My Pontiac Story

[Keith Seymore]

Not Really the End

We didn't know it at the time but the car would be parked for nearly 25 years.

By the fall of 1974, Dad would be diagnosed with Rhuematoid Arthritis, which he would struggle with for the rest of his life. It was severe enough to be nearly disabling - to a lesser man - but managed to slow Dad down. He was not able to drive the GTO since he could not push the clutch in without significant pain.

I was distracted with racing my Chevelle, which I am still running today. I recall in the mid 80's, for a special outing, we borrowed a set of slicks and I stroked the car to an easy 12.40 pass. The car sat again after that brief exercise.

Finally, in the late 1990's, I was able to convince Dad to let the car sit at my house, more secure in one of the back barns rather than in the front garage at his house. While the car was in my possession I was able to secretly reinstall the redline tires and rally I wheels, as well as do some minor engine modifications to get it running again (replaced the aluminum valve spring retainers, reshimmed the valve springs and rebuilt the carbs, cleaned out the fuel tank). I was able to surprise him for his birthday with the correct appearing and nicely running car.

[Keith Seymore]

The Beginning of a New Era

By the late 90's and early 00's we were getting significant pressure from our family and our Pontiac friends to begin doing more with the car, perhaps participating in local shows and parades. Stubborn as he was, Dad finally acquiesced and our big "coming out" was to be the Widetracker's Dustoff show in May of 2003.*

We brought the car to the show as we normally would, arriving without fanfare at about 6:30 am to get set up. As is my custom I taped a small, 8.5x11 sheet of paper to the window describing some of the history and details as we have already discussed.

What would be different this time is that freelance writer Jeff Koch was on the property. He took notice of the writeup and, after a brief interview with Dad, he was (naturally) smitten. He wanted to do a feature article on the car.

We said yes. The plan was for us to wait until after the show: he would be photographing two other special Pontiacs and would do ours last, after the lighting was better. We waited until about 8:30 pm for his return (remember, we had been there since 6:30 am) and finally....finally got our photo shoot done.



*It was kind of funny because, unbeknownst to Dad, the Widetrackers had planned to have the car on display as one of the "feature" vehicles, on the midway for some special recognition. My son James and I had been cleaning and planning for the event for weeks in advance. Finally, the day before the show, Dad said "ya know, nobody has said anything else about bringing the GTO. I think we should stay home". As calmly as possible I relayed that I had, in fact, been in contact with the Widetrackers and that we couldn't bounce around on this decision; that James and I had been working hard to get ready and that we needed to go. He agreed and the rest, as they say, is history.

[Keith Seymore]

It took roughly nine months of corresponding with Jeff (reviewing rough drafts, submitting additional data, sending vintage photos, etc) but finally the article was done and was to hit the stands. Not just one part, as anticipated, but two parts minimum, and additionally readers were encouraged to write as well.

The magazines came out in February 2004, March 2004 and commentary in May 2004.*




One other fun thing that happened at that time: Jeff was also working for Johnny Lightning at the time. They were planning on bringing out a new model of 1965 GTO and asked if he could use the artwork of our photoshoot on the packaging. Naturally we said yes and received a couple boxes of these as a thank you.




Since that time the car has also been mentioned in Charlie Morris' book "Factory Lightweights", and also will be included in an upcoming book about the Supercar dealerships of the 60's by reknown photographer David Newhardt.







* HPP was also kind enough to run a short obituary in May of 2006, after Dad's passing.

[Keith Seymore]

Plans for 2008

Since Dad's passing in November of 2005 the Widetrackers have remembered his name by awarding the "Best of Show" award at the annual May Dustoff.







Our family was on hand at that first show in 2006 and we will, once again, be there to present the award this year as well.





For more info about the Widetrackers Chapter of the POCI and the annual Dustoff, see: http://widetrackers.com/


Also for this year we have been asked to bring the GTO to the "Eyes on Design" Concours Event held at the Edsel Ford Estate. One of the special displays at the event will be a recognition of GM's 100 year anniversary: significant GM vehicles are to be highlighted and we were asked to represent the Pontiac GTO.


For both this year and in the future, my plans are to maintain this car in it's current state: both by not allowing its condition to degrade any further and by keeping it in it's 1967 season B/MP trim. I have all the parts to return the engine to completely stock (intake manifold and carbs, exhaust manifolds and cylinder heads) but prefer to keep it in it's current set up in deference to my Dad's legacy and as a steward of "his" car (not my own).

To me, it will always be "Van Seymore's '65 GTO".

[Keith Seymore]

From November of 2009:

Got my advanced copy of the latest Darwin Holmstrom/David Newhardt book in the mail over the weekend. I was pleased to find the GTO was mentioned (by name) and a couple photos present on page 99. These are a sampling of the shots from the aforementioned November 2007 photo shoot with David Newhardt.

Other PYer's who figured prominantly in the book were: Eric White (67 GTO convert) and a big "thank you" from the author to Dr Eric Schiffer (whose '68 convertible is also featured). David Anderson and Mr Wangers are also called out, as well as Jim Kennedy's '62 as shown above.

The book is getting rave reviews from those who have seen it, including Mr Wangers, and I highly recommend it for any GTO enthusiast.

K

[Keith Seymore]

June, 2009:

This Father's Day weekend I had the opportunity to participate in the "Eyes on Design" event, held at the Edsel Ford Estate.

The show is an "invitation only" event (cars are chosen by a selection committee) and benefits the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology. The show is also unique in the way cars are judged, not by how well they are restored (or survived) but by how the design (ie, styling) created trends, enabled technology or reflected the culture.

The theme for our specific display was the advertising artwork of Art Fitzpatick/Van Kaufman. I was asked to bring both the GTO and the Grand Prix. As you might expect the vehicles were displayed with the corresponding advertising art.









At any rate I won a "Design of Distinction" award, based at least in part on the car's originality.

Here is the "elusive" Keith Seymore, posing with judges (and former GM Design heads) Bill Porter and Kip Wasenko:

[Keith Seymore]

One of the things I enjoy about being "my father's son" is finding the little surprises he left behind.

I was in his garage the other day and I found this "well loved" Chassis Service Manual:



This was significant (to me) for a couple reasons:

First - I found this folded up in the middle of the pages:



I realize it's impossible to read (anybody else remember the old "onionskin" typing paper?), so I retyped it here so that it would be legible:





It's the service letter introducing the "Ram Air" package. Since we raced our car with an early ram air box installed, Dad used this letter as verification that he could legally run the airbox in NHRA competition.

Then, there was this "To Do" list (a list of things, from "beyond the grave", that he wanted ME to finish ):







Lastly, as I was flipping through the pages, I found these sketches:



As you might guess, there's a story there, too.