I'm new here and no, I don't own a Pontiac. But I can make sheet metal parts for them.
John Newell said
Sep 17, 2018
I make rear quarters, floor pans, rockers and so on. Right now I mostly make this stuff or AMCs. Until I started, there were no new body panels available for AMCs since 1987 when Lee Iaccoca sent all the tooling to the bottom of Lake Superior in an effort to erase AMC from automotive history. We AMC guys have had to be resourceful. I'm not saying I can do everything but I have the patterns for a lot of old cars.
All the parts are hammer formed one at a time. For this reason they are more expensive than parts made on a punch press. But if you have a Pontiac that isn't popular enough for new parts then I may be the guy you need. My parts fit like paint. They are works of art.
Welcome aboard John. You just might be a lifesaver for many of our members!
John Newell said
Sep 17, 2018
Thank you Todd! Even though I don't own a Pontiac, I did at one time own a 60 Pontiac. I bought it from a drunk after he'd broken down on the highway back in 1968 for the tow bill which was $15. It only ran on five cylinders and the block and rad were plugged solid. After flushing it out I got it running again as best it could on the five cylinders. Then I sold it to my Newfie neighbour for $65 and he decided to rebuild the motor. I had a 69 Buick Le Sabre at the time that I was scrapping so he bought the front seat from that. It didn't fit. Not my problem. He'd already thrown the stock seat out, then he had to get rid of the Buick seat since that car was long gone by the time he thought to check.
Next he pop rivetted a new sheetmetal floor in it. He did rebuild the motor and it self destructed when he tried to start it. So he scrapped it and bought a 56 Buick from me for $100. He left on a trip to Newfoundland in it. It ran beautifully. But he should have checked the brakes. Somewhere along the way he had to slam on the brakes, they failed and he had to throw it in park. That was the end of the transmission and the car. He hitchhiked the rest of the way.
Pontiacanada said
Sep 17, 2018
Welcome John.
Nice work! You are doing something that I find very interesting!
I wish you lived close by because I'd loan you my '64 Parisienne NOS quarter lower patch panels as templates. I lived most of my life in Cobourg before moving to PEI.
-- Edited by Pontiacanada on Monday 17th of September 2018 06:04:01 PM
John Newell said
Sep 17, 2018
I might not need them. Most likely I have patterns they can be made from. They will still come out perfect. Of course having a template is ideal. One thing I should mention is that I have no facilities for applying primer to the panels. They are raw steel when shipped. So you need to prime them when you get them. Especially if you live on the coast.
I'd like to be able to do for Pontiiac guys what I've achieve for AMC.
Canadian Poncho said
Sep 18, 2018
Do you own a Rebel Machine John? If so feel free to post photos.
John Newell said
Sep 18, 2018
Okay, thanks. I see the tree icon but having clicked that it's asking for a URL. I have no idea how I can access photos on my computer from a URL. I did it before but I don't remember how I did it.
MC said
Sep 18, 2018
Attaching images directly from your computer is fairly easy on this messageboard.
1) When you are going to post, you will notice a button that says "Attach Image(s)" in the lower left of your window:
2) Click on the button and a window will pop up asking you where it is on your computer. Locate it, click on it, and confirm by hitting the "open" button. The site will then upload your image and the filename will appear under the "Attached Files" area:
3) Click on the area of your message where you would like the photo to appear (the flashing cursor will remain there). Then click [Insert] and you will be prompted by another popup:
4) Click OK and your image should appear in your message.
On my computer it turns out you need to press Advanced images first. I'd done that but didn't see the attach images button before posting. It goes away when you start typing.
Anyway, shown is my 3rd Machine. All of my cars have major stories attached to them. More like epics actually. Most car guys seem to just read the technical data associated with the car and forget about what the car was intended for: adventures. Being an adventure kind of guy, I record and write about the various adventures I have with my cars. You've seen a brief sample of that earlier in this thread. All cars have great stories attached to them but generally people assume no one but them is really interested or they have privacy issues. I've learned differently. My car stories start from when I was eleven years old when my Dad bought his first car - a 1947 Buick. It was a rust bucket when he bought it but it was a good car to learn on. Unfortunately he didn't learn much. As you all no doubt know, not paying attention to your car doesn't translate into a happy ownership experience. The car remained a mystery to him. He sold it to someone who turned it into a farm vehicle. But we still had good times in it and lived.
I'm using a mac with firefox, but it must show up differently on other computers. Hopefully my "tutorial" will be helpful to some.
