Wagon of the Month January 2013

Here's "cammerjeff" story for the Wagon of the Month for January. When he first signed up and I saw his collection, I knew he had a story.

thanks

Tom

Well 1st let me Apolagize for my late posting, but we had an unexpected family emergency that took me out of state for the last 2 weeks, without my computor. No excuse just bad timing. Well here is the 1st post of my background. I will start with a little history than more specificy info on our cars.


Let start off by Thanking Tom for asking me to be the 1st LROM for 2013!!! I am honored.
I will start off with a little background info on myself, and were my love of wagons comes from. I am a Navy brat, and growing up as the youngest son of a large family with 6 other siblings, My parents always had at least 1 station wagon, and most times 2 during the 60’s 70’s and 80’s. My earliest car memories are riding in what our family called the “in between” the area of about 1 foot by 4 feet that appeared when both rear seats were upright. Me and our Beagle would ride in that area while my older sisters flirted with the boys they could see out the back window.
Well my father was a carrier Naval Aviator, and about the time I was born I think he went thru his mid life crisis and traded in his 1956 Chevy 4-door wagon for a 1964 Jaguar E-type coupe! I did enjoy riding to various fishing holes in Texas, Colorado, and Michigan in the luggage area of the E-type with my Father and Uncle in the seats. Well in 1968 my Mother got tired of hauling the entire family around in our 1965 Chevy wagon so she demanded that my Father trade in the Jag for a “3-seat” wagon. Well my father still claims that he followed her orders completely, and did her 1 better as he came home with a “4-seat” wagon!!!!! He ordered the wagon that I do blame for my addiction. He ordered a 1969 Chevy Townsman Wagon, with a 427 4bbl, and a 4-speed Trans with bucket seats no console or A/C, silver with a black vinyl interior. Remember we lived outside of Corpus Christy NAS in southern Texas!!!! I can still feel the skin on my legs sticking to the scorching black vinyl seats!!! The car was without wood trim as my father always said he preferred his wagons “out of the shipping crate they came in!” The car must have had highway gears as it would not come out of the whole well, but from 20mph on it just flew!!!! Unfortunately it died an early and ugly death as my father, impatient as always hit a tow truck rushing to his favorite fishing hole on a July morning in 1971, Luckly no injuries except for the poor hot rod Townsman that was totaled. He then bought a 71 9 passenger Kingswood off the lot that he absolutely hated, his main problem with the car was that the new tailgate design was to narrow to allow him to carry his flat bottom river boat in the back, he had to buy a trailer, and the Kingswood would almost always overheat when pulling even that light load. Well he soon traded it in on a 9 passenger Chevy Van. And that ended our wagon days when I was still at home. I recently came across a bad Polaroid showing my father posing with a 6 point Buck in the Tailgate of the Silver 69 wagon, Must be November 1969 or 1970 as that is the only hunting seasons we would have had that car. Unfortunatly that is the only photo of that car I have found to date.
Well I grew up Loving Planes and Cars, I went to work as an aircraft Mechanic, and became a armature Drag & Circle Track Racer and stayed away from wagons for the next 20 years, my father came back to the wagon world after the interlude with the Van and owned 1977, 1983, and 1992 Chevy Caprice wagons.
Around 1990 the wagon bug started hitting me after getting married, and adopting our 1st retired Greyhound. At the time I was hanging out with 2 Pontiac Racers that were racing Wagons, a 1963 Catalina Safari, and a 1979 Lemans Safari. And I started the Search for a Lemans or Tempest wagon. I 1st found a 1965 Tempest Wagon in the bottom storage area of an old Barn, it looked good from the side, and the price was right at $300, but the frame was so rusted out that the car latterly almost broke in ½ when we pulled it out of the lower storage area of the barn! So it was parted out, and the search continued! After about a year of searching for a light odd ball Pontiac wagon, I stumbled on our 1978 Sunbird Safari. It came from the San Francisco California area I knew nothing about it other than the price was right at $600.00 plus $685.00 to ship it to Michigan, and the fact that it was a rust free CA car with only 78,000 miles. It had an even fire Buick 231 V-6, T-350 automatic, 2.56 open 7.5 axle. As you can imagine this was not the quickest car in stock form, so as a drag racer some changes were needed. So the over the next few years as time and $$$’s permitted I added Ported High Port heads, a 4bbl Holley intake, a Q-jet, 200R4 Trans with Shift Kit, 3.73 Posi axle and duel exhaust. The car progressed from a 20.1 ¼ mile time to 14.5. All in all a fun and unusual street car that handles and stops much better than I ever imagined!
We also have a 78 Impala wagon that we use as a dog hauler, and I drive on nice days in the summer. A couple of long term resto projects, a 1971 Lemans Wagon, and a 1973 Lemans Safari that is a Factory 4-speed car. In the past I have owned a 1983 Cutlass Cruiser, a 1977 Buick Century Wagon, and various parts cars to keep the projects going.

