This months feature car is one of my favorite Canadian Ponchos. Tony Mihaly's 1969 Pontiac Strato Chief has a lot going for it. Tony is the original owner, it has a successful racing history, low original mileage and is quite rare, being factory equipped with the 300hp 350 and a 4 speed transmission. I was fortunate enough to meet Tony and see his Strato Chief this past summer (as well as some great cars and owners from the Tyrods car club, a club Tony has been involved with since the 1960s) . This car is awesome and Tony is a stand up guy. I'm proud to feature this car!
And now a little about the car from Tony:
I bought my 1969 Pontiac Strato Chief from Highview Motors in Cambridge (Galt) Ontario. I ordered it with a 350 and a 4 speed. Everyone else had Swingers, Roadrunners ,Cobrajets, Judges, or Novas. I wanted something different. I drove the car for a couple of years in the summer, then took it off the street and drag raced it only.
I ran in NHRA L/Stock for a little while but found it very hard to compete with the Americans. After that I started bracket racing, getting faster each season. The car was named the FBI (F'n Big Indian) by my competitors for obvious reasons. It usually ran 12.0, and occasionally ran high 11s (11.82). We were called the Cambridge Bracket Racers and had about 8 cars including mine. We lived at different drag strips every summer such as Cayuga, St Thomas, Toronto International (Acton).
I stopped racing in 82', bought a house, started raising a family, and didnt have enough money or time to race. I put the car away and occasionally took it out in the summer, but was mostly stored in garages or barns. I didnt plan to keep this car this long it just happened that way.
It was completely restored 2 years ago, with the help of my friends we did a body off restoration, and as anyone knows it costs a bundle.
Now I am going to car shows most weekends and cruise nights. I was in Norwalk, Ohio this August at the GoodGuys Car show, which was the first time the car was out of Canada and its longest trip. It just turned 25,186 original miles on it this summer.
The latest engine is a 355 Cu in. SBC, 12:1 comp. flat tappet Comp cam, 585 lift,Crane roller rockers,ported GM Turbo F.I. angle plug heads, SFI balancer,750 Holley, New MSD ignition on a Summers Bros. front drive distributor from 1971, and a Moroso cable drive tach.(Old School). It is the same tach i use to race with back in the 70s .
This past winter i installed a 5 speed overdrive (NASH) with a G Force Billet V-gate shifter,a new Hays competition clutch, Lakewood Bell housing and flywheel, all are SFI certified just in case. I also purchased a Dart little M block and 4 inch stroke Eagle crank , which could possibly be 440 Cu In but more than likely will be 434 or 427, but that is my next project. Over the past 40 years there are so many stories i could tell about the car and this is just a little history about my first new car.
I have seen the car in person, at St Thomas in the 70's, and we always ran to the fence to see the Chief run... The wheels up launch, was quite a sight in those days!!!
that car is awsome i love the color.I have never seen a moter with 2 dist caps that is a aftermarket setup im guessin? Check out those low miles! thanx 4 sharin it!
Hard to add much to what all the others have posted. What a truly unique Canadian Poncho. Super nice car and a pleasure to see it as December's feature car.
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Ray White, Toronto ON
1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"
Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON
1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1
Polo green metallic & tan - Bowling Green Kentucky
Fabulous, absolutely incredible ride you got there Tony. You obviously beat to your own drum, even back in 1969. When every one else had all the usual stuff, you made your own path and for this i commend you sir. Tony your 69 is a real beautiful piece of Canadian history and thank you for preserving it the way you have. Like most of the guys on here, i am dieing to know about that special distributor setup you have there. Can you inform all of us knowledge hungry gear heads here what it is and why was the original distributor left in place. Why not plug the hole in the back. Very curious. Tony i love your moniker, it is priceless.........F.B.I. i am still laughing. Cheers. George.
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
Another Pontiac saved