Frosty

Thanks Ringo. I hate to point out that the photo is from a 57 or 58 Caddy. The 59-60 fins were even taller and more elegant....me thinks anyway.

1960 Rollys Royce Silver Cloud II Chevy Corvette convertible Chevy Impala convertible Cadillac Eldorado Biartz convertible w/ tri-power (biggest fins in the world and 9' quarter panels & CHROME!) Jeep Pick-up (still had the 50s era Willys/Kaiser styling) Any Buick (LeSabre, Invicta, or Electra) - grandpa had a '60 bubbletop LeSabre Ford Sunliner with the flip-top hard top

"The boss said she wants the Chevelle done and soon. She wants her hotrod and I think she is leaning on a 1978 - 80 T/A." I recommend the '78 or '79 TA. Last years for a Pontiac 400 or Olds 403 6.6L motor. After that it was Chevy 305 (CA only), Pontiac 301, or Turbo 301. No performance parts for the 301 were developed since Pontiac changed the deck height, crank, heads and intake to save weight. The aftermarket never embraced the 301 or 265 for good reasons. The block was not designed to handle too much added stress. Bandit edition SE (black/gold) or some other color? I would say that you are running out of excuses if you have the major parts that you need. Get to work!\\

That's the turbo J2000. Not a lot of them were convertibles. A buddy of mine had a black coupe back in the day. I have no idea how rare the turbo and convertible combination is, but I am sure it is pretty low.

There will be a car show in honor of famous Pontiac engine engineer, Malcom "Mac" McKellar on Saturday, July 23, 2011 at the Inn at Cass Lake - 900 N. Cass Lake Rd. Waterford, MI 48328. More information will be coming soon. Let's try to have a great Pontiac turn out in Mac's memory!

Pictures from the June 11, 2011 Michigan Widetrackers annual Spring Dust Off car show in Davisburg, MI. Famous Royal Pontiac mechanic Milt Schronmack (yellow shirt) sits with his ’70 GTO race car and a ’64 Royal Bobcat GTO that he is restoring/building for a customer. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0536.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0537.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0526.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0526.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0461.jpg A couple of rare H-bodys for you. My first car was a ’71 Chevy Vega, so this brings back some memories. First is a ’78 Sunbird with it’s numbers match even fire Buick V6, albeit supercharged. That is no V8! http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0477.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0478.jpg Next is a rare ’76 Pontiac Astre Safari Wagon. Only about 3300 Safari Wagons were built. This only has 27,000 miles on it. It is an unrestored survivor. It was purchased for a hardware store and it didn’t meet their needs, so they parked it away carefully all these years. This car won the John Sawruk Memorial Award. John would often award a trophy to someone who kept an unusual or unloved Pontiac like this. They also won their class award too. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0479.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0480.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0481.jpg Tweaked 4-gen Trans Am with some humor. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0482.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0483.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0484.jpg 2002 Collector’s Edition TA convertible & a couple of G8s showed up http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0485.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0486.jpg One lone Solstice coupe GXP http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0488.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0489.jpg Here is another rare Pontiac you don’t see anymore. A turbocharged ’84 J2000. Imagine if the tuner craze started with these cars instead of Hondas and such? http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0490.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0491.jpg Uber-rare 1 of 669 ’69 Trans Am. This is an unrestored survivor, 1 of 50 with Ram Air IV and a 4-speed. This is a six figure car as it sits. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0497.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0498.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0499.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0500.jpg A ’72 Formula 400 Firebird w/ a stick http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0504.jpg OK all you Grand Am lovers, it’s history time. Here is the first model year Grand Am. It was off the Lemans platform. It was introduced in ’73. It had a squeezable endura nose back in the day. These sadly rotted with time, this front end is a OEM replacement made from fiberglass. These cars came with 400s or 455s. This has the 7.5L 455. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0508.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0509.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0510.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0511.jpg Here is one for the Canadian Pontiac lovers. A ’60 Pontiac Parisienne convertible! It sports a Chevy 327, but notice the valve covers. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0515.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0469.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0468.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0468.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0514.jpg I am not certain if this is one of the authentic Royal Pontiac race cars from the day or an accurate recreation. Still it is a beautiful '62 Catalina, complete with a SD421. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0514.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0528.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0529.jpg I took third in my class with the convertible. The ’73 Grand Am took second, and this Lemans with the OHC Spring 6 took first. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0530.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0532.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/fr...ff/110_0533.jpg Lots of RWD Grand Prixes, Bonnevilles, Catalinas and a couple of 2+2s were there. Only a single 3rd gen Firebird showed up, a Formula. Only 1 FWD Grand Prix (a ’96), no FWD Vibes, Azteks, Grand Ams, Torrents, or G6s showed up. We had a couple of pre-war cars, a ’36 and a ’39 show. A beautiful ’52 Cheiftain convertible and a ’59 Bonneville were also there.

