[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Here is a better understanding of the tunnel port heads. The article should help you understand why most racers went back to the Ram Air IV heads.

The Ram Air V program was spear headed by Tom Nell and Herb Adams in 1968. They wanted a SCCA Pontiac to run in the program. Their 1971 - 1972 Trans Ams would have been a high compression 455 with Ram Air IV heads. These would have been rocket ships to run head to head with the LS-6 Chevelles.

High compression 455 Ram Air IV is what the Blackbird began with in the March 1971 Popular Hot Rodding article. The Ram Air V heads just did not work as well as the IV's. Tom Nell designed the camshaft for the Blackbird. These same Ram Air IV heads are still there.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Here is what was being developed. If only things had been different in PMD managment and Government. Remember 1969 is when John Delorean went to Chevrolet and Jim MacDonald, GM's eventual president, took over PMD. They should have figured out what he had done to PMD he would eventually do to GM.

Jim MacDonald shut down the Ace Wilson's Royal Pontiac and PMD engineering connection while telling Jim Wangers in a private conversation he would no longer have access to the general manager's office.

Fortunately for Jim he had friends still at PMD to get him stuff otherwise there may never have been the Blackbird.

In 1972 prior to the release of 455 SD everyone involved with the development was called into a meeting and rheemed. From the development engineers to the foundry manager who had already run the blocks, heads, intakes and exhaust manifolds. The engine was to be in the new Grand Am, GTO, Trans Am and Formula Firebird. Even though "Cars Magazine" naming the 1973 GTO 455 SD Car of the Year. PMD Managment cancelled it. Only to be put in the Trans Am and Formula.

Herb Adams resigned soon after this meeting.

Only breif glimmers of hope came and went. Bob Stemple saved the Trans Am once and Tom Goad brought you the '89 Turbo T/A, the fastest GM product.

Pontiac's greatest era came to an end.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Originally Posted by Dr. Eric M. Schiffer

Joe,
I'm sorry I missed you. Thank you posting a photo of the Blackbird for everyone to see. You must have come between 10AM and noon. I had taken a walk to Pasteiner's Auto Zone Book store at 14 Mile Rd.

I wanted to take picture of the three El Morroco's that where brought up from Ohio and on display at the Auto Zone. Two 1957's, one convertible and one hard top. along with a 1956 convertible. In 1964-65 we owned a dark blue El Morroco convertible. I swear it was a 1957 and my dad insists it was a 1956. Which ever year it was there were only a handful ever built in 1956 and 1957.

Funny story. While the ower of the three El Morroco's and I where talking a guy came up to me and said I beat you wish you could own one of these. The current owner and I replied together, " already owned one. Been there did that." What are the chances two people would come up with the exact same response? LOL. The guy who made the comment hunched his shoulders and slithered away.



Did you talk to the guy sitting in the chair behind the red 1947 Chevrolet convertible next to the Blackbird in your picture? That is John "Cheater" Politzer the original driver of the Blackbird as well as being Royal's street racer/ Mystery Tiger. The empty blue chair next to John is mine.

Another person that was sitting off to the left out of lens sight behind a 2006 GTO was retired PMD Special Projects director Tom Goad.

Once again thank you for posting.

It occured to me that most people never heard of a 1956 or 1957 El Morroco built by Rubin Allender here in Detroit. There where only a handfull buil each year. We owned a blue convertible around 1964 - 1966.

[Wareagle]

Originally Posted by Dr. Eric M. Schiffer

Here is what was being developed. If only things had been different in PMD managment and Government. Remember 1969 is when John Delorean went to Chevrolet and Jim MacDonald, GM's eventual president, took over PMD. They should have figured out what he had done to PMD he would eventually do to GM.

Jim MacDonald shut down the Ace Wilson's Royal Pontiac and PMD engineering connection while telling Jim Wangers in a private conversation he would no longer have access to the general manager's office.

Fortunately for Jim he had friends still at PMD to get him stuff otherwise there may never have been the Blackbird.

In 1972 prior to the release of 455 SD everyone involved with the development was called into a meeting and rheemed. From the development engineers to the foundry manager who had already run the blocks, heads, intakes and exhaust manifolds. The engine was to be in the new Grand Am, GTO, Trans Am and Formula Firebird. Even though "Cars Magazine" naming the 1973 GTO 455 SD Car of the Year. PMD Managment cancelled it. Only to be put in the Trans Am and Formula.

