Newcomer to Forever Pontiac

[Tom Kennedy]

A big "hello" to all my fellow Pontiac lovers.  I'm new to the forum, but a long time Pontiac owner & enthusiast. My own ride is a '66 Catalina drop top that has been in my family since purchased by my mother, new in June of '66. The car was driven by her for 10 years, (yes, sadly, including winter), then purchased by me in late '75. it has NOT been winter driven for the last 45 years, and my youngest son & i did a reasonably complete restoration on it during 2016 & 2017. I'll be posting some photos of the restoration project in the near future, in case anyone is interested.  The car now has 51 K miles, (and a little change) on it), and runs better than when it was new.  It is my personal opinion that; dropping the Pontiac Division was one of the biggest mistakes G.M. ever made. But toward the end, with the advent of the Aztek & G-6, the demise of the Pontiac brand was easy enough to see coming.  Well, at least it has made the ones we own & love more valuable & significant than ever, so maybe it wasn't all bad news.  Besides that; without Pontiacs becoming an "orphan" brand, we wouldn't have the membership in groups like this, or the wealth of older, well preserved Pontiacs to enjoy. Let's keep 'em rolling.

[Ringo64]

Nice Catalina you got there 👍

Look forward to seeing and hearing about the restoration. We have a progression forum where you can detail it: https://foreverpontiac.com/forum/9-pontiac-progression-place/

[tberg]

That car is just beautiful, congratulations!  My dad's first station wagon was a 1959 Catalina wagon that was just beautiful.  I wish I still had it.  Fond memories.

[Tom Kennedy]

Glad to find another Catalina lover out there. I still enjoy every minute I spend behind the wheel, especially on Dream Cruise Weekend. 

[tberg]

I think many of the '60's big Pontiacs were/are beautiful.  I'd love to someday add to my collection with a Grand Prix from that era.  My accountant has a collection of Bonnevilles and Catalinas.  I find it odd that if you look at the value of full sized convertibles like the Lincoln Continental of the 1964-67 era and see how much in demand they are  now, that an automaker wouldn't go out on a limb and design a new niche car like that or like your Catalina.  It seems there would be a market.

[Tom Kennedy]

Couldn’t agree more. I still remember the car a friend of bought that got hooked on Pontiacs. It was a ‘63 Grand Prix, burgundy metallic, with a white interior, & had a 389 tri-power with a 4 sod manual transmission. If they built one like that today, my order would be in right now!

The problem, as usual, is MONEY.  It would cost the manufacturer a bundle to set op to produce that car, & much as many of us would like to see them again, it is doubtful they’d sell enough of them to make a profit. It’s also doubtful they could even market such a car without loading them down with a ton of “emission control” equipment to make them meet current Federal requirements. It sure would be great to see some of those cars again though. I guess it just emphasizes the need for us to take special care of the ones we’ve got. 

[Frosty]

Another Dream Cruiser?????  Say it aint' so!

[Tom Kennedy]

Guilty as charged. Except for 2016 & 17, while the car was being restored, I’ve driven in it every year. 
 

it hasn’t been too scary in recent years as it was in the early days.  A lot of “burn outs” & just plain stupid driving took place when the Cruise first started. 

[SPRINT 6]

Nice! 👍

Welcome aboard.

'66 IMHO had some of the best body line across the board 😉

[Frosty]

16 hours ago, Tom Kennedy said:

Guilty as charged. Except for 2016 & 17, while the car was being restored, I’ve driven in it every year. 
 

it hasn’t been too scary in recent years as it was in the early days.  A lot of “burn outs” & just plain stupid driving took place when the Cruise first started. 

I missed the first two years, been in every one since. I have the dated sign to prove it too.

Yeah, I know what you mean. In 2010 I explained to a bunch of guys that were pouring water into the street next to our car club that what they were doing was illegal. They looked at me with deer in the headlight look. I said what you are doing is technically called introducing a foreign substance to the roadway. If God didn't put it there, it's illegal. Secondly by encouraging a burn out one of three things can happen. One - the car can go forward and perhaps hit the car in front of him. Second - the car can go to the right and hit the car to his right. Third - the car can go to the left and hit you, me, and our friends and  our cars and perhaps get someone killed. All these are undesirable results. So I'd advise you to stop doing it.

I got the "oh I didn't think about that!" response. Clearly....but they stopped which is what I wanted.

[JUSTA6]

18 hours ago, Tom Kennedy said:

Guilty as charged. Except for 2016 & 17, while the car was being restored, I’ve driven in it every year. 
 

it hasn’t been too scary in recent years as it was in the early days.  A lot of “burn outs” & just plain stupid driving took place when the Cruise first started. 

We will have to meet up this year for the DC.  We have the kickoff event with the All Pontiac, Widetracker spring Dustoff in June.  LOL  Must be Royal OAK instead of Royal ISK in your profile info.  Watch for the flier for the Dustoff, will be posted here.