[Andre]

I have been following this thread closely. It is great to hear these stories.

What does PEP stand for in relationship to these evaluation cars.

[citydesk175]

Hi there

I think the best SWAG on this GM TLA "PEP" is Performance Evaluation Program.

But there is an actual GM style manual that warns GM writers to be sure that they are using acronyms right from the official manual and not guessing a likely meaning like I just did.

60 cars an hour per assembly line can really make imprecision or misinterpretation very costly.

BTW=By The Way
SWAG=Scientific Wild Ass Guess
TLA=Three Letter Acronym (A GM Favorite)

Thanks for the kind words and keep reading as Keith has not run out of the good stories yet.

And I promise to read the Acronym book soon as I can. I am so used to all the online reference material at work that I feel half crippled on weekends. But I feel that way at work too sometimes as my library is here.

But Keith prolly knows PEP's meaning and will supply it immediately

Regards
CD175

[mike nixon]

keith needs to write a book with this stuff in it.

mike

[Keith Seymore]

PEP = Product Evaluation Program



These are regular production vehicles provided to those eligible to drive (ie, 8th level and above) for evaluation purposes. The vehicles are randomly assigned, although we speculate that on occasion the fleet gets populated with vehicles that aren't selling so hot (right now I'm driving a Suburban ).

I am also a designated driver of "CTF" vehicles (CTF = "Captured Test Fleet"). These are preproduction units, usually new models, that are kept in captivity and evaluated/exercised more rigorously. I should have both a GMT900 HD and an H2 some time through the remainder of this year.

This one was a personal favorite (gettin' some exercise - lol):

[Jerry H.]

As a retired sales manager at a GM store, I can relate to stories about the PEP cars. Mostly the process of how they were 'sold' after the evaluation period. The procedure may have changed, but at the time they were only available to GM employees. A list was available to any interested employee. The catch was that the employee was responsible for picking the vehicle up where ever it was, ususally around one of the bigger plants or around the Michigan area. I've sent drivers several times to pick one of these vehicles up. The buyer would have to pay for the expenses, but the reduced cost over and above their GM employee price on the same vehicle was tremendous. But as Keith posted, most of the cars that were left over for regular GM employees were the ones that weren't moving that well.

I was relatively close to the GM Doraville plant, and got a lot of Employee business from that plant. Occasionally, the employee who was assigned to evaluate a car liked it so well and got such a good deal they would choose to purchase it. A dealership had to handle the paperwork, and I did a few of those. Also we had a few of the evaluation car delivered at our dealership for the employees to pick up to evaluate. The dealership got paid the standard fee to prep those cars.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

This one was a personal favorite (gettin' some exercise - lol):

This was a nice truck, too -

[Keith Seymore]

GM Proving Ground

I think it is widely known and accepted that Pontiac used to do testing on both Woodward and dragstrips across America; what is probably not as widely known is that they also used to test on GM property at the Milford Proving Ground.

Dad had mentioned that he met the gentlemen from Royal at Milford on more than one occasion, and he was able to describe to me landmarks (barns, buildings, etc) that were still present when I started working there some 25 years later.

I somehow got the impression that this middle photo was staged and taken on the North/South straight at Milford (but I could be mistaken).



Dad was always very impressed with the appearance of these rigs: the tow cars were red with white stripes, and the race cars were white with red stripes.

K

[Keith Seymore]

It's probably time to get serious and talk about how we got our first Pontiac.

How We Got Our First Pontiac:

As I mentioned earlier, Dad was racing Fords in the early 60's (a 60 Ford Convertible, with a Paxton blower on it, you might recall). As the '62 model year progressed and '63 model years drew close he knew that Ford was going to continue to do lightweight packages (fiberglass fenders, etc) for the Galaxie and he wanted one. He started asking his contact at Ford Racing, Dave Evans, about the availability of one of these cars and for factory sponsorship. Dave said "yeah, we are going to do (some certain number) of builds and maybe you can get one of those". Well, the time came and went and....no car. So Dad would call Dave back and Dave would say "yeah, those all had to go to the big name racers....maybe we can get you one from the next batch". The next batch came and went and...no car.

