2024 Canadian Poncho Calendars are Now Available! CLICK HERE

 

 

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: July 2012 Feature Car


A Poncho Legend!

Status: Offline
Posts: 26766
Date:
July 2012 Feature Car


Jim Carniato's 1961 Pontiac Parisienne "Bubbletop" is the first race car featured on Canadian Pontiac. Jim's expert execution of transfering this car from a worn out street car to a 10 second racer is nothing short of incredible! We're proud to showcase Jim's talents. And now Jim will fill us in on the details:

 

61 Pontiac  "Spirit of 61" 
 
My friend and I are big on 409 engines. We're partners on a 55 Chevy Gasser style drag car and we wanted to get a second car to race. We could have gone with a 58 to 65 Chevy but we thought it would be cool to have a Canadian Pontiac.

One night I came across this 61 Parisenne that looked like a good candidate. Only problem was that we're in Barrie Ontario and the car was located in Winnipeg. After talking to the owner and getting an accurate description of the car's condition we figured there was a good chance we might be able to drive the car back to Ontario.
a.jpg

So, we bought the car sight unseen and flew out to Winnipeg to pick it up. We went ahead and put some new tires on and away we went. The car ran great except for a small problem with the driveshaft hanger bearing. We were able to fix that up with the tools we had on hand and it made the rest of the trip with no problems.
The body on this car looked pretty good from a distance but once we got it off the frame and sandblasted it had plenty of rust holes. That wasn't much of a surprise, it was pretty much what we expected when we bought the car.

The original plan was to build a street-strip car that would run in the high ten second range but we later decided to just go ahead and build it as a race only car. So, we built an eight point roll cage into the car that is legal for times as quick as 8.50 seconds in the 1/4 mile. We'll probably never run that quick but we'd like to run in the mid nines eventually.
aaaa.jpg
aaa.jpg
We tried to keep the weight down as much as possible while we were building this car. Right now it weighs about 3,200 lbs with a driver and a full fuel cell. The engine is a stroked (476ci) 409 with factory iron heads, but were patiently waiting for one of the new aluminum 409 blocks. That, along with aluminum heads and a lighter transmission should get us pretty close to 3,000 lbs.
aaaaa.jpg

The engine that's in the car now was originally built for street use so we weren't expecting to go all that quick the first year. We were happy to have it run mid tens with a best time of 10.37 @ 128 mph.
aaaaaa.jpg
aacre.jpg
 aaaaaaa.jpg
Jim

 



__________________

Todd
Site Founder

Like us on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/CanadianPoncho

Canadian Poncho World Headquarters - Prince Edward Island

 



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Status: Offline
Posts: 7418
Date:

VERY  NICE!!!  



__________________
70 2+2 convertible
70 2+2 hardtop
70 Parisienne hardtop
72 GMC Sierra

 

 



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Status: Offline
Posts: 4508
Date:

A very worthy feature car indeed. Probably the only 61 409 Parisienne race car in existence??



__________________

62 Catalina 2 dr post project

69 Parisienne 2 dr ht 427

55 Bel Air 2 dr post 265PP/PG

68 Bel Air 2 dr post BB project

 



Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 923
Date:

JUST LOVE IT. VERY NICE!!!



__________________


Poncho Master!

Status: Offline
Posts: 2656
Date:

A great feature car!

__________________


Poncho Master!

Status: Offline
Posts: 1347
Date:

Thanks Todd , great choice!!! Jim I really enjoyed following your thread on your guys beatiful car!! Huge congrats!!

Kevin

__________________

 avatar?id=1542123&m=75&t=1389907469

     68-2dr/HT
   

      



A Poncho Legend!

Status: Offline
Posts: 20051
Date:

This is absolutely a fantasic car. I saw it prominently in the latest edition of Performance Improvements magazine as well as Jim's 55. I still have to vist Jim's shop.



__________________

Ray White, Toronto ON

1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"

Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON

1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1

Built January 10, 1993 - Bowling Green Kentucky 

 




A Poncho Legend!

Status: Offline
Posts: 35601
Date:

handshake.gifhandshake.gifhandshake.gif



__________________

 



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Status: Offline
Posts: 7176
Date:

LOVE IT !!!!!!



__________________

later...rog

AADD supporting member !!
I'm a collector...not a builder!!Located in sunny central Saskatchewan at the lakehead!


