hyperv6

Some of those bring back some memories. They really need to bring Tim Allen back on screen again and put trusted face to the voice over like Ford does with Mike Rowe. Everyone loves and trusted Buzz Lighyear and Tim Taylor. Also let Tim get a little more excited and add some whit/humour.

Here is the 1.8 Turbo Indy Pace car the speedway has hidden in its storage area. This car was unknown to the public till just a few years ago. It shocked many in the Fiero community that not only that they built it but it was still around. The engine had enough power but it just would not hold together. GM went to the SD4 engine in the three track cars that were built as it was reliable enough for IMSA racing at higher power. GM rebuilt this one and sent it back to the speedway where it has set in the storage barn. The engineers log book notes the details of testing and is a great find. Fred found it under the seat on the car. This car is fully there and ready to run with X numbers still in place. This is another car that proves you never know what GM car you may find and were. Fred is close with many GM people in Detroit and they had even forgot about this car till he brought it up. If you can make connections at the speedway see if they can get you in to visit this site. The cars that are sitting around will shock you. Under every cover is a large bit of history or one off car. They really need a way to display these cars more often. Note the 1966 mec in the first photo. It is the 66 Pace car. The car under the cover next to the Fiero is the 1988 Cutlass Pace car. Behind it was the 1975 Buick Turbo. On the other side of the Olds is the real Indy Fiero primary car still with the ABC tv camera hole in the tail light. This place is just amazing.

I just got a call the other night from a Buddy who is a big time Fiero Historian. He has a great collection including one of the 3 original Indy Pace cars that later was rebodied in the IMSA panels as a PPG Indy car. PPG also had a team of 6 Turbocharged V6 Fiero's They were used as a all female driving team that would do demo runs before some of the PPG indy races. The cars were fastbacks before GM released theirs and I thought they looked better than the GT that later came. The cars could do 165 MPH and one had more power and could top 180 MPH. Well I found the car a whole back donated to a high school shop program. I let him know about it and he has tried to buy for the last 8 years. In the mean time he bought the one GM sold a the BJ auction and also another from someone who was able to locate it. He just got a call from the school that if he came to pick it up he could have it. The car is said to be complete but not running. But for free any GM/PPG show car would be a great deal. Since he has two others he should be able to restore it properly. The Red car is the one he just bought. It is Black now and will need some work but for free it was a very good deal. This photo is from the year it paced the Indy race at Cleveland. These are his other cars. The yellow and blue cars are part of the PPG team. The bronze and white car is now a PPG pace car but originally was the third white pace car from Indy. It still has the SD 4 cylinder in the car. It was rebodied with the panels for the IMSA Huffacker car. This was easy to do with the Fiero and the stock cars could use the same panels. All of these cars took little resto. The Blue car was in GM's collection and was perfect. The Indy # 3 needed nothing as it was in the Museum of Industry in Chicago for years in a glass booth. The yellow car just needed some paint work but was not repainted. Uploaded with ImageShack.us There are some neat cars out there if you look around. The only negitive is none of these can be street driven. None of them have Vins.

Sorry you are that was a 65 GTO not a 64 It had been a while since I had seen this one. Jim Mattison is convinced it was real and a few other guys from Pontiac say it is real. Documentation hard to come by for this one and it took a while to confirm they did do this kind of stuff back in the day. There was a story in HPP on this one about 2 years or so back.

Yes Cadillac only did the Pan Am and The Lemans stock coup and the Le Monster built on another coupe frame. Now there were some rebodied Cadillacs from Italy that could have been aluminum. They were just custome bodied show cars or street cars done buy the custom houses overthere. I did not ever know of the GTO Aluminum frames till I saw the one. Even then I had to hear it from Don that it was a back door part from GM. One year there was even a 64 GTO with body panels that were thinner than the stock panels. I guess Delorean had this car made for a racer and they used thinner steel and left out other things in the car from the factory to make it lighter. One neat car last year at the Norlwalk show was a 64 GTO that was still owned by the original owner. He felt it was not fast enough so he installed a Ram Air V crate engine in it. HE still has the original engine at home. The car was mostly original and very clean. I saw they did a photo shoot for the car and it should be in High Performance Pontiac.

Every company wants a cheap car to advertise and decontenting is the way to do it. Cruise is one of the options they can remove and usally can get away with. You would be suprised how many people never or seldom use it. Companies are looking to cut corners anywhere they can to keep the price down in a slow market.

Since this one looks like it has not interior since it has black windows. I wonder if they could fit some small jump seat or even storage space behind the seat. I would love to see this one come to maket as it would have the appeal of a Soul if priced right.

When the General gets a good Idea like this they need to move on it. For once be a leader vs a follower. The pick up and 5 door would both do very well and give GMC something they really need a small vehicle on a car platform that still could be considered a truck. Also it gives them something Chevy does not have. I coulds see this sold world wide as a Chevy in other markets. taylor the trim to each market and it should do well. I see South America loving this one by replacing that little ugly ute they offer now.

The real thing I love about going to Norwalk to the Pontiac Nationals every year are the odd cars that show up. You see the many weird and rare things come about there. Two years ago was a Aluminum GTO frame. It was a legit GM frame and the guy trailered it there for sale. I can't remember the price but it was as much or more than a complete restored GTO could be purchaced for. I had never heard of it before but Don Keefe from POCI said he thought it was real. It was said by Wangers the frame was made for a Pontiac supported race car. I can't remember much more about it.