Anyhow, that's one nice Machine you have there! Always been a fan of the Rebels and other AMCs. I've never owned one, but have come close in past years. Really really wanted to buy this nice '69 Javelin for sale locally about 10 years ago (below is a pic I saved from the ad). It sold before I could get my act together. I haven't seen it since.
I agree that the stories are an interesting part of the hobby that often gets ignored. While I love to drool over a nicely preserved piece of automotive history, in my mind the car really takes on a life of its own once I hear the story as to how it managed to survive 40 or 50 years. Some of the stories can be quite incredible.
I've noticed a lot of interest in Pontiac station wagons here. Usually old car sites are either muscle cars or potential muscle cars. I've seen a red 64 station wagon for sale on one of our main streets here in Trenton and a couple of others recently. They're a lot more common than I'd thought. If any car not a muscle car was built for adventures, station wagons were it.
The RWB Machine was traded for the red one below. I've known the red once since I met the first owner in Winnipeg as I was passing through in my #1 Machine. I kept track of it over the years and am now it's 6th owner. This car is the only Muscle car I've ever heard of that was driven behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Marko had it shipped to Spain and drove it the length of Europe to his former home in Croatia. He was a former escapee and arrived in Canada in the 60s as refugee. He had some nerve going back there in a red Rebel Machine. The solid colour Machines didn't come with stripes. I make the stripes for these cars. Anyway, I traded #3 for the red one #4 in 2011. The #3 Machine has disappeared. It was sold at auction and that's the last anyone has heard of it. The red one is about to undergo its second transplant. Right now it has a 401 backed by a 727 Chrysler transmission. I'm about to install the optional Service Package engine in it. That was a little known option you could order when you bought the car. For an extra $500, you got a 472 horsepower engine instead of the 340 horsepower engine. With that extra $500, you got the highest horsepower engine available in any new car that year except for non-stock applications like Baldwin Motion, Nicky and Mr. Norm. The Service Package took you down the quarter in the high 12s. Nothing else tested by the magazines (Super Stock and Rodder and Super Stock) came close. Ironically, the testing was done by the CARS magazine group whose editor was Martyn Schorr. He was also part owner of Baldwin Motion the GM car dealership along with Joel Rosen the reigning performance guru during the muscle car years. He didn't realize what had happened with the Rebel Machine testing until I told him about it a few months ago. Unlike other makes, AMC cars were not specially prepped for testing. The way they rolled out of the factory door was the way the magazines got them. The product launch was at Dallas International Speedway. Ten of THE MACHINEs were driven from the factory in Kenosha and raced at the track in the condition they arrived in. They did well running 14.4s. But that was with defective shifters. Every one of the Hurst shifts hung up between 2nd and 3rd costing each run a second. So they would have run 13.4 with a properly functioning shifter. But that didn't happen because those same ten cars were used for all the testing by the various magazines. Even the CARS 12 second runs were done with the faulty shifters. Anyway, there's lots of intrigue surrounding AMCs muscle car forays that make the cars very interesting for lots of other reasons than just being cars.
Since getting into the body parts manufacturing business, I've learned a lot about how cars are made and one thing that really sticks out is that the years from 1955 to 1975 were the best 20 years in automotive history to experience. Yes cars are better functioning and safer than then but in terms of being part of your life as a car guy, it's impossible now for most people. On board computers have taken the DIY aspect of car interaction away.
Yes, I've missed out on a lot of cars over the years, but this one always sticks out in my mind. It was done in the same way that I would have done it, even in the non-stock GM purple that it was painted. It just looked right to my eyes. However... it's all water under the bridge now.
Wagons seem to have steadily grown in popularity over the years. Maybe it ties into the popularity of SUVs vs sedans in the current market, or maybe it's just the nostalgic aspect that many of us were hauled around in wagons during our younger years. They do give an air of adventure for sure - chuck your stuff in the back and head out on the road!
One thing I like about this site is that the membership is really well-rounded. You have muscle car folks, you have antique car folks, racers, etc. etc. 4-doors and wagons are appreciated along with the rest (even though there are some good-natured digs now and again), and there's a collective deep knowledge of Canadian cars in general.
Your red Machine is stunning! I can't recall seeing very many red ones over the years, if any. I recall seeing blue Machines, though. Yours certainly has a unique history. Would be cool if you could document it with photos and momentos of its pathway through time.
This is the first time I've heard of the Service Package. Do you have any documentation of it? Would love to learn more.
