Frosty

Studebaker Avanti - on my recent trip to Chicago

What color are you looking for ? SEM products are available in a lot of places, including Amazon.

Wow! Looks like another popcorn and Junior Mints event to me!!!

1LE only parts may be fewer and therefore less expensive than the total Z/28 package. Of course, the Z/28 package may be more complete too.

You will probably want to find some interior dye, not paint. Eastwood and SEM both carry a line of good dash/plastic dyes for automotive interiors. You will need to buy 3 things: a plastic cleaner to remove wax/grease from the part, a prep spray to get the plastic to accept the dye, and then the actual dye color itself.

$2.599 post-Memorial Day for Shell 87 octane.

Have you considered the 1LE braking/handling components too or is that already included in the Z/28 suspension ?

True, but they won't be making Holden's much longer in Australia at all. 2017 is literally the end of the road for all car manufacturing in Australia - Holden, Ford, and Toyota are all stopping production by then.

Sounds like it will be a sweet set-up.

Very cool. What are you doing to lower it Chaos? An engineered lowering kit? Old school cutting of the springs? How much are you lowering it? Can I assume this is for a little auto cross from time to time?

You making a compelling point Ringo. I think the challenging point that keeps the horsepower wars in check is the future emissions/CAFE mileage requirements. As the rules get more stringent, the companies are being forced to build ever more uber-"econo boxes" for every HP giant they build. In order to balance the equation, build fewer models of HP giants and build far more econo-boxes.

Thanks stratman. Its worth rescuing because so few were built. As long as the back glass and rear unique sheet metal is intact, a donor Grand Prix could be used to restore the rest of it. Oh, and be sure to duck....a lot.

Now that is lazy !!!!

Thanks for the compliment Ringo !!! I have no idea how the royalties work. Unfortunately, Paul died in 2011, so if there are any commercial royalties, I would expect it to go to his widow and/or estate. Eric has never told me that he has gotten anything for the book. I might ask him some day though. Although I rather doubt he gets a dime of it. I agree with you that it is a must see place. Every Pontiac enthusiast should put it on their bucket list and go visit. Nearby Route 66 is a must do and a lot of fun too. Tim showed me a first edition 1927 Oakland service manual while we were in the library. He gets copies of all the POCI chapter newsletters/magazines, including the Widetrackers "Tracker". He had an issue of the Tracker that I can't recall reading before. Tim and Penny will be speaking at the Motor City POCI Chapter's car show/event in July at Baker's in Milford (in Indymanjoe's backyard) this summer too. If I have that day off from baseball, I will try to get down to see them again.

Why'd you let that happen?

