stratman

Thanks for not ratting me out Frosty, but it is hard to ignore so I needed to confess, lol! I keep the registration sticker from Charleston because it reminds me of the great time I had that weekend. Hard to predict the future, but I definitely want to go again next year.

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.

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!

That's because of their tendency to blow up.

Yep.

Great pics as always, SPRINT 6!

She's a beauty for sure!

Ok, good. How are those cars getting votes when they are not there?

I’m not seeing the entries in #3 Which Pontiac. Did I miss something?

What a beautiful Firebird you have! What color is it? In the pictures it looks black, dark blue, and the last picture it appears to be verdoro green.

I would really like that. Hopefully the stars will align and I can come out there for the dream cruise next year.

I have been here on Forever Pontiac for eight years, I have made many friends here, but have never met any in person. That finally changed this past weekend when I met Frosty. He is a wonderful guy and made sure I picked the right hotel and arraigned for a reserved parking spot on the show line. It was a fabulous weekend, I want to do it again next year. I tried to get a picture to show how big this show is, but you would need a drone or a helicopter to do that. This picture is the best I could do, but it shows just a portion of the show. Here is my Trans Am, Raven, surrounded by Camaros, parked on the show line. Croftgate USA, one of the vendors, they make detailing products, picked Raven for a free detail! They sold a lot of product while they were detailing Raven (should have gotten a commission or at least free product, lol). She never looked better, but alas, it only lasted one day as it rained the whole way home Sunday (five and a half hours). Oh well... Here is a slide show of the pictures I took. They are in no particular order except I put the Pontiac pictures first. I find it best to pause the slideshow and click through the pictures manually using the right arrow on the right hand side of the screen. If you use the automatic slide show mode, it tends to skip pictures no matter what speed you choose. http://s931.photobucket.com/user/us_strat/slideshow/2019 Charleston

So glad to finally meet you Frosty! I had been threatening to go to this show for many years now and I am so glad I went. If at all possible I WILL be back next year. I am still working on my pictures and will post them when I am done. Hell of a show, so much fun!

Polo Green Metallic

1981 Trans Am

I detailed my T/A this past weekend and I got new plates.

So glad you are keeping the Quad 4 HO torch burning! Such a great engine, I loved my '93 Grand Am GT with that motor. I'm sure finding parts is a PITA, but God bless you, I don't think there are many folks out there restoring these wonderful cars. By all means, keep us up to date.

I wish they would have made the corvette a two car line-up by continuing to build the C7 along with the new C8. I admit that I don't know anything abput manufacturing costs, but GM already had the tooling for the C7 and wouldn't think any of it would able to be used on the C8, so they would have to have created all new tooling. I would assume you would have to open a whole new production line, however... they couldn't both be built on the same line. I'm going to wait till I see a C8 in the flesh before I decide on the styling. Right now I'm leaning to the "slightly disappointed" side. I do believe GM will keep the base price within a couple of grand of the current C7 base. They know this is a big deal and would not want all the negative press that would come their way with a base price a lot higher than a C7.

Great pictures and video Frosty!...and a lot of really nice Pontiacs! Got no ideas about your overheating, but I thank God you didn't get burned buddy!

Thanks for the encouragement Indian! The gold SE stripes are definitely in the future for sure.

Dang! I will be at Topsail Beach NC next weekend! Maybe I can make it to your event in Charleston this year.

No name yet... the working name is "Junior" as in "Black Betty Jr", lol! I'll need another week or so to discover her name. The engine compartment, even with that dang Chevy 305, REALLY sold me on this baby. It is super clean and tidy, and yes, there is a LOT of bling there. I don't know what upgrades may be going on internally, but externally it has an Edelbrock manifold and carb, headers, dual (guessing here haven't measured) 2.5" exhaust with "H" pipe, aftermarket alt and distributor. It has four wheel disc brakes that about put me through the windshield the first few times I used them, lol! It has flowmaster or Magnaflow mufflers and it sounds fantastic! Everything is tight... not loosey goosey like the Vette. The Vette was quicker, but Junior is no slouch and is most definitely putting out more than the paltry 150hp stock 1981 305. Money, or lack thereof, was the reason the Vette had to go. I was not looking for a car, but I saw Junior in a classic car dealer lot last Sunday and that was it. I looked her over real good and could find only a few tiny very minor things. It was a fair price and I knew it would not be there long with all the interest in "Bandit" Trans Ams these days, Monday I went to the bank, Tuesday it was mine! I haggled with the dealer for a good half hour to 45 minutes, I think he knew I wasn't going to leave without Junior. He really low balled me on the Vette right out of the box, but eventually I got more out of him, not as much as I would have liked, and he came down on the price of Junior. In the end, I was ok with the deal, the difference was about $2K more than I had guessed I was going to spend. I can't tell you how super happy I am! So glad to have a classic Pontiac again. I have not truly fully recovered from my wife's passing three years ago, but this is the best I have felt in a REALLY long time.

Traded in my Vette today for this 1981 Trans Am! The good news is it is a four speed!...The bad news is that in 1981, if you wanted a four speed, the ONLY engine available was the 305 Chevy. The engine puts out more hp than stock, it has been dressed up nicely, and it is numbers matching to the car. The car needs nothing, but I may add the gold special edition (Bandit) stripes in the future. Missed you guys...

Red Rocket lookin' real good there, Rick! Looks like it was a great show with a lot of nice Pontiacs.