Vintage Pontiac Pics

[StealthBird]

1) Can't remember who had these pics from the 1970 Chicago Auto Show (photo dated Feb 1970), but this shot of a 70 GTO Pontiac show car is interesting in that it's wearing what appear to be early honeycomb wheels, which didn't come out until 1971.

2) Gene Ingle's 1969 Judge drag car

3 & 4) Proud parents show off their children, and their Pontiacs.

5) This is the same 1969 Firebird as in the above photos, but this was when Royal Pontiac was still involved in high-perf conversions. That's Milt Schornack rowing the gears. This 350 H.O. Firebird was VERY well set up, and was the same car that later ran a RAIV and a RAV. Schornack trailered the 350 H.O. Firebird 2500 miles to race at the Winter Nationals in Pomona CA. He made one pass at an astonishing 12.32 at 113 mph. Apparently that upset some people, most notably Dale Smith from the factory Oldsmobile drag team, and he had the Royal Firebird banned.

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[grantprix]

Mike, these are great! That honeycomb wheel on the '70 appears to be a little different than the production wheel. Maybe a prototype?

I really enjoy seeing these old photos of cars when they were new... especially the ones in front of houses, in driveways, etc...

Great stuff! Keep'm coming... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]


Here's a scan of two old Polaroids that I got from the original owner of a '69 GP 428HO 4-speed that I had a few years ago. The gentleman told me that he raced early 60's 421 Pontiacs back in the day and collected a few trophies which were displayed across the hood of the GP in these photos when the car was new...

[olredalert]

----Wow, Grant!!! Where did that GP go? Another non-SJ 428/4spd HO unearthed. There just cant be many of these. Do you have a handle on any production figures?

----That Honeycomb appears to be actual aluminum, not rubber faced. I think that would definetly make it a prototype during the 1970 time period, wouldnt it?......Bill S

[StealthBird]

Great pics again Grant!

This is what I was hoping the thread would turn out to be, a nice photo album of just vintage Pontiac pics for all to enjoy. I thought it was a great idea for Charlie to make separate forum sections for each manufacturer. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

[StealthBird]

I'm also shrinking the size of many of these pics so they fit on the screen without having to scroll to the right. Looks like the best size is around 90K.

1) Here's a great shot of a Judge doing the pacing duties at Elkhart Lake.

2) Check out this ad from the late 70's. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/no.gif[/img]

[grantprix]

Love that RA IV Judge ad! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/Can-I-Have-It.gif[/img]

[StealthBird]

Grant, did you know Marvin Minnereck (sp?) from my area (suburbs of Chicago)? Marvin had a silver 1969 Grand Prix 428 HO 4-speed, and I met him while sitting in the staging lanes on a Pontiac Drag Day. After talking to him for a while, I realized he was also the same guy that used to have a beautiful 1965 2+2 ragtop 4-speed back in the 1980's.

1) The 70 Grand Prix, sitting at the 1970 Chicago Auto Show.

2) The proud owner of a new 1972 Hurst SSJ.

3) New owner of &quot;The Humbler&quot;. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

[grantprix]

Great photos again, Mike! Yes, Charley did good! Hopefully he wont lock us out for cluttering up this section... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

[grantprix]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: olredalert</div><div class="ubbcode-body">----Wow, Grant!!! Where did that GP go? Another non-SJ 428/4spd HO unearthed. There just cant be many of these. Do you have a handle on any production figures?

----That Honeycomb appears to be actual aluminum, not rubber faced. I think that would definetly make it a prototype during the 1970 time period, wouldnt it?......Bill S </div></div>

Bill, I sold the car about three years ago to a friend in IL. Myself and another friend bought the car off ebay in Jan of 2006. It was originally advertised as a 400 4-speed car. The seller was getting lots of questions on the car mainly because of the factory chrome parts on the engine thinking it may be a 428. Well, not only did it turn out to be a 428, it was a 428HO! Of course the bidding got more interesting after that. I wanted to do a full restoration on the car, but ended up selling it. Anyway, its in good hands. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

Production figures are 116 total 428HO 4-speed GP's for '69. Of those, 94 had the wide ratio 4-speed (M20) and 22 had the close ratio (M21) with the 3.90 gear only. This car has the wide ratio 4-speed with 3.55 gear. I've yet to discover one of the 22 cars, but that would be the one I'd really like to have. I have a list of 13 documented cars so far that are still around with about a 50/50 split between J's and SJ's. Oh, and if you ever run across a 428HO 3-speed manual car, its 1 of only 3 built with one of them confirmed to have been crushed. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img]

That would make sense on the wheel... the honeycombs appear to be larger to me, similar to the new aftermarket wheels that I've seen lately.

[grantprix]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: olredalert</div><div class="ubbcode-body">----Wow, Grant!!! Where did that GP go? Another non-SJ 428/4spd HO unearthed. There just cant be many of these. Do you have a handle on any production figures?

----That Honeycomb appears to be actual aluminum, not rubber faced. I think that would definetly make it a prototype during the 1970 time period, wouldnt it?......Bill S </div></div>

Bill, it was Andy and I that bought the car off ebay. We went 50/50 on it and then I bought it outright a couple of months later. Initially it was at Andy's place, but that was probably several months before you were there.