Thanks for sharing, jeff!
I KNEW there had to be a neat story behind all that Pontiac stuff in your signature!

You would enjoy our Michigan Widetrackers "Spring Dust-Off" :
25th Annual Spring Dust-Off Car Show

June 8, 2013
Springfield Oak County Park
12451 Andersonville Rd.
Davisburg, MI 48350-3038

We'd love to see you there...the Sunbird would fit right in!

http://widetrackers.com/index.htm

Awesome stories Jeff and some very cool wagons.Bet your dad caught hell for bringing home that
427 4 speed chevy wagon with no air!But I bet you wish you still had that baby today.Sounds
like you have wagons in your blood.
Thanks

Nice story, always like the little Sunbirds....

Man, that 427 wagon must have been rare as hen's teeth! I've never seen one optioned like that. Love how you've stuck with the Buick V6 in the Sunbird and vastly improved on it. Time for a hairdryer now to really wake it up.

I've never seen one of those in person!! Man that lil wagon is hot! And love those Snowflake wheels!!

Nice write-up and congrats on WOM.

I love the little Poncho wagon. So cool!!

-Mike

Thanks for the Kind words!!!!

I was having some problems with my internet access yesterday so I will try and upday our present and past Wagons and the other cars as well. With some more picks.

As I previously stated our oldest continuously owned longroof is the 78 Sunbird. I have found a couple of shots of it being unloaded from the car hauler on the day it was delivered in September 2003 This is the car arriving with me standing in front of it, the bald guy in the black tee shirt. My wifes race car our old Red 1999 Grand Prix GTX is in front getting ready to jump start the Sunbird.It still has the original Rally Wheels, and the original grills.[img] Here I am receiving our clubs award for winning one of our drag events at Milan Drag way in 2006. The car now has the 13" snow flake wheels (donated from a Sunbird Parts car.) and 1976 Astre Grills as I like them better than the 77-78 Astre/Sunbird grills. And here it sits with Corvette Wagon on Woodward Ave, at our local Saturdy Autozone book store gathering.

Well the 1st wagon I aquired almost 20 years ago now was a beater 1977 Buick Century that I traded a 1/2 Gallen of Captain Morgans for. The deal was if I could get it running enough to drive it up on my trailer, 1/2 gallen of rum, $500 if I had to push or pull it on the trailer. After 15 minutes of work (changing the ignition Modual) if fired up and drove onto the trailer. Here it is loaded up at the previous owner's house.
It had 80,000 mostly winter miles, Buick 350, T-400 trans, and a 8 3/4 open axle. I drove it for almost 230,000 miles over the next 12 years, hauling dogs, parts, building material ect... During all that time all I ever did to it was normal maint items, fuel, and water pumps, brakes, front end rebuild, a rear transmission seal, and at 250,000 miles I did have to rebuild the rear axle. Well 6 years ago I thru a left rear tire cap, and put a hole in the gas tank, and I just didn't feel the rusty old girl was worth the effert to find and instal a replacement tank. So the following pic's were Taken the day I drove her home the last time.
And this last one was taken just before she was hauled off for scrap, she has the cut up remains of a 1976 Astre Wagon in her.[img][/img]
RIP Brownie, you were the most reliable car I ever owned, and even managed to drive home under you own power the last time!!!!!

To bad you were probably almost as ugly the day you rolled off the line, ans your last day on the road.

More to come later tonight when I have more time.

