Leaderboard

I had many highs and lows in the 2010s with Pontiac and life. Here they are in chronological order... September 2013: Took delivery of the greatest car I have ever or will ever own... A fully restored, documented numbers matching, triple black, 400 HO, 4-speed 1968 GTO. Named her Black Betty that day! Her she is as she arrived that glorious day... August 2014: Black Betty won many trophies at local car shows and cruise-ins, but the proudest moment came at the 2014 Susquehanna GTO's All Pontiac Show in Landisville PA. If I remember right, there were close to 200 Pontiacs. Black Betty was class "D" 1964 - 1974 Stock GTO... there were 17 beautiful restored GTOs from many east coast states in the class. Black Betty won Best In Class! 2015 and 2016 were horrible. My dear wife Nancy was diagnosed with stage three cancer in March 2015 and passed in July 2016. Had to sell Black Betty to keep up with the bills. As much as we love our Pontiacs, they are just metal and rubber and pale in comparison when your wife of 38 years is dying of cancer. I sold it with no regrets. July 2019: I returned to the Pontiac fold when I purchased a black 1981 4- speed Trans Am (after swearing I would NEVER buy another black car, lol!). Named her Raven . October 2019: I went to the biggest car show (just short of 800 cars) in WV. It is in Charleston WV and they biock off one of the main drags for over a mile and the cars park on both sides of the street. I got to finally meet Frosty and he set me up with a primo parking spot as he is one of the grand poobahs of this event. Spent three days there, got a free detail from one of the venders. I look forward to going again this year.

And that is all she wrote! Congrats to our 2020 Forever Pontiac Calendar winners and thank you to all who entered! This year was a great year and tons of wonderful Pontiacs. The following users are in the calendar (no specific order), I will be reach out to some of you for better quality pictures. If you do not respond by the deadline, we will move on to the 2nd place individual in your grouping: @Lucky @brandyv73 @58Bonne @LN7_NUT @GreenMartian @LawMan62 @Bush71grandprix @4 bucket 67 @FlyGTO @Pontiacs For Life @48Streamliner @stratman

Here are some more pics from the convention.

Here are some pictures of Dimitri's '59 Bonneville.

Was part of my ISCA display, back in the day. Now I keep it in the trunk of my Sunbird trailer.

I went to the Kalamazoo Swap Meet over the weekend. It was a really good swap meet. First time I've ever been to this one. It was held at the K-zoo Expo Center/Fairgrounds. A lot of vendors and a lot of interesting parts, particularly hot rod and flathead parts. A couple of things caught my eye. This set of Pontiac piston rings. The packaging is clearly pre-GM Parts Division / Service Parts Organization / GM Customer Care and Aftersales. This is what briefcases are really made for!

After 10 years of existence ( thanks everybody!), we have outgrown our server space for attachments and various items. Today, you may have noticed some brief broken images and weird things throughout the website. I’ve been busy moving a lot of our storage and prepping for bigger, better things to come over the next 10 years! All maintenance was low impact and has completed now. If you see any missing images, files, etc... around the site or something behaving wonky, please let me know here so we can address it . On a related note, thank you everyone for being with us as we now enter our 10th year and we look for great things still to come! We have a few things plan to celebrate our decade in existence and those will be announced soon!

Well, I know here I go again, but it seemed only fitting that a new arrowhead be created for the new front cover/splitter setup. Part of the reasoning is that this cover will have larger more aggressive NACA duct bezels, as I have increased their size over the stock configuration. I would then just leave the last arrowhead with the last cover. I will attempt to get a bit more bold, a bit more menacing, a bit more; well Indian, with this arrowhead! It may not appear that way in the pictures, but the larger inlay of copper, plus being inset as opposed to protruding and larger flutes, but less in number, makes the arrowhead appear larger. It should also look a bit larger once it is finished being polished. This was the first arrowhead for the original OEM front cover. This was the current arrowhead from the modified front cover/splitter. These two pictures are the new arrowhead (unpolished) on the new front cover.