Dad had already met Dick Jesse by this time (another story). Dick, always the consumate salesman, had offered that when Dad was ready to "step up" to a Pontiac to come see him. Dad felt like he was getting the "run around" at Ford* and figured there was no time like the present to make the switch.

His original plan was to buy a used or a leftover '62 Catalina with the aluminum package but Dick persuaded him that he might be able to hook Dad up with a '63 with what he called "the carryover package", at a better price. A few days later Dick called and told Dad to come on down, that he had a car picked out.

They met at Royal and walked out to the Service area. Past the last bay there was a fairly nondescript white Tempest/Lemans coupe and a wagon sitting there - nondescript, that is, until Dick fired the coupe up. The front fenders shook, and the windows shook (and Dad shook!). Dick shut the car off and Dad said "Dick, you know there is no way I could afford a car like that". Dick laughed and said "You're not a big enough shooter to get a car like this. I can't sell you that car anyway....that's George's car" (meaning George Delorean's '63 SD coupe).

Dick also confided that the wagon was to be his own racer. "At least it's an automatic so that YOU can drive it" Dad teased.

Dick admitted that Dad's car was actually over at the Engineering Building on Joslyn Avenue, so they loaded up and headed over. The necessary clearances to get through the gate had already been arranged; they turned the corner and behind the building was a beautiful dark blue '63 Catalina. He learned it was spec'd as follows: Built as a Super Duty car, it was converted over the counter to an "HO" car so that Dad could run B/Stock with it**. It had aluminum fenders, hood and decklid; doors were steel as were the rad support, fender inners and bumper brackets. It had a regular production (ie, "non swiss cheese") frame. Probably the most notable feature, however, was the paint scheme: it was the car that Wangers developed the "Bobcat" appearance package on***. Nocturne blue with the tri color Ventura interior, it had an extra silver stripe around the spear side trim, and silver around the rear face of the deck lid. Eight lug aluminum wheels, with the area between the fins painted blue, the top of the fins painted silver and part of the cap painted blue too (I believe, by looking at the old photo below). Add some wide whitewalls and you have quite a stunning automobile.

Dad was beginning to think that this was too good to be true; another "lark" like the Tempests he had just seen. However, Dick quoted him a price the deal was struck. They headed back over to Royal and within the next few days Dad plunked down $3100 of his hard earned cash and drove home in his first Pontiac racecar.

This is currently my only photograph of the car. I do have some images from old home movies that I am working to recover:



*In retrospect there may have been some hesitancy from Ford management to give a special car and full factory sponsorship to a Chevrolet diemaker. Dad tried Chevrolet as well but without success. For him to be competetive for 1963 the choice came down to either Dodge or Pontiac (...not a very difficult choice!).

**Not long after this Dad noticed a complete SD top end sitting on the counter at Royal. He started to grab it with the intentions of converting his (supposed) HO car to a Super Duty, but Jesse stopped him. They already had cars running in the higher classes and specifically wanted Dad's car to compete in B/Stock. We could go so far as to speculate that the parts he started to use were the very same ones removed from his car in the first place.

***Jim had taken a special interest in this car while it was in the Royal paint shop. A second car followed, a green one, as well as a third red car.

The "green car":

[Keith Seymore]

How we lost our first Pontiac:

So, in relatively short order, Dad had gone from "John Q Public Ford racer" to a hotshot Pontiac racer. Although he started out as just another Royal customer, his ability to be down there during the day (since he worked second shift), as well as his budding friendship with Dick Jesse, could be used to their mutual advantage. He was able to hang out, attend press events and test sessions, and help them get some work done. By now the Bobcat package was starting to gel, and Dad was able to bring tripowers home five or six at a time - "Bobcat" them by rejetting, etc - and then bring the completed units back for installation on customer vehicles by Frank Rediker or Charlie Brumfield. Later, the same technique would be used in converting wide ratio 4 speeds into close ratio 4 speeds - again, five or six at a time.

