But I still have a Pontiac in hiding. This is a 68 GTO, we've owned this one about 15 years or so.
*RIP* Pontiac Motors
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Ben, sold your 'bird? Say it ain't so!
Yep - it's God's honest truth! LOL
The '78 SE TA was too far gone for me to put any real effort into it. Fun when I had it but felt it was time to let it go.
Besides, I've got this beauty to play with - hopefully next summer. Totally loaded '74 400 Formula. Ram Air, and loaded with every option except a Cordoba top. Ascot Silver with the stripe, black interior with custom factory ordered Red Deluxe seats. Sweet!
NICE 68. Something about 68's being cooler than '69's. Not sure if it is the cornering lights, the tail lights, or the dash. Hummm...
Yep - it's God's honest truth! LOL
The '78 SE TA was too far gone for me to put any real effort into it. Fun when I had it but felt it was time to let it go.
Besides, I've got this beauty to play with - hopefully next summer. Totally loaded '74 400 Formula. Ram Air, and loaded with every option except a Cordoba top. Ascot Silver with the stripe, black interior with custom factory ordered Red Deluxe seats. Sweet!
NICE 68. Something about 68's being cooler than '69's. Not sure if it is the cornering lights, the tail lights, or the dash. Hummm...
This is one of my dream cars (picture from an old ebay auction). A stealth 70 or 71 Formula. Black with black Cordoba top. Nice smooth 400 build with a 200R4 trans. I can very close to buying a blue with black top '71 Formula 400/4 speed about 4 years ago for dirt cheep. Really wish I could go back and grab it.
I'll let the rest of the crowd go for the GTO's. Give me a Formula any day!
Ben
I'll let the rest of the crowd go for the GTO's. Give me a Formula any day!
Ben
The pics of the '68 GTO and '71 Firebird brought back some memories. When I was at university in about 1980 there was a sports car club for students, and I'd often watch their autocrosses in a parking lot on weekends. The variety of cars was pretty bizarre, since all participants were students - I even recall one old RWD Corolla automatic that had been very tricked out for autocrossing. One day there was a very nice '68 or '69 GTO, and also a '71 Firebird Trans-Am. Their performance couldn't have been more different: The GTO was utterly hopeless, because the steering was so slow the driver literally couldn't spin the steering wheel fast enough to avoid hitting the cones. The Firebird was really, really tough however. With the Ram-Air 455 the driver didn't have to steer a lot, but just get the car pointed roughly in the right direction. A quick pop of the throttle and the tail would snap out and rotate the car. He really knew the car and was lots of fun to watch. He was only beaten significantly by a then-new 1st generation Mazda RX-7, a much smaller and more nimble car, again driven by someone who knew what he was doing. Of the other Ameican muscle cars there that day, only a well-maintained '67 Shelby GT350 could make it through the cones as fast as that Firebird. It's amusing to remember how there was lots and lots of envy over the new RX-7, a little over the Shelby, and mostly indifference to the Pontiacs. Today that Mazda is seen by most as a cheap old beater sports car, the Pontiacs are pretty damned desirable, and the Shelby would be worth more than a small house in many neighborhoods!
A very good buddy of mine custom ordered one of the last-generation Firebirds, about a 2000 model. It is technically a Formula, but has the LS-1 V8 and all the special Trans-Am equipment without the gaudy hood scoops. It's been his daily driver ever since, although he owns other cars. He really loves it and maintains it pretty much regardless of cost. The latter point is important, as it has proven a very expensive car to run due to frequent failures of small items like alternators, water pumps, fuel pumps, headlight motors, various computer controls, etc. Last year his accountant actually recommended replacing it because of the money it costs, but my friend just replied that he doesn't take expensive vacations, entertain lavishly, play golf, or have any other expensive hobbies so he'd damned well keep his favorite car. I hope GM does better with the new Camaro, because it is this lack of quality that killed the Firebird/Camaro the first time around and it deserves better than that.
A very good buddy of mine custom ordered one of the last-generation Firebirds, about a 2000 model. It is technically a Formula, but has the LS-1 V8 and all the special Trans-Am equipment without the gaudy hood scoops. It's been his daily driver ever since, although he owns other cars. He really loves it and maintains it pretty much regardless of cost. The latter point is important, as it has proven a very expensive car to run due to frequent failures of small items like alternators, water pumps, fuel pumps, headlight motors, various computer controls, etc. Last year his accountant actually recommended replacing it because of the money it costs, but my friend just replied that he doesn't take expensive vacations, entertain lavishly, play golf, or have any other expensive hobbies so he'd damned well keep his favorite car. I hope GM does better with the new Camaro, because it is this lack of quality that killed the Firebird/Camaro the first time around and it deserves better than that.
I.am.speechless
Read the link.
Read the link.
Beautiful 74, Ben!
can't wait till the whole of GM goes under
Now I think that's a little extreme, not everything GM has made was bad. Pontiac however, ain't what it used to be. I've heard some bad stories about the current model G6.