The Pontiac-Oakland Museum is located in Pontiac, Illinois, just a few miles off I-55 near historic Route 66. It is owned and managed by Tim and Penny Dye. https://www.pontiacoaklandmuseum.org/ Picture of the front of the museum - from the Internet I was fortunate to have to go to Chicago over Mother's Day weekend this year and my hotel was right off I-55. A quick 75 mile (one way) trip from SW Chicago to Pontiac and I was there. I was last in this part of the country in 2005 for the Rockin' Rods on Route 66 car show in Bloomington, Illinois. Here is the one of the oldest known Pontiac vehicle still known to exist, an actual Pontiac horse drawn buggy - one of two that still exist. Upon entering, you realize this is not a huge museum. They don't have the luxury of being able to occupy the entire building or ground floor of an entire city block. So the collection on display is small, compact, and it changes on a regular basis. So what you see in these photographs may change by the time you visit. The first Silver Streak - a 1935 model. The Sliver Streaks ran continuously until in 1956, except for World War II production. Fiero display - including a good look at its (then) modern space frame and detachable/replaceable body panels. Some very rare - one of a kind Pontiacs A 1986 Grand Prix 2+2 - one of 1,225 built. This one only has 5,500 miles on it. This car was built to homologate it for use in NASCAR. The actual original Grand Prix 2+2 prototype. Pontiac gave it to Richard Petty and it is now part of his collection. The only Grand Am station wagon every built. In 1973, Pontiac converted a Lemans wagon into a Grand Am as a feasibility study and loaded it up with nearly every imaginable option. A 455, a functional twin-NACA Ram Air scoops, honeycomb wheels, bucket seats, dual exhaust, radial tires, a moon roof, power everything, and more. The NACA Ram Air scoops did not pass federal noise standards and were dropped (however you could buy the parts over the counter) and were non-functional on all production cars. A one of 319 built - 1976 Trans Am Special Edition w/ a 455 and a 4-speed manual transmission. Here is a neat garage scene with a '62 Lemans. On the engine stand is a freshly rebuilt Pontiac Indy straight 4 or Trophy 4 engine. It is literally half of a 389 Pontiac V8. There are close to 2000 oil cans along the walls, plus a lot of old NOS AC and Delco service parts on the work bench. The GTO display area. Starting with a '65 GTO with a 389 tri-power with the all proper Hurst equipment. The Judge display Every Pontiac hood ornament known to man. 1929 Oakland Roadster 1926 Pontiac - the first year Pontiac automobiles were made by GM and Oakland Motor Car Company as part of the Companion Car Program. A Pontiac Bonneville station wagon used for camping I had the good pleasure to talk with both Penny and Tim Dye. We sat and talked in the Pontiac Oakland Library. I talked to Tim regarding the 1908 The Pontiac High Wheel Runabout built by the Pontiac Spring and Wagon Work (not Oakland Motor Car Company), which I have written about here and for the Michigan Widetrackers. Tim was aware of the car but he was not aware that one of the four remaining cars was at the Sloan Museum's Buick Gallery in Flint, Michigan (my hometown). I gave Tim electronic copies off all my photos and documents. He made me aware of yet another article printed by AACA about restoring one of the four Pontiacs. He also informed me that another of the four remaining The Pontiacs was purchased by a private car collector and also resides now in SE Michigan. Tim has since sent me a copy of the missing restoration article and I am waiting for some time from my son's perennial baseball season to sit down and read it. As a souvenir of my visit, I picked up an autographed copy of Jim Wanger's book, Glory Days. As I have stated in another post, I know the owner of the car on the cover. It belongs to fellow Michigan Widetracker Eric White. Eric runs White House Graphics and he is author in his own right. Famous GTO writer/restored Paul Zazaraine photographed Eric's car over 20+ years ago and somehow it was picked for the cover of Jim's book. So I will get Eric to autograph it too. Eric is also a member of the museum's board of directors and a frequent contributor to POCI's Smoke Signals magazine and Wild About Cars.

This is for 6 Shooter....currently on the turntable at the NCM. A '66 Corvette Stringray convertible.

Well the museum is not exactly making a killing on selling the sinkhole dirt, even though they've sold over 3,000 jars of the stuff already. It seems that even though the dirt is free, and using volunteers to fill the jars is free labor, it seems that buying the jars from Hobby Lobby and producing the labels for the jars costs about $6.00 each, so they are netting $4.00/a jar profit. Not a ton of money, but it is another $12k they didn't have before either. Call it a case of making lemonade out of a case of m,lemons, if you will. No I didn't buy any of the dirt. I didn't feel the need. I have plenty of Kentucky Blue Grass in my yard. I don't need the dirt too.

Other famous/infamous race cars from the past - all non-Corvettes An old Ford modified for bootlegging - the inspiration for many a NASCAR driver Richard Petty's #43 Grand Prix - the only Pontiac in the place Darryl Waltrip's Tide Car Dale Earnhardt's #3 Wheaties car Dale Earnhardt Jr's #8 Budweiser car (DEI car) Benny Parson's old #72 Junior Johnson's #3 Chevrolet Team Hendrick Cars - Gordon, Johnson, Earnhardt Jr

Here are some Corvette race cars. Exhibit on how GM crash tests a Corvette. Concept Corvettes over the years.

Here is an interest series of shots about the now famous "sinkhole", the chronological order of events, the type of sinkhole it is, etc. Also remember that Mammoth Cave is only 25 miles north of the museum. It is the largest explored cave system in the world, with over 350 miles of explored caves, according to the National Park Service's website. So it should not come as any huge surprise that this area is full of sinkholes and caves. Here is a series of pictures of the currently closed Skydome area. The floor is repaired with pilings to bedrock and cement reinforced with rebar. They hope to re-open this area in June or July. Five of the cars that fell in to the sink hole still have not been repaired (and/or may not be repaired). In the museum store, you can buy souvenir sinkhole dirt !

Still - using a chainsaw to get these dang packages open is most gratifying....and there is still the fact that Ghost is lazy.

Spectator it is then. You gonna let notallthere demo his mad stuntman skills in your beamer?

Stratman - its an 8-9 hour one-way drive for me to Charleston WV from my house. Surely you can make it to Michigan in Black Beauty in that time !!!! You can have fun with FP north crew !!!! Seriously, put the Charleston WV Rod Run and Doo Wop car show on your calendar in late September - early October, and I will meet you there !!! You should book your hotel now though. http://charlestonwvcarshow.com/