Smoke Signals Full

SMOKE SIGNALS DECEMBER 2004 1

Visit the POCI Web Site at:www.poci.org

E-Mail Us at:[email protected]

The SMOKE SIGNALS Magazine is publishedby the Pontiac-Oakland Club International(POCI). Articles, letters, and editorial commentsrepresent the views and opinions of the indi-vidual authors and contributors and are not nec-essarily those of POCI.

December 2004

Cover Car ................................... 16

ARTICLESPOCI Renewal Instructions ....... 6Woodward Dream Cruise .......... 72005 Convention Review .......... 8POCI Western Regional ............. 11Potpourri .................................... 14Fulper Wins at Indy ................... 19Winter Projects .......................... 22Omaha All-Pontiac Show .......... 23Aloha from Kahunaville ............ 27Canadian Corner ........................ 28Pontiacs and Rockabilly ............ 32

DEPARTMENTSPresidents Report ...................... 1Calendar & Announcements ...... 2Legislative Affairs ..................... 4Chapter News ............................ 29Want Ads .................................... 33

I am pleased to see that the All Ameri-can Oakland Chapter of POCI hasfound new life and is once again mov-ing in a very positive direction. Duringthe last week of October I received vol-ume one number one of what looks tobe a wonderful newsletter. Fred Lewis,(newsletter editor), has done a remark-able job capturing the history of Oak-land, while including segments fromthis years convention. The newsletteralso includes a classified section withautos and parts for sale. At the Oakland breakfast this yearthere was an amazing 67 people in at-tendance. They were able to sign up 13new members while on their 50 miletour. Their journey to the KendrickHouse, in Carthage, Missouri for break-fast was led by Garth and Irene Millet intheir 1910 Oakland followed by twomore Oaklands and a caravan ofPontiacs. The president of the AAOC,John Armstrong, who also won Best ofShow with his 1926 Oakland, is firedup and looking to build on this eventnext year. At the Chapter awards ban-quet on Friday evening, the Oaklandgroup was honored as the Chapter withthe largest percentage of members par-ticipating in the convention. If you have an Oakland or mightconsider an investment in one of thesetimeless treasures, it would be in yourbest interest to become a part of thisgroup. Their Executive Board combined

has more knowledge and hours ofhands-on mechanical experience withOakland than any group that Pontiaccould possibly assemble. They alsohave the resources at their command torestore these antiques from the groundup. If you would like to become a partof this group you can do so by request-ing a membership application from JohnArmstrong, 3520 Hatter Road,Lancaster, Ohio 43130, or by e-mail [email protected]. Green Mountain Monogram, who isthe provider for our Club Store, has de-cided to discontinue that service at theend of this year. We have enjoyed sev-eral years of continued success withGreen Mountain and we wish them thebest of luck in their future endeavors.POCI is now accepting business re-sumes and proposals from distributorswho would be interested in taking onthe role as Club Store for POCI. Thiswould be a three-year proposal. I wouldlike all proposals sent to me (see ad-dress below) no later than December 15,2004 so that we may have the new storein place by January 1st 2005. Thischange in club vendor should have littleor no impact on our membership. Thereis an abundance of inventory that shouldcarry us through the first quarter of nextyear if necessary. I look at this changeas an opportunity to expand our productline and introduce new and excitingideas.

SEEKING NEW CLUB VENDORPOCI is seeking a new supplier of POCI merchandise. If you areinterested, and have PROFESSIONAL skills and experience inthis type of product production and merchandising, contact POCIPresident Robert Desrochers, 570 Iron Mine Hill Road, N.Smithfield, RI 02896; e-mail: [email protected] See above Presidents Message for further information. For anidea of what types of products are desired from a supplier, see theback outside wrapper of your magazine for the current supplierslisting of products.

CALENDAR OF EVENTSThe following list of upcoming events are POCI-related events ONLY. No eventswill be listed which are not POCI National or POCI Chapter sponsored. Send de-tailed information on your upcoming events to SMOKE Central Calendar of Eventsat: P.O. Box 14057, Bradenton, FL 34280-4057; FAX (941) 792-8023; or e-mail:[email protected]. (Remember to get your Chapter insurance before any event.For insurance reasons, we cannot list or promote non-POCI events.)

POCI CHAPTERSHOW INSURANCEIf your Chapter is planning a show,DO NOT forget to get your insur-ance certificate. POCI pays thepremimum each year (and it isntcheap!) to help protect your Chap-ter and its members. Remember,without insurance coverage thedeep pockets rule can kick in. Thatmeans, if someone is hurt or in someway harmed (yes, including somecivil rights situation), they cancome after any Chapter member whothey believe has lots of money.While you may think that makes yousafe because your car hobby keepsyou flat busted, why take a chance.

REQUEST A CERTIFICATEOF INSURANCE

Simply call JC Taylor Insurance at1-800-272-6784 and ask to have aform sent to you. After filling out theform, send by mail or fax back to JCTaylor and your Chapter show willbe covered. This insurance is onlyavailable to current POCI Chaptersand events that they are hosting orsponsoring.

November 25-28, 2004, POCI Pon-tiac Pow-Wow-WOW at TurkeyRun, Daytona, FL. Sponsored by theHurricane, Everglades, Dixie andFlorida Chapters of POCI. Locatedwithin the 31st Annual Turkey Run(5,500 plus cars!) at Daytona Interna-tional Speedway. For Turkey Run reg-istration form and hotel information,go to http://www.TurkeyRun.Com. Forinformation about participating in thegreat POCI Pontiac Pow-Wow-WOWcall Monica at the Hurricane Chapter at305-648-0623 for the $2 parking sticker.Register early. 150 Pontiac parkingspots this year, but they always go fast!

2 SMOKE SIGNALS DECEMBER 2004

The POCI library is a massivecollection of Pontiac and Oaklandliterature, unlike any other anywhereelse. It contains valuable technicaldata (manuals, engineering reports,etc.) and marketing and salesinformation (brochures, posters,photos, material samples, etc.). Allthis is available to our members.Obviously, materials cannot be sentall over the country/world, sophotocopies are available at a verymodest cost. A Processing/HandlingFee of $10.00 must be sent in withyour request. A fee of $30.00 per hour(chargeable in units of 10 minutes at$5.00 per unit) is then charged tolocate requested information, makethe copies, and send them off to you.If you are looking for something likean entire manual or specific colorbrochures, it would be best toadvertise for them in the SMOKESIGNAL Want Ads. To request information, go to ourweb site (www.poci.org) and down-load the forms to send in regular mail,

or e-mail them directly to the library.You must have made application tothe Members Only section first. If youwish, you can use the forms weprinted on previous SMOKE SIG-NALS protective covers, or contactthe Club Office and a copy will besent or faxed to you. Remember tokeep a master copy so you willalways have one for future requests.When the library personnel receiveyour request, they will research theinformation, let you know what isavailable, and then mail you a noteabout the cost. You can then send acheck or money order, or credit cardinfo, and they will make the requestedcopies and send you your information.You are also welcome to visit thelibrary in person. The POCI library is housed in andadministered by the:AACA Library & Research Center

501 West Governor RoadP.O. Box 417

Hershey, PA 17033717-534-2082 Fax: 717-534-9101

POCI LIBRARY

Looking for the best source to docu-ment your Pontiac? Check PontiacHistorical Services. PHS, while notaffiliated with PMD, has been autho-rized to provide Pontiac owners withcopies of factory build sheets andproduction information. Documentyour cars authenticity, find out whatoptions it came from the factory with,and what dealer took delivery of yourcar when it was new. Send your Vehicle IdentificationNumber (VIN) along with a check ormoney order for $35.00 to PHS at:

Pontiac Historical Services P.O. Box 884 Sterling Heights, MI 48311-0884

Check website: www.phs-online.com

(For 1986 and newer Pontiacs, call PMDCustomer Service at: 1-800-762-2737.)

Allow 68 weeks for delivery.

DOCUMENTATIONP O N T I A C

For 19611985 Pontiacs

NOVEMBER 04 EVEN THOUGH THESUMMER SHOW SEASON ISGONE, THERE ARE STILLLOTS OF WINTER ACTIVI-

TIES GOING ON ANDSPRING ACTIVITIES

COMING. IF YOU HAVEAN EVENT COMING UP,

LET US KNOW SO WE CANPOST IT ASAP.

BE SURE TO SHOOT LOTSOF PHOTOS OF YOURCHAPTER CAR SHOWS

OR OTHER OUTINGS TOSEND IN AND SHARE

WITH EVERYONE ELSE.


POCI 2004 CONVENTION WINNER, JOPLIN, MOGOLD STOCK Senior Status

In error Steven Kotts beautiful 1963 Catalina two-door hardtop was notshown in the winners photo spread of the October SMOKE SIGNALS.The photo above is Stevens award winning Pontiac. We know how hardhe has worked to achieve the status of his car and wish him the recognitionhe deserves. Steven, of Wayne, Michigan, writes: My Pontiac is a verynice 1963 Marlin Aqua Catalina, 421 H.O. tri-power car with a bucketseat Ventura interior and a 4-speed. Ive owned this beautiful car as longas Ive been a POCI member, 18 years! Congratulations on your fine car!

From: Larry CriderSapulpa, Oklahoma

Safe and sound were the feelings feltby all the friends and family membersof SPCE-4 Kenneth Crider, as he re-turned home in mid-August from hisadventure in Afghanistan. Kenneth waspart of Task Force Phoenix which wasstationed near the capitol of Afghani-stan, to help the people of Afghanistanbuild their own national army. Returning home with a State Trooperescort and a heros welcome home, sixbus loads of weary, proud men madetheir way into a glorious reunion withloved ones. Welcoming Kenneth homewas his dad, Larry Crider of the IndianNations Chapter of Oklahoma, hismother, Sandra Rousey of Mannford,his wife Debbie and their 2 children,

and many other family and friends. From the entire Crider family wewish to thank everyone who kept Ken-neth in their prayers for his safe returnand to remember those who are stillover in foreign countrys protecting ourfreedom.(ED: All of us in POCI are proud ofKenneth and all the other brave menand women of the armed forces whoare working so hard to spread the free-doms we all tend to take for granted.Congratulations, Kenneth, of your suc-cessful mission and we wish you thebest on whatever you do now that youare back home. Any POCI member who has a lovedone in the military is invited to sendtheir photo and a small write-up so wemay honor then here, and keep them inour thoughts and prayers.)