I don't know if it was concious or not but eventually a plan evolved. Quite clever, actually; Dad would run the "sleeper" car: a factory car, with full sponsorship and technical support, but no visible indication to the casual observer other than a set of Royal license plate frames.* Ultimately Dad would end up with a Shell credit card to pay for all his fuel and an open account for any race car parts. A call down to Royal would result in parts being shipped to the Flint bus station via Greyhound, where he could pick them up (many of the parts had red paint on them, indicating "scrap"!). His familiarity with Royal grew and the car was quite successful: never defeated in actual B/S competition and even holding the NHRA B/S record at 13.42 until Art Noey ("Shaker Engineering") came along and bombed the record out of reach.*

However, this familiarity would also lead to the car's demise.



*There was one ocassion where, in an effort to be like everybody else, Dad had some decals made up of his name and had them applied to the side windows. Jesse caught wind of it and had him pull them off. They very much did not want anyone to know who Dad was at the time...

**I emphasize the car's success specifically in B/Stock....but there were some off days. "Farmer" Dismuke was the tech director for NHRA and was known for being pretty tough. He had a ring that he wore and on the underside of the ring was a magnet - specifically for finding fiberglass or aluminum where it wasn't supposed to be. As Dad was in tech for B/Stock Farmer laid his hand on one of those aluminum fenders and said conclusively "B/FX". Instantly agitated, Dad said "I can't run B/FX; this car is a national record holder in B/Stock". Farmer said "I don't care if you are Santa Claus, you're not running that car in B/Stock unless you can show me 49 more just like it!". Dad knew he couldn't be competetive in B/FX, and didn't want to ballast up to C/FX (because Doug Nash was running his Bronco in that class) so he, along with the boys from Royal, decided to park the car for the day. For a discussion on how the rest of the day went see this attached thread: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=549309

[citydesk175]

Someone just reminded me of the Michigan State Police getting the biggest engines from the Car companies in Michigan.

Here's one from a Pontiac based ambulance driver.

He was called up to a farm in Lake Orion, North of Pontiac, to pick up a pitchfork impalement. (Pauses here for a moment to cringe) The driver loaded the ambulance and called for escort to the hospital in Pontiac.

The responding deputy happened to be driving a special Pontiac Prototype car that had been speced very fast and loaned to the Oakland County Sherrif for testing. Frankly I have no memory of what it was other than brown and fast.

The ambulance headed South towards Pontiac at 110 MPH and the deputy's car met it and turned around and passed it. It went into the first intersection and cleared it. When the ambulance passed through the intersection, the escort car started up and passed the ambulance and cleared the next intersection.

The two vehicles leapfrogged all the way to the hospital with the deputy clearing each intersection at a dead stop and the ambulance never going less than 110 mph.

If anybody has more details than this, I would like to know what the deputy was driving in or about 1965-1967.

Thank You

CD175

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

However, this familiarity would also lead to the car's demise.

How we lost our first Pontiac (Part II):

As I mentioned, Dad was becoming more and more familiar with the operations at Royal. Because of this arrangement, he could leave the car at the dealership for upgrades and/or regular maintenance.*

However, being a relatively young man (he was in his mid 20's by now) he was not fully aware of how the car was titled and registered. Dad had the registration, so that he could plate the car and drive it on the street; however, Royal held the title with a "Manufacturer's Lien". The significance of this arrangement would not become apparent until later...

Wangers had been racing his car on the east coast and, in the days of tow bars and flat towing, had a somewhat minor incident on the way back from an event. Minor, but still enough damage that a repair would need to be made and it was determined that the aluminum front end components would need to be replaced. Normally, an extra set of material would be kept in the warehouse for just such an emergency but, for some reason when they went to retrieve this extra material it wasn't there**.

