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#561
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There was one '68 Bird there. It belongs to an old schoolmate, and current neighbor, who I call "Howard". He said that he & his wife make trips to Arkansas occasionally, and drive the Bird a lot. It's a real nice 455 4-speed driver.
I mentioned to him today that I'd love for him to build a tribute car of "The Blob". It was an old Chevy, 1940 model I think. It had a Pontiac 389/auto trans in it. I remember when he'd take me & 2 other schoolmates to town on Sat night, in "The Blob". We "made the loop", right along with all the local Musclecars of the period. I thought the Blob was cool. He said he made some mods & got it running pretty good, later on, even taking it to the track a few times. Said he's tried to locate a usable body to make a re-creation. But all he's found were too far gone. So, I encouraged him to find a good later model Chevy body, to put a Pontiac engine in, preferably something sporty, like Camaro, Nova, or Chevelle. My reason is revenge, for all the Chevy powered Pontiac GTO & Bird drag cars I've seen thru the years. I hated it when somebody wanted me to come over to look at their Pontiac, only to show me their Chevy engine. There was one '64 Lemans there. The owner I call "Mikey". He's also a long time Pontiac guy and Wild Bill's sidekick. They did some dirt racing together. The Lemans has also won quite a few show awards. |
#562
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ET
There was a new comer Pontiac to the show this year. It was sort of a different animal. It was what I suppose could be called a modified clone of a '69 Tempest ET, which I suppose was maybe called a prototype, that never actually saw production. But, I'm sure some of you guys know more about an ET than me.
Anyhow, some local guys have put in lots of work, including at least 1 sleepless night, trying to get the car ready for the show. It ain't finished yet. But it did make the show. It reminds me of all the last minute "thrashing" I did, especially one sleepless night I spent getting 2 Stockers ready to race. We did get 'em ready, sort of. Drove to South LA to a div 4 points race. I told TJ to watch me, and every time she saw me nodding off to wake me up, which she did. It worked. We arrived safely. But, we discovered that the cars would not meet specs to enter the div points race. They had passed tech at a couple of local tracks, but could not make it in the big time. It was a disappointment & a big learning experience. But, bracket racing was just around the corner. So, we just refer to that episode as "precious memories". |
#563
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I owned the car a few years back. It had been built by some area Stock racers, then sold to a Chevy guy. He immediately wound it up to tight & broke a cast rod. He had another short block built, then put the car up for sale.
I think I saw the ad on racingjunk.com. Noticed the car was in a town only about 25 miles away, where my tranny guy lives. So I called to ask him if he knew the car. Turned out he knew the car & it's builder well. He had actually found the body for the build. They were long time class racers, who I think my tranny guy, "Weird Harold", had done tranny work for. His name is actually Harrel. But I've always called him "Weird Harold" because of the Bill Cosby character, by that name. Harrel has done tranny work for lots of area Pontiac guys. Has also done lots of Pontiac powered racing. He was also at today's show. Anyhow, our local track didn't open at all in 2010, so I sold the Tempest. It set until this project came along. It is definitely a little different than anything in this area, and probably in any other area. Anybody know of one ? |
#564
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The temp engine is a monster. But a streetable 428 based engine is planned.
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#565
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It won a trophy, which was given to the paint & body shop guy, which I thought was a very nice gesture.
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#566
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I had a 66 Chevelle when I was younger, probably one of my favorite cars. Always wanted another, but drop a Pontiac 455 because it ISN'T a Chevy motor.
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- Mike '69 Firebird 400 - Goldenrod Yellow, 455 +.060, '6s-7' heads, Comp Cam 276AH-10 (51-309-4), TH400, Ford 9-inch w/3.08, 800cfm Q-jet, Stock Intake, Hooker Headers, Flowmasters '68 Coronet 500 Convertible - Medium Gold Metallic, stock 318 +100,000 miles |
#567
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I really like what the guy did with the 'ET' concept. Looks like a fun car..Very nice.
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Greg Reid Palmetto, Georgia |
#568
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I like it.
