Greetings. Last week someone asked to see any pictures of my GMC Sprint. These pictures were taken in the late winter of 1980 @ SAIT in Calgary. I had this vehicle from 1978 to 1981. It was a purchase from the original owner in Edmonton. He had intended it to tow his travel trailer and had done so only a few times before becoming gravely ill. It was bought new from Hugh McCall Southpark Motors. It was a SBC 400 w/turbo 400 Trans. Sporting the extra rare "SP" package meant Monte Carlo swivel buckets, ralley wheels and stripes. I'm not sure if the old boy ordered it this way, or forgot, but with all the features it lacked a gauge package. A large fuel gauge instead of a tack and four smaller warning lites where engine gauges should have been. Adding the to rariety of the thing no doubt. It will always be in my "I shouldn't have sold that one" file.
It was sold to a friend only to be replaced by a naturally asperated 1980 Trans Am with a weak 301. What was I thinking?
Prior to selling the Sprint I gouged the idiot lites out of the dash and put in some H.D. Stewart Warner gauges. They were actually quite functional but far from original looking. The GM AM/FM radio was pulled out, thrown into the weeds and an AM/FM "San-sewage" in-dash Cassette deck was installed
Sometime after my friend bought it, the ralley wheels where disposed of and the car/truck was sporting the large "boots" and mag rims of the era.
He then took it down to Vegas where the transmission cooked on it. It was replaced with an exchange unit. He returned and after about a year in his hands, he sold it to a "cable-guy" who promptly cratered the engine. It lost it's originality year after year. A comman thing back in the day.
Last I heard the Cable-Guy was drag racing it at the now defunct Shepard Raceway.
Who knows what happened to it since then?
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"Repulsive since 1959"
2015 Camaro SS1 2014 GMC Sierra 1969 GTO 2005 Dodge Daytona Short Box Regular cab P/U 1979 Pontiac Grand Prix Enduro stock car
Yup, remember it well Delta. Another "coulda-shoulda-woulda" car, but at the time, it was just another nice ride. The one you purchased was also a nice low mileage rig from our good mutual friend and I would have done the same thing.
I stll regret selling my brand X C Body back in 1978 and thats been 30 plus years.
Regards
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1966 Chrysler 300 Convertible 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 2012 Ram 1500 crew cab Longhorn Laramie
Gee! Welcome to the Poncho site! I had a use for that Sprint.....to haul Cerwin Vega speakers around the country side. Party to party, venue to venue. Just the memory makes my ears ring and start up a hang over. I remember hauling a whole house of stuff in the back of that thing too.....to beautiful downtown Bowness. How about the road trips to Penticton? Work all day at P.W.T., then warp six to Skaha lake! Camper, street shaker, even hauled flowers at a funeral. It was a good concept. Served it's purpose well.
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"Repulsive since 1959"
2015 Camaro SS1 2014 GMC Sierra 1969 GTO 2005 Dodge Daytona Short Box Regular cab P/U 1979 Pontiac Grand Prix Enduro stock car
Yup. Forgot the Bowness furniture move back in '80.
When a guy first buys a vehicle that has sound/style/performance that catches his/her eye, the numbers do not matter much. Only sometimes after a while do you realize just how rare your ride is.
Regards
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1966 Chrysler 300 Convertible 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 2012 Ram 1500 crew cab Longhorn Laramie
Is that a 76 or 77? I think thats when they stopped that design. My brother still has his running 75 SP although it is kind of weathered now. Blue with white stripes and ralleys. His had a bench though and a 350 2bbl. Probably for sale if you want another project.
Funny about the speakers story though. I remember when I bought my Klipsch La Scalas we went to Edmonton in the Sprint to pick them up. i thought they were way too heavy to ever blow out of the box so we didn't tie them down. (I was sleep deprived at the time if thats any excuse) Anyway out one of them flies onto the highway at about 100 kph! i was horrorstruck (and suddenly wide awake) but once it stopped sliding on the pavement we picked it up while all the laughing drivers swerved around us. Nothing jingled when we shook the box so we stuck it back in and tied them down!. When we got home I took it out of the scruffed up box and noticed a small ding in one corner, so with trembling hands i hooked them up. (These were seriously expensive speakers even in 1978) Blasted me out of the house! Huge relief! Now 30 some years later after a lot of moves i can't tell which one it was any more. Those babies were built!
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
It was a 1976. I think the only difference was the vertical chrome bars in the grill for 77? I'd have to research whether they made the SP in 77 though.
(These were seriously expensive speakers even in 1978) Blasted me out of the house! Huge relief! Now 30 some years later after a lot of moves i can't tell which one it was any more. Those babies were built!
I still have my Cerwin's in my living room! Yep, after all this time they are still serving me well. And the life-like sound when I watch a DVD using the sounds-around.......let's just say the neighbors know when it's moving night at my place!
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"Repulsive since 1959"
2015 Camaro SS1 2014 GMC Sierra 1969 GTO 2005 Dodge Daytona Short Box Regular cab P/U 1979 Pontiac Grand Prix Enduro stock car
What was I thinking?