SouvenirT-Shirts of the

FIRST POCIDrag RacingConvention

Event

There are a limited number ofthese souvenir MO-KAN DragRace T-shirts still available. If youattended this first-ever POCI spon-sored drag race, or if you didntbut would like to have a supergraphic Pontiac Power shirt, orderyours today. Available in sizes: Large, X-Large, XX-Large, and XXX-Large. Send $20.00 plus $5.00shipping and handling for eachshirt. Checks or money orders arefine. Make out to: Greater OzarksChapter, POCI. Send to: Art Barrett, 211 WestAlice, Mt. Vernon, MO 65712. If you have any questions, con-tact Art at: [email protected] Act quickly, these wont lastlong!

Show yourPontiac Power!

COVER CARHOW TO

People continue to write and ask how toget their car(s) on the cover of theSMOKE SIGNALS. There are two verysimple answers: 1) write a good story ofyou, your car, and how it all came to be,and 2) shoot good quality photos digi-tal are the best at the largest size youcan make. Send all to the address in thefront of the magazine or e-mail to theaddress shown. Which car is chosen? The one thatbest meets the above requirements. Wewill try to mix it up a bit too from is-sue to issue. So, get writing!

The articles appearing below are care ofthe Illinois Chapter of POCI, andSEMAs Driving Force magazine.Youll notice that what appears below,is what one might call one success storyafter another, but as the writer fromSEMA commented, legislation is a cy-clical thing. This years success can justas easily become next years defeat, ifyou folks dont keep tabs on whats go-ing on in your States Legislature.

Legislation and Regulation NewsThe following articles were originallyprinted in SEMAs monthly newsletterDriving Force. For more legislativeand regulatory information, check outthe SEMA website at:http:\\www.sema.org\consumer\fedleg

Illinois Inoperable Vehicles:SEMA defeated legislation that threat-ened to further restrict the ability of ve-hicle hobbyists to maintain inoperablevehicles on private property. The billsought the removal of historic vehiclesover 25 years of age from a list of ve-hicles exempt from county inoperable-vehicle ordinances if the vehicles werenot kept within a building. (Thanks tothe members of Corvettes Unlimited ofPlainfield, Illinois, for their invaluablehelp and assistance.)We Got Letters:First, let me say that I appreciate thegood work SEMA does in watching outfor the collector-car hobby. If it wasntfor SEMA alerting us to these types ofanti-hobby bills, we might not know un-til after the fact. But, I must take issue with the sec-

tion in the June Driving Force aboutthe Illinois inoperable-vehicle bill, HB4910. Its not defeated and its not dead!I had the chance to hear State Represen-tative Dan Brady speak. He was thesponsor of this bill. RepresentativeBrady reported that no further actionwould be undertaken this term, meaningit can resurface in January 2005. He al-ready is working on an amendment tomake it more palatable, but he is stillbehind it. To his credit, he is listeningand taking input from constituents thatinclude car clubs. My point is that wecannot pat ourselves on the back justyet. This bill probably will come back.

Michael Balogh

Dear Mr. Balogh:We can confirm that this bill, HB 4910,is dead for the two-year session of theIllinois legislature that adjourned onMay 31, 2004. Nevertheless, you raise another is-sue the fact that legislation is fre-quently reintroduced and the battle is re-engaged in a future legislative session.One battle may be all that is needed todefeat a measure. Then again, the fightmay extend over several sessions. Wesee this occur frequently with other ini-tiatives, for example, scrappage andemissions-testing bills, in state legisla-tures and in the U.S. Congress. Each side uses the multi-year strat-egy to build support or finally give up.For example, we came close to enactingthe street rod/custom vehicle legislationin Missouri last year but were stung bythe Governors veto (on an unrelated is-sue). We didnt give up. We made sureit was reintroduced this year and today

we are on the verge of having it en-acted into law. Another way of phrasing the issue isthat legislative life is cyclical and it isimportant to appreciate the hard work,dedication and victories that comealong during the process. Sometimesyou dont know when you scored theultimate victory or just hit a successfulmilestone in an ongoing battle. Regardless, there are times to ap-plaud the SAN, the support of enthusi-asts like yourself and SEMA staff for ajob well-done. Mission accomplishedfor this year. We appreciate your sharing yourthoughts with us.

Legislative Quick HitsCalifornia Emissions Exemption:The California Senate TransportationCommittee approved legislation thatwould extend the states current roll-ing-emissions-test exemption for ve-hicles 30 years old and older to simi-larly aged vehicles that are broughtinto California from out of state.SEMA is supporting this legislationwhile at the same time seeking to de-feat a California Assembly bill thatwould repeal entirely the 30-year roll-ing emissions exemption and replace itwith a provision requiring the perma-nent testing of all 1976 and newermodel vehicles.

California Exhaust-Noise Testing Pro-gram Shows Continued Success: The California Bureau of AutomotiveRepair reports that approximately 90%of the over 1,700 vehicles that have un-dergone the states exhaust noise testthrough April have been certified ascompliant with California law. The Bu-reau began operation of the exhaust-noise testing program last August. Teststations are issuing certificates of com-pliance for vehicles when tests of theirexhaust systems show that they emit 95decibels or less under a fair and pre-dictable test procedure devised by theSociety of Automotive Engineers(SAE). The testing program was the productof a SEMA and SAN-supported law.

Missouri Street Rod/Custom VehicleBill and Old-Car Emissions Exemption:The Missouri Legislature combinedSEMAs model legislation to create ti-tling and registration classifications forstreet rods and custom vehicles with a

LEGISLATION AT A GLANCE

Any information sent to the author must be in the form of a brief article or question. Be advised, itmay be published. Individuals submitting information must include name, phone, and address.

Ben Deutschman POCI Legislative Affairs CoordinatorBuilding 11, Redfield Village Apts. A-1 Metuchen, NJ 08840

Phone: (7PM9PM) 732-549-2478 E-Mail: [email protected]

(continued on next page....)4 SMOKE SIGNALS DECEMBER 2004

SAN-supported bill to exempt all ve-hicles 26 years old and older fromemissions inspections and passed bothprovisions. The combined measure,known as S.B. 1233, now awaits Gov-ernor Bob Holdens approval beforebecoming law. The SEMA-model leg-islation provides for special licenseplates and exempts rods and customsfrom periodic inspections and emis-sions tests. It also provides for the useof non-original materials and requiresan initial safety inspection based oncriteria established in part by the localhobbyist community. Under the legis-lation, a replica vehicle is assigned thesame model-year designation as theproduction vehicle it most closely re-sembles. If signed into law, the 26-yearrolling emissions-test exemption willreplace current law, which exemptsonly vehicles manufactured prior to the1971 model year. We urge MissouriSAN members to ask Governor Holdento sign the legislation into law.

New Hampshire Legislature Passes Ex-haust-Noise Bill; Sent to Governor:The New Hampshire House and Senatepassed and sent to Governor CraigBenson an amended version of aSEMA-sponsored bill to remove vagueand subjective provisions from thestates exhaust-noise law. Currently,New Hampshire deems illegal allmodifications that increase noise levelsabove those emitted by the vehiclesoriginal muffler. The original SEMA-drafted legislation required law en-forcement authorities to prove that anexhaust system modification results ina noise level in excess of 95 decibels asmeasured by SAE test standard J1169before issuing a citation. Deeming the95-decibel limit too restrictive, theLegislature simply deleted provisionsin the current law that referenced thenoise levels of the original muffler.

Rhode Island Exhaust Systems:Absent of a last-minute push by thebills sponsor, it appears that SEMAhas defeated Rhode Island legislationthat would have labeled as defective anexhaust system found to be in violationof the states noise-limit restrictions.The measure also prescribed fines andreplacement of the exhaust system.Given that statutory roadside exhaustnoise tests rarely, if ever, are em-ployed, SEMA was concerned that thisbills effect would have been to ban thesale of aftermarket exhaust systems ofany kind.

Rhode Island Street Rods/CustomVehicles:The Rhode Island House of Representa-tives approved SEMA-model legislationto create vehicle registration classifica-tions for street rods, custom vehicles, kitcars and replicas. The bill also providesfor special license plates for these ve-hicles. The Rhode Island Senate nowwill consider the legislation. Of note,the bill also provides that a replica ve-hicle will be assigned the same model-year designation as the production ve-hicle it most closely resembles, allowsthe use of non-original materials and ex-empts these vehicles from periodicsafety and emissions inspections.

Virginia Inoperable Vehicles:Virginia enacted into law SEMA-sup-ported legislation to limit significantlythe ability of local jurisdictions toimplement restrictive ordinances pre-venting automobile collectors from pur-suing their hobby. Under the new law, atleast two inoperable vehicles (or more,if a locality permits) being actively re-paired or restored on private propertywould be exempted from any local ordi-nance if shielded or screened from pub-lic view. The measure defines shieldedor screened from view as not visible bysomeone standing at ground level fromoutside the property on which the inop-erable vehicles are located.

From: Larry Kosek, 2+2 Tech Advi-sor, Silver Lake, Kansas

This story happened about 15 yearsago, and still works today. How tomake your 1965 to 1970 fullsizePontiac corner and handle better.I have a 65 Catalina hardtop 2+2and although the ride is firm, itlacked any cornering prowess. So Iordered both front and rear sway barsfrom a well known auto catalog.They did make the 2+2 handle better,but I didnt like the way the rear barwas mounted to the lower rear con-trol arms. The kit had metal plateshanging down from the control armsand the bar was mounted betweenthem; it worked alright but hungdown too low. I liked the look of thestock ones, mounted up real close tothe rear end, but finding a 65 withone was a real challenge! A visit to my local salvage yardturned up a 1973 Grandville with asway bar that was factory original. Itook some measurements and itlooked like it would fit. And it did! Ihad to take off the rear lower control

arms to drill the 4 holes in each oneto mount the brackets to the controlarms. Then 2 bolts hold the bar to thebracket on each end of the controlarms. Real easy and the bar tucks upreal tight to the rear end. The aftermarket front bar is 1-1/8inches in diameter and the rear is15/16 in diameter. So try to find a 71to 76 fullsize and bolt it in and haveyour fullsize car corner and handlelike a Trans Am.