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#569
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ET
Just in case somebody sees this, & doesn't know what an ET was, here's a couple of links with related info & a couple of pics of a prototype. Never made it into production.
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009...ontiac-et.html http://www.hotrod.com/articles/1969-pontiac-gto-judge/ This reminds me again why I didn't buy a Judge, in early '69. My local Pontiac dealer had one on the showroom floor. It was what I call orange. I told the salesman that I was not about to buy a car that was "Halloween Orange". So, I ask about ordering one in a different color. He asked his boss. But at that time, no other color was offered. So, I bought a plain RA3, in silver. If the showroom car had been black, I'd probably have bought it on the spot, or at least ordered a black one, with the options I wanted. I've only seen pics of black ones. They are about the best looking GTO ever, IMO. But we all know that opinions differ. Last edited by ponyakr; 04-22-2018 at 04:15 PM. |
#570
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Well if some don't know, ponyakr and I go way back being Pontiac enthusiasts. He actually got me interested in pontiacs many years ago.
I bought this car from him some years ago, then it remained in future project status until October 2016. Having a bunch of extra parts from the past I decided to make a fun street/strip ride out of it.We talked briefly on him owning the car as long as he wants, so the stage was set. At some point I learned of the ET prototype, thought it would be fun, ....so It should fit nicely in the speed barn 3.
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1963 Cat SD Clone (old school) streeter 1964 GTO post coupe, tripower, 4speed (build) 1965 GTO 389 tripower, 4 speed, driver 1966 GTO dragcar 1966 GTO Ragtop 1969 Tempest ET clone street/strip 1969 GTO Judge RA lll, auto 1969 GTO limelight Conv. 4speed go and show (sold) 1970 GP SSJ 1970 GTO barn find..TLB…390 horse?….yeh, 390 1972 GTO 455 HO, 4 speed, (build) 1973 Grand Safari wagon, 700hp stoplight sleeper 525ci DCI & 609ci LM V head builds |
#571
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And now ya'll know the rest of the story, or at least a little more of it.
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#572
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The Photographer
I posted these show pics on my FB page. I mentioned all the Pontiac guys that were there. But, I failed to mention that TJ was there & took all the pics.
And, she drove quite a few street & race Pontiacs. All her street cars had 4-speed trans. And, according to our records, she won at least 17 races, counting Stock & bracket. Also picked up lots of RU, semi, & quarterfinal checks, as well as too many trophies to count(tho we took $5 instead of a trophy when track owner would do it). She also beat me a few times. Anyhow, considering her Pontiac history, I had to apologize for not mentioning her as being one of the Pontiac "guys" that attended the show ! Last edited by ponyakr; 04-24-2018 at 02:12 PM. |
#573
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with those cars and that beautiful woman, you have been the envy of many a guy.
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#574
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Yeah, I have truly been blessed with a great wife ! I married plum out'a my league. And we were both blessed with great parents & grand parents. And this year we'll have our 40th anniversary. Just don't seem possible. '78 was our most successful racing season, winning 15 of the 45 races run, plus lots of RU & semi finishes. And we took off from racing for an entire month, getting a small trailer house set up, beside the Speed Barn.
Some called 'em mobile homes. Nowadays they call 'em manufactured housing. But, whatever you call 'em, they still come with axles & wheels, & pull behind a truck. Sounds like a trailer to me. And, there were probably lots of passers-by who saw all the "junk" Pontiacs in the yard & around the shop and called us "trailer trash". So be it. We had a blast ! I can remember lots of things that happened in the shop, at the track, and on the trips to & from the track. Just don't seem that long ago. I guess it's true what they say, "time flies when you're having fun". Here's a few pics. 1st one is not long after we got married. 2nd one is TJ on her birthday, when she got on Medicare, and we were going out to celebrate. 3rd one is a shot of just a few of the cars & stuff people would see as they passed by. My thought was that you can't have too many Pontiacs. May need some parts of of 'em some day. Last pic shows one of our trailer houses, TJ's 2nd gen bracket racer, and our '84 GMC CC, ready to head to a race in Prescott, Ark, around '86 or '87. Last edited by ponyakr; 04-24-2018 at 11:12 PM. |
#575
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Pontiac got some good exposure at the 50th reunion, at our local high school. I've posted pics of both these cars, on this thread.
