[fiedlerh]

In the 60's and early 70's never saw a Ram Air anything except a family in the neighborhood had a 69 RAIII Judge. It became a rust bucket within 4 years of Chicago winters. As a high schooler I was totally unaware that the GTO & Firebird hood scoops could be made functional with the appropriate options. Even when we were older and scoured the ads, we never came across a RA car. In the later 70's we did, but by then they were already high dollar collectables.

[codyyy]

Originally Posted by TAftw

I saw a Pantera last week. Aside from rare cars, I havent seen anything except at shows and cruises.

Seems like a few people here are mentioning these Panteras, I'm assuming the DeTomaso Pantera. Back a few years ago when I used to live in Algonac, MI I used to take the back roads out there to get to a friend's place, some guy around there must own one because he blew by me quite a few times with one of those cars, a yellow one. Real neat car.

[gto4door]

There were plenty of garden variety musclecars........Chevelle SS, GTOs, Mach1s, Road Runners, etc in the Houston, TX area. A guy down the street from me had a '70 Apollo White GSX. Few blocks away a '68 Shelby GT500. In the next neighborhood there was a '69 Hurst Olds running around. I saw quite a few new big block Corvettes and Camaros as we lived very close to A.J. Foyt's Chevrolet Dealership. A.J. had a few rare Chevys of his own including a '67 and '69 Pace Car Camaro SS Convertible. There were some potent GTOs and Trans Ams running around as Gay Pontiac was located in nearby Dickinson, TX. I saw my first '69 Trans Am in 1975. And in 1977 I saw a genuine '68 Baldwin Motion 427 Camaro SS.

As mentioned before alot of garden variety musclecars, but I would say it was a rare occurence when the really rare super musclecars came up for sale in the local newspaper classifieds, Auto Trader or Cars. By the time you called on these supercars they were usually already sold. I see more rare super musclecars on the internet today than I did back then.

[mike nixon]

Forgot one, In the late 80's I bought a 69RA4 GTO 4spd car.

[AGTO8U]

I grew up in a Chicago suburb in the late 60's so the cars considered rare today were prevalent back then. Don't remember any particularly rare Pontiacs, but there were some notables such as Steve's gold 67 GTO hardtop with RAM AIR. Randy's triple black '70 GTO hardtop 455, 4spd, formula wheel. Rick's 64 GTO 389 Tripower who loved to do burnouts around school. Bill's Yellow 68 GTO hardtop with chrome front bumper, 400 4spd with ported heads. He spent all year just about working on it which payed off when he cleaned house at senior class day drags. Then there was Sue who was captain of the cheerleading squad had a dark green '70 GTO convertible with saddle interior. Whenever the sun was shining, the top was down and her blond hair would complement the color scheme nicely, especially when she had her cohorts with her. The quickest car I rode in was a silver 427 AC Cobra with an aluminum body, seemed kinda flimsy at the time. The rarest car I rode in was Jeff's orange '67 Lamborghini Miura. It had a V-12 sidewinder, with 4, 3 barrel carbureators, and 5spd. That car was so low you lay down in it and wow it would rev. We were doing 130mph on the Stevenson expressway in 3rd gear.

[sixt8bird]

I use to see the 1 of 8 1969 TA converts very frequently . John Denall(Sp)? was the owner and unfortunately he use to drive it all the time until the price was just too risky to drive anymore. He called me up a year or two ago and said he was going to sell it. I also own 1 of 50 1989 GTA Convertible 350s and a 1974 Big Block Convertible Vette that is about 1 of 340. I also see many rare cars almost every week. Its just the people that you hang with. There are many rare cars in the Seattle area and I am very active in the car community.

[2002Z4CSS]

I had seen several rare Pontiacs while at the GM Hertiage Center.

[mike nixon]

One of the fastest OE built cars I've had the pleasure of being involved with was a 63 1/2 Galaxie 500 427 2x4's 4spd car. That old girl would flat haul and looked good doing it.