I’m a lucky man and after Frosty and Stratman’s communication, most else would pale by comparison! My heart goes out too both as it has in the past. No one knows why bad things happen to good people! We can only hold true that there is a higher purpose! Still for me this past decade brought the reduction of my Pontiac fleet from 4 to 1, but that one garnered a lot of attention, if not from me through refinement, then out on the road or when I stop somewhere. I have said before that I don’t do car shows, in part because I tend to be a loner, not standoffish, just not big on all the fake personas that emanate from egos. So I really have had a quiet 10 years in the world of Pontiac. I would like to echo JustA6 that FP and the folks here have been great and those friends are treasured comrades, JustA6, Frosty, Ringo, Stratman, Joe, and many others. I guess the biggest event would have been retiring from my career of 40 years doing something I truly loved! That kept me in the mainstream of the motion industry, whether it was auto, railroads, mining equipment, energy or shipping! It was a ball!

The 2010s have been a whirlwind of ups and downs for me, and my two Pontiacs, Lucy (my ’72 Lemans Sport convertible), and Black Beauty (my ’86 Trans Am). One of the bigger downers has been Black Beauty. She has not gotten the love or attention she truly deserves ever since my wife and I moved into our current house seven years ago. She has been in cold storage at a friends house ever since, as my house lacks any space to house any of my classic cars and my wife doesn’t want to see a pole barn on our property even though we have room for one. I do intend to bring Black Beauty back to life in the near future, however, life happens and it’s matter of making the time for her vs. repairs to Lucy and the Buick Roadmonster right now. Lucy, by far and away has had the lion’s share of love and attention for the past 25 years. That said, the past 10 years, I have been to Woodward Dream Cruise 10 times, Back to the Bricks 10 times, and to and from Charleston WV Rod Run and Doo Wop 9 times (this year Lucy had a catastrophic failure 10 miles from the house). I was able to get the late Paul Deesen, a retired GM and Pontiac designer, to design a custom, one-of-a-kind “Jury” logo for Lucy for me in 2013. I intended to complete Lucy’s “Jury” transformation in the coming years. Paul had some other recommendations for Lucy which I intend to incorporate in the future. The past ten 4th of Julys have been spent in the small farming community of Hadley Michigan. The Widetrackers participate in this annual 4th of July parade. We pass out candy along the parade route to the young children like it is the first coming of Halloween. I got to enjoy the parade with my father for many years before he passed away in 2018, along with my wife and son. In recent years, we get seven people in Lucy for the parade. Me, my wife, mother-in-law, brother-in-law & sister-in-law, and their two young sons. My son and father-in-law ride behind us in my in-laws 2006 red Solstice. We must chuck around 5 lbs. of Tootsie Rolls each by the end of the parade. I’ve been able to enjoy local car shows and Woodward with folks from the Michigan Widetrackers, JUSTA6, JUSTAG6, Indyman Joe, and the Notalltheres. I’ve enjoyed their comradery and hold their friendship even closer. I’ve gotten to know Guitars Extreme (GE) and Professor for the last 20 years and got to know them even more. It was a pleasure to spend an evening with GE and his little lady this summer in Brighton with Indyman Joe and the Challenger. It’s been fun having Professor in town for the Woodward Dream Cruise on two different occasions. That Challenger is still stupid fast. Through FP, I’ve gotten to more closely know Ringo, Sprint6, Last Indian, Stratman, and killerspeed101. I hope to get to know more FP folks - either those local to Michigan or as I get the opportunity to travel around the country, I’d like the chance to meet up with any of you for a car show, coffee or beer. The biggest downer occurred in 2010. That was the year I was president of the Michigan Widetrackers. My wife, son, and I took Lucy and made a family vacation to West Virginia. We signed up for the POCI annual convention in Charleston that year. We took a few days before the convention to see the local sites like the New River Gorge Bridge, Cathedral Falls, Hawk’s Next, Thurmond, etc. It was the 4th of July, and while we were at the Babcock State Park, my colon burst (I didn’t realize it at the time). I walked around for 3 more days before going to emergency at St. Francis hospital in Charleston. I had emergency surgery that night to save my life. I was in ICU for 21 more days in a medically induced coma and nearly died of kidney failure due to sepsis in the process. I ended up with a temporary colostomy (which was later reversed several month later). Widetrackers, fellow POCI members, and a lot of WV car folks looked in on me and my family (who stay in WV with me) until I recovered. I left the hospital on August 1st, a very weak, humble, thankful, and grateful man. Through this near-death experience, I learned several things. First, I learned the generosity of car people both at home and in WV. Many of these people are now lifelong friends or more like extended family. The Charleston car show, for me, is about seeing my friends / my extended car family, not about winning a trophy or a long-distance award. Second, I learned to give back to everyone who helped me by paying it forward. I knew I could not simply pay everyone back because I knew they would not take it. I had to look for creative ways and opportunities that they would appreciate. Helping Make a Wish Foundation of Charleston and Pittsburg, Coats for Kids, Toys for Tots, WV Drag Racers Hall of Fame historical marker, etc. are just a few ways we have given back over the years. Third, a skiing friend of mine said after I returned from the hospital in WV, “I’d rather see you than view you!”. It smacked me square between the eyes, but he was right. It is so much more important to take care of yourself and your loved ones. You don’t realize how many people you affect until something like this happens. You truly begin to understand all the people who care for you. Lucy suffered a catastrophic overheating failure on the way to Charleston in 2019. I have a lot of work ahead of me. She may or may not see the road at all this year, depending how much time I have to work on her and what I find in the process. However, I know that I will still find time to enjoy with family and friends, enjoy cars, and enjoy helping folks on FP and beyond. Happy New Year and Happy New Decade Everyone!

