SAmadei

After seeing them over the years in regular cars, it looks less funky.

Its interesting how the '68/'69 Rivieras are so similar to these in the front, yet have a totally different method of hiding the headlights. The Buick has the grill deeper and the lights swivel down from hiding behind the top of the bumper.

Sorry...forgot to mention it. I loved the Biturbo and, espeically, the later 430. How about the related Ghibli and Shamal? By the way, Oldsmoboi, that generation Quattroporte was introduced the year BEFORE the Eagle. Yeah, but the doorhandles on the Eagle are a hold-over from the 1970 Hornet and Gremlin. Javelin had those,as well, back to 1968. I'm not sure if that is the first use, though. I'm also not sure if they are all are the same castings or interchange, either. But by 1980, it was a old part that was featured on a lot of cars not desirable to a large chunk of the general public.

I thought Cali was super anti-tinted windows.

Looks like I'm off on the 20 years... its been only 10 years. Nonetheless, I'm surprised Phila still has the little "old exit" signs. But then again, NYC puts little signs up signifying that new traffic signs are New. But in 6 years of watching the NYCDOT in action, it seems these little 'New' signs never come down. I'm still waiting to see the NJ Turnpike renumber its exits.

IIUC, all the 3-wheeled "cars" here would be "bikes", actually motorcycles, in NJ registration-speak... and hence, cheaper to insure, register, less safety/emissions BS. Speaking of the Saabs, the Sonett V4 was cool, too. Unfortunately, it is so small I could not sit in one, let alone drive it.

1. Refrigerator. 2. Frigidaire.

Its been something like 20 years since Phila renumbered the exits on the Schuylkill... and I'm still not used to it. I know exactly where that photo was taken, but "Exit 343" gave me a WTF moment.

Compared, not cross-shopped. Of course the G-bodies and F-bodies were pretty popular... there are still people who will always equate new with better. Just because you bought a 307 powered 442, you still had the constant reminder of 442s of the past when a rusted out $200 '69 442 blew your doors off. The young folks here might find it hard to believe, but once upon a time, rust holes were not such a red letter of shame... as some 2-3 year old cars had rust blossoming in massive collections. To have rust holes aft of the wheel wells was normal. And quite frankly, I'd argue that a rusted out '67 GTO looks better than anything built since 2002 in perfect, shiny shape. We'll have to agree to disagree. However, I think you are selling some of these phantoms short. Another grill and taillight swap. Only impressive if they swapped the dashboard and Olds-specific electronics. I've seen Cadillac Escalade pickups, too. Not all phantoms are that impressive. That logic only makes sense if the '73 GTO was forced onto the X-body. The '73 GTO was an immediate failure... what, 4800 sold? The '74 reversed the trend, by selling 7000 units... the public, at the time, accepted the X-body GTO over the colonade by 68%. Totally different. Oldsmobile thought it had something hot in the Quad4... 4 cyl, 4 valves per cylinder, 2 cams. That does not jive with Gas, Tires and Oil. Prove what? The '83-'88 MC sales paled compared to other years... like 73/74... where 300K a year were built. Even paled compared to '79's 300K. They are only cheap as dirt for junk ones. For decent ones, you will pay. The G-bodies had notorious rust problems... I've seen colonades go cheaper than similar condition '80s Gs.

You win four times over. LOL.

I used to have a spare, modified valve cover that I used to adjust the valves while running, which usually kept the mess down considerably.

And some suffer due to it. The better El Camino phamtons usually required some rear quarter work to match the front end's wheel flairs and/or belt lines. There was nothing wrong with the '74. It was closer to the '64 spec-wise, as the A-body had gotten too fat. Could they had done some more to differentiate it from the Ventura? Maybe... but remember, the muscle era was severely on the decline by '74, and there wasn't the money to do it. I would buy a '74 GTO in a heartbeat. The N-body GTO was never going to see the light of day. You're looking back with rose colored glasses. In the '80s, only the GNX got respect... the SS, 442 and 2+2 were all considered lame, as they were compared to cheap used '70s musclecars. The cars looked and drove nice, but the people with the hot G-bodies had engine swaps. I know firsthand... we had a 403 powered Cutlass Supreme and it embarrassed all the SSes' and 442s my friends had. Today we pine for the G-bodies, as they were the last of the last of the last. Uh.. Lauren Engineering sells them... assuming this isn't a zombie website. They ain't cheap, though. http://www.laureneng.com/1817117.html

Nice to see a six restored.