Some Observations: My goodfriend Ken Cochran owns a real rarecar, a 58 Bonneville 2-door hardtopfactory equipped with air suspension,and it has a factory rear sway bar.Also a few years ago I was at my fa-vorite salvage yard and was lookingat a 59 Catalina station wagon, andit also had a factory rear sway bar.And, just the last week at a swapmeet, there was a 41 Oldsmobileneeding restoration and it also had afactory rear sway bar. Is this the firstyear GM installed them? Can anyonehelp in finding the first year rearsway bars were factory installed?

SWING AND SWAY WITH LARRY K.

From: Tom Cihiar Melrose Park, Illinois

This is in response to my search for decent sunvisor brackets for my 67 Lemans(October SMOKE SIGNALS). Id like to thank all the people who respondedfrom Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee for all their advice, help, andpossible solutions. I was able to find a pair of original sunvisor brackets off a 66GTO convertible from Gary Lownsdale in Tennessee. Thanks, Gary, the bracketswere better then I expected. I can only say that I was impressed in the number ofpeople in POCI who reacted in my behalf. This makes me proud to be a member.

THANKS from a Proud POCI Member


CRASH COURSEIN POCI RENEWAL PROCESS

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We wish to thank all those POCI mem-bers who faithfully renew their member-ship dues year-after-year. We will con-tinue to strive to give you more with eachand every renewal. Many of you havefound the protective SMOKE SIGNALSwrapper a very handy way to check therenewal status of your membership eachmonth. And, about 5060% of you renewusing your cover. This assures that youwill not miss anything as it is about a twomonth warning of your dues expiration.This Crash Course is not for you. This is for those who continually writea note on their 2nd Notice renewal postcard: I never received a First Notice. Itis also for those who continually sendnasty notes to Stop telling me my duesare due, I paid already. And, lastly, it isfor those who keep sending in $31.00month-after-month. While we are happyto receive the money, eventually you willnot be able to afford to drive your Pontiacif you spend all your extra money onyour magazine. So, here is a quickexplaination of the Renewal Notice onthe wrapper of your magazine:1) Your dues may be due, and that iswhat we want you to check.2) See the information below to deter-mine the status of your renewal.3) Every month we change the date theone shown in a different color eachmonth and ask you to check it againstthe information next to your mailing label(henCe below). The date we print incolor is always two months in advance ofthe magazine issue date.4) If your date printed after DUESEXP to the left of your mailing labelfalls between the dates printed above incolor (see item #3), then this is a TWOMONTH advance noticethat your membership duesare coming due soon. Now, isnt that easy?! Ithas worked well for many,but we are happy to explainit to those who havent fig-ured it out yet. Of course,you are welcome to wait foryour 2nd Notice post cardwhich will be mailed ap-proximately one month be-fore your renewal, but thereis always a chance it might

get misplaced or that you might actuallymiss an issue of your SMOKE SIG-NALS. If you miss an issue due to laterenewal, it will cost $2.00 to get a copy,so please do not delay with your re-newal. Now, as long as we are in such agood learning mode, lets talk web site.Especially the MEMBERS ONLY sec-tion. Before ANYONE can access theMembers Only section they must fill outand submit the Access Applicationform. This is the first item listed in thered band on the left of the POCI home

and a little web site info whilewere at it!

page under Members Only. Why mustthis be done? So we can check to see ifyou are actually an active POCI member.We will then input your access codes inthe server control panel and e-mail themback to you. This process usually takesone to two days. If you loose your codes,heres a hint: your User Name isYOUR NAME! all lower case letters andNO space inbetween; your Password isyour POCI membership number (all sixdigits, including the zero at the begin-ning). Cant find your POCI number?Check right next to your address label onyour magazine where it says MEM #.Couldnt be simpler!


MighiganWidetrackers DoWoodwardDream Cruise

This August the Pontiac-Oakland Club International de-scended on Woodward Avenue. We made our presenceknown from the Woodward Loop in Pontiac to the GeneralMotors Display in Royal Oak and beyond. In Royal Oak afew Widetracker Chapter members were invited to displaytheir vehicles alongside the General Motors Historical Col-lection. Tom and Tira OBrien, Ron and Carole Polus, JeffDennison, Al Houtman, Dennis Koss, and Michael Ericksoncould be seen lurking among the vehicles parked at the Thir-teen Mile and Woodward location. Further north in theWoodward Loop parking lot, provided by Joe Hildebrand ofthe Oakland Press, were many more Widetrackers enjoyingthe never ending parade of classic cars and trucks thatstreamed by our location for two days and nights. The City of Pontiac has extended The Worlds LargestOne Day Car Event into a two day event and we took fulladvantage of that extra day. The Widetrackers set up camp atthe intersection of Woodward Loop and M-59 and passedout SMOKE SIGNALS Magazines and membership appli-cations to every Pontiac and GMC that stopped at that redlight, and even to a few that failed to stop. Vito and GlennaFinazzo and Mike and Mary Woody took their lives in theirown hands to dodge (pardon the use of that word) the tiresmoking traffic and deliver the membership packets. Theonly problem with this delivery technique is you only havethe few seconds during the light change to deliver yourpitch, and its hard to tell how many people responded andjoined, although some would come back later to stop andchat about the club. As Bill Fortune says, Its amazing howmany Pontiac owners out there dont know about POCI. The Cruise is truly a celebration of the automobile andhas grown in the ten years since its inception to include topname recording artists at free concerts, vehicles from movieslike Triple-X and the Batmobile, corporate displays andmany car shows and cruises in the weeks preceding theDream Cruise itself. The Michigan Widetracker Chapter of POCI has reservedthe same parking lot for next year and barring unforseenhappenings like the power failure of 2003, we will spreadthe word about The Pontiac-Oakland Club International atthe Woodward Dream Cruise in 2005.

2004


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In the last SMOKE SIGNALSwe discussed nearby attractionsin the Southern Appalachiansof North Carolina and Tennes-see. This time around we aregoing to talk about some placescloser to Greenville. All of thefollowing are east of Green-ville, easily reached over Inter-state 85. If you dont feel liketaking the bus trip, all of theseplaces can be visited at anytime during the convention, orwhile coming or going.

BMW Zentrum and FactoryWe have planned at least twocharter bus trips to tour theBMW Zentrum visitors centerin Greer, SC, or you can visiton your own. It is about 20 minutesfrom the Expo Center and visible fromI-85. The Zentrum is next to the onlyBMW manufacturing plant in the US,the plant where the Z3 roadster and X5SAV are produced. In addition to beinga meeting and eventscenter, cafe,and

gal-lery, theZentrum is alsoa time machine wherethe past, present and future ofBMW come together in a one-of-a-kind building. In addition to the pro-duction vehicles, there are exhibits fea-turing unique prototypes, design con-cepts, and kinetic art cars. There is nocharge to tour the Zentrum, and for asmall fee you can also visit the actualBMW assembly line and watch Z3sand X5s being put together. The Zentrum displays BMWs partin automotive history, including mod-els from the early 1920s until now, aswell as BMWs role in the develop-ment of motorcycle, aircraft, and auto-motive engines. The displays are ar-ranged chronologically, beginning withthe distant beginnings of the BarvarianMotor Works to todays BMWs. Theengine display chronicles BMW en-gines of the past, present, and future.Each engine is displayed with its in-tended purpose, as well as thedesigners history and the evolutionary

Greenville, South Carolina:From the Mountains

to the Sea!

progress of the engine. The visit in-cludes a 15- minute virtual factory tourof the production assembly line of theZ3 roadster and X5 SAV. Upon exitingthe three-screen movie theater youwalk directly to fully assembled ve-

hicles, includingthe originalZ3 (chassis

001) thatPierce Brosnan

drove in theJames Bond

movie Golden Eye,complete with li-

cense plate 007.For more information

about the Zentrum andBMW, go to

www.bmwzentrum.com

Beacon Drive-InThere will bea Pontiac/Oakland/GMC cruise-in to theworld famousBeaconDrive-In inSpartanburg,SC, a regionallandmark anda Carolina tra-dition. Youcan also visitthe Beacon onyour own forbreakfast,lunch, or din-

ner. It is about 25 to 30 min-utes from the Expo Center. The Beacon features barbe-cue to die for, plus sand-wiches, burgers, onion rings,plate lunches, seafood, des-serts, breakfast biscuits, andmuch more. The Beacon pre-serves a 50s atmosphere, in-cluding curb service for thatauthentic feeling of deja vu.The Beacon was opened onThanksgiving Day, 1946, andfounder John White personallymanned the cash register withhis sons for more than 50years. The Beacon continuesto be owned and operated by alocal family. In 1999, the Bea-con created The BeaconDairy Bar with more than 20flavors of ice cream, as well asshakes, malts, and other icecream specialties.

The Beacon is the second largestdrive-in restaurant in the United States,serving one million customers yearly.In one week, the Beacon uses threetons of onions, three tons of potatoes,and four tons of beef, chicken, and sea-food. The Beacon is the largest singleseller of iced tea in the United States,sweetening it with 3,000 pounds ofsugar every week. The Beacon diningrooms seat 350 people and can accom-modate groups up to 100 in one room.For more information, go to the Bea-con website, www.beacondrivein.com

Gaffney Prime OutletsWe are planning a trip to the PrimeOutlets Store in Gaffney, SC. PrimeOutlets is a group of low price outletstores including some of the most fa-mous retailers in America, offering adiverse shopping experience. Major

Name: _______________ ___ ______________________ POCI Member #: __________ POCI Chapter: ________________

Street: ______________________________________ City: _______________________ State: __________ Zip: ___________

Phone: _______-_______-______________ (Day) _______-_______-______________ (Evening)E-Mail Address: _________________________________________________

Please Reserve: Number of Swap Spaces: _________ Number of RV Spaces Needed: _________

Trailer Space for Show Car: ________ Attending First Convention: Yes No


2005 POCI Convention Registration FormJuly 1216, 2005 Greenville, South Carolina

(To be assigned uponreceipt of this form.)

(Check / Money Order / Cash Only Non-Refundable.Sorry, no credit card payments accepted.)

(Swap and Trailer Space CostInformation will be

Included with Activity Package.)

