thanks Don, i traded in a 62 GP total that i rebuilt, paid $600.00 & the 62 GP for the GTO best deal i ever made.

Leon Evans

My first car was not a Pontiac, but a 1940 LaSalle, 4 door sedan, purchased in 1954 when I turned 17. Beautiful black car with the grey mohair upholstery and only 37,000 original miles, three on the tree.
Some years later I had a 1955 T-Bird that I traded for my first Pontiac in 1962 - a Black 1961 Ventura with tri-blue interior, 4 speed and 348HP tripower. A great car! A friend of mine at that time bought one of the new 1962 Ford 406, 4 speed, tripower cars and we raced occasionally - he never beat the Pontiac. He wondered why and I told him the main difference was the weight of his car - I think it was about 600 lbs heavier than the Ventura, possibly more than that. We still had fun with those cars and he kept trying to beat me.
I'm still into Pontiacs with an 'old' '70 GTO, 4 speed, 455HO hardtop and a 'new' '05 GTO, 6m. I enjoy them both.
Frank

Great Car and Story !

That is a great story. Must have been nice to be around back then

Great to be around!
 

Yes, it was great to be driving back in-the-day, but it's even greater to be around even now!! I still enjoy rowing through the gears. Any '62 Ford 406s out there?
Frank

I don't have a Ford 406. But I remember "playing" with a '61 Starliner (don't remember which engine) back in '61 with my Pontiac-powered '60 Falcon. I came up behind him on an open stretch of road and pulled up beside him. I purposely left the car in second gear (close-ratio 3-speed with 1.28 second gear ratio, and 3.08 in the rear). The look on his face was priceless when I shifted to third as we got to about 100 MPH and motored on by!

I envy you the LaSalle. Was that on the west coast?

Had one of these. A 69 Toyota Corona. Bought it for $50 bucks and had to rebuild the motor. Put about 80K miles on it an then gave it to my sister, who put another 50K or so on it. Then she sold it for $100 bucks. When I first put it together it had a 2 speed automatic that would tach up to about 5000rpm, slam into second and the whole car would shutter. That lasted about a week until it blew up and I had to drive 5 miles home in reverse. Luckly we lived in the country. Then converted to manual and it ran great. Got the car mainly because my mother had a 69 Corona new and it lasted forever. My next was a 71 Vega that I dropped a 283 Corvette motor in.

http://www.theautocollections.com/im...corona%20s.JPG

My first car that actually moved under it's own power was a 1966 GTO painted ugly green by the first owner. 389 Q-Jet manual. transmission and low optioned. It was 1970, and I was leaving for Duty in Viet Nam, and left the car with Dad on blocks and under a tarp. The side pipes were used to secure the tarp. After being over seas longed than I had hoped I told dad to sell the car and keep the money in an account for me. He said fine. I made it home, and after staying in the VA for a while. I went home to stay until I was able to go back to work. My Father never sold the car even though he said he had. I was so very happy, even though I needed a lot of work. A couple days later I had it running and took dad for a ride. Something he never really enjoyed doing with me back then.

I asked my Dad why he said he sold the car, but kept it and didn't tell me he had. My Father not one who was real emotional looked at me and with a small tear in one eye said that he felt that if he sold the car, I'd never come back alive. So, he decided to keep it. My Father is still alive and doing pretty well. It's hard, to understand the way I felt, knowing that the tough old man actually believed in thing's like this. After that, we got along much better, and I kept the car for a long time as a driver before deciding I wanted a .. Well, in those days gas was hard to get, and I bought a Honda CVCC. I ended up getting In 1998 I ended up getting the Pontiac bug again. Searched Hemmings, and newspapers for either a Judge, or a nice 67. I have a lot of photos of restored 69 and 70 Judges from Hemmings contacts asking between 12 and 14 grand. Oh I found a nice local rust free second owner 67 GTO. It's been a love hate relationship since I took it two months later for an engine rebuild. But, that's another 10 year horror story.. BY the way, My Father had a 64 Impala SS drop top. White with red interior and white top. 2 speed auto. When I was the only kid on the family we used to go places in it just for a drive. When my Brother the troll was hatched. Mom told day he needed to get a larger car. So, he traded it in on a 64 Dodge Polera Station Wagon. A couple years later, Mom bought a 66 Tempest 326, she loved. Thanks, and I'll read more of the posts I find wonderful. Good day friends.. Mike

Finally found them! I knew I still had these pics somewhere, the first is me feeling pretty cool at 16 years old the second was several years later when a paltry 500 bucks persuaded me to sell my first love.

68 GP, "Wide Tracking '68"
 

OK I finally found the pic...
Here is my first car and first Pontiac. 1968 Grand Prix.
I think I would trade my LeMans in a second for the right one.
This was taken at the used car lot my dad worked at in the late 70's early 80'
I had the PMD hubcaps in our shed for years, in HS I thought these were cooler.

In senior year, 1979, I got a 1971 Cutlass Supreme coupe wholesale for $350. Retail was $1200. But, it needed lots of work, no rust, just dented fender and dash broken from stolen radio.

At time I thought it was cool I had a 70's car, but then by 1980, was over it. Then got 67 Chevy pickup, I6, 3 on the tree, and drove it for 3 years.

MY parents bought a pale yellow 55 chieftain hardtop in 1960. The car was involved in a wreck in '62 and my dad put a new door on it and he pounded out the 1/4 panel...looked pretty gruesome. I learned to drive in it when I got my permit in 63. My parents said I could have it when I turned 16 in a few months. I was elated! First thing I did was nose and deck it, used liquid steel to fill the holes and used spray-can black primer. That was the rage back then...black primer spots.
I bought a set of full moon hub caps from my cousin and screwed 'em on...car was begining to look cool! I came home from school one day to find the car gone and a brand new 64 falcon ranchero sitting in the drive...WTF? My mother told me dad needed the Pontiac as a trade-in for his new car......broke my heart and I vowed to have a 55 Pontiac some day....Since then I've had 11, 55-57 Pontiacs.

1971 Lemans Sport
 

My first car was a 1971 Lemans Sport. I bought it in 1979 from my baseball coach for a summer of cutting grass plus $1.00! I was 14 years old. Yes I still have her to this day!

66 GTO
 

My fierst car was a 1966 GTO, bought it myself at 17 trs old in 1966. The car cost me $2950.00, I put $1500.00 down and my payments were $55.00 per month, no I didn't get in much trouble with it, haaa.... My biggist question to my self was why did I ever sell it, and my next biggest question is why 43 years later did I just pay $29,500.00 for another one that I have to restore??? The origional is on my log in v3c-10, always wondered where it went?

Looks like it was a nice ride. What'd you shorten it up with?

My first car was a 1970 Grand Prix Model J. At least I got started with a touch of class.

My first car was a Platinum Silver/black interior '66 GTO. It had a 4 speed, rally gauges, 3.55 posi, console, and power steering. I traded my Yamaha RD350 for it at a party in 1979. The guy liked my bike, and wanted to trade.....I said no, I liked having a fast bike. He said his GTO was faster, took me for a ride, and so it was. Traded on the spot. Car got wrecked and then rebuilt, lost track of it. May still be on the road. Have had GTO's ever since!

well for my first car was a 1979 Nocturne blue Trans Am matching numbers 403 and auto i bought two years ago. One of the first cars built in 79 model year the first week if i remember right. I rebuilt the motor and transmission then sold it so i could get my 1973 Trans Am! Im only 16 now many more pontiacs in the future!