I don't think anyone here is describing this as "bad" technology... but this is real problem with these battery packs and the car makers have obviously not informed enough people to the dangers of Lithium Ion batteries... otherwise, the NHTSA would have taken the appropriate action to protect the wreck. What is the appropriate action? Honestly, I don't see anyone suggesting a course of action. Removal of the battery pack immediately in _any_ accident for inspection? What if its damaged internally? Immediate recycling of the battery pack? Who even takes these yet? In any case, in order to reduce the damage of possible fire, the battery pack is required to be quarantined. That's space that costs money, if its a parking spot, a warehouse or a container being shipped overseas full of battery packs to be recycled. Obviously, this is a problem for the Volt first because it has the biggest battery pack... and therefore is most likely to be damaged. GM needs to ensure EVERYONE including owners, tow truck drivers, body shops, recyclers and used car lots to know the risk. Quite frankly, GM, all along has towed the party line of "electric cars are safe, safe, safe"... and that is somewhat misleading. Are other Li Ion battery devices being irresponsible? Sure... look at the exploding Dells a couple years ago... and Dell still does not really tell people about the dangers of damaging a battery pack, aside from a couple questionably understandable gyphs on the pack itself. Luckily, nobody has taken a shank to the laptop recently.

Honestly, I don't see this as a bad thing. While the metallic blacks are neat close up, I think the plain black cars are more striking from 10 feet away or more. The metallic black cars look like charcoal or faded black. I want to know where the good paint colors are hiding. Looking at the colors available for the Challenger, I was really let down. Only colors I like on the Camaro are the Yellow, Green and Dark Blue... and Yellow and Green are too noticeable to LE.

Its a monstrosity, but Nissan has enough sense to know that if you go through the effort to bring a vehicle to this country, you sell it to all comers, not just to the NYC TLC. Unlike GM and their stupidity concerning the Caprice PPC.

Ricey? I disagree. I'm not meaning ricey, like ricey... I'm simply comparing it to Civic guys that put a fart pipe on and Type-R stickers and consider that an upgrade. Or the people who convert their '94-'06 GTOs back into Holden Monaros. I think a Phantom project needs a bit more effort. Well, a LeMans is a LeMans... and not a Grand Prix. Granted, the W-body Grand Prix did eventually replace the LeMans indirectly, through the 6000. Anyway, that's a big part of why the GTO did not come back until 2004... Pontiac did not deem any platform to be GTO quality. This is a lot different than the other brands that whored the 442, SS or GS badges onto anything that fell off the assembly line. Anyway, my gripe with the use of the GP is all in the formal roofline, which is totally out of character with the GTO. In fact, I would suggest that one could make a phantom GTO out of a '97-'03 GP, by converting it to RWD... adding a '69 style spoiler, and a Ram Air hood. That roofline works with the GTO DNA a bit better. If GM was going to offer a '80s GTO, I think they would have resurrected/modified the '78-'81 LeMans coupe body, especially since it was still being used by Chevy until '83 and Olds/Buick/Pontiac, in sedan form, until '86.

Funny guy, you are... OK folks, need some help here. Can anyone think of a cause for a weak spark other than the coil? The weak spark is the only thing I have found that doesn't seem right. I'm currently stumped. Problem I was having with my '76 Blazer was the spark indexing in the distributor... which was causing the cap and rotors to burn out too quickly and gave me a habitually weak spark. I bought a new (cheap) distributor for it, but have had issues getting it installed... I think the replacement unit has a bad coil in it. This is the only thing I can think of, except bad wires, bad coil or the presence of a resistance wire (not a problem here) that would affect the spark quality.