PHOTOCOPIES OF THIS FORM ACCEPTABLE PHOTOCOPIES OF THIS FORM ACCEPTABLE PHOTOCOPIES OF THIS FORM ACCEPTABLE


Assigned Registration #:___________ Registration Fee: $35.00Make Registration Check/Money Order Payable to : 2005 POCI ConventionMail Check/Money Order with this form to: Suzanne Cook, P.O. Box 24, Norris, SC, 29667Do NOT Include Hotel Payment with Registration Fee.

First MI Last (Must Be Current)

Hotel Information: Check-In Date: ____________ Room Type: King Double/Double

Check-Out Date: ____________ Number of People in Room: ________ Smoking: Yes Non

Handicapped Accessible/Special Needs: Yes No

7/ /20057/ /2005

Hotel Choice: Please rank your hotel preferences by placing a choice number (1=First Choice, 2= Second Choice, 8=LastChoice, etc.) in the boxes to the left of each hotel listed below. See the convention site map for hotel locationsin relation to the Palmetto Center. NOTE: These are daily rates and all rooms are subject to 10% State andLocal Tax.

Phoenix Inn (Host Hotel) .... $89.00

Comfort Inn (IncludesFull Buffet Breakfast .......... $63.00

Sleep Inn: Single ................. $55.00 Double ............... $65.00

Marriott Courtyard .............. $69.00

Hilton Greenville ................ $82.00

Westin Pointsett (PlusParking @ $6.00/day) ......... $85.00

Hampton Inn ....................... $62.00

Amerisuites ......................... $85.00Housing Acknowledgement will be mailed to you by theGreenville Convention & Visitors Bureau. Acknowledgmentwill be followed by a written confirmation from the hotel.

Must Provide Credit Card Number to Guarantee Hotel Rooms: Card Type

Card Number: Expiration Date: _____ _____ ______

Name on Credit Card: ____________________________________ Signature: ______________________________________

VISA MasterCard Discover American Express

For NON-LODGING Registration and Convention Questions Contact:Bob Kesler: (864)683-5296 Day/Evenings Richey Cook: (864)984-5800 E-Mail: [email protected]

For HOTEL and OTHER LODGING Questions Contact:Greenville Convention & Visitors Bureau 1-800-351-7180

SOLDOUT

SOLDOUT

SOLDOUT

brands represented include BrooksBrothers, Sony, Ralph Lauren, PotteryBarn, Tommy Hilfinger, Bose, KBToys, Pfaltzgraff, The Gap, Nike, and80 more over 400 brand names in all.Every store is inside a climate con-trolled mall-like setting. Prime Outlets also has a food court,featuring national and regional restau-

rants, and a play area for the kids.Strollers and wheelchairs are available,and, of course, ATMs. The Prime Out-lets Store is roughly 45 minutes northof Greenville on I-85. If you need moreinformation about Prime Outlets, go totheir website, www.primeoutlets.com

And Dont Forget the Main Reason

for Coming to Greenville! Remember that the 2005 car showwill be held indoors at the Expo Cen-ter, which has room for 600 cars. AllChapter meetings and seminars will beheld at the attached Woodside Confer-ence Center. You wont have to leavethe Expo Center grounds to move be-


South CarolinaFrom the Mountains

to the Sea

Fuel tanksmust con-tain lessthan 1/4tank of fuel.

The gas capmust betapedclosed. Wewill havelow adhe-sion tapeavailable.

The batterymust be dis-connected.Removingthe negativecable is rec-ommended.

tween meetings, seminars, exhibits,and the swap meet. The area hotels are terrific and closeby. If you are debating which hotel touse, see the map below for the locationof the listed hotels in relation to theExpo Center and the Greenville area.

A Couple of Reminders:You can bring your vehicle into the

Palmetto Expo Center any time start-ing Tuesday. You do not have to bringyour car into the show until Saturdaymorning. We cannot let cars come inand out of the halls, so if you will bedriving your car during the week, donot place it in the hall until Fridaynight or Saturday morning. We willhave shuttle service to listed hotels ifyou leave your car on Friday night.

Remember that the Fire MarshallsOffice of the City of Greenville has thefollowing requirements for cars placedin the Expo Center:

By: Mark PotterVernon, Texas

Part of the reason for the decline inLeMans sales in the 1970s in rela-tion to other GM intermediates (i.e.Chevelle, Malibu, Cutlass, Century,Regal, etc.) is the fact that the 1973restyling didnt catch on too welland the few drastic changes madefor 1974 especially the reardidnt help a whole lot. The intro-duction of the GrandAm really seg-mented bothLeMans and GTOsales, and the suc-cess of the GrandPrix (which sharedthe A-special bodywith Chevys MonteCarlo) deeply cutinto LeMans sales.Even the introduc-tion of the top-line

LeMans Sales in the Seventies

Luxury LeMans and later, GrandLeMans, didnt much help. Many in-termediate buyers preferred the styl-ing of the Olds Cutlass Supreme orBuick Century Regal coupes to any ofPontiacs offerings aside from the GP. Also, LeMans was accorded littlepromotional emphasis from Pontiacduring these years as PMD chose topromote the Grand Am, Grand Prix(selling like hotcakes) and theFirebird (also a red-hot seller). By the

time the Grand Am departed fromthe Pontiac lineup in 1976, it wastoo late. The GTO was already doneafter it was downsized from theLeMans to the Ventura for 1974 andthen dropped. With that the LeManshad virtually no image to speak of. In 1976 Jim Wangers took aLeMans sport coupe with a 400 cidV8 and Turbo Hydra-Matic, paintedit Carousel Red and added Honey-comb wheels, a Trans Am spoilerand 69 Judge striping, and pre-sented it to Pontiac management as apossible revival of the GTO Judge.

He sensed that aGTO revival mightaid in improvingLeMans sales. ButPontiacs manage-ment wouldntbudge on the idea ofreviving the 76GTO, but it did re-view the conceptand brought the carinto production asthe 77 Can Am.

To many it was just a windy and chillySaturday, but to the members of the Sil-ver State Pontiacs it was the culmina-tion of two years of dedicated hardwork. The donuts and coffee wereready; the class markers were in place;the club members were present enmasse; the raffles and swap meet wereset up; registration was standing by andit was time for a car show and banquetto rival any the Western Region ofPOCI had ever seen. It all began, though, on Friday withearly registration at noon and then thePoker Run with $300.00 on the line inprize money. There were five themedstops from a Hawaiian Luau to the MadHatters with the last stop at Hobeys Ca-sino for a mini show-n-shine, live radioremote, two-for-one dinners and dashplaques. The night culminated with twotrophies being awarded by the casinoowners. The party was officially under-way and Fridays activities were trulyonly the tip of the iceberg. Show day began at 4:30 A.M. asmembers of the Silver State Pontiacs ar-rived at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino to

set up canopies, booths, registra-tion and class parking. Twenty-nine dozen donuts and coffeewere ready when participantsstarted to arrive and the liveband, Papa Clutch and theShifters, was ready to rock-n-rollby 11:00 as the last few partici-pants pulled in and were parkedin their class locations. Next to the show-n-shine theSilver State Pontiacs set up asmall swap meet; an extraordinary rafflewith very classy prizes; a 50/50 raffle; a

silent auction; a showmerchandise booth withsweatshirts, T-shirts,hats, pilsner beerglasses and glass coffeemugs all with the West-ern Regional logoprinted on them. Therewere also craft boothsand several merchants.Les Schwab Tire Cen-ters were represented aswell as Winkle Pontiac/GMC, the local dealer-ship, who displayed anew G6 and a GTO.

In the convention hospitality roomwere Chapter displays, model car en-tries, and car photos all to be judged andawards presented to the winners. Alsoset up was former Pontiac Motor Divi-sion ad illustrator, Art Fitzpatrick, withsamples of his work. Later that night Artdid a fascinating presentation of his art-work and years at PMD. He shared hu-morous stories and showed many ex-amples of his distinctively styled ads.

Reno, Nevada September 1719, 2004

POCIWESTERN REGIONAL



The 300+ attendees at the banquet acknowledged their appre-ciation for Arts presentation on the wide track years with astanding ovation. At the show-n-shine the 40+ Silver State Pontiac cars wereparked in a display only area and the participants carswere placed in one of 48 different class sections. There wereparticipants from Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah, Oregon,Washington, BritishColumbia, and Wiscon-sin, but the farthesttraveled was RobertDesrochers, POCIPresident, and his wifeDonna who came allthe way from Rhode Is-land! Participants votedfor class winners andnominated eight carsfor the Elite Eight.These eight cars be-came the candidates forBest of Show. The Sil-ver State Pontiac mem-bers had the honor tovote for their favoritecar out of the EliteEight to determine theconventions Best ofShow winner. The EliteEight included a verywide variety of Pontiacsand Oaklands includingtwo 1926 Oaklands(one American and oneCanadian) owned byLee Orr, a 1957 Bon-neville convertibleowned by Mike andMadeline Johnson, a1961 Ventura owned by Bob Knudsen Jr., a 1955 Chieftainowned by Terry Lattemore, a 1969 Trans Am owned by MikeMcGee, a 2002 Grand Prix owned by Adam Peralta, and a1939 Pontiac convertible street rod owned by Richard Stagno.The winner was determined through a ballot count and theBest of Show trophy was awarded to Mike and MadelineJohnson for their 1957 Bonneville. All Elite Eight car ownersreceived a ribbon and a Walking Liberty silver dollar. As the days activities wound down, the cocktail hour be-gan and started the evenings events. The buffet dinner ofBBQ ribs, prime rib, chicken, and seafood salad as entreesand many fabulous desserts was enjoyed by all. Following

(continued on next page....)12 SMOKE SIGNALS DECEMBER 2004

dinner a Les Schwab Tires representative presented their do-nation of a set of wheels won through the raffle. A door prizewas awarded to a lucky winner it was the passenger-sidedoor from a 1992 Pontiac Grand Am! A two-dollar bill liarspoker game was played and a lucky participant went homewith a $1000.00 prize. Also won was a $250.00 BBQ donatedby Western Nevada Supply. The night culminated with the much-anticipated awards.Over 80 awards were presented to 1st and 2nd place classwinners. All winners also received an Eisenhower silver dollaras a symbol of appreciation from the Silver State Pontiacs.The awards presented were unique. Instead of standard tro-phies, the Silver State Pontiacs awarded plaques designed tolook like Nevada license plates with First, Second, and Honor-able Mention printed on them. It was 10:30 P.M. when the exhausted members of the Sil-ver State Pontiacs called it a day and an extremely successful2004 POCI Western Regional Convention came to an end.Special recognition must go to Diane Horning for her out-standing efforts in putting this show together. Without herdrive and leadership, this grrreat show would not have hap-pened. The Silver State Pontiac Chapter is fortunate to havesuch a dynamic Events Director. Check the Silver StatePontiacs website at www.silverstatepontiac.com. Its soon tobe completely redesigned and many photographs of the 2004Convention will be posted.