[Region Warrior]

Grew up in the 60/70's 3 miles from US 30 Dragstrip, which was 1/2 hour to 45 minutes from the area's 3 largest steel mills along lake Michigan.
About an hour from down town Chicago.
Nichol's Engineering was 20 minutes from here.
Every local town had at least one pro build shop and a performance parts store.
Only cars considered rare where the ones that where untouched.
You name'm, they where all around this area.

[turbo69bird]

we had a local dealership that had all ram air 2 4 and 5 race cars. so alot of people in the area mimicked them and bought the same things.

I knew of at least 4 69 trans ams 1 RAIV a few RA 4 firebirds 1 of which I own and another I brokered for a guy.
A RAV race engine a RAIV 1970 TA and thats just in my local area.

We also had a teacherin high school who had a GT500KR

My dad had a 351 69 stang, 340 dart,74 454 elcamino my uncle had a 69 fastback stang and my dad had the MAC DADDY of early mopars a D501 convertible 1956. I still have pictures of the car.


Bristol CT was a racing kind of town and there were some really bad A$$ cars/ lots of early fuelie vettes etc.

We had a place called New Departure and it was a company that made bearings of GM steering columns or something. THe road in front of it was perfect for 1/4 mile racing almost like a test track. people still street race there today. Its a firestone plant today

[mike nixon]

This thread's kind of drifted off of it's original question. To push it a bit farther off these are what I remember from back in the day.

W30 Old's vert, Black with gold stripes one owner car. Still local TMK 1 owner.
69GTS dart,383 4spd
69 Road Runner, 440 6pack car
71 GTX 440 Pistol grip Air grabber
67 KR500 Stang
67 Shelby 'vert
70 Chevelle SS LS6
71 Hemi Challenger
69AMC AMX 4spd
66 Fairlane GTA
66 Mercury Cylone 390 Auto
68 Cyclone GT Cayle Yaroborough edition
71 Camaro RS split bumper 454 4spd car
69 Vette 454 4spd
A couple Cosworth Vegas
71 Torino GT 460 4spd triple Black
71 Comet 302 3spd
70 Camaro Z28
67 Dart GT 273 4spd
68 Barracuda Formula S
65 Impala SS 396 4spd
68 Impala SS 427 4spd
70 Ford Torino Cobra 429 Auto
69 Nova SS LOADED 4spd car
73 or so Gremlin X V8 4spd car
AAR Cuda
68 Dodge Charger Hemi car
67 Camaro RS SS 'vert, 350 4spd
70 Chrysler 300 'vert 440 Auto
65 Riviera 425 2x4 car
Pantera 351 windsor stick [ I drove this one several times and was not impressed]
2 Studebaker Avantis
Studebaker Golden Hawk Supercharged 4spd car
61 Starliner 410 4spd
67 Mercury Park Lane Vert 428 Super Marauder loaded
Every Vette from 57-75 [local collection]
70 Dart swinger 340 3 spd
These are the local cars I remember from when I was running around.Some are still alive some aren't.Some are in storage.

[fiedlerh]

A friend's uncle had a 72 Buick GSX 4 speed (one of supposedly 5 made) that he would lend us once in a while.

[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.

[My442]

I saw a 1965 GTO convertible (Red, white top and interior, 4 speed) in the showroom at Tom Connolly Pontiac in Norwood, MA in October, 1964. I sat in the GTO, and vaguely remember that it was over $4,000.

We went to pick up our brand new 1965 Tempest 4 door (Turquise in and out, 326 V-8, automatic, radio and heater) for a tad under $2500.

My mother drove the Tempest everyday until 1987, and it had over 200,000 miles on it.

[north]

Rare Pontiacs, hmm

My best friends buddy had a Warwick blue 69 GTO vert new, it was a RA4, 4speed. Car did not survive past the 70's, smashed, rusted then crushed.