When you guys peel off the stickers... place them on clear Saran wrap from the kitchen. Good to go. I have the 1st 10 years worth of the Car Craft Street Machine Nationals among many other car related stuff in many photo albums.

It was sunny and in the 50s today, so I unwrapped Raven and went for a drive after she sat in the barn for a month. In the video you will see I have lost a wing off the bird on the driver's side sail panel. Worst of all, you will see a bad scratch on the passenger's side door. I have only my idiot self to blame for that.

This is 1 of 57 built in 1992 COPO (verified by PMD), with a 4 cam 3.4L Chevrolet/ M284 West German Getrag 5 speed floor shift transmission ( same drivetrain as Lumina Z34 Coupe ). The sheetmetal is 100% original and is completely straight, never been hit or repaired. Hood louvers from period-correct GTP Coupe, fully functional. Interior is all original except for a steering wheel wrap, shift knob, pedals and dash tach. The car has every possible option except the HUD. Front suspension and steering rack rebuilt, new struts in rear, urethane bushings on stabilizer bars, front lowering springs and Helwig rear stabilizer bar; third alternator and clutch, second power steering and water pump. No restoration has ever been performed except for paint, this a 27 year old original survivor, second owner, since 3Dec 1997. Engine is chipped, K&N filter on hogged out intake box, and Flowmaster exhaust, 221WHP on WinJet dyno on Sunoco Racing gas.

Many here know the reason I had to sell my '68 GTO four years ago and had been without a Pontiac until this year. I am so grateful to be a part of this calendar with these eleven other magnificent Pontiacs. Thank you to all who entered and voted, A special thank you to Ringo who put in all the hard work to make this possible... The annual calendar voting seems to get better every year , thanks buddy!

The Last Indian

GGGGGGGRRRRRRREEEEEEEAAAAATTTTTTT! Knowing the difference between a frosted flake vs. a fruit loop is such a subtle difference with this bunch!

So today I picked up my car and I now finally own the street beast I thought I bought 3 years ago. Its a night and day difference driving experience. I had to eventually get off the gas as this car will burn them now as long as you keep your foot on the loud pedal. here's proof that this car is a blast to now drive. I am extremely happy with the outcome and performance.