So - now we have a problem. The main Royal showpiece is banged up and there are no replacement parts. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), they noticed Dad's car sitting, unattended. After checking and finding that Royal held the title, and knowing how expendable these factory/dealership cars were back in the day, it was an easy jump in logic to remove the front clip from Dad's car, make the necessary repairs to Jim's car and scrap the remains of Dad's.

Naturally, when Dad came bopping in off the street later that day or the next, and then comprehended what had happened, he was frantic. Recall that he had paid cash, with his own money, for the purchase of that car. Being a middle class hourly worker, with a new family and starter home, he didn't have that kind of money to just throw away. He ran into Jesse's office and demanded that something be done: either replace his cash, or get him another car, or something!

Jesse, ever the consummate car salesman, calmly and simply said "Van, I want you to settle down. You are all set - your new GTO is here".



*This also left him open for their unique sense of humor. Jim Wangers had ordered an aluminum third member for his car and was getting quite antsy for its arrival. When it did (finally) show up the mechanics saw it sitting on the floor strapped to a pallet; they noted Dad's car sitting a few bays down and somebody thought it would be hilariously funny to install the carrier in Dad's car and not tell anybody. Dad never noticed until some time later, when he was under the car doing something else. Jim continued to get more and more agitated and finally gave up looking for his aluminum part. I don't think he knows what happened to it to this day. He probably would not find it hilariously funny.

**Some of you are probably familiar with the Johnny Mauro Pikes Peak racecar (now in the Floyd Garrett Musclecar collection). This was a car that was built after the January of 1963 racing ban; it was processed with a steel front clip but was retrofit with aluminum components after the fact. We did not learn of this vehicle until the late 1980's but when we did some things started to make sense. We speculate that this was the extra set of aluminum from the warehouse, sent out to build this vehicle, and why the "extra set" was not present when needed for repairs.

[Keith Seymore]

My buddy Phil and I were just laughing, thinking about how life "inside the shop" is it's own little world.

I was telling him about one of the guys that worked for me - I don't recall his real name but his shop nickname was "Banana" (it was a good fit, too). He was the guy that installed the M20 floor shifter and boot in the vehicles after body drop. You'll probably hear more about him in the future.

The whole nickname thing is interesting. I can't tell you how many times someone would come in with bad news: "...hey, did you hear 'Donald O'Sullivan' (or whomever) passed away?"

Me: "No...(thinking...slowly...)...I don't think I knew a 'Donald O'Sullivan'...."

Them: "Sure you did; he worked down here in repair for 43 years..."

Me: "No.... I don't think so...."

Them: "Sure you did....'Mouse' was his name..."

Me: "...(GASP!)...MOUSE?! MOUSE PASSED AWAY? Man, I didn't even know he was sick!..."



And I swear that every person who's given name was "Harold" goes by the nickname of "Red" in the shop...(my own brother-in-law included).




Perhaps it is the monotony of doing the same thing over and over (for the assemblers), or (for the skilled tradesman) the long stretches of inactivity between frantic activity, but there is a unique sense of creativity that manifests itself "in the shop".

One of the ways it comes out is in creative ways of stealing things from your employer. Phil worked at the Ford Rouge Plant (the massive complex that Henry Ford himself built) and told of a General Superintendent that was stealing cars.

It was their regular practice (...ours, too...) to drive a production vehicle home for an overnight evaluation. These vehicles would be set aside and a sticker and note placed in the glovebox to explain the additional mileage to the new owner.

This guy had some buddies that were in on the deal with him. What he would do was drive a new 5.0L Mustang home and park it in the barn. He would pull the VIN off the car, to come back later and strip the car down and sell it for parts. The "little woman" would drive him back to work the next morning, where he would authorize the build of the exact same car, right down to the same VIN number.

