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Pontiac of the Month

FBIRD69's 1969 Firebird

2024 March
of the Month

Last Indian

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Everything posted by Last Indian

  1. I couldn’t agree with him more! In 1970 I was to be drafted. The TET offense was in full swing & my draft number was low. I can’t say that there wasn’t any trepidation, but I was ready & willing to serve. I know that sounds easy to say when I never did, but it is true. When I went for my physical they took one look at my knee & said no! Put him on 4H status. I think I had said this before, but if not then here it is. I started as a freshman as a first string varsity halfback. Long story short the third game of my sophomore year ended that very abruptly. The damage to my knee was extensive. In time it took three surgeries to make it right. The draft physical was after the first two & the knee was still doubtful for ever being normal again. Since that time I have always felt that somehow I owed all those men who did go the utmost in gratitude, for doing what, at that time I could not! To me those that turned & ran to Canada were every bit the coward as the one who deserts in the heat of battle!
  2. Frosty, first to be clear, my statement of “I would expect nothing less” was a compliment! I hope you knew that. I know you are well read & I meant it in that way. Yes Owen had many beneficial ideologies. Yes Midway was a definite turning point in the Pacific theater! And we could discuss both in great detail I have no doubt. Still & more so to the original point is that we all have our ideals, beliefs & concepts of what we desire things to be! And we are entitled to that by the constitution & the very essence of what America is, as by Gods law. So every single veteran whoever fought on an American citizen behave, did so without question for that right, irrespective of that citizen viewpoint! That goes for even the Civil War veterans of the south! They fought for American citizens too! You could disagree with their leadership at the time, but not the sacrifice made! We needn’t look any further for proof of that fact then Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. I know you agree, I’m just saying it so it’s out there.
  3. I would expect nothing less from you Frosty! Yes they did just that! One party tried even then to end slavery the other side used even tool they could to keep it. The first slave owner in this country was a black man! Fact! His name was Anthony Johnson. He came to the US in 1621 as an indentured servant. Paid off his debt, became a free man, was given 200 acres in Virginia by the government for paying off his debt. Bought 5 indentured servants, 4 black 1 white. Make a long story short he sued in court to retain one of the black servants as a permanent slave! He won the case in court & became the first slave owner in US history & the court ruled no whites could own slaves of any color. That ruling lasted for about 20 years. By far yes Antietam. Yes the carriers, but there are vast amounts of proof that the White House knew of the attack weeks before, that’s why the carriers were moved. We became a country Sept.3 1783 when the peace treaty between the US & Britain was signed in Paris. I would encourage you to look up Robert Owen, a Welsh textile magnet! He is actually the impetus that was responsible for the Democratic Party through Andrew Jackson. There are actual documents that show these two met more than once not long before Jackson change the Jacksonian party into the Democratic Party. FYI, Owen was a socialist & even Karl Marx based his Marxism on Owens principles!
  4. Drive it! 🥸 JustA tell them your Justin! And you are going to see Joe!
  5. Most poignant my friend! Especially now in this time! I personally can’t help but think, that if those that don’t know the answers to those questions did know them; that they would approach life from a different direction! But that’s just me.
  6. I remember Veterans Day, Memorial Day, the forth of July & December 7th with great respect & fondness! I still do! So when our friend JustA6 posted a tribute to Veterans Day it made me happy & smile, but only for a moment! Why? Because this isn’t my America any more! All I here about is indoctrination, hatred & denial of proven facts! It’s is happening all over the US! In schools, work places, the news media, both in print as well as TV. But we the people are allowing this! If we falter to teach our offspring as well as others what we know the real factual provable truth is, then we bare some, if not the majority of the blame. I will point too what I believe one of the big reasons this is. Most people just don’t know history! Case in point! When do you believe the United States outlawed the importing of slaves into the country? Do you know what the Missouri Compromise was? Do you know what the Kansas Nebraska act was? Best of all do you know what side did what? Do you know who was the first slave owner in this country? What was the bloodiest battle in American history? What was the deadliest war in