Vintage Pontiac Pics

[grantprix]

Here's a few old photos from the 1969 Detroit Auto Show...

[StealthBird]

Grant, those are GREAT pictures!! Are those yours, or were they found on the web?

Here's a couple more from 1969:

1st photo - 1969 Trans Am debut at the 1969 Chicago Auto Show. Note the 69 Bird on the turntable in the background, that's the same yellow one from your photo.

2nd photo - 1969 Knafel Pontiac Golden Sabre GTO. Knafel sold these with RAV engines and Hurst wheels. Mr. Knafel claimed he received a batch of 1969 GTO's with FACTORY installed RAV engines, but this has never been proven. Knafel received a great number of RAV crate motors.

3rd photo - 1969 Trans Am in a dealer showroom, this is from an original 1969 Pontiac Newsletter.

4th photo - notice in the background of the 1969 Chicago Auto Show picture, there's a sign that reads, "To win jacket, drop ticket stub here." The jacket was a Judge jacket.

5th photo - Vintage 1969 photo of a Pontiac salesman posing with their new 1969 Judge, all wearing their Judge jackets.

[grantprix]

Those photos were emailed to me from a good friend of mine who knows an older gentleman that worked for Pontiac and actually worked setting up for the different shows back then. He has some really cool items that he saved from back then.

I have an original one of those Judge jacket order forms, I've thought about having some quality copies made of it.

Thanks for posting the photos, those are great!

[StealthBird]

Awesome pictures Grant, they really are. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

I have tons of vintage Oldsmobile and Buick photos too. We may have to start a thread in the other section(s).

Some more from 1969:

1) Another shot of the yellow 1969 Firebird from the same Detroit Auto Show.

2 &amp; 3) Two photos of the Royal Racing Team's 1969 Firebird. Note that this was not Royal Pontiac anymore, it was &quot;Leader Engineering&quot;. Leader Automotive was owned by George DeLorean (John Z's brother). After Royal Pontiac decided to get away from the high perf conversions business and focus on regular Pontiac sales, chief mechanic Milt Schornack left Royal Pontiac, and hooked up with Leader Automotive. Milt was allowed to keep the Royal trademark though, as he was responsible for the Royal Pontiac Racing Club. Ace Wilson Jr. of Royal Pontiac had no interest in the Bobcat conversions after Jim Wangers left to work for George Hurst.

3) An original Judge jacket, still in the package.

[grantprix]

More great photos! Absolutely, post those other vintage photos when you can... I could look at this stuff all day! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

[grantprix]

Oh and by the way, the photo you posted with the new Judge jacket just happens to be from my same friend that I got the auto show photos from. That photo was from his ebay auction and that jacket also came from his same friend that worked for Pontiac. Small world! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

[StealthBird]

1) Can't remember who had these pics from the 1970 Chicago Auto Show (photo dated Feb 1970), but this shot of a 70 GTO Pontiac show car is interesting in that it's wearing what appear to be early honeycomb wheels, which didn't come out until 1971.

2) Gene Ingle's 1969 Judge drag car

3 &amp; 4) Proud parents show off their children, and their Pontiacs.

5) This is the same 1969 Firebird as in the above photos, but this was when Royal Pontiac was still involved in high-perf conversions. That's Milt Schornack rowing the gears. This 350 H.O. Firebird was VERY well set up, and was the same car that later ran a RAIV and a RAV. Schornack trailered the 350 H.O. Firebird 2500 miles to race at the Winter Nationals in Pomona CA. He made one pass at an astonishing 12.32 at 113 mph. Apparently that upset some people, most notably Dale Smith from the factory Oldsmobile drag team, and he had the Royal Firebird banned.

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[grantprix]

Mike, these are great! That honeycomb wheel on the '70 appears to be a little different than the production wheel. Maybe a prototype?

I really enjoy seeing these old photos of cars when they were new... especially the ones in front of houses, in driveways, etc...

Great stuff! Keep'm coming... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]


Here's a scan of two old Polaroids that I got from the original owner of a '69 GP 428HO 4-speed that I had a few years ago. The gentleman told me that he raced early 60's 421 Pontiacs back in the day and collected a few trophies which were displayed across the hood of the GP in these photos when the car was new...

[olredalert]

----Wow, Grant!!! Where did that GP go? Another non-SJ 428/4spd HO unearthed. There just cant be many of these. Do you have a handle on any production figures?

----That Honeycomb appears to be actual aluminum, not rubber faced. I think that would definetly make it a prototype during the 1970 time period, wouldnt it?......Bill S

[StealthBird]

Great pics again Grant!

This is what I was hoping the thread would turn out to be, a nice photo album of just vintage Pontiac pics for all to enjoy. I thought it was a great idea for Charlie to make separate forum sections for each manufacturer. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]