Herb Adams resigned soon after this meeting.

Only breif glimmers of hope came and went. Bob Stemple saved the Trans Am once and Tom Goad brought you the '89 Turbo T/A, the fastest GM product.

Pontiac's greatest era came to an end.

Eric - who was really making PMD's decisions - not letting Pontiac do their own thing etc. for me Pontiac ended in 81 but more like 79 with the W72 400 4 spd - Heres a cool pic from 1978 - Nunzi putting the coals to a 455SD powered Firebird .

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Originally Posted by Wareagle

Eric - who was really making PMD's decisions - not letting Pontiac do their own thing etc. for me Pontiac ended in 81 but more like 79 with the W72 400 4 spd - Heres a cool pic from 1978 - Nunzi putting the coals to a 455SD powered Firebird .

Wow, there is a lot of blame to go around, along with many views. I can only relate things I have heard from my friends and patients that worked for PMD and other parts of GM along with my own observation. Keith Seymore can help a lot on this subject.

Jim Wangers has done several articles on the topic. You could say the 14th floor at the GM building kept sending memos to stop the performance hype. Corp came down on PMD about all of the performance ads with smoking tires and racing images in print and TV ads. Jim takes this subject very personal since he put his heart and soul into promoting the Pontiac Motors Division.

14th Floor of the GM building in downtown Detroit called Delorean onto the carpet after receiving calls from a city along Woodward Ave (Royal Oak) about the 1968 GTO that sat in one of the turn around lanes on Woodward. The City felt and knew that PMD was promoting street performance.

The cities complained, Chevrolet complained every one complained. It was when John Delorean was replaced by Roger Smith's buddy Jim MacDonald that the "book keepers" took over.

Peter Delorenza son of GM exective Tony, and others have commented that the Pontiac division might as well have hoisted the shull and cross bones. PMD engineers would find ways to get performance products to the market in spite of management.

Roger Smith and his shuffling around and closing down PMD's Administration and engineering building helped sound the end. The PMD Admin. building became "Power Train. PMD engine engineers went out to the Milford Proving grounds where Chevrolet controlled the dyno's. PMD guys had to wait for a dyno to open up. The PMD dyno cells and wind tunnel went silent.

Smith grouped divisions together. Who can forget when in 1977 owners of Oldsmobiles found they had a Chevrolet engine under the hood. Law suites began. Smith claimed that all engines are corporate engines and not specific to a particular division.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Back to some old Ace Wilson's Royal Bobcat articles. I came across this old April 1965 Car Craft with a Royal Bobcat ad and how to article.

Note who is in the "Performance Dept". John Martin and Dick Jesse.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Ace Wilson's Royal Pontiac ran a special in the same April 1965 "Car Craft" issue.

[Wareagle]

Eric - Crazy that GM - Chevy etc. would complain about Pontiacs performance adds etc. it did bring sales even in the 70's with the T/A with 1979 being Pontiacs best year for that model - That CAR & DRIVER Handling test were the 1979 T/A was proclaimed the best handling car in America must have erked Chevy Quite a bit leaving the Corvette in its dust - remember reading a lot of hate mail from Vette owners . Also for 1982 and on did Buick have more pull than Pontiac with GM as they were allowed to develop their Turbo engine but not Pontiac - imagine a 301 V8 Bigger Turbo - Intercooler etc. .
Heres a test Done by HOT ROD Magazine for the 1979 T/A 400 4 spd - 14.61 @ 96.67 mph in the 1/4 mile - still Quite respectable even comparing it to the 60's .

[jerry455]

My dad worked at Pontiac back in the early 80's on the Fiero project and he said that one of the motors that they planned to use was a turbo v6 that made the Fiero faster than the Corvette. It did not take much to outrun a Cross-Fire small block. The Corvette people have a different kind of condescending attitude toward everyone else. They don't like anyone to show them up. It is amazing that certain programs were hindered to appease a certain group. GM management at its finest.