Well I stumbled on this rare wagon in a salvage yard in AZ back in 2002. It was extremely Rusty and was being picked up to be crushed when the fork lift blew a hydraulic line! I had noticed that it had a Manual trans in it but did not believe it was stock. someone had installed a Hurst Indy shifter in the car, and butchered the Shifter porch in doing so. But when I peeked under the car I noticed the Posi tag on the axle, and the fact that the car had the remains of factory dual exhaust, and that the car had all the proper factory back linkage for the shifter, and what later proved to be the factory shifter porch, but rusty and cut up. Well needless to say I now became more interested in the car, and noticed the Factory Gauge Package, and that the car was fairly loaded with A/C, Pwr Windows and Locks, Tilt Column. AM/FM Stereo, rear window defogger, a 400 4bbl, and Muncie transmission, along with what turned out to be a 3.23 posi 8 7/8" rear axle. After they proved to me the car ran, we agreed on what I still think was way to much $$$$ for a car they were about to get $300 to $400 in scrap value for. And I rented a U-haul trailer and they gave me a car with a Texas Salvage title (remember this was a yard in eastern Arizona? I never got an answer to that question) And the car was in my least favorite color of Golden Olive, basically Olive Gloss. In this last shot you can see the Hurst Indy shifter installed, and the Stock IBT shifter handle I found in the storage compartment
Well after getting the PHS records on the car, and finding it was 1 of 12 4-speed wagons built in 1973 (the only year a 4-speed manual was available in a Lemans or Tempest wagon) and this car was 1 of 2 built with a 400 and a Muncie M-20, the other 10 cars were 350 powered cars that were equipped with a Saginaw 4-speed, and after inspecting the PHS and finding that the car was a export car to Europe!!! The Air force parking decals on the front bumper made a lot more sense, some serviceman ordered a 2 seat GTO Wagon!! As the drive train was the same as a like equiped 73 GTO, the only thing missing was the NASA Scooped Hood. Well after driving the car around the block, and grinding 2nd and 4th gears, I decided to get the trans rebuilt and found out that who ever installed the new shifter mixed up the linkage and reversed the shift pattern, so I was actually starting out in 2nd gear, and grinding gears attempting to downshift into 1st, and the same thing between 4th and 3rd, so I had the trans rebuilt for no reason, Oh well!
I now started looking for a car to Donate sheet metal and found a 350 powered car in Nebraska, that had very little rust, a good interior though Tan in Color. So off we went to get it. Imagine my suprize when I found out the 350 2bbl powered car came with the optional NASA hood, and a rear air deflector, both of wich were needed for the 4-speed car. I drove the car for 1 summer as a dog hauler rescueing Greyhounds befor taking the unfortunate car apart. These are our 1st Generation of Rescue Greyhounds Enjoying a Ride to the Bark Park!
Unfortunatly I lost my shop when my Airline Career came to an end in 2005 when Northwest Airlines Decided that they didn't need domestic Mechanic's and locked us out. So this resto stalled along with the 1971 Lemans Wagon Project.

More to come.

The Wagon that came between the 77 Buick Century, and our Current 78 Impala was a 1983 Olds Cutlass Cruiser that my wife started calling Captain Jack. When we were wagonless for a few weeks I started looking for a new cheep (as I was under employed fron Aug 2005 until April 2010) GM replacement, and across the river in Windsor Ontario Canada I found the Cutlass Cruiser with only 78,000 miles and a bad rod knock in the 231 V6. These pic's are of the car as bought with running but shot Buick 231 V-6 and the Wire Wheel covers. Nice car with only a few options, A/C that never worked, Tilt wheel, rear window defroster, AM/FM Stereo, Pwr Antena. And a leaking low Oil pressure switch that not only didn't tell the owner that there was no oil pressure, but caused the lack of oil. Well the Cutlass cost me $400 Canadian, at the time about $360 USD, and 3 hour round trip and $100 Canadian in paperwork and fees. I had a choice of used engines to put into, the high milage 77 Buick 350 (that I should have installed) and a low Milage 1980 Buick 231 V-6 from a Chevy Monza Parts car. I decided the simplest rought would be to add a camshaft and 4bbl intake and duel exhaust. Well it was a straight forward install[img][/img] with the exeption of the change over to metric hardware from SAE hardware sometine in the early 80's. So all the transmission bolts and accesory mounting bolts had to be changed. And even with the increased HP probably around 150hp up from the 110hp stock, coupled with the 2.56 rear gears I feel the V-6 was not up to hauling around the 3500lb wagon. Very slow acceleration. poor gas milage
It even got a 200R4 overdrive Trans when the T-350C self destructed coming home from the only vacation it went on. Well my Wife Hated the car because it was Blue with a Blue interior (her least favorate color) and it was not a good dog hauler with the A/C inopertive and with the rear hatch, not roll down window, and the fact that the rear door glass was never intended to roll down (a fact I never knew until after getting the car home!!!!!) When the chance to purchase the 78 Impala came up, and when a freind of mine offered to buy the Cutlass for my asking price, away it went. It had received some 1979 Hurst Olds wheels, and new tires by then, and really didn't look that bad. The wagon is still on the road today equiped with a 400hp Buick 350, the same 200R4 trans, and now has a set ot 3.73 rear gears and is supposed to drive very well now, and gets 22 mpg on the highway. He is as happy with it as my wife is happy it is gone.

