could not make the turns. Seems like another lifetime now.

[RAIVJUMB]

I remember a bunch that my uncles friends had and also cars in my neighborhood. My uncle was driving a 69 Rambler Scramber (still has a pair of them). His friends had a 69 RS/SS camaro Conv, my other uncle a 70 dart with a stout 340. There was a neighbor who had a pair of 442's one a conv, another one with a 428 cougar, another with a 70 chevelle ss 396, further up the road another one with a ragtop 71, then up a ways a 71 mach on3 w/ram air. There was also a father son pair in town, dad had a 67 chevelle black 4spd bb car, son a red 70 LS6. There was a 70 RAIII hard top in town, passed on the chance to buy that later, there were two families that had a bunch of pontiacs, one used to own a dealership, had a wicked 68 FB race car, the other that they had was a 74 GTO with a 70 RAIV driveline. The other family had a bunch of 69/70 RA Cars. Oh yeah both of my uncles friends had 66-7 Chevelles as well. My Dad's old partner much earlier ordered Brand new a 69 RAIV GTO in limelight green. I guess there was some good stuff around town over the years.

[Qball]

I think the rarest Pontiac i ever saw growing up was one I owned. It was a '76 Lemans Safari Wagon. It wasn't worth 2 bits, but I never saw another one.

[Nomadac]

One of the Pontiac Concept cars was the 1973 Banshee 455 SD engine, I think it was a 4 spd, that was on display at the Columbus,Ohio Auto dealers Car show back in 1973. I was the Service Rep. for the Columbus district and had the pleasure of assisting with the display for this car and meeting the driver from the Design studio that brought the car down from MI. After the show I was able to drive the car around the Fairgrounds before he loaded the car on the trailer. Having worked for PMD from 1967-1987 I had the fortune of driving many of the Hot Pontiacs back in that day. One of the rarest was a 1968 Firebird RA II 4spd. close ratio rearend and every option I could order. The only other RA II's I saw back then were the dealers that ordered one for drag racing. I drove about every RA II, III, IV and V that I could back then as a Brass Hat car. I even got to drive the Blue RA II Firebird automatic that was J.DeLoreans Co. Car while I was in Pontiac for a training class.

Growing up in Akron, OH. the home of Bill Knafel Pontiac and his Tin Indian race cars was great. I was his Factory Rep. back then and was also a friend of Arlen Vanke that drove his cars. Had some great times and who could wish for more for a car nut then to work for PMD and be able to drive all of the cars that are real collectors cars now.

[IMG][/IMG]

[codyyy]

Originally Posted by Qball

I think the rarest Pontiac i ever saw growing up was one I owned. It was a '76 Lemans Safari Wagon. It wasn't worth 2 bits, but I never saw another one.

Speaking of wagons, there is a really cool 80s Parsienne wagon running around here, I believe with wood grain sides on it. I'd love to own one of those as some sort of sleeper.
Also near me is an early 60s Catalina wagon that looks real cool. Definitely a beater though.

[428ho4spd]

There were several here in town in the late 70's when I started taking interest in cars...

The one that sticks out in my mind was a '69 Hurst Olds with those wild hood scoops! This car was parked outside in their driveway for years.

Another was an 1970 AMC Rebel Machine, it too sat outside in a driveway and it stuck out like a sore thumb!

There was also a lady with a red SD Trans Am that I spotted regularly around town.

Grant

[codyyy]

Originally Posted by 428ho4spd

There were several here in town in the late 70's when I started taking interest in cars...

The one that sticks out in my mind was a '69 Hurst Olds with those wild hood scoops! This car was parked outside in their driveway for years.

Another was an 1970 AMC Rebel Machine, it too sat outside in a driveway and it stuck out like a sore thumb!

There was also a lady with a red SD Trans Am that I spotted regularly around town.

Grant

I love the Rebel Machines. I saw one driving from a tiny car show one day in Shelby Twp. MI. I fell in love with the car. If I didn't get a Pontiac, I'd probably end up with one of those cars.