Hello, all. I've lurked here for a while now and I finally made a purchase in early November. I'd been looking for a '63 Pontiac full-size for about 5-ish years by that point. I wanted a nicely presentable driver that I could learn by replacing/upgrading things as I went, plus it'd be a great bonding opportunity for my boys and I as well. My grandfather was a mechanic at the local Pontiac-Cadillac dealer, but the Pall Malls got him long before I hand the chance to learn much from him. I'm working on power steering at the moment, coming up north I think has shrunken the torque converter seal, so that's next and a few odds/ends this winter need done. I also bought a reproduction '58 plate with the name of the little baby we lost inbetween the two we have and got a '63 sticker for it. I also plan on some sort of small dashboard container for some of his ashes at some point. Meet "Jonah". Car has PS, PB, A/C and power bench seat with 74k miles. Thanks for reading!

Thank you everyone for being a part of the FP family. It's been a wondrous time and look forward to what the future holds for everyone and FP

Thanks guys. I am so blessed to have such good friends, even ones I have never met like you all.

Busted. LOL IMG_7412[1].mp4 For the record thats my annoying neighbors poop eater dog. Actually its 10lbs not even a dog.More like a rat dog. Remi is the Dog running next to us. Video's? I'm winning the innanet!

I got a car cover for the “59 Bonneville and this rolling tool box to help me organize (and find) my tools.

My wife and I bought each other a very nice Christmas present this year. The goat's engine is getting rebuilt.

My 1970 LeMans. Family owned since new, personally had it since 1985.

Picked up Winnie's seats from the upholsterer today for the 55 Pontiac. WOW

Thank you all for this honor and thank you Ringo for this site we Pontiac true-believers get to hang out on.

This is our 1959 Pontiac Bonneville Sport Coupe. It has power steering, power brakes, power windows, power bench seat, power antenna, Wonderbar radio, Tri-Power, and Foxcraft fenderskirts. The color is Castle Blue with a tri-color blue interior. We bought the car in 1977 and have had it 42 years this month.

Not the best photo of my GTO, but considering the road sign and direction I saw when out cruising, I couldn't resist. 69 GTO, 100% built by yours truly. Original engine, now stroked to 461 inches with lots of "good stuff" inside. Moser 9-inch, 4-wheel Wilwood disc brakes, Spohn Engineering suspension. It's an 11-second car at the track.

This is a shot of Lucky at a local Car show for Veterans at Konkel Park in Greenfield Wisconsin. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

This will stop the heartbeat! A true SS Impala hit a deer on the way to the show. Got the entire front clip, hood fenders.... Hot Wheels prototype Camaro. Vet's in Vette's DUDE...don't fall on Justa66

Challenger Drag Pak car Got Nitrous? Nice Rolls Royce! Not quite the American Family Truckster but close. We couldn't find the dog leash! I love it when the engine is as high as the roof! The "SH-Boom" flame throwers are legendary in the Detroit area. The '49 Cadillac and F-150 are two The Motor City [Mercury] Marauders club At the NCRS Corvette korral - an original Corvette fuelie! This Challenger has no top ! How much would it cost for you to stand around in a hot dog and mustard costume all day? Love the license plate No notallthere - this is not my next car!

Okay I was not quite as snap happy as JUSTA, I only did around 300 photos. Here are some of mine. Signs from my buddy Joe's stand - he's an official Dream Cruise stand too. Sweet Indian head on a gorgeous '49 Pontiac. A Hellcrate engine in a '68 GTX - very cool. Loved the Hell crate in the cop car - the Dunkin' Donuts on the dash was a nice touch too. Great looking '70 GTO convertible Avanti C7 Limo Hot Pontiac! Lead Sled Donked '85 Buick LeSabre Limited. My parents had one - sans the donk. JUSTA's Tiger is getting fresh with my two tigers. WTF? The little guy is saying "I don't know you!" Lucy's identical stranger? Sometimes you just want to bring the whole family out to Woodward! I snitched one more cookie than JUSTA - even though he got his first! They let anything on Woodward! I do mean anything!