Everything was going along swimmingly until his teenaged daughter broke into the barn and decided to take one of these cars for a little spin. As fate would have it, she got pulled over and, as you might imagine, problems arose when she was out on the road in a new car with no VIN on it. The authorities started asking a few questions and VIOLA: another theft ring broken.





Along these lines, I would occasionally meet up with my peers from the various other Big 3 manufacturers and we would swap "misappropriation stories". They told of workers that, when it was raining, would run through the gate and on to the parking lot with cardboard over their heads (for protection from the rain) - only to find that there were pieces of window glass between the cardboard. Or the workers that would pass through security on the way in with an empty Thermos bottle - to return with the Thermos bottle full of paint.

I remember seeing a guy at a swap meet and thinking "man that guy looks familiar". After looking at his display full of chrome lug nuts, grease zerks and other shiny small parts it came to me: "oh yeah...he works at the Truck Plant".




My buddy Dave was telling me a story an oldtimer told him: this guy was around when they built Star Chiefs at the Pontiac plant. Apparently the stars were a loose part, assembled at the plant, and were prime material to end up on toolboxes and lockers throughout the plant. Evidently the misappropriation of these stars got to be such an issue that the Plant Manager issued an edict: anyone caught with one of these stars on their locker or toolbox or lunchpail would be fired on the spot.

As was mentioned earlier, this Plant Manager (we'll call him PM for short from now on) would drive an evaluation vehicle home for the evening. One morning, on his way back and in the pouring rain (...naturally...) he gets a flat tire. So now he's out, in the pouring rain, using the old wobbly bumper jack, etc, trying to change this tire. Needless to say he was not in a very good mood.

As he was struggling there the local paper boy comes rolling up on his Schwinn. Seeing this nice new model Pontiac and this distinguished gentlemen cussing and fussing trying to change the tire the young boy offers his services and asks "...do you work at the Pontiac plant?". Without looking up the PM answers affirmatively. "My dad works at that plant" the kid volunteers, and the PM turns to find.......the kid's bike is entirely...completely...utterly... covered with these "Star Chief" stars.

"Rrrreeaaalllllyyy...." he says, slowly, through gritted teeth, with all the civility he can muster: "...what's your Dad's name?"



As it turns out, the Dad didn't get fired as promised - but he certainly did get a stern, lengthy talking to in the PM's office later that day....

[Note: Not my Dad, BTW (lol)]

[Keith Seymore]

How we got our Second Pontiac

(also known as)

How we got our First GTO

Ok, so its the fall of 1963 and Dad is now the proud owner of a brand new 1964 GTO.

Well....I use the term "proud" loosely. This car had the worst paint job of any production vehicle that he had ever seen in his life. It had little flecks of dirt in it and globs of some kind of black stuff that wouldn't wash off. It also had poor adhesion, and if tape was applied the paint would come right off when you attempted to remove the paint.

Although grateful to not be stuck with a total loss, Dad went back to see Dick Jesse to complain. "Dick" he said "I'd be embarrased to drive this car; it needs a total repaint".

Dick wasn't sure the factory would cover a totally new paint job but said he would make some calls. He contacted the factory rep, Carl Klessick*, and Carl agreed to paint only the problem areas. Dad was to take a small piece of masking tape and stick it over any spots needing repair.

Dad did as he was told and drove the car over to Carl's office. Carl came down to the street, only to find this '64 GTO COMPLETELY (!) covered with masking tape. I think Dad said he used a whole roll to cover the car. Carl approved a total repaint - at the factory and at their expense - right then and there.

After the car was painted it was taken back to Royal and one of the new car prep guys put a real nice "Blue Coral" wax job on it. When all was said and done it was a very respectible looking automobile.

