Everything posted by balthazar
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Gutted and Field-dressed
Cutesy lil homemade-looking frame there... pretty narrow. Must flex most entertainingly.... tho I suppose there's not much relative weight involved to push it.
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A Rare Pontiac Indeed
To clarify~ 1969 :: Tempest, series 233 Tempest Custom S, series 235 Tempest LeMans, series 237 GTO, series 242 1970 :: Tempest, series 233 LeMans, series 235 LeMans Sport, series 237 GTO, series 242 Midyear '70, Pontiac added the Tempest T-37 and GT-37, a sub-set of the series 233 Tempest. There is no coding difference (Tempest 2-dr hdtp: 23337, Tempest T-37 2-dr hdtp: 23337) T-37 was a cut-price version of the Tempest ($2683 vs. $2750). Curiously (according to my source at least) the T-37 was only available as a 2-dr hardtop, while the GT-37 was available as both a 2-dr hdtp & a 2-dr sedan. I believe just about all engine options were available thruout the Tempest lines, the exception being the GTO of course (no 6-bangers there). 1971 :: T-37, series 233 LeMans, series 235 LeMans Sport, series 237 GTO, series 242 In '71, the GT-37 was advertised as 'The GTO for Kids Under 30", had stripes, trim ring-less Rallye IIs, HD 3-spd floor shift manual & duals. Production for 70.5 and 71 GT-37s combined was 5,802. GT-37 was an option package.
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A Rare Pontiac Indeed
>>"Sarcasm: learn the definition."<< Doofus: be the definition.
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Fish Tanks
They piss me off with their aloof attitudes. Not to mention, their fins remind me of my unfinished '59...
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Fish Tanks
Have a 5-gal tank in my house; 2 damned goldfish that don't know / refuse to admit they were never intended to live 5 years (coming from a plastic bag) and counting. Everytime the water starts to cloud, I am tempted to slip a Ethel-Glycol cocktail in there and just be done with it...
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So what did you learn today?
Business record keeping sucks, and I've a penchant for it. 10 hours today sorting thru 2008, got another few hours to go. I need a sexretary...
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Whole movie is already on youtube. Watched most of it: meh- it never reached that level of... authenticity for me.
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A Rare Pontiac Indeed
389 / 421 was a damned strong engine. PMD knew how to build 'em, no doubt.
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OK Pontiac Aficionados, what is it?
I wish I had more contact with those in the industry. I was in Detroit in the '80s for a year, if I had been as into history then as I am now, I certainly would've looked up some of the addresses of the birthplaces of auto history. Who here in Detroit can tell me what's at the corner of 1343 Cass Avenue today ? FOG- take a pic. Sh!t- that was only a short walk from where I was... I used to haunt the automotive library of the Detroit Public Library- pulling random auto folders from the archives via the reference desk and paging thru them. As I sat every few evenings or so, I tended to share the table with an elderly guy who was always reading huge bound copies of turn-of the century publications. Somehow, after warily eyeballing each other from opposite ends of our respective timelines, we began to converse. I think he was suitably shocked to learn we could have a historical automotive conversation. We became pretty good friends for that brief year- I was an automotive design student, and he was an automotive historian & author, and ex-ChryCo stylist. I took his thru the studios of the school to view student's work, that & our conversations actually sparked him to take up the pencil and draw a few more. He ended up giving me signed copies of his books, which sit, honored, in my library, along with those drawings. I knew he was only a tip of a history iceberg there in Detroit- but I had little time or mobility. I wish it had been otherwise...
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OK Pontiac Aficionados, what is it?
To tell the truth, nothing about it other than the 8-lugs & powertrain (plus the steering wheel) say 'GM" to my eye... and those components alone only point to an individual's parts scrounging. Like I said- it's FAR too crude to be a Corp piece. It IS, however, rather ambitious bodywise, for a homebuilt... but like you said- this skill used to be far more available than now.
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A Rare Pontiac Indeed
>>"Even the SR71 engines had blowers to spool them up to ignite them run by 454 Chevys."<< And earlier, in the '60s, the SR-71 'start carts' were powered by twin Buick 401s, then Buicks 425s.
