My Pontiac Story

[Keith Seymore]

"...Didn't you used to be Van Seymore?..."



Ok - so that made me think of a funny one:

After Dad got sick the medicines (steroids) caused him to retain water. During his growing up years and in young adulthood he had always been quite thin, but the medicines caused him to puff up a bit, especially making his face a little rounder than it had been previously.

Dad was always running into someone he knew, whether it was in an expressway rest area in Phoenix or a shopping trip in a local mall. One time we were out and someone thought they recognized him:

"...Didn't you used to be Van Seymore?" the man asked.

Dad paused for a minute and said "....I thought I still was...."

K

[Keith Seymore]

November 2009:

Wendy's story -


I had something funny happen a few weeks ago, back in the November timeframe, that I haven't shared with you guys yet.

I had some errands to run in support of getting ready to go to Chicago (to the Muscle Car Nationals) so I decided to grab some lunch and take the afternoon off. I almost never go out for lunch and I never EVER stop at the Wendy's closest to my house - but - a bacon cheeseburger sounded pretty good so I stopped in. I pulled into the parking lot and parked way in the back, away from everybody else, as is my custom now that I am driving my restored '87 pickup.



I should mention, as shown, my little truck is a red Chevy regular cab 2wd shortbox. Because of that it was only natural I noticed, as I pulled in, a guy followed me in a newer (GMT800 style) pickup, also a red Chevy regular cab 2wd shortbox. He parked back kind of where I was, next to me but leaving a respectful distance between his truck and mine.

After I finished my burger (...which was excellent, by the way...) I walked back out and I noticed his truck was still sitting there. I didn't see him come or go so I looked around a bit as I was walking and right then he came out of the restaurant. He caught up to me and spoke first, saying "...hey, that's a sweet little truck!" or something like that.

I confided that I had noticed his truck , too, so we spent several minutes talking about (red) Chevy pickups, then onto working for GM and living in the area. I told him (gradually) about restoring the truck through the summer, giving him short snippets of info and then responding in more detail as he asked more follow up questions.

I haven't mentioned this yet but, because I was heading to the Muscle Car Nats that weekend, and because I wanted the author Darwin Holmstrom to sign my book, I had my big GTO book laying in the front seat of the truck.



As the pickup truck conversation died down a bit, he said "....I see you've got the new GTO book. Have you had a chance to look at it much?".

I didn't tell him that I'd had it since May but did indicate that I had flipped through it a time or two.

At that point he said, matter of factly: "My car is in it". Surprised, I said "really, which one!?!".

His car is the red '61 Catalina, shown early in the book on pages 40 - 45. He got pretty good coverage spanning over several pages.





So now the conversation was off and running again, this time talking about Pontiacs, and how he got the car painted a year ago, and how the motor is out now (spun a cam bearing) and going back together. I told him my car was on page 99 and that we did the photo shoot in November of '07 pretty much across the street from where we were currently standing. We marveled at the fact that we lived only a few miles apart and never had met before, and how unusual it was for us to meet under these circumstances.

My car:





I bet we stood in that Wendy's parking lot for almost an hour before we finally decided we'd better get going, parting ways but vowing to stay in touch.

That was one of the most bizarre chance encounters (and one of the most enjoyable) in recent memory....

K

[Keith Seymore]

Not GTO related, but Pontiac related:

April 2010:

It's that time of year; I suspect dads all across America are being asked to drive their kids around "in an old car", and my house was no exception.

Last night was my turn - took the kids for a ride and then dropped my second oldest daughter at her Senior Prom. We managed to get a few (silly) shots amidst all the seriousness:

[Keith Seymore]

This is something I've been wanting to do for quite some time now; ever since I found the old tow bar hanging on the wall at Mom & Dad's house.

I put a hitch on the Grand Prix over the winter and finally got to try it out today -









That's how we used to roll, back in the day!

K

[Keith Seymore]

June 2010:

Yesterday was the Widetrackers Chapter of POCI spring "Dustoff" car show; among other things this was to be the fifth and final presentation of the "Van Seymore Award" in memory of dad -

About 120 cars, representing several different Pontiac and special interest clubs, were in attendance:



In spite of the threat of rain, I brought the Grand Prix:






Here is the trophy for this year's Award, provided by the Widetrackers:





This year's winner was the fabulous '61 Catalina owned by Dennis and Mary Koss. This car was formerly owned (and the restoration financed by) Detroit rocker Bob Seger. Very tastefully done with a black and grey mild custom tri-tone interior, Vintage Air underdash A/C unit and '62 console. The car is said to contain Bob's cigarette ashes in the ash tray (...I suggested they should try to sell them on Ebay as "Bob Seger's Ashes"). This car was also chosen as "Best of Show" by popular vote.









The Koss's are the only "two time" winners of the award, having won previously in 2008 with their 1962 Catalina "Royal Bobcat" tribute.

A complete set of photos can be viewed here: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...eply&p=4016176

[Keith Seymore]

August 2010:

We talked about the Widetracker's Dustoff show (above); if memory serves that event was immediately followed by the "Eyes on Design" concours event, held at the Edsel Ford Estate.

George Turner and I were representin' the GTO crowd at that one:



Complete set of pics for that great event can be found here:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=636713

That was pretty much immediately followed by the "Concours de Elegance" at Meadow Brook. Tickets were provided by collector/restorer Joe Bortz, who wanted me to see a couple of his MotorRama show cars -



What Joe didn't realize is that he was really financing my trip to see this little guy:



That thread, complete with more pictures of A/FX racers, is located here:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=639846

This week is, of course, Woodward Dream Cruise week. The actual event is Saturday, which I will have to miss due to a personal scheduling conflict, but I've been getting my fill through the week. We were out twice Monday night, and then again last night. Today I will be taking some out of town guests on my patented "abandoned factories" tour - visiting some notable Detroit area ruins and finishing up at the Pontiac Assembly Center, where all three of my Pontiacs were built.

[Keith Seymore]

One more thing:

I also had an opportunity to take some "old/new" photos at the GM Tech Center during the GM shutdown -








........................





They weren't "framed up" as perfectly as I had envisioned but, in my defense, let's just say I wasn't given as much time to work with as I would have liked...

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Not GTO related, but Pontiac related:

April 2010:

It's that time of year; I suspect dads all across America are being asked to drive their kids around "in an old car", and my house was no exception.

Last night was my turn - took the kids for a ride and then dropped my second oldest daughter at her Senior Prom. We managed to get a few (silly) shots amidst all the seriousness:

Keen eyed observers might notice the similarity between this photo (above) and the one I am attaching below:



My daughter popped that pose without any prompting from me. She must have seen "Marilyn" in the promotional pictures somewhere along the line and remembered.

I love you, sweetie!

[Steve Shauger]

Hi Keith what an amazing journey you and your father have travelled. Being there along side your dad was true blessing. The level of passion and involvement in racing, car hobby, and historian is astounding. The wealth of knowledge you've shared is very much appreciated by this site and our members!!!!

You might have noticed there will be a new feature My Garage & Story. This thread may be a good fit.

Here's a link:

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=163818