Seeing the shot of the '35 Hood Ornament made me sort some of my latest "Pontiac Sky" shots for my album... Album; https://www.pinterest.com/mrbigbluesky/pontiac-sky/

Alrighty, those pics were great!! Those cartoon characters covering the heads cracked me up. It was great spending time with frosty and Joe. Yes, and Joe's car is a beast !! And riding in frosty's car for the first time was fun and scary at the same time. Although, we did have a great meal and good fun bugging each other. Yes, I broke a lower control arm bushings and it took me 2 hours to replace with help from some of the guys between runs. Now the local Button Dodge dealership did a video shoot the next day. I'll post a link soon. If not you can see my inpromto, non scripted, they didn't tell me what they wanted so I just sort of stumbled my way thru it. You can check their website and see the video. I made a very smokey dealership and lots of noise. The salesmen we're in panic. All the mechanics stopped working on cars and we're in the parking lot watching lol !! And at Indy lost a Vband off the exhaust while going down the highway back to the hotel. But, the cool part was the speed shop that we were visiting that evening luckily had one and installed it for me. Which was really killer. Now, the map thingie. I do have a map that is the scratch off type that I use for the Road Trip autocross events. I also, have decals for all the road courses I've raced with a map. And one for land speed racing. And one for all the states the lil woman and I traveled. Now, on the critter kills. We'll, I guess I could put a state which each were killed. Alot would be in SC, and NC. Now, the Michigan raccoon !! He just stayed there no movement to get outta the way. I think that it was from the inbreeding there !! Lol !! Ringo, yes I probably need to get one for the kills. Lmao!! Over all, it totally wears you out each day and makes for a long week. Especially driving home. But, the best part is. Great fun, great friends, great blast, and just plan fun !!

Just paint and chrome, 96000 mi , 350, 2 speed auto, 2bl, all stock but duel exhaust change. New headliner. and carpet, rest original inside.

Congratulations. I see you are subscribing to the Indyman Joe technique of applying rubber undercoating! One disturbing the peace charge at a time!!!

Scottiedogfla’s 2002 Firebird. This was one of the last few produced at the St Therese Quebec plant before GM shut down 4th Generation F-bodys. Midnight Orange Metallic.

Hey Joe! That’s a song! Great job! Ok anyway, you may have them already and I just didn’t see, but a couple things. First, yah the prop valve looks close to the header tube, that would be a pain! You might want to see how hot the prop valve and lines get as a result of that proximity. It might affect fluid performance if it gets too hot. Also, you say low vac motor, so I assume power brakes? if you don’t have one, you could get a vac canister. That will help. Also you could change the master cylinder to a larger bore unit. That will move more fluid which builds more psi quicker, but requires more leg effort. Additionally, even more work, you can change the pedal ratio, which gives you a bigger mechanical advantage over fluid movement.

The first front wheel - 15x7 showed up yesterday. It came out of Georgia. The final front wheel is coming out of Texas from some reason. I just checked the tracking number, it should be delivered today.

Good news! Two of the four new wheels showed up on Saturday. I got to open them yesterday!!!! These are the rears - 15"x8". The others were coming from Georgia and should be here mid-week. Joe - don't panic me like that again dude!!!!!

