perhaps the 2.29 was a dealer only ratio. American Pontiacs had a few ratios that were not available from the factory but were available from Pontiac for deal install.
And an 8.625 axle to boot... Would love to see the pumpkin cover and number of bolts that one would have!
I never gave it any thought, but wonder if that's a standard 12 bolt? I'll have to ask Big John to see if he can send me a photo.
perhaps the 2.29 was a dealer only ratio. American Pontiacs had a few ratios that were not available from the factory but were available from Pontiac for deal install.
And an 8.625 axle to boot... Would love to see the pumpkin cover and number of bolts that one would have!
I never gave it any thought, but wonder if that's a standard 12 bolt? I'll have to ask Big John to see if he can send me a photo.
Wow! Over a year since I last posted... I have to get back at this and finish it off before I totally forget or kick the bucket..... I have to find and line up my thoughts and pictures.
Wow! Over a year since I last posted... I have to get back at this and finish it off before I totally forget or kick the bucket..... I have to find and line up my thoughts and pictures.
That can be your project on your Christmas break.
Looking forward to it, this was a fun adventure.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
No time like the present, even though it is more than a year later, to continue the trip reflections before they become a distant foggy memory....
So when I last wrote, I was heading from Placentia to my hometown of Brigus for a quick tour of the town, my brothers William And Garry before heading to St. John's to unload the Estate of my luggage and to clean it up from it's previous 4 days of road grime it collected on its' travel east... Since this was a Thursday, the local A&W on Kenmount Road in the city was hosting the usual meet of old cars and I was anxious in showing the old gal for the first time to the locals and to see what attention she would bring....
But before we go there, a truly funny story of how even though I have been gone from Brigus for nearly 30 years, it is really amazing how you name and more often than not, who you were growing up, stays with a collect few like you left home just the day before.... I am sure some if not most will share the same type of story after I have this posted and it jogs a memory of time gone past.... here we go...
I always had old cars from the time my Dad bought my Rag in 1982... since then, a Grande and my days in returning from my stop in Labrador, when I return with something, it is generally an barge of a Pontiac... my '70 Coupe and '67 2+2 Coupe... since it has been 19 years since I drove home with anything, who would remember, other than the occasional snap on Facebook, what one drives... boy, was I in for a refresher! Driving through Brigus, a giant cu-de-sac shall we say with 2 main access points from the #60 highway with the heart of the town centralized, I drive past my grandparents (Mom) place and was then to proceed towards the Beach when I spied Junior, a buddy just a tad older than I, whom had kept in contact with and decided to go the way he was walking... he turned his head, saw me and then kept walking... I must have been 200 or so feet from him at the time... as I neared the house he walked to, I noticed Dave, 1 of my Dads' friends painting a board and oddly smiling at me as I pulled up... parked the car and walked to him and asked, "what's ya smilin' at Dave?" In which he promply replied, "Junior said that it had to be Junior Burke".... (I was also know as Junior because I have my Dads' name) It really is cool having not seen me but the wagon and immediately knew who it had to be.... I was amazed.
After that chat, motored on around the town, tiny roads with the occasional one vehicle having to pull over at predetermined spots to let the other by, in the wagon with onlookers galore... visited my brothers for a quick moment and then off to St. John's to off load and clean the car for the Cruise the Dub A&W meet...
I will add the fuel purchases and miles per fill as I go along.... seemingly, there were many but to be honest, the old gal never stopped but just for the nights... she was continuously on the go!
Junior, was in Brigus with my mother in laws ashes in 2006, there for a service with the family, she was from Bay Roberts. There is a picture in the Bob Bartlett museum, wall size, of a polar bear cub he brought home in the 30's. My mother in law was there and saw the cub. Brigus is a cool little place.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
With just a 45 minute drive to Paradise, just before the city of St. John's, I arrived at my buddy Paul's house and decluttered the wagon... by that time, it was getting close to the meet at A&W and besides cleaning out the car, I had to wash the and actually clean the interior before we went off to the show... Remember that road construction soup I drove through south of New Liskerd? That crap was without no word of a lie, like concrete that I had to used my finger nails on to scrape it off the rocker mouldings, wheel lips and tail piped to remove... I have never seen anything like it.... We got to show a little later as as John pointed out, he knew I was at the show before I did thanks to his son and the world of technology! (lol) The wagon drew he fair shar of attention and I put the build sheet on the dash for those that knew what it was to view at will... many people wanted to know about the engine, if original, what work was done etc... those that appreciated the originally of the car were amazed that for the most part, had not been fooled with that much... the original sheetmetal and paint also amazed them as these car were for all intents and purposes, rusted out 10 years or less after they appeared on the Island. It was a good evening of chatting and and answering the questions that followed.
After the show, got back to Pauls', chatted some more and then crashed... but before going to sleep, had a look on Facebook and was humbled to see pics and comments on the car...
I will possibly add pics as I continue and possibly edit some of my posts to come as pictures are found that refresh my memory!
Junior, was in Brigus with my mother in laws ashes in 2006, there for a service with the family, she was from Bay Roberts. There is a picture in the Bob Bartlett museum, wall size, of a polar bear cub he brought home in the 30's. My mother in law was there and saw the cub. Brigus is a cool little place.