Veteran Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 47
Date:

Awesome work!



__________________


Uber Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 3463
Date:

PERFECT FEATURE CAR!!!!! GREAT LOOKING CAR!!!!!

__________________

1960 Pontiac Strato Chief Safari
1960 Laurentian Safari 
1960 Laurentian 4door(scrapped)
2001 Grand Am Traded on a '96 Suburban 2WD
2002 Hyundai Accent(SOLD)
1968 Grand Parisienne Scrapped and SOLD

 

Calgary, Alberta, but raised in Peterborough



Uber Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 3463
Date:

well deserving feature car jim!



__________________

 








Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 545
Date:

The build thread on this car was awsome. Great pick for car of the month! 



__________________


Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Status: Offline
Posts: 6749
Date:

I also thoroughly enjoyed following your build thread and it is great to see at the top of the page. Congrats.

__________________
Jerel


Poncho Master!

Status: Offline
Posts: 1131
Date:

very nice, it looks to be fun ride, congrats

__________________


Poncho Master!

Status: Offline
Posts: 2530
Date:

Beautiful car !!!



__________________


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 774
Date:

Thanks for all the kind comments.

Just to update things a bit I should add that we finally have the new aluminum 409 block we've been waiting for.

This is the first block that Bob Walla has delivered, here he is carrying it. As you might guess, it's a lot lighter than the iron blocks.

 

 

We were hoping for about 540 cubic inches from this engine but I think the liners will be a bit thin if we bore it that far so I think we'll probably go for about 520ci. Bob is also making iron blocks. They'll go out to 540ci no problem.

The cylinder heads will be the limiting factor in the horsepower department. I think the heads we have now should support at least 750 hp but we may get another set and modify them so that we can go up over 800hp. Either way, we'd like to keep the revs down below 7,000rpm to keep the engine somewhat reliable.

It'll take some time to get this engine together so I don't think it'll be ready to go until next spring. We're hoping to be running in the mid nine second range with the new engine.

By the way, here's another thing you don't see every day. Bob cast a few sets of aluminum 409 exhaust manifolds. We're going to try a set on a street car with a stock 409. I think we may get the insides ceramic coated just to help their chances of surviving. I think they'll be OK because the car is mainly a cruiser and it's well tuned, but only time will tell.



__________________

Barrie Ont.

409 powered 61 Poncho

best time 9.06@ 148 



Addicted!

Status: Offline
Posts: 271
Date:

Car still looks awesome Jim perfect choice for feature car,hope to see you at grand bend.Great looking aluminum block and if I win the lottery maybe you can build a street version for me.

__________________


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 520
Date:

Saweeet! This is what dreams are made of

__________________

'67 Beau Wagon sold
'03 S/C'd Marauder...hahahah

'67 Beaumont convertible S/D


A Poncho Legend!

Status: Offline
Posts: 20744
Date:

Super nice car Jim! I have followed your build thread since day one! Great car!



__________________

Prince Edward Island

'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.



Poncho Master!

Status: Offline
Posts: 2249
Date:


and for sure you'll be in the 9's next spring with the aluminum motor!

Dave

__________________

56Pontiac  1956 Pontiac Pathfinder 2dr sedan, 496 - dyno'd 545 hp, stick shift, 4.11 posi - Hot Rod

  1964 Acadian Beaumont SD convert, 283 - factory 195 hp, Powerglide, 3.08 10-bolt - Cruiser

  2012 US-built crew cab truck - Daily Driver and Boat Trailering



Veteran Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 41
Date:

Great looking car, really enjoyed the build up photos

__________________


Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Status: Offline
Posts: 4767
Date:

congrats on being the feature car. one of my favorite builds. gonna have to pick your brains when i go to assemble my 409

__________________

sTevE

55 GMC, 70 Pontiac 2+2 rag



Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 634
Date:

Sweet Car especially the 409, need the link for the 409 block, some 409 enthusiast here that would love to see or buy a block etc
Nothing like a Canadian Pontiac

__________________

1967 Beaumont Custom

Canadian Poncho Supporting Member



A Poncho Legend!

Status: Offline
Posts: 48634
Date:

Cool car Jim, and I love that aluminum stuff too!

__________________

1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars

1 2  >  Last»  | Page of 2  sorted by
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.

Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us
.
Support Canadian Poncho!
Select Amount:
<
.
.
.