great pics. Back in the day I was a handshake away from a 4-dr Cutlass Sedan for my future ex-wife. White over red velour with 40K on it....until I found out about the back windows.

How stupid could you be I thought, and went with an 85 Lincoln Continental instead. I like the G-bodies, but will never own a 4 door or wagon for that one reason. Absolutely love the coupes though!


Not to nit-pick, but if you put a carriage return after the image tag, it'll fix how the test flows in your posts alot better.

Love the 442 wheels on that Olds wagon. Good pics of the Pontiac wagons too. Amazing rust on the green one....Arizona car? Was it parked at a salt factory?

Great pics and stories. Thanks for posting!

Having a 1 of 2 car is pretty cool, unfortunately as a wagon, it'll probably never be a super high dollar type of thing, but the combo of options did make it worth saving....

You must really love racing,even your dogs are retired racers.Meant to thank you for rescuing
them too,are they really that quiet?Years ago,I dated a woman whose mother had greyhounds.
The whole time we dated,I met her Mom a few times and NEVER heard the dogs bark!

Flasheroo wrote:

You must really love racing,even your dogs are retired racers.Meant to thank you for rescuing
them too,are they really that quiet?Years ago,I dated a woman whose mother had greyhounds.
The whole time we dated,I met her Mom a few times and NEVER heard the dogs bark!

Thanks for the Kind words, and yes most Grey's are very quiet, but there are exeptions, 1 or the 2 we have now will bark when he wants something, and we watch a friends dog when they go on vacations, and she will let you know how she feels quit often.

Amazing rust on the green one....Arizona car? Was it parked at a salt factory? Remeber just because I bought the car in AZ, doesn't mean it is a AZ car, the car had Airforce base parking stickers from Maine, Upstate NY, The UP of Michigan, and ND along with TX. So I think the car spent most of its life in the rust belt, then retired to the south. And I agree it is a very neat car, but will never return the investment spent on it. If it was a 64 to 72 model then you might be able to get a return on you investment, but not from a 73 to 77 model. It is a shame that it is the only year you could get a 4-speed manual in a GM A-body wagon. You could get a "3 on the tree" from 64 to 75 (I forgot you could get a 4-speed manual in 1962 and 1963 Tempest or Lemans wagon also) But as you will see when I get to my Current non wagon project I usually don't build cars with resale value in mind, I build them like I want them.

cammerjeff wrote:

Flasheroo wrote:

You must really love racing,even your dogs are retired racers.Meant to thank you for rescuing
them too,are they really that quiet?Years ago,I dated a woman whose mother had greyhounds.
The whole time we dated,I met her Mom a few times and NEVER heard the dogs bark!

Thanks for the Kind words, and yes most Grey's are very quiet, but there are exeptions, 1 or the 2 we have now will bark when he wants something, and we watch a friends dog when they go on vacations, and she will let you know how she feels quit often.