The important questions are: 1. Did you stop and say Hi to Chuck Hansen? 2. Did you get any more parts for your ride? Like doors and fenders? If the answer is yes to both questions, then it was a worth while show. The fact that your wife won a trophy means you should not let her in the drivers seat of the Chevelle once it's done. I suspect she will have a heavier lead foot than you.

Bring sour cream and chocolate Timbits with the coffee and creamer. Then your public flogging will be eased. I will post pictures of the show in a few days.

Depends on how you are going to do it. If you are looking for stock/OEM looking/performing brakes or modern disc brakes. As I said, there are kits out there for these cars. Granted they are not cheap either. Assuming your car is a stock 4-wheel drum / single reservior system, and you are converting to front disc brakes only, then you need (in addition to new hard lines): 1. New brake master cylinder with dual reservior 2. Brake Booster 3. Proportioning valve - since disc brakes require more hydralic pressure than drums to operate. 4. Front spindles - mounting brackets between drums and disc are different and are not interchangeable. Also means tearing your entire front end apart for this conversion. So you might take the time to re-do the entire front end if you have the cash (springs, bushings, sway bar end links, bearings, etc.). 5. Disc rooter/bearings & single/dual piston brake calipers, mounting brackets and pads 6. Flexible brakes hoses (w/ banjo fittings) - hard line to front calipers 7. New brake fluid I would get a shop manual for your car. I beleive disc brakes were an option in later years of this body style. So a '68 or '69 disc brake might retro fit your car.

Double check....while there is a ton of A-body stuff, there are a fair amount of B-body stuff too. Inline has 61-79 Grand Prix and Catalina parts. So does OPGI, Performance Years, and Ames. If memory serves, the Ventura was originally an upscale or optioned-up Catalina (like the original GTO was an upscale Tempest/Lemans). So brake parts from a Catalina should be okay. Maybe I am missing something....but I thought both the Ventura and Catalina were the same chassis/body - just different trim. I know they were both 122" wheelbase cars, until the Ventura moved the Nova X-Body platform in '71-72.

....and they can afford it too!

Yes - the stock Lemans had a deeper (in '71) or shallower (in '72) grill vs. the GTO. All GTOs had Endura front bumpers and no chrome bumpers. You can order a Lemans Sport with the Endura. However, a straight Lemans, Luxury Lemans, or wagon did not have it. Of course, back in those days, if you wanted it bad enough, a dealer would install it for you too. My Lemans has the Endura front end and the grills are more recessed than this. Personally, I would jump all over the GMC Sprint or any of the wagons. Save the whales, collect them all!

There is a photo of the engine in the car on the cover of the June 2011 edition of Smoke Signals, POCI's national magazine. If you are a POCI member, you can download the magazine. Mac was also featured on the cover of the July '68 Hot Rod with many of the experimental motors he had developed. Some of the motors were described within the article too.

There is going to be a Malcom "Mac" McKellar Memorial Car Show at the Inn at Cass Lake on July 23rd in Waterford, MI. This is the senior citizen home that Mac lived at until he died. It is an all-Pontiac show. I don't have too many more details than that. I will also post it in the car show category once I get more info. If we are lucky, his '63 Grand Prix will be there too. His car has the only 421 C.I. OHC tri-power Pontiac engine in existence. It was one of the wild experimental motors he developed in the 60s. It was given to him as a retirement gift from Pontiac in 1982.

Check out Inline Tube - wwww.inlinetube.com - for you hard lines. Original Parts Group (www.opgi.com) has a big Pontiac car line. So does Performance Years (www.performanceyears.com). Ames Performance also has a big car line (www.amesperf.com). So you should be able to get hard lines and master cylinders from these folks. If you are talking about drum to disk conversion, then Stainless Steel Brake Corp, Wildwood, Bear Brakes, all should have kits. If you have an 8-lug drums then there is a new kit out for that, I just don't remember who is marketing that one off the top of my head.

More Buicks are sold in China now than are sold in the U.S. GM is fortunate that Buick has such a huge following in China. I was in Beijing in 2000. The Buick GS (a Chineese version of the Regal) with a V6 3.0L (a detuned 3.2L) was selling like hot cakes. You saw people being chauffeured in these Buicks. It is more presitgious to own a Buick in China than owning a Mercedes, Lincoln, Cadillac, or Maybach.