I parted a fully optioned but rotted out Bermuda blue 70 GTO in the 80's, RA3 and VOE, it was a virgin one owner (who was in his 80's then and didnt know a carb from a cat) car that had original paint, numbers match but frame had literally disolved.

[Tom Vaught]

[QUOTE=mike nixon;3803711]This thread's kind of drifted off of it's original question. To push it a bit farther off these are what I remember from back in the day.

Taking Mike's post; less typing:

W30 Old's (raced those)
69GTS dart,383 4spd (local Sheriff had one of those)
69 Road Runner, 440 6pack car (Worked on the Holley carbs for a few of those)
71 GTX 440 Pistol grip Air grabber
67 KR500 Stang (College Friend had a similar car but it was a Holman and Moody Engine)
67 Shelby 'vert
70 Chevelle SS LS6 (Most of those were not that fast really)
71 Hemi Challenger
69AMC AMX 4spd
66 Fairlane GTA (A couple of Ford Guys at work are original owners of these cars)
66 Mercury Cylone 390 Auto
68 Cyclone GT Cayle Yaroborough edition
71 Camaro RS split bumper 454 4spd car
69 Vette 454 4spd (454 cars were not that fast but the L-88 427 cars were)
A couple Cosworth Vegas
71 Torino GT 460 4spd triple Black
71 Comet 302 3spd (how about a BOSS 302 with a In-line Autolite 4 bbl and intake)
70 Camaro Z28
67 Dart GT 273 4spd
68 Barracuda Formula S
65 Impala SS 396 4spd (Uncle had a couple of those cars)
68 Impala SS 427 4spd
70 Ford Torino Cobra 429 Auto
69 Nova SS LOADED 4spd car
73 or so Gremlin X V8 4spd car
AAR Cuda
68 Dodge Charger Hemi car
67 Camaro RS SS 'vert, 350 4spd
70 Chrysler 300 'vert 440 Auto
65 Riviera 425 2x4 car Two friends and one of my uncles have owned the dual quad cars)
Pantera 351 windsor stick [ I drove this one several times and was not impressed]
2 Studebaker Avantis (Almost bought a 64 Avanti vs my 64 GTO)
Studebaker Golden Hawk Supercharged 4spd car
61 Starliner 410 4spd
67 Mercury Park Lane Vert 428 Super Marauder loaded
Every Vette from 57-75 [local collection]
70 Dart swinger 340 3 spd

When you "were there" it was a different time.

Tom Vaught

[codyyy]

I didn't know too much about muscle cars growing up, but then again I never grew up when these cars were popular. I saw a '69 T/A at a show once, the real deal. When I bought my '66 GTO the guy had a '64 Chevelle SS with factory air, he said it was 1 of 99 built. I really didn't want the car though. I knew if I got that car it would have to bear its ugly banana yellow color and I'm not much for Chevelles. I preferred the '66 body style anyway. I'm sure I've seen a few rare Pontiacs around lately, but nothing that I can recall at the moment.

[bird72]

Saw a 73 SD Formula in the early 90's at a local Oregon car show, just parked like it was nothing special.

Saw a 69 CR Judge at a Montana laundramat in early 97. Looked like the guy lived in the car, full of junk, ratty uphulstery, various dents around car, faded decals, original paint.

Late 80's in Kingman Arizona was a stunning 61 Ventura bubble top, had 8 lugs, buckets, tripower and was like an emerald green. To this day was the best looking Pontiac I've ever seen.

Late 60's New Jersey, my buddy Tom's older brother had a black 64 or so Catalina hardtop that was pretty sinister looking.

Remember seeing these funny looking new Firebirds that had these weird big snorkel scoops in the parking lots around town during Texas high school years....

[Tripower455]

Not sure about growing up, but a friend of mine is the original owner of a '68 RA GTO with Endura delete...... Very cool car.....

[David Holmberg]

On occasions I would drive a RAIV 69 TA, and another friend has a 74 SD Formula with 20K miles on it.