Amazing rust on the green one....Arizona car? Was it parked at a salt factory? Remeber just because I bought the car in AZ, doesn't mean it is a AZ car, the car had Airforce base parking stickers from Maine, Upstate NY, The UP of Michigan, and ND along with TX. So I think the car spent most of its life in the rust belt, then retired to the south. And I agree it is a very neat car, but will never return the investment spent on it. If it was a 64 to 72 model then you might be able to get a return on you investment, but not from a 73 to 77 model. It is a shame that it is the only year you could get a 4-speed manual in a GM A-body wagon. You could get a "3 on the tree" from 64 to 75 (I forgot you could get a 4-speed manual in 1962 and 1963 Tempest or Lemans wagon also) But as you will see when I get to my Current non wagon project I usually don't build cars with resale value in mind, I build them like I want them.

Those two Pontiacs would have been outstanding doners to build a 455-powered 4-spd Grand Am wagon. THAT would be cool!

-Mike

Well when I realized that the 83 Cutlass wagon was so hated by my wife, and as it had proved to be less than reliable, and not that good at hauling around Greyhounds the search started for its replacement. The 1st time I looked on our Local CL there were 3 possibilities, a 1973 Lemans Safari, that was to beat up for the asking price, a 1958 Bonneville that I wanted but was to expensive, and a 1978 Impala that was in very nice original condition, with 1 repaint in the original color and only slightly out of our price range.
My wife fell in love with it as soon as she saw it, and after some negotiating we agreed on a $3750.00 price. These 2 pic's show it in as purchased condition, according to the seller it was bought in Cheyenne WY at a city auction, and was the school superintendants car. He did provide a copy of the purchase agreement from the action, so I have no reason to doubt his story. The car is a very base model, Vinyl Seats, and the only options were AM 2 speaker radio, 3rd seat, A/C, and roof rack. In the 2nd pic you can even see the 83 Culass before I sold it to my friend Bill, and you can see the 18" torque thrust wheels that came on it, and while I liked the looks of them, they absolutly ruined the ride of the car, and were not up to the loads that towing a car trailer would put on them. And this is a underhood shot of the Stock 350 4bbl.
We did take the car on 1 vacation that fall with those wheels on it, and that trip sealed the fate of those wheels. The ride was just to harsh. So I started looking for some 15X7 Steel wheels and some dog dishes. But here are a couple of shots of the Tiki in front of a fiels of 6' concrete corn cobs outside of Cincinnati OH10. And a shot of my Wife Kathy getting a ride in my freind Chris's Bat Mobile Replica on her B-day. She was very Suprized!!!!
Well after finding and installing a set of steel wheels, and installing a set of S-10 dog dishes with the Bow Ties painted Gold to better match the car, I hit a deer on my way to work one Morning in early November 2010. No serious damage but now the issue of finding rust free 78 Impala replacement parts. I Made a deal with my Insurance Company to purchase a parts car, and they would even pay my milage to go get. I found a very High Milage 78 4-door Sedan outside of Tulsa OK. The Bonus was this car even with its high milage of 180,000 miles, and SB 305 with a bad soft plug, was a pretty well optioned car, with pwr locks & windows, Tilt column, AM/FM Stereo C/B, gauge package, Delay Wipers, Split pwr bench seat with fold down armrests, HD Suspension with handling package, and a 8.5 Posi rear axle. Well after salvaging all the needed repair parts to fix our wagon, and selling most of the rust free sheetmetal locally, I was able Keep any wanted options to add to our car.
So far we have added the Tilt Column, Pwr Bench Seat, and the 1 1/8" Front sway bar from the parts car, Later additions will be the Gauges, Delay Wipers, and Power Locks. These are before and after pic's of the interior, the new steering wheel is from a 1984 Trans Am with a bowtie emblem added. And the original bench seat gave up its cover to be modified to recover the Split bench seat.
I have also gotten lucky and found and installed a correct class III trailer hitch, and 26mm rear sway bar, added HD springs all around, KYB Shocks that I am unsure of, and after market AM/FM Cassette. this last pic is from 2010 at the saturday morning autozone book store on Woodward Ave. The Tiki is parked next to a very unusual Stout Scarab, that could be considered the prototype minivan from the 30's.

The last of our currently owned Wagons is our long neglected 71 Lemans Safari. It was bought out of a closing Salvage yard in NC in 2000. It is mostly Solid with the exeption of the left rear 1/4. It is an original 455 4bbl car. It was missing its front clip when purchased, along with the front spindles and breaks.
This Pic is from 2002 with the frame redonem new fuel and brake line runs, engine out being rebuilt and roller wheels and tires. New repo 1970 GTO core support installed, and new front suspension.