I finally found the link to purchase the original GM shop manuals that are now on CD/DVD. THe link is below: http://www.gearheadcafe.com/cgi-bin/affili...lick.cgi?tcs%20 http://www.factoryautomanuals.com/

You should be able to find some of that stuff online through eBay or Craigslist. Also, several catalog companys are out there. YearOne Hawk's Third Gen Parts Classic Industries Dessert Valley Auto Parts (DVAP)

I just checked the Widetracker's website. Seems that Milt Schornack is going to be there!!!!! For those of you who have not heard of Milt. He is essentially Mr. Royal Pontiac. He worked for Royal Pontiac back in the day when Royal Pontiac was putting out their supercars, called Royal Bobcats! Milt was the mechanic at the dealership who either worked on the super cars, or oversaw the cars. Milt is the one who prepped the GTOs for the famous Road and Track testing (they were ringers). Milt oversaw the racing Royal Pontiac cars as well. Milt now markets his own "Ultimate Bobcat". He will restore and tune any Pontiac to your specifications. Milt is another living legend within the Widetrack/GTO years. I am excited! He is another Pontiac legend you need to get to know.

Perhaps it was the Chinese. It might also be terrorist organizations trying to exploit new computer weaknesses in the hoping of doing damage in respose to bin Laden's death, or part of an ongoing Jihad with the US (the Great Satan that we are known as). It's hard to imagine that I was involved in an FBI briefing to a major automotive supplier almost 20 years ago. At that time, the FBI beleived that the break-up of the former Soviet Union block countries were turning their spy networks from Cold War / government espionage to industrial espoinage for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was easier to steal corporate secrets instead of military (dah!). Second, these countries' economies were in shambles after the Soviet break up. So they wanted to copy / steal industrial secrets as a means to help jump start and leap frog their economies. The FBI had targeted 17 industries for such espionage and this supplier worked in 13 of them. It is also conceivable that organized crime might have something to do with this. I think the chances of this are much smaller. It is more conceivable that you have a set of small, gifted, independent hackers out there trying to see what they can exploit.

I couldn't agree more. While the Japaneese and other Asian manufacturers did their homework in the 80s and 90s to significantly improve quality (anyone remember Dr. Deming?), the fact that it was 'media sport' to villify the Detroit 3 on their quality issues (which did exist - no doubt about it) and blassey styling. The idea of 'Buying American' never got out of the midwest or why that is important. We have lost 2 or more generations to import manufacturers and their supposed superiority. Ask Toyota how it feels to be #1 these days. I would wager that the statistically differences in quality between the foreign and domestic automaker is or is at least approaching 'statiscally insignificant'. In other words, a couple of defects per 1000 cars (or thousandth of a percentage point) either way is not going to change dramatically effect the car's quality. Clearly domestics have had some catching up to do but I would venture to say that this gap is now statistically small and only counts for J D Power bragging rights year over year. In fact, I would say this gap has been small for years, the publilc is just now figuring it out even though the Detroit 3 having been trying to say that for years. As for the Pontiac owners that drive Acuras, I would be curious to know why they purchased one. Perceived quality again? Price? Styling? Performance? I always consider an Acura, Infiniti, or a Lexus as an excuse to buy an expensive rice rocket in luxury clothing. I am not ashamed to admit I am an 'Buy American made' RWD car bigot. I am not interested in FWD cars even though my wife drives an Aztek (its her car, she loves it, she drives what she wants - end of story). I am aging baby boomer who thinks rear wheels should power a vehicle. Ever time I see someone refer to a 'world class car' like a Bentley, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, or a Mercedes, it is always a RWD car they are talking about. I never hear Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti refered to as 'world class' in the same sentence. So going 'green' seems to be the anti-thesis of 'performance' in the press these days. Must make the tree huggers very happy. So high mileage, small, jelly bean styled cars are the wave of the future unless Americans tell the car companies (via their wallets) that they want performance and/or luxury RWD cars.