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The Electric Pacer
You'd think on a showcased car, even from AMC, they'd bother to put some sort of showy wheels or at least full wheelcovers on it.
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A Rare Pontiac Indeed
This is not a "rare Pontiac", it's a regular production Pontiac that's been modified- one of thousands & thousands & thousands in that category. BTW- there was at least 1 other aircraft-assist modified Pontiac; I have a clipping of a '69 Catalina 4-dr hardtop with a rack on the roof so a Piper J-3 can land on it. GM has a huge, uncollected assocation with aircraft...
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De Lorenzo drops the gloves
At some point even the free-marketers will HAVE to admit that the THEORY of open markets is getting trampled by the ACTUALITY of open markets.... won't they ????? When does national self-preservation rank over economic theory for them...or is it never so ???
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OK Pontiac Aficionados, what is it?
Hello all. I should miss an evening on C&G more often... if stuff like this will show up in my absence. Interesting. I was initially thinking of the '61 Scorpian, XP-758, but that was a 'torpedo'-back job without fins, and this is NOT a modifed version of that- that car was fiberglas. Tho there were 6 cars built under the XP-833 Banshee programs (all the online pics of the 2 existing cars are of #5 and #6)... none of the specs of the 1st 4 cars match this one (tube frame & V-8 ). It's also far too cobbled together to be a PMD job. No other period PMD concepts/projects come to mind. At this point I tend to agree with the article- it's a home-built job. Nice bodywork tho!
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HARDTOPS you might not remember
There's a reason every one of those hardtops pictures are forgotten, and it's YOU-GEE-EL-EYE-ness. Don't forget, it's theoretically possible to build a hardtop garbage truck- but it's still a garbage truck first.
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who hear works out and how much
No working out here, just working. No doubt I could be better from a cardiovascular standpoint, but 8 years of excavation/construction have certainly kept me mobile & strong. Today: slung a bunch of lumber around (2x4s & 4x4s), sanded spackle, hammer-drilled into concrete block, cut/chiseled concrete, loaded up a truckload of tools for a new job Monday. Having eaten and wasted a half hour here, I now need to go make room in the garage and unload the truck.
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De Lorenzo drops the gloves
>>"If this task force comes to realize what Japan Inc has known for decades (that is, incentives and monies for large companies that create jobs here), maybe some of this green shift tax dollars can be poured into Detroit, just like Toyota got for its Synergy Drive."<< Needless to say: fat chance of this. Japan's government values it's industries and acts accordingly. When toyota makes $7B in one quarter, the japanese Gov funds 100% of it's hybrid's R&D. When Exxon makes $11B in one quarter, the media (and those whose thoughts are molded by it) condemn the Co, and the U.S. Gov talks seriously about 'windfall profit taxation'. Far too many Americans hate ourselves, AND success... or at least thats what we're often told to do.... yet AT THE SAME TIME, we are somehow able to lament the 'pitiful' global performance of GM, esp compared to toyota. It's hypocritical nonsense.
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GM brands you haven't owned
>>"16 cylinder, Cadillac powered WWII tank"<< Of course you know, they were twin V-8-powered... tho yes; that does total 16 cylinders.
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Breakthrough!
Cadillac did the engineering & R&D, starting in '32. Handed it off to Olds for in-car testing circa '37. Corporate called for Olds to debut it in order to take any reliability hits in Year 1 vs. Cadillac. Cadillac did the bulk of GM's engineering for the first 35 years or so.
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Cyclone, Breeze, Scirocco?
Words fail....
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GM brands you haven't owned
Well, you asked for it... what with posting 'Oakland & LaSalle'. :wink:
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Breakthrough!
Interchangable parts Precision manufacturing Closed body Electric start Safety glass V-8 SLA suspension V-16 Development of the automatic trans Tailfins OHV high CR V-8 onboard computer interface
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Something Special
GMC is older than Chevy trucks, introduced 4WD first, and the V-6. I would believe diesel, too. Oh, and the V-12.
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For those that aren't REALLY into Buicks...
I do NOT consider myself "that" into Buicks. I greatly admire many of them, but there is usually some aspect that stops me from pursuing one to own. The only one I AM "that" into in truth is my '59, but there it's mad infatuation.