The September Smoke Signals from POCI has a neat interview with Jim Ewan who was responsible for designing the grilles and taillights etc that made chevies into Beaumonts and Acadians in the 60s. There are some neat pictures and he also did the interior tweaks to pontiacize the interiors of all Canadian pontiacs (horn buttons and emblems basically).
He was a staff designer in Detroit and about 25% of his time was dealing were these mods to the chevies into Canadian ponchos. The rest of his year was spent on American Pontiacs.
The most interesting part is the timing issue. He had to design these grilles and tail panels after the chevy designs were finalized to insure they would fit. But once he designed them they still had to make tooling, contract parts manufacturers and get them to assembly plants on time. I'm surprised they didn't have the chevy designers do the "pontiac" bits to streamline things.
Oooo... the Acadian/Beaumont stuff was done by the same person who did Pontiacs? Not gonna say what that might do to the 'debate'... lol
I would be really interested in getting a copy of that magazine, as I've long been hungry to learn more about the 'behind the scenes' action for Canadian Pontiacs.... errrr... the General Motors of Canada brands...
posted this off the online version of the magazine (members only site).
Have to say it's a great magazine (especially with the other pontiac magazines all gone now), beautiful production quality and many interesting articles every month. The club seems to be well run and lacking the ugly politics you see in many clubs. If enough CP members joined the POCI perhaps there could be more Canadian content in Smoke signals.
Glad they didn't go with the vertical grill for '64.
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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.
I would be really interested in getting a copy of that magazine, ...
I assume you have to be a member of POCI?
yes.
I singed up several years ago, but as of the last couple years Canadian print subscriptions are a bit pricey @ $75usd annually. I actually spoke with the president(?) via email about this, he said something to the effect of because there are so few Canadian members, they got lumped into foriegn - and the rates are essentially based on cost of mailing 'Smoke Signals' to Austraila... I understand needing to cover costs, and not be losing money, but it just feels excessive. He said he would bring it up at the next meeting, but didn't expect the members to bring it to a vote any time soon.
I'm glad to hear that some Canadians are getting their copy... I wonder how long till it I see mine (lately, I seem to get it about a month late, which is a part of my reason behind asking about the rate).
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1970 Formula 400 Carousel Red on black (std) interior "no drivetrain option" car (same base drivetrain as GTO) 1:411 1970 Firebird Formulas originally sold in Canada
posted this off the online version of the magazine (members only site).
Have to say it's a great magazine (especially with the other pontiac magazines all gone now), beautiful production quality and many interesting articles every month. The club seems to be well run and lacking the ugly politics you see in many clubs. ...
I have to agree.
The crap that went down when Don Keefe(?sp) left seemed to be political, but now that that's long done with it seems apparent that he was probably better off doing his own thing.
-- Edited by unruhjonny on Thursday 10th of October 2019 02:22:57 PM
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1970 Formula 400 Carousel Red on black (std) interior "no drivetrain option" car (same base drivetrain as GTO) 1:411 1970 Firebird Formulas originally sold in Canada
It seems the US Pontiac publication scene has been riddled with politics over the years. High Performance Pontiac, Pontiac Enthusiast, Smoke Signals/POCI have all had their share. Very unfortunate because at certain times every one of those has been excellent reading when at it's prime.
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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
Don Keefe really took the magazine up a notch but he acted in a way that understandably wasn't acceptable. I have to say I was concerned when he left but the magazine has gotten way better since. Great team of guys putting it together now. I pay (as a Canadian) $120US for A 3 year membership so about $52 a year in canadian funds. They have a E-membership for $25US (regardless of where you live) per year that doesn't include the magazine in print but you can still access a super high quality digital version of Smoke Signals.
A few years ago (2009) we had a Canadian Membership to POCI but it became quite expensive.We had our own Edition of a news letter for Canada called ASTRO FLASH, Joe Lizon Pres., Ray White editor (who rec'd an award for his great work). i have some editions and I would bet Ray has all of them!