Thanks for tapping into the Canadian Poncho forum. I've read many times of people looking for body panels for their Canadian cars and being unable to find the correct panels. It sounds like your service might be just what they need!
Canadian Poncho said
Sep 21, 2018
Here's an 8700 mile Rebel on ebay with the 475hp kit
https://www.ebay.com/itm/323446713545
John Newell said
Sep 21, 2018
Yes that's the very best RWB Machine in existence. It raced undefeated for two years in 1970 and 1971. After that NHRA changed their rules and made the car uncompetitive in the new class so the car was retired rather than have to make alterations to a completely stock and original car. It still has every bit of equipment it rolled out of the showroom with including the spark plugs undisturbed. It was raced up and down the western seaboard from Vancouver to LA. The current owner is in Pennsylvania.
Canadian Poncho said
Sep 21, 2018
Depending on the reserve the price seems like a steal.
I make rear quarters, floor pans, rockers and so on. Right now I mostly make this stuff or AMCs. Until I started, there were no new body panels available for AMCs since 1987 when Lee Iaccoca sent all the tooling to the bottom of Lake Superior in an effort to erase AMC from automotive history. We AMC guys have had to be resourceful. I'm not saying I can do everything but I have the patterns for a lot of old cars.
All the parts are hammer formed one at a time. For this reason they are more expensive than parts made on a punch press. But if you have a Pontiac that isn't popular enough for new parts then I may be the guy you need. My parts fit like paint. They are works of art.
Hope this helps you guys enjoy your cars more.
Next he pop rivetted a new sheetmetal floor in it. He did rebuild the motor and it self destructed when he tried to start it. So he scrapped it and bought a 56 Buick from me for $100. He left on a trip to Newfoundland in it. It ran beautifully. But he should have checked the brakes. Somewhere along the way he had to slam on the brakes, they failed and he had to throw it in park. That was the end of the transmission and the car. He hitchhiked the rest of the way.
Welcome John.
Nice work! You are doing something that I find very interesting!
I wish you lived close by because I'd loan you my '64 Parisienne NOS quarter lower patch panels as templates. I lived most of my life in Cobourg before moving to PEI.
-- Edited by Pontiacanada on Monday 17th of September 2018 06:04:01 PM
For a better look at what can be done please visit my website at: www.rebelmachinestripekit.com
I'd like to be able to do for Pontiiac guys what I've achieve for AMC.
Okay, thanks. I see the tree icon but having clicked that it's asking for a URL. I have no idea how I can access photos on my computer from a URL. I did it before but I don't remember how I did it.
Attaching images directly from your computer is fairly easy on this messageboard.
1) When you are going to post, you will notice a button that says "Attach Image(s)" in the lower left of your window:
2) Click on the button and a window will pop up asking you where it is on your computer. Locate it, click on it, and confirm by hitting the "open" button. The site will then upload your image and the filename will appear under the "Attached Files" area:
3) Click on the area of your message where you would like the photo to appear (the flashing cursor will remain there). Then click [Insert] and you will be prompted by another popup:
4) Click OK and your image should appear in your message.
On my computer it turns out you need to press Advanced images first. I'd done that but didn't see the attach images button before posting. It goes away when you start typing.
Anyway, shown is my 3rd Machine. All of my cars have major stories attached to them. More like epics actually. Most car guys seem to just read the technical data associated with the car and forget about what the car was intended for: adventures. Being an adventure kind of guy, I record and write about the various adventures I have with my cars. You've seen a brief sample of that earlier in this thread. All cars have great stories attached to them but generally people assume no one but them is really interested or they have privacy issues. I've learned differently. My car stories start from when I was eleven years old when my Dad bought his first car - a 1947 Buick. It was a rust bucket when he bought it but it was a good car to learn on. Unfortunately he didn't learn much. As you all no doubt know, not paying attention to your car doesn't translate into a happy ownership experience. The car remained a mystery to him. He sold it to someone who turned it into a farm vehicle. But we still had good times in it and lived.
I'm using a mac with firefox, but it must show up differently on other computers. Hopefully my "tutorial" will be helpful to some.
Anyhow, that's one nice Machine you have there! Always been a fan of the Rebels and other AMCs. I've never owned one, but have come close in past years. Really really wanted to buy this nice '69 Javelin for sale locally about 10 years ago (below is a pic I saved from the ad). It sold before I could get my act together. I haven't seen it since.
