[Rich-L79]

As many of you know, I've been working on a '64 GTO for years that belongs to my cousin. We recently did a bit of work to the old Goat and cousin Bob's brother Ed joined us on one day. After looking over the GTO and the progress we've made, he said he thought he knew where some old photos of their old Pontiacs were. He sent me the following photos. The Sunfire Mist (pink?) and later Candy Apple Red '64 GTO is Bob's car we've been working on for so many years. He bought it in 1970. It was his only car for years and he did a fair amount of street and legal drag racing at a now defunct local drag strip, Cornhusker Dragway (was on the edge of Omaha). The white LeMans belonged to Ed. The skinny "kid" with glasses is my cousin Bob (who is about 11 years older than me).

Anyway, here are the photos I received. Cool stuff. And to keep it Chevelle oriented, one photo shows a '66 Malibu in the background.

 

[JNorton]

That's cool. I need to have my dad dig out his old drag racing pictures so I can scan them and post them on TC.

 

[gearheads78]

Awsome pics...Thanks!!

 

[Rob G]

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing them with us. I have a bunch of old photos of my dad and his best friend testing out new kodak film. Took a bunch of color and b/w photos of his 69 z/28 and RS/SS out in the fields/farm area.

 

[ssal396]

Great pics!!!! Man, how did these cars hook up with the back end so high in the air???? I had a 3" coil spring lift on my 73 Chevelle back in high school.... I swear if you hit the brakes hard you would slide right off the seat :yes:

 

[Rich-L79]

Great pics!!!! Man, how did these cars hook up with the back end so high in the air???? I had a 3" coil spring lift on my 73 Chevelle back in high school.... I swear if you hit the brakes hard you would slide right off the seat :yes:

Don't know for sure, but it sure was the style back in the day. Bob must have gotten good traction because he broke the frame at the rear suspension mounts twice, eventually replaced the frame altogether (we have photos of that too).

 

[1BLACKHARLEY]

pretty cool pics....how many "10 second" cars did you spank with the 15 second poncho ? when i was in school, you'd be surprised how many "10 second" cars in the parking lot. then you'd get them to the strip, and the real numbers would be a lot closer to what you guys were running.

thanks for bringing back some good memories....

 

[mr 4 speed]

Rich,nice pictures....thanks for sharing

 

[TCSS1970]

That was way cool Rich. The way we dressed and looked and the cars of the day. Those were good times and long gone. Thanks Rich for sharing!:thumbsup:

 

[Rich-L79]

pretty cool pics....how many "10 second" cars did you spank with the 15 second poncho ? when i was in school, you'd be surprised how many "10 second" cars in the parking lot. then you'd get them to the strip, and the real numbers would be a lot closer to what you guys were running.

thanks for bringing back some good memories....

Well, the pink/red '64 GTO did turn a best ever time of 12.59 with the engine completely stock, the only modifications being a cool can for the fuel line, progressive linkage for the tri-power, 4.88 gears and probably some recap slicks. Bob still has the timeslip somewhere. I do not know what index he typically ran in though, probably somewhere in the 13's if I had to guess. He must be a much better 4-speed guy than me to turn such times! I'll bet my L79 coupe could be .2 or .3 quicker in the quarter (maybe more?) if I was willing and able to abuse it a little more to thus shift quicker. For reference, the best time I've turned in the L79 was 14.92 with slicks but hampered by 3.31 gears.

Oh, and if anyone tells you cars rot your brain, you should know that Bob is an electrical engineer with multiple masters degrees. He worked his way through college by working for the Bell System, going to school by day, working the graveyard to earn tuition, then became an engineer in phone networking and eventually becoming an Executive VP over government relations for Bell then AT&T. He now works for the State of Indiana overseeing communications regulation (the other side of the fence!). A very accomplished guy who is as down to Earth as anyone you'd ever meet. His four daughters are all great kids and smart as a whip. Yes, he still likes to turn a wrench and is pretty good at it too. I'm only doing the GTO for him because he just doesn't have the time or restoration knowledge. He puts time into the project when he can, but it's kind of hard from 3 states away!

 

[PaPa Johns 77]

Brings back memories Rich. Wish I still had pictures of my old rides.
They all got burned up along with all the pictures I sent home from Vietnam when our trailer burnt about 6 months before I was sent home.
The white LeMans reminds me of my old 66 LeMans two door Sedan, it was Candlite Cream.
Then I had a 65 Tri Power GTO that was Iris Mist with a white interior!
Cool old pictures!:thumbsup:

 

[1ATony]

Those are some cool pics. Funny because the kids look like that all over again...lol

 

[rak1]

Nice... Thanks for sharing...

 

[BlueSS454]

Nice pictures Rich, thanks for sharing :thumbsup:

 

[79943]

Great photos. They do bring back some memories. My second car was a '64 GTO, tri-power, 4 spd, rag top. I was 19 and it was the first engine I ever rebuilt...well I helped my Dad rebuild it. But I was hooked ever since. One of the customer reps that used to come into our plant was able to buy a 1966 GTO from an old friend that owned it since they were kids. The friend got in poor health and needed to sell it so this guy bought it and it is currently being restored. He and the friend had tooled all around Chicago in this car back in the 60's. What a cool thing to have THE car from your youth, not a similar one, THE one. I know there are a handful on this board that can say that. The rest of us can only wish.