[ponyakr]

these pics are all thats left of the blob, except for the memories--& we've got lots of those!

[ponyakr]

in local news--the Blob wins the black mark contest! who can lay down the longest black mark on the hiway? why, its the Blob of course--over 600'! that was with the 1 wheeler rear, before it got a 4.11 posi out of a 56 chevy. sometimes tales tend 2 get bigger as time goes on--but that's howards best recollection--so thats his story & he's stickin 2 it! he never got a ticket, but the locals told his dad on him several times. his dad worked at the local power generating plant & in a small town everybody knows everybody else, so when howard got out of line & got caught, he would here about it from his dad when he got home. but hey, it was just a gearhead out havin a little fun with his hot rod--was'nt it?

[ponyakr]

a member of the local town maintenance crew was at the top of a lite pole workin on the power lines. howard had a bad habit(i never did anything like this myself) of turning the motor off while still rollin down the hiway--then turnin it back on--causin a loud bang. the man up the pole had attended the same small hi school as howard & i--so howard decided 2 cause an extra loud bang as he passed the pole. when he did, the man was so scared--he thought the transformer had exploded--so he jumped off the top of the pole into a briar patch below--he survived--but howard got into a little hot water over that incident. kids do the darndest things!

[ponyakr]

howard was'nt his name, but as boys will, we gave him the nickname howard after the goofy wanna be boyfriend of the daughter on the old sitcom "Bachelor Father"--it stuck! & it seems 2 fit him quite well as he was & still is a comical character & always seems 2 find humor in most any situation. but his lightheartedness can be deceiving--he's a serious gearhead! he got it honest--his dad was 1 of those guys who could fix anything, in almost any situation, even if he didn't have everything he needed--he could just figure out a way 2 git-r-done. he was good at any kind of welding & mechanic work--& howard was just a chip off the ole block--as they say. probably born with a wrench in his hand--if not, his dad probably put some in his crib 2 play with instead of toys. fast forward now a few years--howard decided he wanted 2 tackle a new pontiac project. so he looked around & here's what he found--hey, it looked worse than this when he 1st got it. ok- pics won't post--so i'll post this then try the pics.

[ponyakr]

maybe this time?

[ponyakr]

the project is beginning 2 take shape!

[ponyakr]

455, 6x heads, edle intake, Q-jet, 268 CC cam, hooker, air, 4-core, 7-blade clutch fan, manual brakes/steering, 4-speed, turbo muffs & splitters, 12-bolt w/3.42 gears.

[ponyakr]

hood tach, 455 emblems, new vinyl roof, glass fenders, rally 2's--the JFK plate was an accidental luck of the draw--not a political statement.

[ponyakr]

howard did everything by himself except the machine work. he says its still a work in progress--but i'd say it's comin along quite nicely! he drives it 2 shows & work occasionally. i spotted it at our local voting precinct during a recent election--definately the nicest voting machine i've ever seen! he says he'll drive it til he can't shift the 4-speed anymore--then put a th400 back in it & drive it some more!

[Greg Reid]

Nice car. What kind of paint, if you know? Looks kind of like the acrylic lacquer they put on them back in the day from the factory.

[65blackplate]

cool story thanks for sharing all of it

[ponyakr]

he told me about the paint--but i'm not a paint guy(depise sanding) so i didn't write it down & can't remember the details--i'll have 2 get back 2 ya on that. but i do remember that he said it was just a very simple job--not 1 of the hi-dollar, multi-step, complicated, many coats of everything(well, you get the picture) job. & he did tell me 1 more thing about it that i remember. as we were talking we heard a dirt bike fire up at a neighbors house. he said they had 4-wheelers 2. said thats why the paint is sort of grainy in spots--they came roarin buy, stirrin up dust just as he was shootin paint. now i ask ya--was that a neighborly thang 2 do? it's against the law 2 ride unliscensed bikes & 4-wheelers on public roads--but hey, we live out in the sticks & folks do purty much what they won't 2 out here--including burnouts & blasts down the road with hot rods--so it ain't all bad!

[ponyakr]

