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Great Southeast Michigan 69-70 Pontiac Grand Prix Gathering
Ken Godfrey and I had
our first meeting at a cruise in Flint, Mi. on
Saturday Oct.1, 2005. Ken brought one of his three 69 GPs a
Liberty Blue
Model SJ that he is restoring. I had driven 60 miles in my 69
Starlight
Black 4 speed SJ to meet him. I was there to learn everything
I could about
these wonderful GPs. We were amazed to see three other 69 GPs
there. Andy
Gould had brought his Castilian Bronze 4 speed HO SJ, an amazing
car. Mike
with an extra clean Warwick Blue J and Jim with a Bright Red
J that has a
NOS gold leather interior. While I have only owned a GP for
a little over a
year I knew this had to be a rare event. I have been to quite
a few cruises
with my GP and on only one occasion did I see one other 69 GP.
On the following Monday
the internet was buzzing. We belong to the Yahoo
69gp72 group. Ken and Andy thought if five 69 GPs can show up
by accident,
how many could they get together the following weekend. They
put the word
out on Tuesday and the pictures show the results. The following
Saturday,
Oct. 8 we ended up with ten 69s and one 70. We had drivers,
we had show
cars, we had four 4 speeds and six leather interiors not to
mention a
couple of HOs and Kim's Palladium Silver GP J that ran a 12.60
at Milan
that morning. As soon as Kim collected his 1st place trophy
he loaded the
car on the trailer and headed 70 miles north to Flint.
Before I get to far ahead
of the story, early on the afternoon of the 8th
we met at Kens' house. "We" being Ken, Kim, Tony with
what I called the
most radically customized GP around but Tony called it a 75
Trans Am, and
myself. Ken jumped in his newly acquired Starlight Black J w/
a built 455
and we followed him to Andy's house and met Andy and Dave who
has a
pristine Mayfair Maize J w/ black vinyl top. You can imagine
the looks we
got in the convoy to the cruise. At one point Ken and Kim were
side by side
at a light and Kim looked over to see Ken emphatically shaking
his head no.
I don't blame Ken as Kim's car is a beast. When we arrived at
the cruise we
were pleased to see Helmut with his Starlight Black w/ black
vinyl top SJ
who had come all the way from Oscoda in excess of 125 miles
one way and
Kevin with a gorgeous Matador Red 4 speed HO SJ w/ black vinyl
top and
Jim and Mike. They had already reserved an area for us. After
parking I
immediately jumped out of the car and took many of the pictures
below. Ken
returned home to pick up his blue SJ which shows up in the other
pictures.
Last but not least Greg arrived with his beautiful 70 triple
black 4 speed
455 SJ.
As the people and cars began to file in, it became very apparent
that the
line of GPs was going to be the attraction of the day. Even
people that
were unaware of these fine machines crowded around our group
all afternoon
and evening. Most were asking questions and offering compliments
to each of
us. I think the Pontiac Grand Prix earned some new respect that
day.
I have never been amongst
a finer group of cars and more importantly a
finer group of gentlemen. Being the new guy in the group with
the least
knowledge I found that each of my questions was answered with
interest. Not
one time did I hear "this is wrong, that's wrong"
nitpicking about any of
the cars. We were all just happy to be participating.
If you are interested
in the 69-72 Grand Prixs you should do yourself a
favor and visit/join the Yahoo 69gp72 group. I highly recommend
it.
Jeff Priest
This is the roster
for the GP gathering. From right to left in the photo:
#1 - 1969 GP SJ
Starlight Black / Black
Vinyl Top
Black Leather Interior
428
Auto
Helmut
#2 - 1969 GP SJ
Matador Red / Black Vinyl
Top
Black Leather Interior
Hood Tach
428 HO
4-Speed
Kevin
#3 - 1969 GP J
Warwick Blue
Blue Vinyl Interior
400
Auto
Mike
#4 - 1969 GP J
Bright Red
Gold Leather Interior (NOS)
400
Auto
Jim
#5 - 1969 GP SJ
Castilian Bronze
Gold Vinyl Interior
428 HO
4-Speed
Andy G
#6 - 1969 GP J
Palladium Silver / Black
Vinyl Top
Black Cloth Interior
428 (Built - Best ET is 12.50, won 1st place at Milan that morning
with
12.60)
Auto
Kim
#7 - 1969 GP J
Mayfair Maize / Black
Vinyl Top
Black Vinyl Interior
400
Auto
Dave
#8 - 1969 GP J
Starlight Black
Black Cloth Interior
428? (Now Built 455)
Auto
Ken
#9 - 1969 GP SJ
Starlight Black
Black leather Interior
428 (Now Built 455)
4-Speed
Jeff
#10 - 1969 GP SJ
Liberty Blue / Black Top
Black Leather Interior
428
Auto
Ken
(Parked in the last space
on the left, beyond the Blue Trans Am in later photo's)
#11 - 1970 GP SJ
Starlight Black / Black
Vinyl Top
Black Leather Interior
455
4-Speed
Greg
(Parked in space #3 in
later photo's after Mike's Warwick Blue car left)
Helmut from Oscoda wins the long-distance award, hands-down!
He drove his
Triple Black GP all the way from Oscoda.
Honorable mentions go
to:
Kevin from St. Clair Shores
Jeff from Livonia
Kim from Windsor, who
was a close second to Helmut for miles traveled
coming up, as he trailered his car from Windsor to Milan, then
to Flint, then
drove it the last 8 miles to Hardee's, then still had to trailer
it 73.5 miles
home from my house.
The mileage shakes down
like this:
Oscoda - 126.2 Miles
St. Clair Shores - 68.7 miles
Livonia - 64 miles
Windsor - 73.5 miles
Windsor - Milan - Flint - 53 + 69.5 miles = 122.5 total miles
one-way
I didn't use street addresses,
(or maybe even the right cities, Kim?) so,
I'm calling Kevin and Jeff a tie for second, and Helmut and
Kim a tie for
total one-way miles traveled to get there.
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