American history? Do you know what was in Pearl Harbor 1 days before the attack, & who knew to make sure it was gone before the attack? Do you know who Robert Owen was & what he was responsible for? Do you know what year the United States became a county? Nothing is so sad as to watch the greatest prophesied nation in all of history, yes the United States was prophesied, self destruct by the hand of its own citizens! Knowing those citizens only had to give no more than a small measure of effort compared to what those men & women gave in all the wars conflicts & police actions through out history! We all cling to our beloved Pontiac’s while the nation falls down around us! But as this continues, you may soon not be able to do anything with them except stare at it! I apologize to every veteran living & deceased for a sacrifice so great & for an effort from those citizens so unappreciated it’s disgraceful!
  7. Step by step! If I could only carve out some time to work on the Indian as easily as aluminum carves! Anyway made a little progress.
  8. This is the greatest human gift any human can give a fellow citizen! God Bless Them!! The disgrace of those traitors who tore down statues, burned flags, defaced things that related to every war, conflict or action this country has gone through, to protect, defend & preserve our way of life & the Constitution! These are the worst of all humanity & respect no one, respect no structure or any law, let alone authority! I’m done as Levin says!
  9. Especially while evidently drink a beer in front of the fridge & watching tv!😳
  10. Two things come to mind. First, these cars like the “97”-“03” Grand Prix run a 12 volt multi wire ignition switch. This means they have several 12 volt supply wires that feed different components. The ignition switch internally has multiple finger & tabs that make contact to transfer power to these wires. This situation causes the fingers to burn/corrode when you leave components on & turn the car off, then return to restart the car, similar to the way points in a distributor do. During that start cycle it causes the finger to arc across to the tab that has been left on. When this burning gets bad enough they no longer transfer 12 volts. So the voltage can fluctuate & cause your problem. In many cases it will reduce the voltage output to millivolts. To check for this condition you need a volt meter. Go down the steering column to where the ignition wire harness connects to the distribution harness. With the key on, start checking at the back side of the plastic connector the wire clip you will be able to see through each wire slot. The other possibility, though I doubt it is the body module.
  11. I’m thinking the Catalina caught your eye too! It’s not a Bonneville, but hey! 😉
  12. I’ll take that as a compliment ! Absolutely I forgot about the neoprene! I have this 1/16 thick neoprene sheet that I use for lots of part separation barrier on my cars! Especially like the old cars like my Camaros or your “64”. Anywhere body panels bolted together like lower quarter fender between the front fenders & the lower front valence panel or the upper header panel, etc… These panels usually start to rust or spew debris as time goes on because they actually start to rub back and forth because of body flex. This very thin neoprene I cut into a gasket to go in between stops that! And because it’s so thin you can’t see it. But you are right! It doesn’t stick & if you cut an accurate gasket it fits like a glove & seal out any water.
  13. I would say this! You do need something that seals very well! I have installed a lot of spoilers over the years, both Camaros more than once, the Grand Prixs & the Lacrosses just to name a few. On the Camaros I used butyl rubber on top at the bolt hole & bolt, plus underneath at the bolt hole & around the nut. The Grand Prixs use a 3m double sided butyl sheet the shape of the pedestals & JustA is right! This stuff is a real headache to remove, but it’s really really almost impossible to get the damn spoiler off! I had to very carefully cut in between the spoiler & the deck lid to get it lose! All without harming the surface of either the spoiler or deck lid! But it really seals out the water, once the spoiler was of & everything was cleaned up it looked just like the day it was built! No rust, no dirt no nothing! Top or bottom! Silicone I never used so I can’t say. My two cents!
  14. Congratulations Tim! Beautiful car! Love it!
  15. Chris, if you haven’t pulled the IAC solenoid, that may be the issue. Under certain conditions this component can render a car inoperable. This solenoid gets carbon buildup & then it doesn’t seal in its port. Pull the solenoid out. Take some lacquer thinner in a small container. Using a small, 1/2” wide or an acid brush & placing the end of the solenoid in the thinner brush it clean. Wipe it off. Then take a rag, stick your pinky in the rag with some lacquer thinner on it. Stick this in the hole where the IAC goes & clean the port out. Repeat this till it comes out clean. See if this helps or makes a change & get back to us if it doesn’t.