After doing his own "Royal Bobcat supertune" job on the car (similar to post #61 of this thread: "The Gasket Story") Dad was having good success with this car as well. It was also never defeated in B/S class competition and, legend has it, the first GTO here locally to run in the twelves**.




*I'm sorry, I can't remember the last name for sure and couldn't find it in my notes.

** Royal had rented Detroit Dragway for a test session so Dad went along just for fun. He had continued to refine the package and went out and made what felt like a pretty good pass. When he got to the ticket booth they didn't have a time slip to give him. Shaking it off, he decided to make another pass. He did and it also felt like a pretty good run. No slip. He decided to make a third pass and at it's conclusion they told him to report to the control tower.

He walked up the stairs and into the office, to find the track owner Gil Kohn scowling at the desk. "Seymore, nobody likes a smart a$$" he said, and showed Dad the time slips: 12.97, 12.95 and 12.93. Apparently they were concerned the timing equipment wasn't working properly and wanted to check it out before giving Dad the data.

[Tenney]

Cool stories. Good of you to share.

[Keith Seymore]

How we lost our Second Pontiac:

When we left off we had a record setting B/S '64 GTO, and things couldn't be going better. Class wins coming every weekend, trophies stacked up like cord wood. In fact, Dad made a deal with the local track owners; he would not take a trophy or cash for a win if they would let him race for free the next weekend. They gladly accepted.

Too soon it was late summer/early fall, and late summer in Michigan means time for the Michigan State Fair. Royal was well known for having a display at local auto shows, fairs, etc. and they decided they would like to have a car on display at the Fairground. Taking inventory of the fleet, after assessing which vehicles were available locally and taking into consideration the appearance of the various cars, they decided they'd like to use Dad's car as the display vehicle. Naturally Dad was flattered and said ok.

Remember the arrangement with the title (ie, Dad had the registration, so that he could plate the car and drive it on the street; Royal held the title with a "Manufacturer's Lien")? That is about to become significant, once again....

While the car was on display a potential customer took notice. One of the salesman, apparently not aware of Dad's arrangement with Royal and seeing that they had the title, assumed the car was available as a demonstrator and was able to close the deal. The car was sold and, after the show, immediately shipped to the new owner, back east somewhere.

Dad came down early the next week to pick his car up only to find (once again) it was gone. After a flash of deja vu, this time he was not only frantic but he was royally p.o'd. Not only did they sell the car, but sold it complete with all his hop up tricks, headers and tow bar brackets still installed and slicks (mounted on wheels) still in trunk! He was furious and scared, at the same time.

Once again he found Dick Jesse: "Dick, that was MY CAR! I need some money, or another car...or SOMETHING!"

Dick, ever the consumate car salesman, calmly replied: "Van, I want you to settle down. Your new '65 is here."

Our '64 GTO on display at the State Fair:



For a discussion on finding and interpreting this photo, see thread: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=549092

[citydesk175]

Someone used the word "kudos" in a thread starter recently and the thread is now hard for me to find but:

The last time somebody used "Kudos" in a thread I occupied, someone dared ask what it meant?

Here is my answer from many years ago:
=============================
Ku Dos, also known as KU Disk Operating System, is the traditional operating system used by the migratory Ku tribe of herdsmen in Outer Mongolia. Ku Dos has been used for hundreds of years and was superseded long ago by their GUI which predated "Windows" and in the absence of any windows in their society, is called Tent Flap.
==============================

Enjoy
and regards
CD175

Rats
Now the original Kudos message is back....... looks like it might have been unavalable while I was looking for it...... I figure someone will quote this in that thread soon enough
I am going home

[Keith Seymore]

I've tattled on my Dad a couple times now; I suppose it's time to tell a story on myself...

I was reassigned to the GM Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan in 1986. I was delighted to find my new office mate John was, although a bit older than me, a former drag racer that still had the bug. He was/is quite a charismatic man and drew the other racers and motorheads to himself like flies to honey.