One is a '68 Bird, built by the husband of one of the girls from the '68 graduating class. It's a 455 4-speed. The rag top belongs to member J.C.you. His brother(M.C.), drove the car to the reunion, with his brother-in-law as a passenger. The sister, K.C., was one of the class of '68 attendees. Some of the girls piled in the Goat for a publicity shot. A good time was had by one & all, I assume. M.C just told me that he really enjoyed driving the Goat ! |
#576
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SB3
Well, TJ got the SB3 image ready & sent it to Timmy, at The Decal Shop. He made a couple of decals & mounted 'em on some corrugated vinyl boards.
I made a backboard out of scrap plywood, and attached it to the vertical brace over the South door, with some scrap angle iron. After a trial fit, we attached the sign to the backboard, & TJ painted the screw heads. |
#577
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SB3
After the paint dried, all that was left was to climb the ladder & hang the new SB3 sign. We think it looks great.
As ya'll can see, it's not exactly level. But, I can fix that with just a washer or 2, to shim up the right side. Don't know when I'll get around to that, but definitely LATER. Our dog came in to check things out. He was not overly impressed, so didn't stay long. |
#578
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SB3
As mentioned before, it ain't near as big as I'd like. So, to conserve the floor area, I'm building lots of shelves along the East & West walls.
Used 14" zip ties to hold the 2x3's against the wall studs. Can use screws, if the zip ties don't hold up well. But, since most all the pressure is downward, I don't foresee a problem. Bought some cheap shelf brackets off Ebay. They're not real good quality, but will be adequate. Only problem was that they shorted me by 1 bracket. I was not a happy camper. How much intelligence does it take to count to 48. But, instead of raisin a ruckus, I just bought one from the local builders supply, for twice the price. https://www.ebay.com/itm/331790250654 I'm using scrap lumber, and some cheap cull lumber I bought from our local lumber yard, a few years back. It won't look great. But, after the wood is mostly covered with parts & stuff, who cares how the wood looks. All it has to do is hold up the stuff I put on it. Also put up 4 pegboards, 2 in each South corner. Actually, 2 of 'em are a 4x8 sheet of real pegboard, cut in half. The other 2 are made from an old sheet of plywood I had. I remember how that I didn't like the commercial metal "pegs", that would often come out with whatever you tried to pull off 'em. So, I'm makin my "pegs" out of all-thread & drywall screws. In my other shops, I never got around to hangin my tools where I could actually find 'em quick, or sorting & arranging my bolts/nuts/screws/washers where I could find what I needed quickly. Just threw most of the tools in the box, and dug around for bolts/nuts/screws/washers, wasting LOTS of time. But hey, back then I was busy working a job during the weekdays, and racing on the weekends. So, I just never did much organizing. But now I have plenty of time to sort & organize. So, I'll just have to enjoy that, and do most of my racing on the keyboard. Yep, I'm one of those "keyboard racers" which the active racers love to bash, online. But hey, maybe some of you guys who do that should think about it, before you do it. Some of us are keyboard racers because our life circumstances won't allow us to race. I read about the class racers who go from race to race in their big expensive motorhomes, pulling their fully equipped enclosed trailers, with their high dollar class car inside. I think I could enjoy me some of that ! But that takes BIG bucks. So, I'll just do what I can, for as long as I can. Last edited by ponyakr; 05-17-2018 at 08:36 PM. |
#579
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Looking good!
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
__________________
1975 Firebird / 1970 4" stroke 400, 6.800" Rods, 87cc Edelbrocks, XR-288-HR roller cam, Harland Sharp 1.5 roller rockers, Edelbrocks Pro-Flo4 port fuel EFI, Super T-10, 3.73 Posi. |
#580
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Looks great!
I'd love to have that....I think you ought to put another sign on the outside.
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Greg Reid Palmetto, Georgia |
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