This sad pic is from 2010 it has had the rebuilt 455 with a 200R4 trans and 3.55 gears installed in the axle. It also has the Modified 2000 S-10 Aluminum Wheels mounted on it. I always thought they looked like modern Pontiac Ralley II wheels, and with a PMD center cap installed, and installing Metric Lug Studs the bolt on. Same 15X7 size, and 5X43/4" Bolt pattern, and the same back spacing.

Close up of the modified wheel. The spoke area has been painted the intended color of the car Canyon Copper. We plan on adding Judge stripes and "The Jury" decals made up in the same style as Judge emblems. The joke was always that we could transport 12 of your piers in the Jury. Sadly the car has sat in this condition for the last few years as I became distracted on my 77 Astre Formula project.

I found one shot of the 1970 GTO parts car that donated its front clip for the Jury. And no the car was not a Judge, but was an original 400, 4-speed car that was missing every part f its original drive train, and actually was much worse rust wise then it appears in the pictures.

My Wifes Daily Driver is a 2009 Pontiac G8 GT

6.0 LS, 6 speed Auto. Stock and a great car.

My Summer fun Driver is a 1997 Pontiac Firebird Convertable. 3800 V6, T-5 five speed Manual, 3.23 posi rear axle. Very fun if not fast sunny day driver.


I also own a 1969 Sprint Firebird Sprint, now has a stroked 300 CI OHC-6 with a T-5 Manual and 4.11 Posi 12 bolt.

Wow, what a fanatic, in the good sense of course.

I'm dizzy from reading your tale!

Jeff,I have family in Garden City and Bay City and after seeing your collection I REALLY hope we
are related in some way! You have a great history with cars and a even better future from the
looks of things already in your collection.When I was 15,had a part time job sweeping the floor
and dumping the trash at the only drug store/fountain in town.The young pharmacist had a new
69 firebird convertible with that OHC 6 and a powerglide I think.Anyway,I got to drive it once to pick up their pizza and man was I surprised by the power.Very sweet little engine,had a great sound too!

Down to my Current non wagon Project, after being pleasantly suprised by how much I enjoy the 78 Sunbird wagon, and stumpling on the our 77 Astre Formula in my wifes favorate color of Yellow I had to have it. It was minus engine and trans, but mostly rust free and still in its original paint.

After going back and forth on what engine and trans to put in the car, go the easy rought SBC? LS? Turbo Ecotech? I finally decided to go old school and install an old Buick Aluminum 215 V-8. Pluses were weight, 60lbs lighter than the 2.5 Iron Duke that would have been in the car. D&D engineering still made motor mounts and brackets to fit a Vega Chassis, the engine is small enough to fit under the hood without massive modifications to the cooling or fuel systems. And I thought I should be able to get close to 250HP out of it, And that is about the limit of what the stock chassis can handle with out having to add subframe connectors and a roll cage, as this is going to be mostly a street car. I found a 1975 Vega wagon that was beyond repairing, but had a running 4bbl 215 already installed. So the decision was made to go that route. I found some Rover 4.0 Aluminum Valve covers and 6 qt oil pan and we "Pontiacized" them by engraving an arrow head emblem and PMD on them. The goal is to make the engine look like it could have been installed in the factory in December of 1976.

I plan on installing a T-5 Manual trans that came from a 1994 Firebird, the next hurdle was making an adapter plate to mount the Ford style F-body case at the proper 17 degree angle so I didn't have to change the tailshaft housing. That is now done, the engine is rebuilt and dynoed at 220 HP with a very rich Carb, so I should be able to get a few more HP out of it with some tunning. I got Lucky and an old SSCA friend of mine was converting his Cosworth Vega back to its original suspension, and he was selling off his racing set up, Vega Upper and Lwr control arms Modified to mount Corvette C3 Spindles and Brakes up front, and a Dana 44 rear axle with S-10 disc brakes. all for $1500 so they are now in proccess of being installed. All the Body and Paint work is done, the Stripe package has been reproduced and installed. Now it is waiting to be reassembled.

