A 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.

Various Pics Jeff Priest GP Throw Down

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.

© 2004 Full Size Pontiac Club