For December we are featuring a beautiful 1966 Pontiac Parisienne Custom Sport which belongs to Ty Senga. Ty's Custom Sport was born with a 396 which he massaged to produce even more power. Being blessed with a mostly rust free example, Ty was able to concentrate on improving the car's handling, brakes and drivetrain. What you see is an excellent mix of originality combined with tasteful mods and much needed upgrades. Ty gives us all the details:

My Uncle called me the summer of 2012 and told me a lady he and my other uncles and aunts  grew up with is selling her late husband's Pontiac.  I asked him what year model etc, and his response was it's "big and it's white". I made a call to the lady who owned it and was able to come by and take a look, small single car  attached garage with only 1 window on the man door covered with a curtain.  Walked in and saw a "big White" Pontiac , could not open the large garage door so it was pretty dim, walked to the driver's door opened it up and beautiful spotless black interior with buckets ,console tilt and center rear speaker, odometer was just a little over 38000 original miles. I walked around to the back and saw the "Custom Sport" emblems.   Original hubcaps and "Tiger Paw" tires, lifted up the hood and was very happy to see the 396 emblem on the air cleaner.

The lady explained that they are the original owners and it was purchased in Regina at Mid West motors and that they traded in a 65 Pontiac "not sure what model" to purchase it.  It has some little dings and bruises and she said they pulled it out on the driveway one day and the neighbour's kids decided to hit the rear trunk a couple of times with a hammer.  The inner lip of the rear trunk has some rust on the inside but the rest of the car is very solid.   We talked about price and she had an appraisal  done along with sending away to the Pontiac historical division for all the info available to the car.  I never new that Custom Sports even existed, I had a 1966 GTO when I was a kid and remember seeing Parisiennes but they alway's seemed to be Green 4 doors etc and never really appealed to me.

This however was different and I was hooked.  We discussed price, the appraisal like most appraisals was a pretty substantial price.  I told her I would love to have it but I don't think that I could afford to pay that price for the car and still have to go through the engine,trans suspension etc.    I thanked her for showing me the car and went home and researched the Custom Sport and day dreamed about owning it.  Fast forward to the Spring of 2013, I get a call from the lady with the Pontiac,  "  Ty, you still interested in the Pontiac?, come by and let's talk".  I went over and she explained that she knew that I was the right person for the car and that she would give me a great deal, I'm not going to say how much but it was a "great" deal and I will always be super appreciative and never forget her.

I filled up the tires with air, drained the tank and added fresh fuel. made sure oil and coolant were topped up and put in a fresh battery.   Primed the carb, cranked over for a minute and it lit right up.   I let it warm up and drove my "Big White Pontiac" home.

In my research efforts I came across "Canadian Poncho" and decided to post a question on obtaining "manual" gauges so I could monitor the engine more accurately.  My very first reply to my inquiry was from Carl Stevenson and I learned how helpful and supportive the Canadian Poncho community is.  I was able to find a factory tach "which I haven't installed yet" from Dave at Tin Man auto and also received a tach template from Carl as well.

  The engine ran great etc. but I felt that it deserved a fresh start.  I wanted to update the car but not detract or ruin the originality,  the undercarriage and under the hood had undercoating everywhere so it had no rust issues whatsoever.  I evaluated the suspension and I decided to replace the shocks stabalizer links and the upper and lower ball joints.  The brakes were upgraded with high performance brake shoes and new wheel cylinders and hardware machined original drums and replaced brake lines.  The only aftermarket item I added was a Alston chassis rear sway bar, other then that I just cleaned and put some fresh undercoating and black paint and detailed it up a bit.

The engine was disassembled and ended up getting it torque plate bored 030 over with ceramic coated 10.25-1 forged pistons-balanced-Torrington bearing double roller-270 magnum comp roller cam with Scorpion roller rockers- Comp springs, Stainless steel Valves with multi angle valve job.  I ran a Pertronix ignition with pertronix wires and coil so it looks stock but is high energy reliable and has a rev limiter built in.  I did not hack up the factory wiring harness at all, I made a sub harness with relay's inside the car to run the ignition and power the accessory gauges which I ended up putting in the glove box.   I kept the original distributor wires etc.  I also kept the original carb and manifold and replaced the quadrajet with a SMI quadrajet which works perfect and keep up with the large roller cam.  

The manifold I originally used was a Edelbrock performer manifold but it was manufactured incorrectly and the alternator mounting bracket was to low, so it was replaced with a Weiand Street Warrior intake. I know I could have more horsepower with headers but I don't want any of it to look after market so I retained the original exhaust manifolds with 2.5 inch pipes into a X pipe into 2.5 Borla stainless steel mufflers. Quiet running with a low rumble and it just screams when I hammer it.

 For the trans I modified with a B&M transpack and a adjustable modulator and a B&M electronic kick down in place of the factory unit, I also had the stock torque converter modified.  It is still running the original 2.73 posi.  I have kept all the parts that were removed. I decided to install Year Ones Rally wheels with 245/45/17 Z rated Hankook tires.  It does not ride harsh and with the large rear sway bar it stay's flat around a corner with out rubbing the big tires on the skirts.