POTPOURRIA collection of Pontiac news and informationfrom far and wide most likely that you will

not find anywhere else.


From:Dave HarrisonStockton-on-Tees,England

This is my daugh-ter Catherine aged14 in one of herfavourite places,the drivers seatof her Dads 2-tone blue 59 Catalina 2-door hardtop takenon the Saturday cruise during Steel City Cruisers annualweekend car show at Sheffield England, September 04. The car was originally all white but now baby blue overdark blue metallic which looks great with the original blueinterior. Catherine has been around Pontiacs all of her life, get-ting oily helping with the maintenance and accompanyingme to shows and cruises since a very early age, first in my1980 Firebird and the last 5 years the Catalina. She is looking forward to being of driving age when weshe can pilot one of the Pontiacs herself and we can takeboth cars to events. Thanks for a great magazine which just keeps gettingbetter!

Youngest PONTIAC LOVERS of the Month

From: Keith ODonnellSouthington, CT

Hey Pontiac fans. Nowthat the SMOKE SIG-NALS is all color, I fig-ured this would be agood time to send you acouple of pictures of mynephew Trever who justturned 2 in October, and show you how much fun heshaving pretending to service and drive Uncle Keiths 70GP (see January 2000 cover). I know some day he will dothis for real, but in the mean time, this 4th generationPontiac fan is having his fun by pretending.

From:Bill Richards, Fresno, California

Shown is Grandson Nick Anselmo in Grandpa Bills 69Pontiac Lemans reday to go! Just 14-1/2 years left.

Send in your Youngest Pontiac Lover of theMonth today! (It can be the young at heart

Pontiac Lover too.)

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT POCI!SHARE YOUR MAGAZINE WITH A PROSPECTIVE MEMBER THEN TAKE IT AWAY!

REPLACE IT WITH AN APPLICATION FORM!

POTPOURRIShare your rare, humurous, warm (or bizarre)

Pontiac (and Oakland) finds and experiences withthe rest of us. They are everywhere you look!


GUILTY!NEXT CASE!From: Jim ThomsonSan Diego Chapter, POCI

Take a look at the two picturesto the right. The white 70 Judgebelongs to a fellow in our Chapter, BillDunne. The 69 belongs to Burt Kratzer from theCactus GTO Club of Tempe, Arizona, a Chapter ofGTOAA. The two cars were at the GTOAA West-ern Regional in San Pedro in September. The per-sonalized license plates were so close, we had toget them together for a photo shoot. Neither ofthese guys had ever met before. I guess great mindsthink alike.

From:Rick HottenstineHortonville, WI

Seasons may comeand seasons may go,but it is always Pon-tiac season aroundhere! Excellent jobon the SMOKE SIG-NALS, keep up thegood work. (ED:Thanks for the goodword. Everyoneloves the new colorand paper.)

BOO!Bet I Scared You!

TALL INTHE

SADDLE

From: Gerry HulseyKettering, Ohio

This cream with red pin stripping 65Catalina is owned by an engineeringhigh school student. It is real clean, hasa 389, 4-barrel, and a black rolled andpleated interior. It caught my eyebecause the wheels are 21 inches!Those are the largest I has seen on a60s car and still be sitting normal.There will be sidewalls grooved,though Im sure. The 35 tires fit byheight, but really make the sidewallshard at that profile. He also has discbrakes on all four, so it can be done.The shocks are gas charged and veryfirm. To work good, the springs need tobe almost worn out, or at least much

weaker than new. This allows theshocks to become the body handler.

Im glad to see that this old Pontiac atleast is getting some favorable interest.

By: Frank & Rhonda StirlingAbbotsford, British ColumbiaCanada

My wife, Rhonda, and I, having done aframe up restoration of a 1951 PontiacChieftain in 1993 decided that wewanted to get a Nickel-era Pontiac.By nickel-era cars I am referring tothose that were built after the brass era,ending in the teens, but before the clas-sic era when chrome plating becamefashionable for trim items. Nickel brightwork has a fashionablegolden glow, whereas the chrome has acold, bluish tint. Nickel-era cars have alot to commend them; they cant cruiseon highway speeds but that is not every-thing. Nickel-era cars are easy to workon and require few sophisticated tools,except for perhaps the slide hammer toremove the rear axle bearings. They runon regular unleaded gasoline and love

modern lubricants. With my introduc-tion to the mechanical brakes of this1928, albeit 4 wheels, I have adoptedthe Boy Scout motto be preparedwhen it comes to stopping! I am fortu-nate that this 1928 Pontiac has the 4-wheel mechanical brake setup; the firstyear for this in Pontiac. There is also, onthe rear wheels, an external band emer-gency hand brake, as well. The 1928 had some new in-novations besides the 4-wheelbrake system for it also had, forthe first time, the cross flow ra-diator, the headlight dimmerswitch located on the floor besidethe driver, and a fuel pumpmounted on the engine withoutthe need for a vacuum tank to as-sist in the fuel delivery to the car-buretor. The 1928 models alsohad a brake light, which the pre-vious years did not have.

After a few near purchases, we fi-nally found a 1928 Pontiac Landau se-dan, through Hemmings, located inMabel, Minnesota. This model was thethird model year for Pontiac which wasa lower priced entry vehicle offered bythe Oakland Motor Car Company, a di-vision of General Motors. We struck a


The Restoration of a 28 Pontiac Landau SedanBy: Frank & Rhonda Stirling Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

BEFORE


deal with the retiring farmer and boughtthe car. We arranged shipping to theWest Coast and picked it up inBellingham in July 2000 where we pro-ceeded to trailer it back across the bor-der into Canada to Vancouver, BritishColumbia. Upon closer examination when wegot it home, we found that it was asoriginal as it could be having the origi-nal manufacture date stamped carbure-tor, fuel pump, generator, and startingmotor, engine, and transmission. Therear end housing even bore the serialnumber of the car! All these items wereworking (borderline), but I knew theywould not pass the mechanical inspec-tion required before licensing in B.C.The 1928 main wiring harness, for ex-ample, was in tatters and very unsafe.Upon trying to adjust the doors I real-ized that I had some problems; the doorframes were in poor shape as was all thelower wood that supported the body. Infact all the wood from the roof to themetal frame needed replacing as well asthe running board wood and the interiorfloorboards. I soon noticed that the body panels atthe front cowl area and the rear over thegas tank were beginning to crack fromthe metal of the body supporting the carwithout a sound wood substructure. Iknew then that I had a total restorationto consider. My wifes inclination wasto forget it....push it off a cliff some-where.... I decided to try and save it!Little did I realize what I had taken on!The original oak 12-spoke wheels werein amazing shape and very tight ,whichwas encouraging. Now I was into a 33-month project with lots of research to bedone. I first decided to do the replace-ment of all the bearings and seals. The rear axle needed a puller to befabricated and the use of a slide hammerto remove the original rear axle and

bearings. I re-placed thebearings witha sealed typeand new sealsto prevent theseepage ofthe rear axlelubricant onto the rearbrake shoes.The frontwheel sealsand bearingsneeded re-placing aswell. All the

brake shoes were relined locally usingthe original type of woven material andriveted to the old metal backing and re-installed. The body was also taken apart. Themain body was lifted off the frame and

all the lower perimeter wood was re-placed, with the help of a local cabinet-maker, with either birch or maple. Oneof our earliest discoveries was the rightfront cowl/doorpost wood had to befashioned to replace the crude 2X2 thathad been fitted in there after the car hadsomething fall on it some 20-plus yearsago. The door post between the frontand rear doors, on the passenger side,was so badly rotted that it did not makecontact either with the roof above or the

wooden rocker below, but was only heldin place with the exterior metal thatoriginally encased the wood. After some16 hours of millwork a new one wasfashioned and fit inside the metal tomake a solid doorpost. While replacingthe original deteriorated wood with anew piece of wood we often found thatthe adjoining piece showed that it tooneeded replacement; would it ever end?However, it was finally all done and thedoors now shut like an old Bentley! The starter, generator, fuel pump, andcarburetor were all disassembled andrebuilt, as new. All the plate glass had tobe removed for safety reasons and newsafety glass for the windshield and tem-pered glass for the body was made. Thisglass was reinstalled after the car hadbeen stripped of its original paint andrepainted one of the other optional col-ors that was offered for this car in 1928.I also had to fabricate the front metalwindshield visor and fabricate new sup-ports, with the help of POCIs RichRose in Denver, CO; then I made thefront windshield regulator board to at-tach the windshield regulator that wasmissing from the car due to whateverhad fallen on the old Pontiac some 20years previously. The front windshieldnow lifts up some three inches into theroof area for front ventilation at thelower part of the windshield! The painting preparation was a bit ofa problem, which necessitated changingbody shops. The first choice just wasnot working out for a lot of reasons. Anew body shop was sourced and it allworked out. After painting, I was verypleased to have the assistance of aformer restorer of a 1927 Oldsmobilewho assisted with the reassembly of thenewly painted body panels including thefour fenders, cowl, running boards,


28 at Memory Lane


headlights and headlight bar, the fourdoors, as well as the hood and radiatorsupport, in almost a scratch-free opera-tion. After this I installed a new wiringharness from Rhode Island Wiring. This vehicle was all completed andon the road in early April 2003 andmade its debut on the local Easter Pa-rade. The first outing the 1928 Pontiacperformed without incident. An origi-nal 6-cylinder 186 C.I. engine that putsout an amazing 40 HP powers it. Evenits original Carter updraft carburetor,having being rebuilt, works like adream. It cruises at up to 40 to 45 MPHwith little effort. We have enjoyedsummer shows with this car last yearand it has amazed me how many timesit has won the coveted Best of Showawards. At its first ConcoursedEllegance show it won the Best ofClass award, which was quite satisfy-ing. In May 2004 it won another Bestof Show award at the Boulevard Parkshow in Bellingham, Washington. It isreally quite a favorite of the local carshows and people enjoy seeing a 1928vehicle that is not a Model A Ford! I only wish that there more of theseold early twenties cars around, otherthan model As. Maybe there will be oth-

ers who will do as Ihave and bring anotherone of these back onthe road. So next timeyou are driving aroundin the countryside,keep an eye out for anexciting piece of Pon-tiac automotive historyand consider the ac-quisition of possibly aNickel-era car or early 30s Pontiac. Or,in a few years, the newer POCI mem-bers may be wishing they had a Nickel-era car or a pre-WWII Pontiac and theywill all be gone! We are members of POCIs Early

Times Chapter, and also own a 1951Pontiac Chieftain sedan, that was fea-tured very prominently in the made forTV movie Door to Door, starring Wil-liam Macy. This movie, which wasnominated for the Golden Globe, isavailable to rent at most video rentalslocations. I also own a 54 Pontiac StarChief Custom Catalina coupe (model2837SD) that was rescued from Butte,Montana, in 1978. It needs re-wiring,interior, and paint to be on the roadagain. We have a great liking of thoseold Pontiac flathead L-type engines andhow they just keep on going and goinglike the Duracell Battery ad says.