He also was the Engineering Vehicle Fleet Coordinator. That meant that if you needed a certain type of truck for a particular test you went to see John. That also meant that if you needed a Suburban for vacation over the weekend, you also went to see John. He was a popular guy.

Well, just before I got there, he and his racing cronies had found a nondescript little white short box stepside pickup in the fleet, vehicle number CP5085. It started life as your typical 1985 small block pickup truck, but the guys had been playing around a bit with it and decided it could use a little more "punch". So - they found a garden variety 454 big block, plus all of the 1973 vintage parts (ie, crossmembers, two piece drive shaft, etc) to convert the driveline, and made themselves a little 454/TH400 powered street truck.

Naturally, after a little bit of that they decided they wanted more. They were able to locate a real LS6 454 motor and dropped that in. About that time they started taking short jaunts off property, including "test sessions" to Milan dragway. Those who had been working on the truck (on second shift, mostly) were given an opportunity to make a pass in it. I think by this time the truck was running high 12s/maybe low 13's, and also starting breaking things. A 9.5" ring gear axle from a 3/4 ton truck, with the axle shafts redrilled for a "5 on 5" bolt circle, was installed about this time, as well as a rear mounted fuel tank (from a Blazer/Suburban) and bed mounted battery.

Well, as you might guess, soon that wasn't enough. A trip to the parts counter netted an original LS7 454 motor and within a day or so that was installed. Times dropped to the low 12s and, with some tuning/cold air, etc, dropped into the high 11's. By now a roll cage was necessary and installed, as were some traction aids.

Unbeknownst to the rest of us John was taking us to the next level. He had noticed something over in the parts warehouse: something not only interesting for the present but with some historical value...

Back in late 1968 (calendar year), when the 1969 models were introduced, there was a big event out on "Black Lake" (the Vehicle Dynamics pad). The motoring press was invited in for this auspicious event and, on the pad, were some special vehicles. Namely - two ZL1 all aluminum 427 powered Corvettes, plus a smattering of ZL1 powered Camaros. In addition, there was one engine placed on a stand, both for display purposes and as a backup motor in case something happened to one of the engines in the car. John had found this exact engine over in the warehouse.*

John approached the "owner" of the engine (ie, the guy that had the warehouse tag) and attempted to make a deal. He was unsuccessful. He tried a couple times more later on and, even after using all his charms, was still unsuccessful.

He was about to despair when suddenly the breakthrough came: this guy was pulling his snowmobiles "up north" and needed a Suburban. With a gleam in his eye John made the pitch and a deal was struck: just like Esau, who sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup, this guy could have a Suburban in exchange for this original ZL1 454 engine.



* This backup engine was not a 427 like the others, but was a 454. It also appeared on magazine covers and in articles back in the day.

Here is a picture of that specific engine (ie, not "one like it", or "of this type", but THIS EXACT ENGINE):

[Keith Seymore]

It didn't take long for that engine to be installed, running and tuned up (again, mostly on second shift). Elapsed times dropped again, first to low elevens and eventually to high 10's (best ET on the truck was a 10.71). Things were going great; we were terrorizing the Proving Ground and we were having a blast.

Then, things started to change. I came in to work one day and, laying on my desk, was a clipping from an enthusiast magazine. The title was "Is it True?" and the article said something about these engineers at the Milford Proving Ground, and that they had put a 454 in a pickup and were "...laying waste to unsuspecting Corvettes and Trans Ams..." or some such thing. I thought it was pretty cool and mentioned it to John. He didn't seem to thing it was so cool for some reason.



Some time after that I came in and found another piece of paper on my desk (this was back when we still had "mail" - ie, not email). We had a standard form letter, called a "Vehicle Disposition Worksheet", that we got about once per week. It told where vehicles were going, where they were shipped to, or what they were doing. I scanned this particular letter until my finger stopped cold on one line: "Vehicle CP5085 - Final Disposition - Scrap". All the blood ran from my face; John was sitting there and with a parched mouth I asked "...John, why does this vehicle number look familiar?".

