Oh, I forgot to include power vent windows in the list of factory options I added when I owned it! Also an accessory tissue dispenser and a reel out trunk light.
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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
Thanks George. I have never enjoyed any car as much as I enjoyed this one.
The look on guys faces when they see the stick in the console, and then that same look when you open the hood!
I remember getting out of the car one day at the gas station here in our little town and a guy was walking by when I opened the door. He glanced into the car as he walked by and I thought I was going to have to pick his eyeballs up off the ground!
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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
When we headed to the POCI show in the GP we had one of the most interesting times crossing the border !! Carl had the vanity plate 4 SPEED on the car which was awesome! The border guard was a young guy and clearly thought the car was cool. So while he's getting his head around the fact that we're driving this ol barge all the way to NC. He's checking the plate 4 SPEED what?? this is a four speed? then says "Well I hope you guys aren't for the other kinda speed !!" So now we're all laughing pretty good... He was quite concerned that I was not employed full time (attending college, summer off) and made sure that Carl and Norm weren't going to leave me somewhere in the US ?? Then he says "Man if this was my car I'd have a gun along to make sure nobody messed with it !!" With that we were on the way! Great trip right up to Saturday night... Sick for a week and a half before going into the hospital for another week... I was about 120 lbs when I got out. Never did figure anything out... I'm pretty sure it started with food poisoning.
Gary
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72 Nova SS - Minitubbed 70 Nova SS - #'s L-78 Bench Stick 68 Acadian SS clone - factory air 67 Chevelle rag - SS 427 clone
I do remember we were in a big city, maybe Pittsburgh or Washington DC (we took a side trip to see the Whitehouse on the way to NC) and a guy pulled up beside us at a red light. It was brutally hot and we had the windows down. The guy beside us obviously had seen the "4SPEED" plate. He very rudely commented "4 speed, you should learn how to drive it..." I just ignored him and waited for the light to change. We had NO idea why he said that.
I find it interesting that this car did a couple of great road trips in it's day, the POCI run and the Cannonball. And no speeding tickets either time, even though they were deserved!
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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
Sorry for the derail here Kevin and Todd but as you can tell, seeing this car featured has brought back a ton of great memories!
And speaking of which, another memory of it just came back, and it's kind of funny actually....
Not long after I put the 427 in the car, I was in Winnipeg one night with my girlfriend at her parent's house (thankfully, this is NOT the girl I married but that's another story).....
We had a pretty nasty argument. I ran out of the house, got in my car and there were two pretty long black strips down the street as I drove away. We made up a day or two later. When we did, she told me she would have come after me when I left that night but she didn't think she'd ever catch me!!!
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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
Thanks for all the back stories, Carl. One of my favourite parts of the hobby are the stories of the cars that connect them with us, intertwine the cars within our lives.
Great Story and History. Love the fact that it's not a trailer queen. Traded my '90 Harley (many miles) for my Parisienne in '04, miles = stories = good stuff! When time allows, can only hope for a fraction of what this car has seen. Thanks for sharing
When I looked at the calendar yesterday I realized it was exactly 43 years ago, Nov 05 1975, whenI bought my first 66 Grande Parisienne, a triple black 283 powerglide with a Strato Bench and NO power steering!
It took a week before I bought a rusty 68 Caprice 327/TH400/12 bolt posi and put the powertrain into the 66...
By 1978 the 327 wasn't enough any more and I bought a 68 Impala 427. Stripped it of it's powertrain and put it into the 66.... Thus began the love affair with 427 B body Pontiacs including the one at the top of the page!
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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
I was going through some old pictures tonight and stumbled on this. This was taken in Greensboro NC at the 1986 POCI convention. The night before at the awards banquet John Sawruk from Pontiac Motor Division called me up and gave me the award for the "Most Interesting Postwar Pontiac" at the convention.
If I don't look happy, it's not that I'm unhappy about the award, I was ecstatic! However, my friend Gary (Fake68) was deathly ill up in the room and this picture was taken right after I finished loading our luggage into the car and moments before we embarked on what was likely the 3 longest days of Gary's life, the drive home with him lying in the back seat feeling like he was going to die....
It's not just the cars, but the connections and the stories, amazing ones in fact regarding this car.
If I may be politically incorrect regarding this truly unique Pontiac, she's a graceful, classy old broad that apparently a few of you have taken around the block, and many more have lusted after. She can let her hair down and get her stroll on.
What A Car! Few selected the 4-speed, most were 283 Powerglide. Grande Parisiennes were cheap winter-beaters once upon a time and most succumbed to the inevitable. And Carl if it had 427.
MoboMac......My kids and I are so look happy that you didn't buy this car. I mean no offense of course. This thing is much more than 2 tons of steel to us. The asking price was $7500. I paid his price and never looked back....