Some interesting trivia about how Pontiac got its name. Itwas built by Oakland Motor Company, founded in 1907 in abuggy shop on Oakland Avenue, in the city of Pontiac, Oak-land County, Michigan. In 1926 Oaklands General Man-ager, Alfred R. Clancy, was credited with the name whentaking over Oakland. Mr. Clancy said When I got to theplant I found designs for it hanging on the wall and overthem someone had written Pontiac. Yet, when he gotready to christen the first Pontiac in 1926, with a bottle ofChampagne, he claimed the new car was named after ChiefPontiac, who led the Ottawa, Chippewa, Pottawatomi, andMiami in a powerful Indian federation in the mid-eighteenth

century. Mr. Clancy stated, If this was Chief Pontiac do-ing this (new vehicle announcement), he wouldnt bebreaking the only bottle of Champagne in OaklandCounty, he would be drinking it! Remember that thiswas during prohibition. So, take your pick! Was it after the city of Pontiac, orthe name Mr. Clancy found on the wall, or Chief Pontiac?I am not sure which, myself ! In 1926 a total of 76,742 vehicles were built; 127,883in 1927 and 210,883 for 1928. This 1928 productionnumber was not surpassed untill 1937, when 236,189 ve-hicles were built. Pontiac was in 5th place in USA vehicleproduction in 1928! From this point their ranking onlyimproved. The 500,000 Pontiac was built in June 1929.

Pontiac Trivia


A dream come true. Crazy luck like apoker game? No. Old fashion work andputting yourself into place to have achance to win one of the biggest dragraces in NHRA history, the Fiftieth Anni-versary Mac Tools U.S. Nationals atIndy. Thats what this story is about. For those of you that dont knowabout my recent Super Stock perfor-mance success, earlier this year at theWinternationals I ran the quickestelapsed time for a traditional poweredPontiac NHRA Super Stock car in his-tory. A 9.67 at 136.09 mph. Quite an ac-complishment and I must say Im proudto be on top of the mountain. As a teen-ager at the drags, I would watch the fast-est cars in amazement. To be one of themnow is thrilling. Knowing my Firebirdcould stand a chance against the best inthe nation, it was almost unbelieveable.It provided me with the extra confidenceto attend The Big Go. Indy. Just sayingthe name, Indy, sparks a memory formost of us. Whether youve watched iton TV or knew someone who had racedthere, Indy was and still is a specialplace. First, a little background on why Irun an NHRA Class car. Class specifi-cally meaning Stock or Super StockClass. NHRA mandates a minimum vehicleweight and myFirebird must weigh3210 lbs. or more. Noless. To be safe I usu-ally cross the scalesbetween 3220 to 3225lbs. NHRA weighsyou after every run. Ifyou fall below theirminimum weightspec, your run is dis-qualified. When youwin a Class race, or

set a record, NHRA tears down your en-gine to ensure your claimed cubic inch,compression ratio, valve diameter andmany other parameters are in spec.NHRA Class racing is very different thanwhat most people know as bracket rac-ing. The rules one must follow arestrictly enforced. And its that very rea-son why I campaign an NHRA car.There is no other current advertisingPontiac engine builder trying to run anNHRA Class car. Its not easy. Althoughit is easy to brag about a no rulesbracket cars performance especiallywhen theres no unbiased proof of cubicinch, or weight of the car, or how muchturbo/blower boost is being used just be-fore they blow it to smithereens, all inorder to get one elapsed time slip to bragabout. I dont get it. In my book thats noway to lay claim of your power makingknow-how. NHRA provides a level play-ing field for everyone. I encourage any-one to try Stock or Super Stock class rac-ing. (No nitrous allowed.) NHRA Stock and Super StockClasses are performance based catego-ries. Which means if you want to winClass, its HEADS-UP racing. Remem-ber that? The way drag racing began?You have to be the fastest. More impor-tantly you must be able to repeat that

winning performance possibly manytimes in one day. Winning a bracket raceis no indication of a cars power potential.Dont get me wrong. It can be fun forsome, but it just means the car is consis-tent and the driver is good or lucky. Irant about this subject as there are somany misleading paths a new gear headcan travel. A guy trying to learn what ittakes to make the power he desires caneasily be sold a bill of goods. I see toomuch of it and it ticks me off. I want myPontiac friends to have fun with theirgoals. Anyone that wants to go fast witha traditional Pontiac engine, I considerthem a friend. My Super Stock Class winat Indy clearly defines the difference be-tween what I do with Pontiac enginesand the no-rules thrills seekin salesmen. At Indy this year, six cars showed upfor my Super Stock Class. GT/DA. Allbut mine are Chevy powered. Includingthe car that has held the record for thelast five years. I wanted to be able tobeat that car. But, you know, what kindof a dream does a poor boy get to realizeanyhow. NHRA allows Chevy motors inPontiac bodies, as long as that year bodycame with the corporate, (Chevy) en-gine. Im up against millions of dollarsof Chevy R&D, literally, since 1955. Youthink maybe a billion has been spent onthe small block research since 1955? Idoubt if thats an exaggeration. On the


Bruce Fulper Wins at Indy!

50th AnniversaryMac Tools U.S. Nationals

...quickest elapsed time for a traditional poweredPontiac NHRA Super Stock car in history...

Bruce enjoys a well-earned spot in theIndy Winners Circle!

Previous National event winners Mark Faul and Mike Beachy both lost to P.C. Richards.SMOKE SIGNALS DECEMBER 2004 19

other hand Im the only 428 Pontiac en-gine in history that is running NHRA Su-per Stock. I had no one to compare noteswith. Ive done all of my own R&D. With five years to get ready for this50th anniversary race at Indy, I knew Ihad my work cut out for me. The D classis pretty high up the performance ladderand the record was 9.63 at that time.Trust me, as neat as it would be to pos-ture myself like some big time profes-sional with lots of money, if you knowme, you know thats not me. (I can hearthe knowing crowd cackling, No kid-ding) So what. The people Ive seenposture themselves as something theyrenot havent impressed me. I love what Ido with these traditional Pontiac engines.It doesnt pay a bunch. I get by, espe-cially living in California and having aCalifornia mortgage. The lack of bigfunds means my research takes longer,and making the correct changes for im-provement is also time consuming. I re-cently paid off a SuperFlow engine dynoand its now set up in my shop. Like anyother tool, it takes skill to operate. Ivedyno tested over 150 of my customersengines at another facility, so I haveplenty of dyno experience. All dynos arenot created equal but the drag strip is.Most of my R&D with the Super Stockerhas been done at the track. Lots of runs.Lots of mistakes. My good fortune? Ima fast learner. Would that help me atIndy? I found out after my first run; Iwas lost. A dyno wouldnt help me now.Not back east.The Pressure:Going to Indy with a car that had onlyran on the west coast presented anunforseen problem. I knew the air is dif-ferent out west. We have little or no hu-midity. The mid-west is humid, so theadded water meant Id be down onpower. Having done my homework Iknew Id have to make some changes,but, you only get four chances to qualifyat the big race. I was ready for the tun-ing changes the engine would need.However, I wasnt ready to rethink thechassis setup. At NHRA national events, in Stockand Super Stock, only the top 128 carsthat run farthest under their index get torun in their respective bracket elimina-tor. Theres actually two races in oneevent. Class racing, where you run ev-eryone in your class for top honors.Little money, but major bragging rights.Then theres the overall bracket elimina-tor where all of the Stock or Super Stockclasses race each other in a dial yourown ET style bracket race. Im in it forthe heads-up class races. There were al-

most 200 Super Stockers trying to get inat Indy. Thats 72 almost fast enoughsthat embarrassingly went home early.(Including a well known old timePontiacer.) My first qualifying pass wasterrible. If youve seen my web site orthe Comp Cams ad with my car, youveseen the picture of the giant wheelstand.My new combination while running atVegas last fall was making so muchpower I stood the car straight up and ac-tually almost flipped it over. If it wasntfor the wheelie bars, I dont know whatwould have happened. With the backeast power robbing humidity I didntthink Id have that problem. Well, Ididnt. But not for the lack of power. My first time trial at Indy the car leftflat footed, (thats my way of saying itleft with the front wheels on the ground,)it spun horribly. Like I was in water. Anifty thing that NHRA does, they recordyour elapsed time in five locations downthe track. They are, the sixty foot mark,the 330 mark, half track, or 660 footmark, the 1000 foot mark, and of courseat the finish line, 1320 feet. Racers usethose times to see how their cars are ac-celerating (or not) in different areas ofthe track. The sixty foot mark is a greatindicator of how well your car hookedup. On the first time trial I recorded a1.66 sixty foot time. My average sixtyfoot is 1.28. I didnt qualify on that pass.Was it the track? Probably not. After therun I realized I had gotten to talking witha guy in the staging lanes and forgot tocheck my tire pressures. Dingbat. Itsonly the biggest event of my life and Iforgot to check my tire pressure. So, for the second time trial I set therear tire pressure properly. This launchwas not quite as bad but it still spunmore than usual. Luckily my newMickey Thompson drag radials recoverfrom spinning sooner than biased tires,and my 9.85 elapsed time put me in theshow at the 109th position. Yet, the carwasnt launching normally. I had thetires set correctly, but it was spinningmuch more than it should. Theres aproblem. Rats. What todo. I thought I only hadone more time trial beforeclass eliminations. I foundout tho that NHRA allowsyour first Class elimina-tion run to count as a finalqualifying run. It is, yourfinal qualifying attempt.Im thinking, thankGod. I had two morechances to qualify andmaybe get in lower thanthe precarious 109th posi-

