I’m Pontiac Ed and I have been in the car hobby since 1975, back when they were just used cars. I’ve never been without some sort of old car and more often than not I had 2 or more, most of them 1960’s Pontiacs with a few oddballs mixed in. I am a long time Cougar fan but I haven’t owned one since the summer of 1988. I attached a couple scans of old pictures of my Cougars. They’re not the best, heck they were taken with a 110 Instamatic camera more than 30 years ago. Also it looks like you have to scroll the picture until it is centered. Sorry.
My first car was the Dark Ivy Green 1969 XR7 hardtop. I bought it as a stone stock, hubcaps & whitewalls, 39k mile, 6 year old car before I turned 16. It was a 351W 2bbl, AT, 3.00 open rear end, PS, PB, AC, AM Radio and cloth interior. As you can imagine I hot rodded it. I never changed the gear while i had it, so it was really much better suited to 30 mph rolls. I kept it until August of 1978…
Then I found a 1970 Competition Yellow Eliminator. I bought it all but stone stock with 43k miles and sold my '69 to my best friend. It was a 428 CJ Ram Air, AT, 3.25 open rear end, PS, PB, Am 8 Track and the basic interior. I didn’t do as much to it, but I didn’t need to. It was a beast. I put the wheels in the pic on a few months after I bought it and a couple years later it got a cam and headers. I put it away in the fall of 1980 until I finished college and then brought it home to get it back on the road and restore it. I started in on the project but it was hard to do living in an apartment with the car at my mom’s house. I bought another old car to drive and I was enjoying that when somebody came along with an interesting car he wanted to trade me for it and simulataneaously a unsolicted buyer appeared for the Eliminator. So in July or so of 1988 I traded the other car, sold the Eliminator and bought our first house. It seemed like the right thing to do back then.
So since then, I’ve been pondering getting another Cougar but I’m not finding the right car or when I find the right car I get second thoughts about selling one of my current cars and back out of the deal. I’m still thinking about getting another Cougar, both of mine were great cars, hamstrung my youthful lack of funds. Maybe this time
Welcome, Ed…I think you’ll find, we are all MORE than willing to help you spend your money! Matter o fact, if you’re partial to keeping your existing fleet, send me the money, and I’ll send no car in return! That was easy!
Thanks. I suspected there would be no problem getting help spending my money. As far as the current fleet is concerned, I’m shipping the Torino Cobra back to the previous owner who had the car from 1981 to 2007 and the '68 GTO is for sale.
Welcome. I think you will find a few closet poncho fans here. I have my own bizarre thing for the Can Am. I always thought that Pontiac and Mercury were a lot alike in many ways.
That '70 is just a beautiful car. I can see why you might regret losing that one. There is a monthly thread here where a member tracks the Eliminators for sale.
Also, if you can locate the VIN from your car, the registry may have some information for you. The Eliminator Registrar, Dave W. is very good at responding to inquiries.
And Ed, forgive me for being forward, but please tell us the story behind the funky garage door art in the background of the pic of your '69 (if there is no story, please make one up). Was that the neighbor’s house? Were they from France?
R Code that kills me! The door and the Coneheads. I missed the details of the photo I was drawn to the Cougar like a moth to a flame.
Welcome Ed! It’s great to have you here. I agree with Bill about the Pontiac and Mercury brands being a lot alike. Upper scale cars from both companies.
Steven
Sadly, that was just the idea of stylish ornamentation in early 1970’s suburban construction.
OK, no that’s not true, the neighbors were aliens and the garage door design was a minimalist representation of the star that acted as their sun back on the home planet. The inside the house the wallboard was replaced with stainless steel sheets curved out at the floor and ceiling. They told me the “Coneheads” was a documentary about people from the next planet over from theirs.
I like Ed. He plays nice, and gets along with others. And, he had a b!tchin yeller car. Guys with yeller cars can’t be all bad, just look at Two.(2ndxrnd).
Pontiac/Merc similarities…let’s see…Merc refused to bring back a “muscle” based Cougar…what’d Pontiac refuse? The T/A? Then they were both dumped like red headed step-chillens.
Perhaps they could merge together, and be like a phoenix from the ashes…“Mercontiac”…no, that’s not right…“Merpocuriac”…nope…hmmm…aha!!! “PoMerc”!!!
I freakin KNEW it!!! That is priceless! Ed’s gonna fit right in here.
I 3rd the Pontiac-Mercury parellel…love the Ponchos. My 1st car was a '67 Bonneville convert w/a 400 4v (bought it for $13). My buddy Joe is big Poncho guy too: GPs & Firebirds. He currently has a '69 vert w/a forged crank 428, 4 speed & dual quads.
Here is a pic of a car I found for my good friend Bob (on Ebay of all places). It was his dream car growing up ('70 RAIII 4 speed), and we both looked for a long time to find the right one. I did a bunch of work on it for him back in ‘09: painted up his engine compartment all nice nice, rebuilt & switched the cooling system over to RA IV specs, tuned it, clay bar, etc, etc. It’s been roadworthy & reliable ever since. Let me tell you: that car drives so nice, and gets looks like you can’t beleive - almost too much attention. It’s a NOM 400 w/455 heads so it’ suffers from low compression, but it’s got 3.91s, is loud as $hit & runs well. Someday he’ll get a killer plant for it, but if it aint broke…
OK now you’ve got me started. I guess you get to see the Pontiacs. Hope you don’t mind…
My '68 GTO is a 39k original mile car, 350hp 400, close ratio 4 speed, 3.90 Safe-T-Track, manual steering and brakes. I’ve had it for 12 years.
The other Pontiac is a '62 Grand Prix, 56k original mile car, 389 tripower with a hotter cam, AT, PS, PB, 3.23 Safe-T-Track, PS, PB and 8-lug wheels. Runs strong for such a big car. I’ve had this one for 16 years. This is the one my son will have to wait to get out of my estate.
BTW, the Pontiac club is having their national convention in the western 'burbs of Chicago this July. They’re going to feature the 1962’s. Should be a great show.
My brother has a one-owner National Pontiac/Oakland Convention Award winning 68 Catalina with the 8-Luggers. Last I recall it has under 50K miles.
MY first beater was a 389 66 Bonneville Vert and I’m currently wheeling a beater 77 Grand Prix with 240,000 miles. Still a 50 footer too. Just don’t get closer.
Welcome Ed, I love Pontiac’s, that 62 GP is really nice. The GTO’s as well are among my favorites. When I was young, we had a 69 Pontiac Persian, Red with a white convertible top and white interior, I loved that car. It was many years later I saw it in the scrap yard on top of a pile of cars. You could tell the thing had, just been dropped there because it was bent in the middle, What a sad day that was. The GP’s very classy, all of them!