Flasheroo wrote:

Jeff,I have family in Garden City and Bay City and after seeing your collection I REALLY hope we
are related in some way! You have a great history with cars and a even better future from the
looks of things already in your collection.When I was 15,had a part time job sweeping the floor
and dumping the trash at the only drug store/fountain in town.The young pharmacist had a new
69 firebird convertible with that OHC 6 and a powerglide I think.Anyway,I got to drive it once to pick up their pizza and man was I surprised by the power.Very sweet little engine,had a great sound too!

My Mother still lives near Midland/Baycity so you never know. And if anyone ever wondered were my Cammerjeff name came from, I used to be into OHC-6 engines alot more than I am now, I was well know in the Pontiac Comunity as the go to parts guy in Michigan. I at one time owned over 6 complete cars, I am now down to 2 cars, with the sale of the 67 Lemans Pending. And a couple of spare engines.

I went to school with a guy who got his moms 67 firebird as his first car.Had the OHC6 and 3 on the tree.None of us knew what a OHC6 was back in 1970 just that it sounded wicked at redline.I never rode with him but he ran the piss out of it all the time and would rev it to what sounded like 7 or 8 thousand rpms.He won a few races with it because everyone underestimated it.Dont remember a formula astre, it could have been a dealer option and its going to look great when done not to mention how its going to sound!

The Formula option package was a mid year option only available rom December 76 to the end of 1977 production some time in July. Here are some factory press pic's from the 1977 Pontiac Full Line Brocure.

They only made about 500 or so of them. And it was mostly a styling and handling package. Consisting of the 3-peice spoiler, formula apearance Package, Formula Steering wheel, RTS Suspension, that included Front & rear Sway bars (that right on a base Vega or Astre you did not even get a front sway bar, or the needed mounting brackets for the end links welded onto the lower control arms.) And either Ralley Wheels or Snowflake wheels. No additional HP was added to the engine. The following pic's are from Aug when I brought it home from the body shop.

Thankfully the hood decal seen in the brocure pic's was optional, and my car was not ordered with it. I prefer the car without it, but if it had it I would have had to have it reproduced also, and that would have been EXPENSIVE!!!!!

Dont really care for the decal either,I ordered a new TA back in 79 without the bird on the hood!
Car looks pretty good,now comes the reassembling.Man,I would love to have a pit in my garage
not that I can even use the garage.Brother has it loaded to the ceiling with his HD bagger,tool
boxes and everything else!

Well I went through my fathers old Pic's and found 3 very bad Poloriods that show my Fathers 69 Townsman, and the 77 & 85 Caprice wagons, I forgot that the 77 was a woodgrain car. I wish I could find more. Can't see much of the 69, this was the 427 4-speed car with bucket seats, and no Console or A/C, I see that it had a roof rack, and rear air deflector. And this shot proves it will hold a 6 point White Tail.
The 77 was a bretty loaded car, funny that I don't remember it being a woodgrain car, but by the time my Father bought it I was ot of the house, so I did not ride much in it. He did drive it for over 10 years and pass it along to my Oldest Nephew, who drove it for a few more years. this shot must have been taken arounf 1985, as you can see the corner of the new 85 Caprice wagon in the forground.

And Finally I founs this out of focus shot of the 85 Caprice in the back ground

cammerjeff wrote:

Well I went through my fathers old Pic's and found 3 very bad Poloriods that show my Fathers 69 Townsman, and the 77 & 85 Caprice wagons, I forgot that the 77 was a woodgrain car. I wish I could find more. Can't see much of the 69, this was the 427 4-speed car with bucket seats, and no Console or A/C, I see that it had a roof rack, and rear air deflector. And this shot proves it will hold a 6 point White Tail.
The 77 was a bretty loaded car, funny that I don't remember it being a woodgrain car, but by the time my Father bought it I was ot of the house, so I did not ride much in it. He did drive it for over 10 years and pass it along to my Oldest Nephew, who drove it for a few more years. this shot must have been taken arounf 1985, as you can see the corner of the new 85 Caprice wagon in the forground.

And Finally I founs this out of focus shot of the 85 Caprice in the back ground

Did your Dad shoot the deer or race it and it died from embarrassment?