Kinda pricey. I think Sears' high lift jack is only $39.99... or was when I bought it. Then you have a spare jack. In any case, I'd use the 4x4 block... cheaper. If you do by the extender, double check your jack "hole" diameter. It seems like all my jacks are unstandard, but one... which speaks poorly for standardization...

Take it from a Pontiac guy, the 400 is enough of a upgrade over the 350 that you need to get it. The 400 was generally more common and either would cost nearly the same today at the junkyard. Save a buck initially, cost a fortune in the end. The 3 speeds in some of my parked cars are whats keeping me from driving them... I realize this is a budget project you are tossing about, but a 2+2 nose on a GP with a little spoiler would still look like a GP, not a GTO. We have to keep your GTO phantom project from turning into a typical ricer "Type-R" "upgrade". ;-)

I have a copy of that, as well. Maybe you guys should read it. It tells you about what cables to cut, where the Manual Service Disconnect is, etc... but NOWHERE does it mention that a pierced battery pack may cause a fire... either immediately, or in three weeks time. Time for greenie to rate me down for speaking the truth.

There is no such thing as a SBP. There are low deck Pontiacs... the 301 and 265... but those are, for all purposes, garbage. There are also small journal (326, 350, 389, 400, etc.) and large journal Pontiacs (421, 428, 455)... but for the most part, all Pontiac engines are the same size externally... so there is no SBP. There is controversy over the oiling on the large journal engines, so in many cases, the best combo for someone looking for a non-concours, modern setup is a 400 block with a cut down forged 455 crank... giving you 455 inches without the alleged oiling problems of the 455. For your project, I would also suggest some minor modification of the rear window area to give more of a flying buttress look... like the '67 GTO. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure that the 2+2 front end on a Grand Prix makes for a GTO. The notchback look that made the '80s muscle look work is fine for the Regal, Monte, Grand Prix and Cutlass, as the latter three of these that existed in the '60s all had more formal, notchback rear window treatments compared to the contemporary A-body... the GTO didn't. The GTO started off kinda notchback, but was never as upright as the '80s cars... for the bulk of the GTO's life, it was a more curvaceous setup. For this reason, I would make an '80s GTO out of a Lemans coupe... with a modified 2+2 clip and a '69 GTO rear spoiler. Because the CanAm was nearly a '76/'77 GTO, I get the feeling that GM would have put rear window louvers on a '80s GTO somehow. Just my 2 cents. Nah. you want a Art Carr (or other notable 200-4r rebuilder) prepped 200-4r... the 200-4r has a undeserved bad rap... but it works well in Pontiac retrofits... and remember... the 200-4r is the tranny the Buick GNX used.

I was thinking Dodge Neon on bling. In any case, so far not very prestigious.

I don't know why this got voted down... its totally true. There were several stories on the news today, and the reporters explained that this impacts the collision industry and salvage industry more than the end user. I think its a valid concern, at this point, to err on the side of caution, because no body shop needs their shop burned to the ground, losing a bunch of other customers' cars in the process... and our environment doesn't need anymore junkyard fires. Lithium batteries are not like lead acid, where the steel piercing the battery pack vaporizes after shorting the cells... instead the Lithium ion elements go into thermal runaway, until the unit catches fire... regardless if its a Prius, Volt or Leaf. Well, no... typical of NHTSA, they saved the wreck for further study. Now they know not to do that.

Yeah, it looked the same to me. At first, I thought it might be a piece of broken spark plug insulator, where the insulator snapped off cleanly and was not bonded to the core. But plugs typically do not break that way, and I'm sure Camino would know ceramic from plastic. It that a o-ring or just black paint. It tough to get a sense of scale on the part, but it's nothing I can identify as an engine part or even a GM part from the '90s. Just another idea for the future, Camino... if the little hook didn't work, I'd suggest a stick dipped in some really sticky bearing/axle grease. Great for picking up non-ferrous items at a distance. BTW, the work is looking great, Camino. I wish I had the motivation lately to get my projects pushed forward.