[Wareagle]

Originally Posted by jerry455

My dad worked at Pontiac back in the early 80's on the Fiero project and he said that one of the motors that they planned to use was a turbo v6 that made the Fiero faster than the Corvette. It did not take much to outrun a Cross-Fire small block. The Corvette people have a different kind of condescending attitude toward everyone else. They don't like anyone to show them up. It is amazing that certain programs were hindered to appease a certain group. GM management at its finest.

X2 .

[Dr HEMI]

My Silver Bullet story ................................ Toledo, OH 1971

Addison showed up at "The Secor Hut"........the White Hut drive-in
on Secor Road.

The detailed Bullet was on an immaculate black Bock Dragstar open
trailer being pulled by a equally pristine black Dodge shortbed stepside
pickup......the whole outfit rolling on chrome Cragar S/S wheels.

With the car setting there on the trailer I had a close-up view of that
magnificient exhaust system. Those four 500 cu in Cadillac mufflers
were much larger than the modern "Flow-master" sized renditions would
have you believe.

Several other (4?) trailered outfits had followed him down from Detroit
hoping for some side action.

My friend Trigger's dark green '69 Camaro had a tunnel-rammed open-
chamber aluminum headed Rat motor and had, in fact, ran low tens in
NHRA modified eliminator at Indy the previous year. With it's "Grump
Lump" hood scoop it looked like Wally Booth's car in a darker shade of
green. It had a 3" exhaust sustem all the way back to behind and under
the rear end allowing some occasional street driving but tonight, it too
was on a trailer.

They jawed for hours and then the whole entourage, with at least a
hundred "spectators" in tow, moved towards a 2-lane country road in
southern Michigan.

It was after midnight when we pulled into the stone parking lot of a small
church. The pastor's house showed a hundred yards away under a single
bulb on a telephone pole in the yard. The assembled multitudes had
stopped on the shallow grass ditches at both sides of the road and were
waiting quietly in anticipation.

As those of us in the tow vehicles finally moved in unison to lower the
ramps and unchain the cars the loud "chop-chop-chop" sound of a police
helicopter rapidly approached with a spotlight scanning back and forth on
the ground. At the same time, all of the lights in the house came on. The
spectator's cars roared to life and scatterred like church mice. We threw
our ramps in the back of the pickups and left immediately.

Back in Toledo we went to a Sunoco station on the old East Side that was
closed. The manager was in our group and unlocked the doors. There was
talk of arranging another attempt on another night. By now it was 2:00 AM.

As the core group huddled and talked in the office, there was a deep rumble
outside. We were surprised as a fully uniformed Toledo police officer stepped
from a year-old Superbird. It became apparent that all of these guys knew
each other when he asked who won. He expressed disappointment after
learning that the race never went off.

He got into his Superbird and pulled into the street. He let out a big laugh
and yelled "Anybody want to go for top end"? Then he did a huge burnout
and smoked his way into the night.

We all made our ways home as the night turned to day. I didn't see Jimmy
Addison again until we took our Hemi Duster to Carlisle in 1997. He was there
with Harold Sullivan, and the Silver Bullet.

Now he's gone.



White Hut Drive-In Toledo, Ohio circa mid 70's

[sdbob]

Thanks for the info on street racing and PMD guys. WOW. Its been great to relive those days even here in western PA. I have most of the Pontiac articles.I will go back and pull them out to 'see' the differences. I still have my 'Philo' decal.I remmeber reading about the 66 GTO and the Royal Bobcat version and how reasonable the cost was-we were poor soooo. I've talked to Ed Dufrene at Norwalk a few times. After the one talk I guy I can't remmeber said 'they will show you only so much at the race track to draw you in-then on the street the car 'will' be faster'. I heard rumors that the street racing can be 'anywhere' for the right amount of money and very few spectators. Dr. why did they call Ed-'Dirty Ed' I never asked him personally?

[Old Man Taylor]

Originally Posted by sdbob

- - - - Dr. why did they call Ed-'Dirty Ed' I never asked him personally?

As I understand it the reason is that he always wears sandals, and therefore has/shows dirty feet.

[sdbob]

Thanks OMT ,shoot I just remembered nice to have met you at Norwalk when I was with Jerry Brock.

[Wareagle]

Originally Posted by Old Man Taylor

As I understand it the reason is that he always wears sandals, and therefore has/shows dirty feet.

Cool - met Ed at Bremerton when he was driving Jim Wangers 9 sec. 74 T/A .

