PTM Cruise and Clues 2 - July 23, 2022

[Frosty]

This is something I found out about late last week and I signed up for. I ran solo on Saturday, July 23, 2022. It was the Pontiac Transportation Museum's 2nd annual Cruise and Clues event. It is essentially a scavenger hunt / road rally across the city of Pontiac. You are looking in to the city's automotive and historical past. I must admit, I learned a few new things. I ended up going solo since I couldn't convince Justa to join me in the Roadmonster.

 

I have not seen any official final results posted. So I have no idea how well I did or how poorly I did going solo.

Things I learned:

1. Whizzers were manufactured in Pontiac and were added in order to motorize bicycles - especially during WWII - to let people get around factories quicker.

2. American Legion Post #20 at 206 Auburn Rd in Pontiac is the former home of Edward Murphy, founder of Oakland Motor Car Company.. It still stands today, with a tank in front of it.

3. GMC trucks was formed by GM by combining Reliant and Rapid truck companies. Rapid stood where the M! Concourse now sits today. Outside the north gate of the M1 Concourse sits a yellow dilapidated building. This is the former Rapid powerhouse and it is the only Rapid building left standing today.

4. There is a very cool sculpture of Chief Pontiac on Saginaw St. in downtown Pontiac.

5. At Pontiac city hall, a placard reads that the famous bus that Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white man in Montgomery Alabama in 1955 (which helped ignite the civil rights movement in this country), was a Pontiac-built GMC bus. The bus was found and restored, and it is now on permanent display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan.

 

After the scavenger hunt was over, we had the chance to walk through the PTM on our own or with a volunteer tour guide. I know they are still doing a significant amount of remodeling the building from a school into a museum but I wish like hell they would invest in some damn lights in the place! So I apologize in advance for how dark some of the photos are. If you are a POCI member, you've probably seen many of these cars in past Smoke Signal articles before.

A prototype Grand Am station wagon - none were ever built in production

 

'73 GTO and a '77 Can Am. Nearby are 3-4 more "parts" '73 GTOs

 

Chief Pontiac use to stand near Harry's on the Hill Cadilliac-Pontiac dealership in Asheville NC for nearly half a century, until 2018.

These two Venturas are believed to have been possible GTO prototypes for 1975, after the GTO became a model off the Ventura for 1974 and then died.

This is a very loaded '67 wagon. It even has a vinyl roof and fake wood grain and a 428!

A Pontiac 6000 STE limo ?!?!?!?!?

Richard Petty's prototype Grand Prix 2+2 Aerocoupe and a production 2+2. Petty donated his car to the POMARC in Illinois but it has since been moved to Michigan.

This '73 GMC Motorhome is believed to be the second GMC motorhome ever sold to the public. Future plans are this will be restored by a GMC motorhome club. It actually still drives under it's own power despite how it looks. The inside looks better than the outside (somewhat).

GMC was formed by Rapid and Reliance. This is the only know Rapid to exist and one of only two Reliances know to exist.

A predecessor to almost all trucks is the Grabowsky. This is the only one known to exist. Not sure if they mean this model or all Grabowskys.

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by Frosty

[Ringo64]

Wowzers! Looks like a great time! Interesting tid bids about and of Pontiac.

[64 kiwi boni]

Great pictures frosty 

[JUSTA6]

Awesome story as always buddy.  Thankz for sharing.

[Frosty]

Got an email this week. I didn’t win, place, or show, so I have no idea where I ended up in the group of 12 teams overall. There was a tie for second place.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Frosty

[JUSTA6]

4 hours ago, Frosty said:

Got am email this week. I didn’t win, place, or show, so I have no idea where I ended up in the group of 12 teams overall. There was a tie for second place.

But did you have fun?   Nuff said.

[Frosty]

Here is a photo from the top of the PTM building of all the teams. Ol' Frosty is driving the Roadmonster on the far right.