I've driven parts of Route 66. From Joliet IL to Springfield IL and from Williams AZ (just south of the Grand Canyon) to Needles CA. You will find interesting buildings along every part of Route 66 to stop at, so expect lots of stops everywhere you go. In Illinois: Odell IL - restored Standard Oil Gas Station from the 1930s. Pontiac IL - Pontiac-Oakland Museum, and Route 66 Shield Mural (take a picture of car in front of it) - in the alley behind Route 66 Association Hall of Fame Museum. Also check out the murals across the street / in the alley with the Route 66 Shield Mural. They're pretty cool too. You will also find small gas stations and restaurants, old buildings along the way. I recommend getting off I-55 and onto Historic Route 66 just south of Joilet and driving Historical Route 66 all the way to least Pontiac. In Arizona Seligman - Historic Route 66 General Store - basically a souvenir stand but its still cool. There are other gift shops in town worth checking out. Hackberry - Hackberry General Store. A red Corvette, old gas pumps, signs, etc. Lots of old cars to look at out back too. Nice souvenir shop. This is a must stop for any car guy. Kingman - mention in the song "Get Your Kicks on Route 66". - Locomotive Park - steam powered trains and train memorabilia - Route 66 Museum - across the street for Locomotive Park Cool Springs AZ - Cool Springs Station - looks like something out of the "Cars" movies Careful driving and some slow speeds from Cool Springs into Oatman - this is a mountain pass and the road is narrow in places. You might even see a wrecked and rotting car corpses in one of the ravines. Oatman AZ - Careful driving though Oatman - there are wild burros running around. These burros are descendants from the burros that gold miners set free after the mines closed. - Feed the burros - While the burros are wild, they have little fear of man since the townsfolk and tourists alike feed them. Several places sell burro feed and they should come up to you if they see you have it. - Check out the old western wear and memorabilia in the various tourist shops in town. Now I haven't been to Amarillo Texas yet but - Cadillac Ranch - Route 66-Sixth Street Historic District Oklahoma Route 66 - Lucille's Gas Station - Hydro, OK - POPS - Acadia, OK - Famous "Blue Whale" - Catoosa OK - Will Rogers Museum - Claremore OK - Optimus Prime (Transformers) statue - Stillwater OK - Oklahoma City - Check out the state capital complex - complete with working oil rigs on the property!

http://www.tachrev.com/GrandAm1973Nascar.htm The long forgotten Grand Am NASCAR race car. No one is sure where this car ended up. Some rumors have it that it was sold and race dirt track in either Oregon or Washington state. It's most likely long gone now.

Interesting article from Automotive Magazine about the Ride Pontiac Ride ad/commercial of the late 80s. It is more of a music video with Pontiacs. What I found more interesting was the second Pontiac ad from 1990, "As Long as THere are Individuals There Will Be Pontiac" - if only that were true. This ad features a sci-fish theme and a voice over by Jean-Luc himself, Patrick Stewart. I must admit I honestly don't remember this ad at all. https://www.automobilemag.com/news/watch-ride-pontiac-ride-ad-commercial-80s/

I'm not a fan, especially in a vehicle that has no controls for a human to take over in the event of an emergency. So a controless vehicle condemns its occupants to whatever unanticipated fate it may (unfortunately) encounter. The NHTSA would have to prove that self-driving vehicles are significantly (statistically-speaking) more safe than human-driven vehicles. I doubt there is enough data samples, particular on populated roads for that. Nor is anyone terrible anxious to let them out on public streets either - hence the dilemma. I doubt anyone is willing to take it on faith either just to let them out on the roads either (TRUST ME!). Finally who does my family sue when such a vehicle gets in an accident? Who's liable? The company that managed the vehicle? The manufacturer of the vehicle? The autonomous software development company? Or Yes All of the Above Please? WIth a human driver, there is an implied single-point of fault.

Make it so....#1

Ridler Great 8 Contenders This Cadillac was also this year's Ridler Award winner. Some cool Pontiacs - Although the number of Pontiac at this years show was disappointing. Here is the most perfectly restored '65 GTO on the planet - it's Scott Tieman's own GTO. It was his parent's car. He started restoring it back in 1998 and he finished it in 2015 and unveiled it at the 2015 GTOAA convention. Smokey and the Bandit Tribute Area Burt Reynolds owned this Trans Am - it was not a movie car. I thought I'd get in on the action while I was there. So from left-right: Junior, Buford, Snowman, and Bandit. All we are missing is Fred and Frog!!!

Just got her back , 4 years in the making!!!!