tion. Another thing you need to knowabout Indy. All Class winners, no matterhow far under their index they run, areautomatically in the main bracket show.So that means the cars that are barelyqualified after three time trials mightfind themselves knocked out. Remem-ber, only 128 cars get in. Class winnersbump the lower qualifiers out. I didntlike being 109. No sir. Hey, There are 83Super Stock classes. If theres a car ineach class, (not always) potentiallyyoud need to qualify at the 45th positionor higher in order to have a good nightssleep before eliminations. Fortunatelynot all classes were represented this year,but I knew my car could run quicker andI wanted to qualify better than 109. After talking to the M/T tire rep, heasked me something I should havethought of anyway. Was the front endtight? Meaning, was the shock set so itwouldnt extend as quickly when the carlifted. This makes it harder for the car tolift. When its tight the car sees theweight of the wheels and tires sooner.Yes, I replied. It was as tight as pos-sible to keep it from wheel standing onthe west coast. Eureka! Something assimple as that, but hey, it was my firsttime at Indy. I hadnt realized that beingdown on power meant I had to loosenthe front end for the car to have properweight transfer. Now then. Adjust it howmuch? Ive never had to chase a shocksetting in the middle of its travel before.Its either been as loose as possible orvisa/versa. What a lousy time to beguessing, but thats the way the cookiecrumbles. I turned it all of the way looseand back one full turn. It was my third time trial. Right lane,Thursday late afternoon it jumped rightup in the air again, too high, unloadedand spun the right tire which made theleft tire drive me towards the wall. I hadto abort the run. Back in the pits, frus-trated, I turned the shock setting furtherback. Would it be enough? I spent the


Wheelstands are great for pictures, not good for ETs.20 SMOKE SIGNALS DECEMBER 2004

night wondering about it. I was so con-cerned that I knew Id be miserable withmy friends so I slept in my truck. Thenext morning would be the first round ofclass, and my last qualifying pass. Myinconsistent car was now a sitting duckagainst the more experienced racers.Um...More Pressure:Friday morning. This is it. I got pairedup with Merle Eschmans Grand Am.Paired up only because Merle had pulledup behind me. After we met and talked awhile, we figured to heck with the cointoss that pairs up the racers, we were thefirst two cars in the lanes, so we decidedto run each other. Merle and I flipped mylucky silver dollar for lane choice andhe won. He picked the right lane. We hadqualified close, both running 9.85s, so Ijust figured, heck with it, as long as thesecond shock setting was the one, evenif I lost I ought to move up the qualifyingsheet.

I did. The car left perfectly. Not toohigh. No spin. Just right. I went 9.83.Which moved me to the 90th spot. I wasreal lucky, and guess what? Somehow Ialso beat Merle! He went 9.85 in a racecloser than Id like. That meant I got an-other chance to practice reation times. Torecap a little there were six cars in myClass, so no one was going to get a byerun. Five of the six were qualified from9.80 flat to 9.90 flat. Jim Borbokas car,now owned by P.C. Richards, which wasthe car I had set my sights on five yearsago, was the fastest at 9.74. A wholetenth quicker that the rest of the field.Blah! Hey, all one can do is think, Oneround at a time. I thought, If I win justone class run off, cool. And I had. So atleast I was going to get another run. My second Class race was with BretVoges. My lucky silver dollar lost methat toss too and Bret picked the leftlane. Again, knowing we had previouslyqualified very close, we both knew itwas probably going to be won or lost onour reaction time at the tree. Of courseyou never know when someone is sand-bagging, saving their best performancefor Class eliminations. Bret wasnt sand-bagging. He took a shot at the tree andredlit! My car left once again perfectly.

I was going to the Class final againstthe car, but not the man, that I haddreamed about racing for five years.Truely a David and Goliath kinda story. Now I need to back up here a minuteand give a stadium size thanks to racerMike Carr, who took over my car like itwas his. He baby sat the ice, (keeping theintake manifold cold. Denser air, moreoxygen, goes faster!) He kept lookingover the car, making sure I was checkingthe tire pressure. He watched over thestarting line, put me in good spots andstayed with me throughout all of theeliminations. Mike, you sure didnt needto do any of that but THANK YOU!Also, previous car owner Phil Montieth,was very helpful too watching myburnouts and sending me out of the wa-ter. Those new radial slicks are trickyanimals and Phil made sure I didnt over-heat them. When Phil owned my car heand his driver, Peter Biondo, won theirfirst National super Stock chamionshipwith it. Since then theyve gone on towin two more National championshipswith their new car.Pressure? What Pressure? Aaaaaugh!An hour or so later we were called backto the staging lanes. Itwas time to meet MrRichardson. None of usknew how well he wasreally running. Remem-ber, this was the recordholding car that had gonelow 9.60s, in these backeast conditions. Was hesandbagging? Was he go-ing to pull out all of histricks? All we knew wasthat he was running wellenough to beat Mark Fauland Mike Beachey. Thatdidnt mean he wasntsaving something for the final. A lot oftricky racers do that. We met each otherbriefly, exchanging hellos and, well,here we are kind of things. Of courseits customary and a gentlemans thing tohave a coin toss to see who gets lanechoice. My lucky dollar lost me that toss

too. I gave that stinkin coin to the firstperson that walked by. I got a surprisedlook. I said, Dont ask. This was nuts. I was here. Indy. Andthe biggest Indy ever. The 50th anniver-sary Indy. Im in the final against the carI had dreamed about beating. All of thesethoughts. Blah! Got to clear my head.Its time to do what I set my mind to. Ok.Here we go. The staging lane directortells us to suit up and move out. Burn-out its good. Phil gives me the nod andI pull up. Mike points; this spot is bestfor traction. I pull in straight. Thumbsup, Mike walks away. I light the top pre-stage bulb and wait for Mr. Richardsonto pull in. Light the second stage bulb,and Big Daddy, this is it. Were on. I cutit as close as I dared. A red light andyoure on the trailer. It wasnt the bestlight, a .540 and....now...wheels up.Cant see a thing when the car is at thataltitude. I come down, and I should seehim out of my right window, right? Ididnt see him. What. What happened?Where was P.C. Richardson? A .500 is aperfect reaction time. A .499 R/T is a redlight. A .570 is what P.C. had. My start-ing line advantage was three hundrethsof a second. Three hundreths against a

car that was a tenth of a second quickerdoes not add up in your favor wherewas he? I was in high gear and past half trackbefore I gathered enough moxy to lookover my right shoulder. I mean, Icouldnt see him in my mirrors and he

wasnt sitting at the start-ing line. Where was he? Iturned myself as fararound in the seat as Icould, and there he was,in my blind spot, out myback window, about a fullcar length back. Oh,man, Im thinking. AndIm startin to yell. Imswingin my right armlike Who let the dogs

Merele was a swell guy and a class act.

Bret Voges had the only Camaro in our class. (File Photo)

This is what a .03 hundreths holeshot looks like.


out. Im yellin Cmon baaaby!Cmon! He wasnt gaining on me. Imyelling some more, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Ikept howling right across the finish linetil I saw my win light comeon. Yeek! Holy Mackerel.Yowza! This low betPontiac had just wonClass at Indy! Eventhe photographershad set up in Garyslane. Ive yet to finda picture from myside of the track. I hadjust outrun the quickestcar in the class. He had run 136 mph tomy 133 mph. But, it was my day.I went 9.82. Everyone said he spun onthe starting line. Hmmm, chassis set up?Too much power? He spun enough that itkilled his ET to 10.01. But his mphshowed he was loaded for bear. Well, the

One of my pals, Race Controller Carl Zimmer-man, has been to all fifty NHRA U.S. Nationals.

bear won. Nothing could be sweeter. Idid it. No one built my enginebut me. No one put my car to-

gether but me. And now, totop it off, I got the

chance to pass teardown and prove toeveryone just whatI can do. Howsweet it is. Yousee, I have thistrophy. A trophy

that was earned.Three Class wins in

three years. Tho, I have to say,beating that car on a holeshot and

winning Class at Indy is the best. My Pontiac friends, you too are thebest. Thanks for your support. Ive got tothank Mark Gemmel for fronting half themoney for a new tranmission, and Caroland Patrick Ray for their terrific hospi-

tality. Brian Swain and his buddy Rob,and everyone else who yelled in my be-half. And by the way, I have anothergoal. A goal that will be another Pontiacfirst and make you all proud. Proud toown what some of us call, a R-E-A-LPontiac engine.

WINTER PROJECTSPOCI member Roger Simmins of Lawrenceville, New Jerseysent in the August 2004 issue of Scale Auto shown at the right.You guessed it its all about Pontiac GTOs! Well, much of it.The feature, cover story, is all about the detailing of a 1/25 scaleRevell-Monogram 1966 GTO. It gives step-by-step instructionswith very good photos of everything, including engine, exhaustsystem, interior, body, and trim detailing. It is quite involved, butthe results are fantastic. It looks like the real thing! But it doesntstop there. Immediately following the 66 detailing article is an articleentitled 40 Years of Greatness a kit history for GTO buildersand collectors. This article takes you through the GTO years inmodels from beginning to present. If you have ever wonderedwhat GTO model kits were produced, by whom, and when, thisis a must read. This will help you locate whatever you are look-ing for, and even gives information on kits that have been reis-sued. And, theres even more. Elsewhere in this issue you will find a neat build of a 67Firebird and as an extra bonus, on the last page in a section

called Sketchpad there are two very customizedGTO illustrations a 1966 and a 1971. If you arelooking to customize your GTO (or any Pontiac forthat matter), dont forget to check out the modelingmagazines for ideas. You may find some ideas thathave never been put to medal before. There you go. And you didnt think you had any-thing to do during the coming long winter months! If you wish to get this particular magazine oreven subscribe, contact Kalmbach Publishing,21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box 1612,Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. 800-533-6644. Checktheir web site also at: www.kalmbach.com

Except for the last two model years (1973 and 1974), everyyear of Pontiac GTO has been replicated in 1/24 or 1/25scale by at least one American kit manufacturer.


