Written by Steve Foster, friend and fellow hot rodder

     On May 14, 2006 Robert McDonald was working on his latest project at his home in Kelowna, B.C. This story sadly begins and ends on this date as Rob unexpectedly passed away, at only 49 years of age, while getting his 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix ready for two upcoming car shows. Rob had already pre-entered his cars in the Blossom Run in Summerland, B.C. and the World of Wheels show in Peachland, B.C. for the May long weekend. After four years of hard work and customizing, he was down to the last few things to do on the Grand Prix.
     Rob's love of Pontiacs ran deep, as his other car is a 1951 Pontiac Silver Streak 2-door which took him several years to restore in his unique style.  Rob was an automotive painter by trade and had coowned a body shop in Burnaby for several years before  moving to Kelowna where he worked first for a local autobody supply company and then became a supervisor at Western Star Trucks in the paint division. After Western Star Trucks closed, Rob continued to work in the automotive field in the Kelowna area.
     About four years ago, after completing the Silver Streak, Rob started looking for his next project to express his creativeness and soon located a 1964 2-door Pontiac Grand Prix at one of the local autobody shops. The car belonged to the father of the shop  foreman and a deal was soon struck and the car was on its way to Rob's house.
     Once in his shop, Rob began planning the project and soon started taking the car apart to begin the transformation. He loved the original look of the car, but wanted to make subtle changes to the body to improve on how the car had come from the factory. He was a man of few words and one Friday he called a few friends and said he wanted to lose the top on the Pontiac. Three hours later, before lunch, the top was off and laying on the floor. Rob was then off on one of many trips to the local auto wreckers to find a trunk lid that he could use to fill in the void where the roof once used to be. He cut out the wheel openings and grafted in ones from a later model Pontiac. When he cut out the metal  from the rear fenders he found that someone had put spray foam insulation in the rear quarters so he spent hours removing it to do the job right. He then turned his attention to the windshield area and used exhaust tubing to modify the top of the windshield. After looking at several hood scoops, Rob decided that the scoop off a Dodge truck looked just right and he modified it to fit the Pontiacs hood. A custom tonneau cover was built out of wood and fiberglass to cover the rear seat area to give the car a sportier appearance.
    Rob made a folding Carson top with the help of Doug Fielding at Shoreline Canvas and Awning so the Pontiac would be rain proof. Doug covered the Carson top and installed the covers on the seats.  McDonald household. His wife Denise hand painted a waterfall on the custom piece he had made to join the tonneau to the console.
     Over the next three years several more subtle modifications were made to the car that took the car from stock to custom.  Rob loved lights and liked to add them wherever he could to make subtle, personal custom touches. The Grand Prix was no different and after he was finished making the changes to the body his attention turned to adding lights to make the car unique. There are lights in the air cleaner, which was made to look like a volcano, and blue LED lights throughout different areas of the car. Rob often saw some custom techniques he liked and would come home and figure out how to do the same, quite often developing his own homespun solutions.
     He used Cragar SS wheels and added bar stool foot rings and reflective tape so the blue lights in the wheel wells would shine inside the wheels while he was driving. The front driving lights are home pot light housings chromed and stuffed with automotive lights. Rob painted the Grand Prix in his own shop, a two-bay garage attached to the house.
     The beautiful result speaks for itself. We would meet for lunch and Rob would say he was repainting certain pieces, as he was not happy with the original results. The paint color is a factory Western Star truck color with prismatic pearl special effects added to the clear coat.
   The interior was custom ordered from U.P.I. as the factory color was not the color Rob wanted. UPI made him a factory-pattern interior with the custom color to match the car.  One of the finishing touches that Rob wanted to do with the car was to give the Pontiac a name. In one of the meetings with friends he announced that he was going to call his car "Pontageous".
     He chuckled with delight and said that he couldnt wait to see the look on J.F. Launier's face (owner/builder of the award winning 1951 Kaiser "Kontageous"). 
    Always meticulous, Rob debated over the type of print the name should be in. One day, after Denise had gone to work, Rob pried the Frigidaire decal off their new appliance and took it to the graphics shop to have the font copied. He quickly got some tape and reapplied the decal to the appliance so Denise would not notice.
   So it was on May 14th that Rob was working diligently on his car, getting it ready for the next weekends debut of the car, when he passed away. Denise asked some car club friends that it was her, and would have been Rob's, wish to have the car completed so that it could be debuted in the Blossom Run car show in Summerland, BC on May 20.
     On Wednesday, May the 17, more than 50 local car guys and gals showed up at the McDonald residence and did their own version of Overhaulin' to put the final few touches on Rob's prized 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix. Many stories were related to Denise on how Rob had been a part of their lives and how they were each going to miss him.
     On May 20, I was given the opportunity to drive Rob's mother in the Grand Prix to the Blossom Run car show. Rob's car won the People's Choice award over several other worthy cars, including Kontageous.
     Denise and Rob's mother were in tears as they accepted the award.  In winning this award Rob's car will be on the 2007 Blossom Run T-Shirt for all of us to remember. The people who knew Rob know that hes up there watching over us and trying to figure out how to turn on a new star for us to see, so that he can put his own signature on the night sky.