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I'm John Piotrowski, aka "PonchoPio", and I've been a little goofy
about
Pontiacs from the age of 16. I was stuck in traffic behind a
silver 64 Grand
Prix and was hooked. I didn't know what it was at the time but the
image of that
ribbed tail panel with the hidden tail lights was etched in my
memory forever.
The quest began to find out as much about that car as I could.
Even though I was
intrigued by that silver 64 GP, the sun rose and set on 1962
Impalas as far as I
was concerned. My relationship with 62s went back to my birth when
my parents
brought me home from the hospital in our Ermine White Impala
hardtop with red
interior. By 13, I was a member of Late Great Chevys and had two
62 Impala
hardtops--one red and one white. They were both project cars but
they were mine!
Throughout high school, I had the good fortune of being surrounded
by buddies
that had the same affliction I had. We messed around with 62
Impalas, 66
Fairlanes, a 66 Thunderbird, a 66 Caddy, humongous Olds 98s and
another dozen
beaters we tinkered with over the summer. One afternoon, my buddy
Tom got a call
from his older brother. It seems that one of his pals had an "old
Grand Prix"
that he wanted to get rid of. We wasted no time and went over to
take a look. It
was a Sierra Yellow 70 Grand Prix with a tan top and interior
covered in lawn
furniture, lumber, boxes and who knows what else. The window had
been left down
and we could see that the interior was basically gutted. The
console was in the
back seat along with the shifter. We did notice power windows and
tilt wheel
though. Interesting.
Once the car was the car was dug out, we had a chance to open the
20 foot long
hood to see a 455, 4bbl motor peeking out at us. The motor was
"built up" about
5 years prior according to the owner but he couldn't give us much
detail. We
went back home to grab a battery and some gas in an attempt to
fire this sucker
up. We primed the carb, put some oil in the cylinders and turned
the key.
Instantly it exploded with the most beautiful sound we had ever
heard. After
checking the fluids and the brakes we eased it out of it's cocoon
into the
alley. It started with a gentle cruise around the block while we
tinkered with
the switches and knobs...hmmm, the power windows all work. Tilt is
nice and
tight. Gauges and lights are OK. Stops nice and straight. Great
oil pressure. No
smoke or knock. HIT IT!!! Tom mashed the pedal and vaporized the
two bald white
wall radials on the rear of that car for about 50 yards! SOLD!
That GP
eventually became mine about a year later and I've never looked
back.
Since that day I've owned three 1964 Grand Prixs, three 1970 Grand
Prixs, a 66
Grand Prix and two 1964 Safari wagons. I've had the opportunity to
drive and
enjoy the hell out of every one of them and consider myself truly
blessed. I've
met some wonderful people and lifelong friends because of these
cars so I
decided to build a site that will hopefully bring us all together
and perhaps
turn somebody else on to these amazing vehicles.
Thanks for dropping by the site and taking a look around. Send me
shots of your
full size Pontiac and we'll get it added to the site. Jump in and
have some fun!
John "PonchoPio" Piotrowski
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