  16. Here you can see the major difference in the hoods that I spoke of.
  17. Thanks Steve! The hoods are close, but the one on mine is bolder from the perspective that it has more of a rise up as it transitions to the back of the hood. Kind of like the cowl induction hood of the Camaro & Chevelle. I also like the original fogg lights of the “97”-“03” Grand Prix. The ones that the G8 Garnd Prix concept car uses are from the 8th gen Grand Prix “04”-“08”. The one thing I wish I did have is the wider fender flairs that they used on both the 300 GPX & the G8 concept.
  18. Think you might need some of those tac glasses!
  19. Because of my involvement with GM during the development of the 300 GPX I knew about its existence & it’s one of the things that encourage me to buy my 2000 when I needed to replace my daily driver. Then when I sold the “69” & time moved on I knew the benchmark I had to work towards. Then the more I delved into this platform the more I could see how much I could improve upon even what Pontiac had done in the original 300 GPX concept car, but time was on my side, as it never is in development projects & all the up front work those original designers did was a big head start for me. Also there were some intriguing developments! In 2000, before I had even started building the Indian, Pontiac released a new prototype concept car at the auto show & it made me realize there was even more I could do than I had previously thought! That came from the first initial prototype G8! Which was sitting on the MS2000 platform in the sixth generation Grand Prix dress! This prototype was a V8 all wheel drive with 350hp. Yet it was all stuffed in & under an MS2000 platform & for all intent & purpose it looked just like a Grand Prix! So if you look at the specs of this car or the 300 GPX & you look at the Indian you will see that there is very little difference between either of those two cars & the Indian. Except that the Indian has a better CG, a better RC. A better weight distribution than the 300 GPX & I can’t say for the G8 prototype as I could never find it. Even the rear spoiler on the Indian is similar to that of the G8, but I like the Indian one better as the outer tips of the spoiler don’t turn down like the G8s do. Hood a little like mine tranny cooler, similar to mine. spoiler similar to mine looks like a GP interior to me.
  20. Good to hear from you Fitzy. So the Hub gave you fits, so you made a tool! So maybe you should think about the name, NOmofitzhubbababba! Or not! Again my apologies!
  21. I, pretty much like anybody raised in the “50” & “60”, was born & bred on rear wheel drive & big horsepower! So as I’ve stated before, when I sold my “69” Z/28 I thought I was done! 35 years was a long time, I wasn’t getting any younger, my work was now consuming most nearly all of my time. It takes a lot of effort to get multiple multi million dollar projects off the ground, so the effort to go find something else that would suffice for what I wanted in place of the Z would take more effort than I felt I had. Not to mention the effort to rebuild it, MY WAY! Which is usually a pretty anal exercise. Thus the evolution of the Last Indian! Now most hard core muscle car guys are going to be hard to reach & I’m not trying to change anyones mind! I too love rear wheel drive & big power, but this post is about the MS2000 platform & is worth noting even for those individuals! Yet I know there are some folks on here who own this platform as well. So I repeat, this is not the GM10 platform or even an upgrade of the GM10. It is a completely new & different design. Now that this platform has past the 25 year mark there is a lot of data as to how it has performed & there seems to also be a renewed interest in the fact that it was a great design on creation & still has great potential. Much of this is based on the original 300 GPX concept car! Yet what is amazing to me & nobody, I mean nobody seems to recognizes, is the G8 concept was originally based on this same platform! Now in finality for production it wasn’t because it move to the Holden Zeta platform & the entire concept, especially in physical appearance changed, but the original concept was designed around the MS2000 platform & the Seventh generation (“97”-“03”) Grand Prix! What’s even more amazing is for all of the emphasis on Pontiac’s wide track design in the day the Grand Prix actually had the narrowest track of all the MS2000 (Wii-body) cars. Still it had the lowest CG & RC! And the potential, through modifications to have the widest& thus lowering the CG & RC even further! While still keeping the tires tucked inside the fenders! Notice that the 300 GPX is in concept a sedan, while the G8 is a coup n concept. This was the 300 GPX concept on the MS2000 platform. This was the G8 concept car on the MS2000 Platform in Grand Prix dress.
  22. Been there done that! With the “69”! That what we refer to as a ahh Sh- -t moment!
  23. Funny you say that JustA, I once tossed around the idea of doing ghost flame on the Indian.
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