I had a '95 Bonneville SSEi, top of the line car with every concievable option and I gave the car best of care. It rewarded me by loosing it's coolant setting in the driveway one evening. Cause: A plastic connector between the top radiator hose and the gooseneck for the thermostat. I hate cheap plastics...
Next, decided to blow the coolant temperature sensor on the interstate, left me stranded and my parents had to pick me up and finish getting me to work, I was never so embarassed! Up until then, and since then I've never had a car towed. Next up, at the rife old age of 85,000 miles it blew the damn transmission. Now mind you, it had one of the best engines ever produced, the GM 3800 V-6 and mine was the supercharged version. I later found out from a mechanic that this transmission was prone to fail when pared with the 3800 supercharged as it was not designed to handle all that torque, and there were times when I used the engines full resources. I had had it. I put a bottle of trans x in that thing and traded it in a brand new Mazda 6s. I'm close to turning 100,000 on it and while it has not been 100% trouble free, I certainly have not had nearly this issues, and have never been stranded by it.
It was a very hard decision for me to buy a car that was not made here in America. I was a die hard GM fan and as I saw it everything else was crap. That was until my Pontiac experience.
I would buy GM again, matter of fact the new 2010 Buick Lacrosse has my eye --- but not my wallet!
Now I think that's a little extreme, not everything GM has made was bad. Pontiac however, ain't what it used to be. I've heard some bad stories about the current model G6.
I had a '95 Bonneville SSEi, top of the line car with every concievable option and I gave the car best of care. It rewarded me by loosing it's coolant setting in the driveway one evening. Cause: A plastic connector between the top radiator hose and the gooseneck for the thermostat. I hate cheap plastics...
Next, decided to blow the coolant temperature sensor on the interstate, left me stranded and my parents had to pick me up and finish getting me to work, I was never so embarassed! Up until then, and since then I've never had a car towed. Next up, at the rife old age of 85,000 miles it blew the damn transmission. Now mind you, it had one of the best engines ever produced, the GM 3800 V-6 and mine was the supercharged version. I later found out from a mechanic that this transmission was prone to fail when pared with the 3800 supercharged as it was not designed to handle all that torque, and there were times when I used the engines full resources. I had had it. I put a bottle of trans x in that thing and traded it in a brand new Mazda 6s. I'm close to turning 100,000 on it and while it has not been 100% trouble free, I certainly have not had nearly this issues, and have never been stranded by it.
It was a very hard decision for me to buy a car that was not made here in America. I was a die hard GM fan and as I saw it everything else was crap. That was until my Pontiac experience.
I would buy GM again, matter of fact the new 2010 Buick Lacrosse has my eye --- but not my wallet!
Pontiac's Finest Hour?
This commercial from 1969 was probably the high point of Pontiac's "Wide Track" era, IMHO--with some of the most attractive cars coming out of Detroit. (I'd grab that Grand Prix and Bonneville hardtop--or maybe the Executive wagon. Wow! Definitely Uncle Bill/"Family Affair" cool!)
This commercial from 1969 was probably the high point of Pontiac's "Wide Track" era, IMHO--with some of the most attractive cars coming out of Detroit. (I'd grab that Grand Prix and Bonneville hardtop--or maybe the Executive wagon. Wow! Definitely Uncle Bill/"Family Affair" cool!)
I have driven, repaired (and repaired and repaired and...)
GM cars, especially Cadillac and Chevy for several years now out of support for GM saying to the christianists:
No, we won't stop selling to gays. We like gays.
Cadillac was the first brand to publicly open their doors to Negroes back in the 1930's. Regardless of their reasons, it was a blow for human rights.
The same with their targeted advertising in the face of calls for boycotts today.
Personally, I could care less about the managers. But the workers do matter to me. That is why I don't like to see these companies fold. Real people, working people are the ones who get hurt. The managers come out of this with more money than before. The assembly line workers end up hungry on the street.
GM cars, especially Cadillac and Chevy for several years now out of support for GM saying to the christianists:
No, we won't stop selling to gays. We like gays.
Cadillac was the first brand to publicly open their doors to Negroes back in the 1930's. Regardless of their reasons, it was a blow for human rights.
The same with their targeted advertising in the face of calls for boycotts today.
Personally, I could care less about the managers. But the workers do matter to me. That is why I don't like to see these companies fold. Real people, working people are the ones who get hurt. The managers come out of this with more money than before. The assembly line workers end up hungry on the street.
beadsobleach
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Datsun
A friend of mine, a surgeon, bought a 2009 Nissan Murano, well shortly afterwards, he's had electrical problems with the tailgate, it won't open, guess the foreign makes aren't entirely immune to defects.
A friend of mine, a surgeon, bought a 2009 Nissan Murano, well shortly afterwards, he's had electrical problems with the tailgate, it won't open, guess the foreign makes aren't entirely immune to defects.