[Old Man Taylor]

Originally Posted by sdbob

Thanks OMT ,shoot I just remembered nice to have met you at Norwalk when I was with Jerry Brock.

Likewise Bob. I didn't have much time of my own as I was there to help Jim Wangers. I still had a good time.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Originally Posted by sdbob

Thanks for the info on street racing and PMD guys. WOW. Its been great to relive those days even here in western PA. I have most of the Pontiac articles.I will go back and pull them out to 'see' the differences. I still have my 'Philo' decal.I remmeber reading about the 66 GTO and the Royal Bobcat version and how reasonable the cost was-we were poor soooo. I've talked to Ed Dufrene at Norwalk a few times. After the one talk I guy I can't remmeber said 'they will show you only so much at the race track to draw you in-then on the street the car 'will' be faster'. I heard rumors that the street racing can be 'anywhere' for the right amount of money and very few spectators. Dr. why did they call Ed-'Dirty Ed' I never asked him personally?

Wow. I have to say I only check the forum every few weeks... An original "Philo" Decal is great. There have been poor quality bogus ones out there for years. Even stuff that never existed. Like valve cover decals, Royal key fobs and magnetic Royal Bobcat emblems. Don't get me started...LOL

Bobcat kits at $55.00 were a great deal back then for a half day bolt on. In 1977 Jim Wangers tried to duplicate that idea with an article on his 1977 Trans Am. I can't seem to transfer that article. The article shows Jim's T/A at the Big Boy on Woodward at Normandy (13 1/2 Mile Road). I think the article was in the first issue of a Trans Am magazine. (?) I can't remember the mag's name right now.

As for the cars running at the track back in the day the orders from Jim Wangers was "DO NOT" run the cars all out. On the street Jim Wangers would call off a street race if too many people showed up to watch. (not that John Politzer and Brain Balish always follow orders. They took a class win with the car at the track. Slicks in the back seat and tools in the trunk). There was many a night this happened. Jim called off what was to have been the best race for the Blackbird against Steve Mair in a 1970 Chevelle with an all aluminum Can Am engineering motor and light weight body. Steve was GM VP's son of the late Alex Mair who passed away this May, 2012 . Good Auto week article on Alex. http://www.autoweek.com/article/2012...news/120529790

The two cars lined up on the freeway and the race was interupted three times. The Blackbird needed to heat the tires at least three times with a special compound in order to get traction on the street. The crowds began to build and Jim Wangers called the race off. Jim never wanted to see the Birds full potential. He played down any rumored wins by the Blackbird. On the other hand any time the Black Bird lost he was very upset....Jim felt this would have been the best race for the Black Bird.

Steve had beaten Jimmy Addison in the '67 GTX (Silver Bullet) with this Chevelle by several car lengths.

As for Dirty Ed...Look at him! Seriously, I have no idea why. I never asked! Jim Taylor is probably right. Robert Johnson would always draw attention to Ed wearing his flip flops and the fungus on his toes. Ed was Jim Wangers West Coast racer. He did not spend much time here in Detroit.

Duncan Michael would build the race engines here in Detroit. Some times the engines where shipped west. Other times the engines got changed here in Detroit when the cars were runing in the midwest. Duncan would go to Norwalk to help tune the cars.

The Geeto Tiger engines are Butler motors and Duncan and the late Bob Schaefer would avoid touching that engine.

[sdbob]

Thanks for the info Dr. I read many years ago that one of those CanAM engines by accident made its way into a production Impala! Could that be true?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Dr. Eric M. Schiffer

As for the cars running at the track back in the day the orders from Jim Wangers was "DO NOT" run the cars all out.

Not sure if it was the "Jim Wangers" influence but dad would never run his cars all out - until it was absolutely necessary.

He'd make one test pass launching hard and coasting through the lights, and one test pass launching easy and running hard through the lights.

Once you have both ends covered.....yer ready!

K

[Silver Judge]

I've been to a super secret street location with Jim Wangers and Robert Johnson present, along with the Ponte Carlo, ready to take on any and all comers. Somehow word got out and next thing you know LEOs are everywhere and it's game over. Bummer!

We have heard about the exploits of Dirty Ed also. Ha Ha !~
We even know a fella whose nickname is Dirty Ed's Favorite Flagger