I am sure you guys will jump all over me for this, but I do understand why the UAW wants this. I will agree that unions, in some sense, are passé. They still have a value in my mind. A represented workforce (visa a via a union) is a ‘check and balance’ against management-based abuses. So by allowing the union to have a voice on the board gives parity to what our European counterparts already enjoy. Is that so wrong an idea? Plus one seat does not constitute a whole board or paradigm shift in how the company is run. It does make the company listen to a different perspective besides management's own view. Have unions shown greed and abuse over the years? Sure they have. Management has been doing it a whole lot longer still. Even so, unions helped to improve the safety and the standard of living for blue collar Americans (and Canadians) for half century or more. The unions helped build middle class Americana after WWII with better wages for its workers. So the idea of company paid health care, cost of living increases, and defined pensions all came about as a result of the UAW and other unions. In turn, white collar workers were given matching benefits and pay. So this helped everyone prosper. Was that a bad thing? It certainly improved everyone's standard of living since WWII. Now you will say that these are things that companies can't afford anymore. My answer is "can't" or "won't"? Surely health care costs are just astoundingly out of control in my mind. So I understand why so much reform is needed there. This is not the unions fault. It is our entire fault - for living longer, using or requiring more healthcare, effects of inflation and population growh, and perhaps a greedy medical community too. So perhaps this is a "can't". Still one of the reasons you work for any given company is for retirement health care and benefits too. Defined pensions (aka a guaranteed fixed amount from retirement to death) were the social promise companies made when I started working over 30 years ago. Today, if you are lucky if you have an annuity based pension. It is essentially an investment that the company contributes in your name for as long as you are working there. After you stop working for the company, the annuity only gains interest and you can not contribute to it. So it is possible to out live or out spend this form of pension. And in most cases, you have to pay at least part (if not all) of your health care premiums with your own pension money. So this is clearly a cost savings to big business. When I started working, over 90% of companies had defined pensions and full health care paid upon retirement. Today it is less than 5%. I say this is a “won’t”. Today, more and more companies are suggesting that you be solely responsible for your retirement, via a 401(k) or similar program. They will match up so much money based on your own personal contributions. So it is possible that annuity pensions could disappear altogether in the future and you are completetly on your own for your retirement. This is essentially what American’s did prior to defined pensions. So I ask you – is this really progress? It looks like a 60 year step backwards to me. Cost of living allowances are only given (that I am aware of) to represented workforces that have that in their contracts anymore. GM and other companies stopped CoLA increases to their salaried work force over 25 years ago. Pay for performance is now the mantra. So that means you pay could go up a lot if you are a top performer, or it may not increase at all if you are working at an average level. So I say this is also a “won’t”. Management has been forced by the federal government, foreign competition, and Wall Street to make paradigm shifts in it’s business to stay in business. This has not really benefited the American worker very well. Everything that I mentioned above is being done in the name of staying profitable and in business. We all understand that on the surface - unless you are the one of the ones affected by constantly changing company promises or worse termination, loss of benefits, reduction in pensions, loss of health care coverage, etc. all in the name of staying in business. So having some small measure of a union viewpoint and agenda on the board of directors is not necessarily a bad thing. It Iin theory) represents the worker’s viewpoint. A health discontent and dialogue may lead to mutual benefits. Don’t forget, one dissenting vote does not a board of directors make. OK so to you guys who say unions are dinosaurs (and they maybe) but let me ask you these thought provoking questions. In the ‘60s, unions made up about 35-40% of the US work force, it is significantly less today, probably less than 10%. 1. Unions helped improve wages and benefits for their workers with each new contract. If unions go away, is there any reason to believe that companies will feel compelled to improve the average employee’s wages and benefits over time out of the goodness of their hearts? Again – pay for performance is now the mantra. An “average” person could conceivably never get a pay raise since they aren’t “exceptional” enough. And if you don’t get any pay increases over time, then you are loosing money to inflation. 2. Unions were created for a big reason. Management was totalitarian and rather ruthless from the 1800s to the 1930s. The term “sweat shop” is one example of this. That is why so many unions were formed, particulary the UAW. Today’s existing safety, employment, and wage laws are a result of past abuses. Do you think your state or local governments are going to be as quick to respond to potential new management abuses without the voice of one or more unions behind it? Unions tend to give a certain level of credibility to the grievance. Again, it makes management and government at least listen to the complaint. Who do you think they will listen to without unions? A group of ‘disgruntled’ employees? I rather doubt it. Again, I don’t want you folks to think that the unions are the greatest thing since sliced bread. However, they do have their place in our society. If we loose them, we may not make similar improvements to society as a whole that the last 60 years has enjoyed. In fact, I might argue that our standard of living is actually deteorating as compared to our parents already. I would also argue that there are things outside of business that have equally contributed to that decline as well.

So did you get your air cleaner nut? I ended up ordering one of the small Pontiac logo'd air cleaner nuts from eBay for $15.00.

The car show is less than a month from now. I just sent in my $15 registration. It's always a good time. I was informed that the late Mac McKellar was a member of the Widetrackers, so they are having a special memorable award in his honor this year only, in addition to the the John Sawruk memorial award and Best of Show. Later this summer will be an all-Pontiac car show in Mac's honor as well. I heard it will be held at the senior citizen home he was living at when he passed away. I guess that was somewhere in Waterford. More on that soon.

You can buy reproduction shop manuals through some of the large restoration parts suppliers like YearOne, Performance Years, OPGI, etc. Also, another company has digitized them to a CD for the exact year of your goat. So you can purchase both the shop manual and body manual on one CD for about $50-60. I own two original shop manuals for the Lemans (one has the binding breaking down so some pages are falling out), a body manual for '72 and (as a back up) the CD. I also own a shop manual for the '86 Trans Am. I purchased the shop manuals at swap meets in my area for less than $40 each. These are original GM printed shop manuals too, not a Chilton's or Hayes.