He looked around and said "...step into my 'office'". (Naturally, we were already "in his office" - which was MY office, too. What he meant was "come with me to my truck". As fleet coordinator, he could order whatever vehicles he felt were necessary. One vehicle that was ALWAYS necessary was a white/red Crew Cab dually, diesel, with Alcoa aluminum wheels. He always had at least one of these vehicles in the fleet, and since it was the "Queen of the Fleet", we always called it "the Queen". A secondary meaning was that it was as large as the Queen Mary. At any rate, "step into my office" = "come with me to the Queen so that we can discuss this privately").

We sat in the truck in the parking lot and the story began to unfold: Our boss, Jim, was a pretty easy going guy. He had kept a blind eye to all this fun and frivolity, but every man has his breaking point. When the little blurb in the magazine came out, well, that was the last straw. He had called John into his office a couple Fridays before and said (...and I quote...): "John, that truck has notoriety far beyond what you think or imagine. I want it gone and I want it gone NOW!".

John could see that Jim was in no mood for negotiation. However, by the next Monday (after this meeting), when things had cooled down a bit, he had a proposal. The truck was currently broken (broke a rocker arm stud) and not running. Could he repair the engine, so that the motor could be stored as an intact, functioning unit, and THEN scrap the truck? Jim thought that would be ok, so the plan was carried out. The truck was repaired, stripped of all the goodies, and the remaining hulk (ie, cab, box and frame) scrapped.

CP5085 was no more...

...Or was it?........

[Keith Seymore]

We've already talked about the PEP program and the purchase of program vehicles. John was also a PEP driver and when it came time for his next vehicle we were all amused to see the cutest little red 1987 Chevy V6 shortbox stepside pickup arrive with his name on it.

John drove the truck for the required 3000 miles and purchased it. Almost immediately after it got home the V6 was removed (and sold), a 454/TH400 driveline installed and much of the technology from CP5085 added. Out of the box John's little red truck was running low 11's and shortly thereafter dipped into the high 10's. Many observers at the track thought it was simply the original white truck with a new red paint job.

You might be wondering if the engine in this new truck was aluminum or cast iron. It's cast iron (...we checked.... with a magnet). I've asked John where the aluminum engine is, my interest being in preserving a piece of history, and he will only tell me "it's safe". To this day I do not know where it is but only that "it is safe".

I really have to stop and comment for a minute on how much I learned during this time, even though by then I had been racing almost 10 years. John really helped me learn the value of collecting data and analysis, tricks and tuning of a big Chevy and if it weren't for him and the guys my race program would not be where it is today.

CP5085 lives on, not only in my heart but in the abilities of those who were involved with it and are continuing to take what we learned and apply it to our own race programs.

[Keith Seymore]

Let's play a game. How many mistakes can you find in this little article?



Let's begin -

1) "Rumor has it" - well, as you can see, it was no rumor. It was for real!

2) "...some engineers at GMC Truck and Coach..." - no, by then we were GM Truck and Bus. Truck and Coach implies the bus factory in Pontiac; we were obviously located in Milford.

3) "...found a fresh ZL1 in a crate in a dusty storage room somewhere in the bowels of Detroit..." - not correct, unless you consider Milford to be "the bowels of Detroit". And - the warehouse is not dusty. It's pretty clean.

4) "...they jerked the 454 out of a 1986 shortbed pickup..." - we've already established it was originally a small block truck and was a 1985 shortbox, not an '86.

5) "...switched over all the brackets and hardware onto the aluminum 427..." - as discussed, this specific motor was a 454 rather than a 427.

6) "..it's been screaming around the Milford Proving Grounds and laying waste to unsuspecting Corvettes and Trans Ams." - well, ok, that was true...

Just a friendly reminder to not believe everything you read... (except from me, of course!).

K