howards brother(who owned the 65 goat i got my 1st goat ride in)bought a 455 to put in a truck. but he ran into so much trouble tryin 2 rig it up 2 the trucks tranny, he decided not 2 do it. so howard talked him out of it 2 put in his 68 project. that reminded me of the time when i put a 400 & th400 in a 1 ton truck. got it runnin--then found a truck w/hauler bed & tool boxes. so i put a flatbed on the pontiac powered truck & sold it 2 a construction guy. me & howard have a lot in common besides pontiacs. 1 thang is we both love them ole trucks! but howard--he likes FAST trucks! he learned how 2 hop his truck up 2 the point he could outrun most empty trucks while he was pullin a full load of logs--i'm talkin well above 80mph! he said some of his blasts would cause quite a bit of cb chatter amongst the witnesses. here's a truck tale he told me. he rigged his truck up with a jake-brake & a loud pipe. for those not familiar, this device will bleed off compression & help slow a truck down--& in the process, make a lot of noise (especially if the exhaust system is loud anyway). many towns have outlawed their use within city limits.(a town near me has a road sign at the edge of town that reads "NO Jake Brakes". ok--here's the scene--howard is truckin down the road in his jake-brake, loud exhaust equiped, too fast, outlaw truck & sees a pedestrian walkin down the edge of the road(because it had rained & the shoulder was wet.) so howard(being the fun lovin soul he is) decided 2 have a little fun with the dude--so right before he got 2 the guy, he hit the jake-brake real hard & the noise of the explosion scared the poor guy so bad he just dove into the ditch--2 howards delite! he did say he thought about it later & decided not 2 do that again lest the poor frightened soul mite jump the wrong way & end up road kill. that reminds me of the incident i mentioned earlier when howard made the dude jump off a lite pole. that proves once again that the difference between men & boys is the price of their toys!

[Greg Reid]

Whatever he used for paint, I like it. No, it's not shiny but looks aged. If it were an original '68 color, I'd have thought it was a 'survivor' with original paint.

[ponyakr]

hey now, ya'll don't git the wrong idea--me & howard, we weren't raised outlaws. we even went 2 the same church from grammar school rite on thru hi school. his dad was even a deacon & taught sunday school some if i remember correctly. & i know my mom taught a sunday school class. i even remember my dad singin in the choir some. so we both KNEW rite from wrong. but, as boys will, we may have just strayed from the straight & narrow a bit from time 2 time. but thank God we survived it all & are still here 2 tell the tales of our lives of (crime)!

[ponyakr]

i just thought of something else i found interesting. after he explained 2 me the preciseness required 2 correctly install a vinyl top in 1 take, with no wrinkles, bumps or lumps--he made an interesting comment. 1st he said that several people, after seeing the vinyl top, thought the car was a convertible & assumed he mite drive it in the local parades. i haven't really paid much attention 2 new cars lately i suppose(probably because i think most of them look awful--especially those rediculous looking suv's--but thats just my opinion). so do any cars still come with vinyl tops? if not, how long has it been? i suppose some of the younger folks have never seen 1--unless they went 2 a classic car show. & on the subject of convertibles--there are so few of them in our town, anybody who has 1 is almost required(expected) 2 have it in the parade so all the beauty queens will have a ride. cars with T-tops are also pressed into action at parade time. some folks like 2 show off their cars this way--some don't. i suppose i can understand why someone with a rare hi-dollar ragtop mite not won't 2 put his ride in harms way. just curious--i'd like 2 hear from you guys with ragtops--how many of you guys do parades? any bad experiences, overheating, damage, embarrassing catosprophic failures, etc? our 1st 68 bird drag--then street car was originally yellow/w a black vinyl top. our last 2nd gen racer also had a vinyl top. as i remember--they were quite popular during the musclecar years & i think looked real nice on most models.

[Greg Reid]

I can't think of any cars that come with vinyl tops any more. I'd say the late 80s or very early 90s was about the end of that trend. The last models I can remember for sure having vinyl was like the mid to late 80s Olds Cutlasses, GPs and like that.

[Stuckinda60s]

Buick Roadmaster, 1995. I believe there were some Caprices in the bathtub style which had the vinyl top, as well.

[ponyakr]

Greg--your goat pictured in the shop--is it a shade of blue or does it have some green mixed in there 2. TJ likes greens that are sort of aqua colored. that reminds me of her last pickup. she's a cowgirl now & couldn't make it without her truck. ford came out with a color they called tobago green, back around 94 or so. she loved it imediately & had 2 have 1. but she was so use 2 drivin firebird sticks, we had 2 find her a flareside, tobago, stick. we checked all the local dealers--nothin but autos. finally found her truck at a dealer in fort worth, texas. i bummed a ride out there(about 300 miles) with my sister & drove it back for TJ's Christmas present in 93. it was a 302, 5-speed & she loved that truck! she drove it for 13 years & didn't really want 2 git rid of it then. but we sold it 2 some neighbors as the 1st ride for their son--so TJ still got 2 see it a lot. the kid kept it real clean so she was able to still enjoy it years after she sold it.

[Greg Reid]

yakr, that Ford Green you're talking about is very close to my car's color, just a little lighter. I see those trucks around here all the time and always notice that it's close to the Pontiac color. Speaking of which, in '68, it was called Meridian Turquoise and mine is within a month of a new paint job. I've got one more blocking to do and I'm going to try to paint it myself. It'll be a first for me.
Here's a pic of the car when I got it...It's been a long time 'restoration' out of my garage. I'll (try to) paint it in the driveway. It'll get a black vinyl top when I get to that point..