Hey Don! Awesome to know that you too were there... such a small world!
the original sheetmetal and paint also amazed them as these car were for all intents and purposes, rusted out 10 years or less after they appeared on the Island. I
Or the termites got the sides!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Yes, looking forward to it as well. Had Perogies in Wynyard, Sask a couple of weeks ago!
Why the heck didn't you stop by? I was just 50kms to the east....
Sadly, it was not a leisurely trip, as I was doing Brick stores in western Canada. Was driving from Yorkton to Prince Albert, and couldn't stop. One day I'll make a trip........
Absolutely agree , what a great project story and a follow up journey to boot! I am envious of your operating rpm and speed. Sound like a real great combination.
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New Brunswick , 1950 Pontiac Silver Streak 2 Dr Sedan, 1967 Beaumont, 1985 Sierra 1500 One Owner
Great road trip story Vince. I missed the wagon at A&W but my son saw it, said it got a lot of attention. I was glad to be able to see it later at my place. Thanks for that. Stunning car and I'd venture to guess that no one around these parts has ever seen another like it.
Striper... I saw your post at Elfros... unfortunately you drove right past me in Foam lake on the way to Elfros... Next time! In the meantime, I am having issues with a TV I bought from the Brick in Yorkton... it won't connect to Netflix due to a required software update that I am getting the run around on! I told them that if it isn't fixed soon, they will find my TV back at their place for a refund or replacement! They are very hard to converse with!
jmont... the windshield was broken when I got the car... to be honest, it looks original... I do have a new one here for it!
Todd... yup! rig's the word!
gparis... like I told you... never dawned on me to take you for a run in it.... next time? (lol)
Since I arrived on the Island on Sept 1st, I knew I had just over 3 weeks to travel around... around here, the Old bay road connected every community before the TCH bypassed all the little towns.... although much faster to get from St. John's to Brigus and surrounding areas, the Bay road is a twisty meandering slow paced 50-60kph scenic drive.... I enjoy the drive immensely... you also get to see more as well as be seen! I am sure many people took their fair share of double takes...
Did some visiting Friday and after surprising my 80+ year old auntie, she wanted to go to the bank some 9 miles away in Bay Roberts and since her son had her car, I said I would take her.... I opened the door for her, got her situated and lap belted in and off we went... She found the car to be extremely big but stated it rides so nice! (lol) I also visited the home of the 2 British chaps plus 1 of the wives I had met crossing the on the boat, and I said I would take them on tour around Brigus the next day, Saturday... I spent most of Friday the 2nd visiting my brothers.....
Saturday, we met at Brians' house, Alan, yellow coat, went with me and Cynthia drove with Brian as I would not be with them for the return trip... I parked the wagon at the RC Church parking and hopped in with them... blueberries were in full swing so they got some of them as well... a bite to eat and 3 hours later, they dropped me off in the wagon and off they went...
Here is the other Junior.... Shears Mercer, Jr.
I never thought of it at the time, but I sure wish I had to have a camera in/near the wagon to record the visitors that possibly stopped by to have a look at this odd thing sitting in the middle of the parking lot all by itself... but, looks as though someone (Greg) already spotted her and again was Facebook bound....
After Brian and the gang left, I went to the wharf and offically took the first pics welcoming the wagon over looking the entrance to the harbour.... then proceeded to tour around for the rest of the day!
-- Edited by 67Poncho on Wednesday 20th of December 2017 11:50:21 PM
I've been to NFLD a few times ... I always say "If I didn't live on PEI, I'd live in NFLD".
I worked with a Dale Drover from Grande Falls/Windsor area ... him, Davey Oliver, Roy Hussey ... great bunch to have a beer with.
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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.
Almost another 2 years has passed since my last entry and before I totally forget this trip, I have to warm up my fingers and get this finished!
The remainder of the trip didn't hold any special surprises but just a lot of tripping around my hometown, surrounding areas and back and forth to St. John's... I almost put as many miles on the Estate running around my side of the Avalon peninsula as I did on the trek across mainland Canada and return.
These 2 pics were taken the same day... it was raining later in the day so I decided to take a pic... it's cool to see that when the wood grain is wet, it really comes back to life.
Spaniards Bay, NL Sep 10 @15:15... 9142---43L (156mi travelled)
I visited an old friend of mind dating back to the early '80's when I was just a kid... he didn't remember me when I visited him a few years of this trip but when I reminded him of when myself and my Dad visited him looking for parts off his extremely tired '70 2+2 'vert that he had, he put it all together... yes, I was that kid that you now see before you... a little older and a lot less hair! We have stayed in touch since then... visited him with the Estate in that same yard and the next sunny day in Bay Roberts, we did a little photo shoot with his '70 Cat 'vert.
That 2+2 ended up at the local dump afterwards... we took one disc spindle off it.. the other side had a drum!
Spaniards Bay, NL Sep 12 @15:25... 9323---50L (181mi travelled)
Later this same night, a traditional Jiggs dinner was in order.... kick back and relax and most likely a movie with my brother in South River was the end of another great day.
-- Edited by 67Poncho on Tuesday 2nd of July 2019 12:18:42 AM