By: Jim BlackPhotography by Jim Black, ClaudiaMathes, and Shawn Kniesly

The Pontiac Owners Association ofOmaha and the Nebraskaland Chapterof POCI, have again combined forces toput on another quality, all Pontiac showthat has become one of the largestevents in the Midwest. This year thetwo clubs played host to the 22nd An-nual Pontiac-GMC Show, held August28-29, 2004, at the Nebraska CrossingFactory Stores, in Gretna, Nebraska.This was the fifth consecutive year thatNebraska Crossing has served as theprimary sponsor for the event. The Gretna interchange is locatedjust ten minutes west of Omaha, off In-terstate 80. This location continues tooffer attendees an excellent atmosphere,unequalled access, and outstanding sup-port from area dealers, Nebraska Cross-ing, and other businesses said JoeDyrda, show co-chairman.

This years special guest includedJim Hand from Kansas City who is anoted drag racer, author, and enginebuilder. Jim had his famed 71 Lemans,455 wagon race car on display. Alsopresent at the show were Mark Wenzlaffand Bryce Anderson of Yankton Auto-motive for Saturdays Dyno Chal-lenge. The event also featured over adozen new Pontiacs and GMC trucksdisplayed by par-ticipating dealers,plus an excellenttwo-day swapmeet. Event spon-sors included theNebraska CrossingFactory Stores,Cracker BarrelOld CountryStores in Omahaand Lincoln, Cen-tury 21, and sev-eral area Pontiac-GMC dealerships

and other businesses. Activities kicked off Saturday after-noon with the Dyno Challenge whichwas conducted by Yankton Automotive.Ten cars participated in the challengewith Joe Sharpnack of Greenwood, NEtaking top honors as his 65 GTO mea-sured 481 hp at the flywheel (370 hp atthe rear wheels) and 625 lb/ft of torque.

Midwests Largest

Excellent Weather Leads to Another SuccessfulOmaha All-Pontiac/GMC Show!

Joe Sharpnack prepares for a dyno run with his 65 GTO



Dyno Challenge Results (Engine/Rear Wheel):Joe Dyrda: 2000 Trans Am 392/1302 @5,656 w/368 ft.lbs. torqueJohn Barr: 1998 Trans Am 467/359 @5,700 w/440 ft.lbs. torqueBill Parker: 1968 Firebird 344/265 @5,100 w/410 ft.lbs. torqueDarrell Anderson: 2002 Firehawk 395/305 @5,523 w/382 ft.lbs. torqueRuss Hume: 1982 Trans Am 323/248 @4,940 w/389 ft.lbs. torqueJoe Sharpnack: 1965 GTO 481/370 @3,825 w1625 ft.lbs. torqueHillis Mathes: 1969 GTO Convertible 316/244 @4,420 w/420 ft.lbs. torqueNatalie Tiedje: 1991 Firebird 260/194 @4,390 w1328 ft.lbs. torqueKelly Dahl: 2001 Firehawk 359/275 @5,550 w/ 340 ft.lbs. torqueBob Purdie: 1967 GTO 355/273 4,280 w/452 ft.lbs. torque

A BBQ followed for all entrants andtheir families followed by an ice creamcruise. Following the cruise to CheriOs participants returned to the showsite for a parking lot party which fea-tured games, music, and R/C car races.The next morning registration andteching started promptly at 8:00 amending at 12:00 noon. Early in the after-noon participants were also given theopportunity to hear Jim Hands presen-tation and learn about his new bookHow To Build Max Performance Pon-tiac V-8s. A quick look over the show field sawthe usual high quality cars with manynotable standouts including a 1939 Pon-tiac owned by Bob Chalek from Coun-cil Bluffs, Iowa; a 1969 GTO owned byKarl and Mary Kumbel of Remsen,Iowa; and Dave Puhls 57 Chieftainfrom Omaha. Other worthy contendersincluded Ray and Sharon Goschs 1959Bonneville and a 1992 GMC Typoonowned by Mark and Sheri Pieloch. Ifyou enjoy something a little more on thewild side, then a Fiero Scorpion kitcar might suit your fancy, plus a 1948GMC extended cab 3-door custom. The awards were held at 4:00 withpresentations made by host club presi-dents Tom Rappl and Shawn Kniesleyand Best in Class awards announced(see listing) by club member HarryAllen. Peoples Choice award recipientsincluded Larry Reimer from Omaha,NE for his 77 Trans Am in the interme-diate category; Jesse Renteria of Papill-ion, NE with his 1955 1/2-ton pickup inthe GMC category; and Glenn Bappe ofKingsley, IA with his magnificent 57fuel-injected Bonneville convertible inthe full-size category. Fred Mittans 55Chieftain took the Nebraska CrossingsChoice Award and Jesse Renteria alsowon the Century 21 Choice Award. Winners Circle awards were pre-sented to last years Peoples Choicerecipients which included Jerry Burrow,Tim and Marie Everts, and Gus andMary Frics, owners of the displayed 84

Local artist Scott Shaner had someinteresting automotive art on display

Fiero pace car, 1950 GMC pickup, anda 1958 Bonneville, respectively. TheClub Participation Award went to theRedline Warriors Club from DesMoines, Iowa and special Apprecia-tion awards were also presented toshow sponsors and special guests. This years show had 238 entriescovering forty-nine classes with entries

representing nine states. Participantstraveled as far as Wyoming, Coloradoand Ohio, a testament to the on-goinghard work and dedication of these twoclubs. I asked Mr. Dyrda why theshow continues to be a success yearafter year. The bottom line valuehe replied. Where else can you get so


Jim Hands 71 Lemans 455 powered race car was on display

A standout 69 GTO, owned by Karl and Mary Kumbel of Remsen, Iowa


Best in Class Winners:A) Antique (42 and older): Bob andGloria Chalek, 1939 Pontiac; Bellevue,NEB) Post War (4654): Pete Glinski,1949 Streamline 8; Papillion, NEC) Early & Safari (5560): GlennBappe, 1957 Bonneville; Kingsley, IAD) Full Size (6164): Jerry Lust-graaf,1961 Ventura; Treynor, IAE) Full Size (6576): Dean Eitmann,1967 Ventura; Council Bluffs, IAF) Full Size (77Present): MaryMittan, 2004 Bonneville; Wahoo, NEH) 2+2: Tom Sciortino, 1967 2+2;Council Bluffs, IAI-2) Grand Prix (6977): Patrick Santi,1969 Grand PrixI-4) Grand Prix (8896): Al Currie.1996 Grand Prix;Washington, IAI-5) Grand Prix (97Present): DelossSmith, 2002 Grand Prix; Ralston, NEJ) FWD (except Full Size & GP):Wayne Knoell, 2002 Grand Am; Elkhorn,NEK-1) Fieros (Stock Coupe/Formula): FredRoman, 1984 Fiero; Lees Summit, MOK-2) Fieros (GTStock): Larry Davis,1988 Fiero GT;Omaha, NEK-3) Fieros (Modified): Richard & NancyEdzards, 1988 Fiero; Omaha, NEL-1) GTO (6465): Ron Weinand, 1965GTO; Papillion, NEL-2) GTO (6667): Dennis Christen-sen,1967 GTO; Seward, NEL-3) GTO (6869): Brad Ulven, 1968GTO; Papillion, NEL-4) GTO (7074) Jim Cline, 1970GTO;Bellevue, NEN-1) Tempest, Lemans (6165) Jerry &Anne Ewing, 1964 Lemans; Omaha, NEN-2) Tempest, Lemans (66 67): James& Robin Kerr, 1967 Lemans; Topeka, KSO) Tempest, Lemans (6872): RichardFushia 1972 Lemans; Lincoln, NEP) A Body RWD (73 - 87): Jim

much, for so little? The $20 entry feegets you a quality show-shirt; a guaran-teed award plaque (based on your carslevel of workmanship); a chance at a$100 cash giveaway; and a door prize.If you attend Saturday nights activitiesyou also receive a free meal (you andyour family); the Ice Cream Cruise; andmore giveaways. Next years show isplanned for August 2728 at NebraskaCrossing. Inquires can be directed toJoe Dyrda, event coordinator, at (402)289-3620;email at [email protected] plans now to attend the 2005show which should be Bigger and Bet-ter. Well see ya there!

Dave Puhls 57 Chieftan complete with tilt front end

1948 GMC extended cab custom 3-door

This tricked out Northstar powered Scorpion sits atop a Fiero chassis (continued on next page....)SMOKE SIGNALS DECEMBER 2004 25

Cerone, 1977 Can Am; Omaha, NEQ) Firebird/TA (6769): Jeff Gaule,1968 Firebird;Omaha, NER-1) Trans Am (7076): Jim Rotella,1972 T/A;Omaha, NER-2) Trans Am (7781): Jim Hoven-dick, 1979 T/A;Blair, NER-3) Trans Am (8292): Jack & PatScott, 1988 T/A;Lincoln, NER-4) Trans Am (9302): Jason Stewart,2002 Firehawk;Gretna, NES-1) Firebird/Formula (7081): LarryHerr, 1973 Firebird; Papillion, NES-2) Firebird/Formula (8292): AndyBurroughs, 1989 Firebird; Plattsmouth, NES-3) Firebird/Formula (9302): ChrisOlson, 1994 Firehawk;Omaha, NET-1) Commercial: Roger Novacek, 1968Hearse; Dwight, NET-2) Non-Commercial: Greg Hawley,1964 Tempest Wagon; Muscatine, IAU) Limited Change (67 & Older): DanPotnam, 1965 GTO; Sugar Creek, MO)V) Limited Change (68 & Newer):Darrell Anderson, 2002 Firehawk;Shawnee, KSW) Street Modified: Bill & Kathy Parker,1968 Firebird; Davenport, IAX) Race (Street Legal): Jon Bischof,1986 Grand Prix 2+2; Omaha, NEY) Race (Not Street Legal): BillLorenzen, 1967 GTO; Lincoln, NEAA) GMC Stock (72 & Older): LarryKopia

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