I agree that the stories are an interesting part of the hobby that often gets ignored. While I love to drool over a nicely preserved piece of automotive history, in my mind the car really takes on a life of its own once I hear the story as to how it managed to survive 40 or 50 years. Some of the stories can be quite incredible.
You would have enjoyed that no doubt.
I've noticed a lot of interest in Pontiac station wagons here. Usually old car sites are either muscle cars or potential muscle cars. I've seen a red 64 station wagon for sale on one of our main streets here in Trenton and a couple of others recently. They're a lot more common than I'd thought. If any car not a muscle car was built for adventures, station wagons were it.
The RWB Machine was traded for the red one below. I've known the red once since I met the first owner in Winnipeg as I was passing through in my #1 Machine. I kept track of it over the years and am now it's 6th owner. This car is the only Muscle car I've ever heard of that was driven behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Marko had it shipped to Spain and drove it the length of Europe to his former home in Croatia. He was a former escapee and arrived in Canada in the 60s as refugee. He had some nerve going back there in a red Rebel Machine. The solid colour Machines didn't come with stripes. I make the stripes for these cars. Anyway, I traded #3 for the red one #4 in 2011. The #3 Machine has disappeared. It was sold at auction and that's the last anyone has heard of it. The red one is about to undergo its second transplant. Right now it has a 401 backed by a 727 Chrysler transmission. I'm about to install the optional Service Package engine in it. That was a little known option you could order when you bought the car. For an extra $500, you got a 472 horsepower engine instead of the 340 horsepower engine. With that extra $500, you got the highest horsepower engine available in any new car that year except for non-stock applications like Baldwin Motion, Nicky and Mr. Norm. The Service Package took you down the quarter in the high 12s. Nothing else tested by the magazines (Super Stock and Rodder and Super Stock) came close. Ironically, the testing was done by the CARS magazine group whose editor was Martyn Schorr. He was also part owner of Baldwin Motion the GM car dealership along with Joel Rosen the reigning performance guru during the muscle car years. He didn't realize what had happened with the Rebel Machine testing until I told him about it a few months ago. Unlike other makes, AMC cars were not specially prepped for testing. The way they rolled out of the factory door was the way the magazines got them. The product launch was at Dallas International Speedway. Ten of THE MACHINEs were driven from the factory in Kenosha and raced at the track in the condition they arrived in. They did well running 14.4s. But that was with defective shifters. Every one of the Hurst shifts hung up between 2nd and 3rd costing each run a second. So they would have run 13.4 with a properly functioning shifter. But that didn't happen because those same ten cars were used for all the testing by the various magazines. Even the CARS 12 second runs were done with the faulty shifters. Anyway, there's lots of intrigue surrounding AMCs muscle car forays that make the cars very interesting for lots of other reasons than just being cars.
Since getting into the body parts manufacturing business, I've learned a lot about how cars are made and one thing that really sticks out is that the years from 1955 to 1975 were the best 20 years in automotive history to experience. Yes cars are better functioning and safer than then but in terms of being part of your life as a car guy, it's impossible now for most people. On board computers have taken the DIY aspect of car interaction away.
Yes, I've missed out on a lot of cars over the years, but this one always sticks out in my mind. It was done in the same way that I would have done it, even in the non-stock GM purple that it was painted. It just looked right to my eyes. However... it's all water under the bridge now.
Wagons seem to have steadily grown in popularity over the years. Maybe it ties into the popularity of SUVs vs sedans in the current market, or maybe it's just the nostalgic aspect that many of us were hauled around in wagons during our younger years. They do give an air of adventure for sure - chuck your stuff in the back and head out on the road!
One thing I like about this site is that the membership is really well-rounded. You have muscle car folks, you have antique car folks, racers, etc. etc. 4-doors and wagons are appreciated along with the rest (even though there are some good-natured digs now and again), and there's a collective deep knowledge of Canadian cars in general.
Your red Machine is stunning! I can't recall seeing very many red ones over the years, if any. I recall seeing blue Machines, though. Yours certainly has a unique history. Would be cool if you could document it with photos and momentos of its pathway through time.
This is the first time I've heard of the Service Package. Do you have any documentation of it? Would love to learn more.
Thanks for tapping into the Canadian Poncho forum. I've read many times of people looking for body panels for their Canadian cars and being unable to find the correct panels. It sounds like your service might be just what they need!
Here's an 8700 mile Rebel on ebay with the 475hp kit
https://www.ebay.com/itm/323446713545