That is one of the good things of the 60's I do miss. Back then you could get just about anything you wanted built if you had someone who could push the paperwork.

If it had a 400 or 428 engine and 4 speed it would. Give me any odd plain Pontiac and if it had one real performance option on it there is someone out there that would pay good money for it.

I remember the first one I saw in High School. I thought someone put a 350 in the car with the original 2V. It is odd but I would rather have a odd that would add to the value vs hurt the vlaue. Say like the red fender liners. We had a set of them a good while back. Have you seen the price on a clean set today. $$$$$$$

I have seen some of these GTO's. While not crazy rare one shows up once in a while. I wonder how many are still around just having been upgraded to a 4V. I had one buddy with a 67 GTO 400 2v with the bench seat and colum shift. 2967 made. One odd Bird was a the 1968 400 3sp I put a clutch in for a guy. The car was all original and when I pulled the tranny it was a Ford 3 sp. It even said FOMOCO on the side. It had the 5th bolt on top and the bell housing was duel drilled. I would have thought someone had just put it in if it had not been for the factory Hurst 3sp shifter in the car. I had been told there was a plant fire and GM had purchased 3sp from Ford to keep production moving. I have been told this tranny found it's way into some Chevys and Olds. I also ran across back in high school a old woman with a 68 Tempest 4 door with a OHC 6 in it. the car was as base as you could get. I have seldom seen one of these engines in a later car let alone a sedan. We also had a couple of the OHC 6 4V engine around. We kept them for a while as we hated to scrap them with the rusted out parts cars. We even found a RA III engine in a old parts car. Those were the days. You want rare how about a Ram Air V GTO? Here is Bill Knafel with the Golden Sabre. I am not sure if the car survived but it was a dealer package they would build and sell if you had the money. Now those were really the days.

"The Jury" was an option package on a LeMans that was dreamed up by Stampede Pontiac Buick in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They sold 26 of these cars with the idea that they could offer a lower-buck car that had the performance of a Judge without being a Judge. That's where the "Jury" name came from. All where Palladium Silver with a blue interior. The each featured a fireball "The JURY" decal on a black bumblebee stripe across the rear quarter panel with a 69' Judge spoiler. It was pretty much the same idea as the Magnum 400. Never saw one in person but I had heard of them. I know Pontiac never would have sold the car looking back. But Bill Knafel was the kind of guy with money and connections who would try to buy a car and often would get what he wanted. Keep in mind he was running a multi car race team and often flew crews or drivers to the races with the team airplane the dealer owned. He was big bucks back then. Once he found he could not buy it they did a respectable copy. While not exact it was a very special car. They hung and converted Catalina convertible 1/4's and made other needed changes. Arlen Vanke built the engine and Micky Thompson supplied the supercharger. My buddies dad drove the car back in the day. He has owned some fast street cars over the years and said this was one of the fastest Pontiac non race cars he ever drove. A lot of the Pontiac people in this area are wondering what happend and where is the engine. We are in a strong Pontiac area and many things have turned up here in garages. We hope someday it might get pulled out and found.

The ultimate Temmpest was the Kanfel Pontiac prepared Magnum 400 cars. They took a limited run of 50 of these cars. Here is a little story on the Magnum 400 In the fall of 1969 as the 1970 Pontiac models were introduced, Bill Knsfel decided to introduce his own inexpensive, lightweight performance car. He was aware of the success of the Plymouth "Roadrunner", so he felt that by ordering the right combinations of options, he could market a successful performance car. He named it "Magnum 400" and sold about 50 that year. It started out as a Tempest coupe ordered with the 400 4BBL engine, Rally II wheels, the 1969 Judge stripe, and other choices of options to suit the customer's taste, such as 4 speed or turbohydramatic transmission, Safe-T-Track differential, and performance rear end ratios. A top Pontiac show car builder here in town may a clone of one of these cars as none of the original 50 are still around. There is one clone car still around a local Pontiac collector put together here. I also found out the early 60's GP convertible the dealer built is still around. In is now in AZ less the engine. Knafel wanted the 63 XP400 and Delorean would not sell it. SO Bill had one built close to the original. It even had a Supercharger set up by Mickey Thompson. We thought the car was lost but it is still around.

We had a small dealer here near my home with two of these. What are the odds of seeing two at one dealer new let alone used? One was even a company show car painted up in red, white and blue. They had them at a local car show where a guy smoked the clutch good trying to move it.

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Until things change the only real options now are Nukes and Clean Coal plants. Wind and Solar options are like the Volt. While they are not totally useless they are only at the start and need more development. Wind is one of the most oversold options there are now. It helps but does not deliver in the amounts to where it makes a major impact. In time and more work it could become more a factor. Until they build them no one will invest in making them better so I do support thier use. Either way it takes a lot of windmills to make the kind of power we need. I have seen the Windmills east of San Fran and they look like a forest. They help but even with that many they fail to meet even the smallest needs we face. Today Nukes are even accepted by many in Greenpeace. The only major issues are the fact we are so far behind in building them and with the economy as it is the money will be hard to come by to fund. If the Goverment had put some of the wasted stimulis money into projects that would keep giving like new power plants and jobs that last longer than the paving job will last we could have gained in some areas of the power grid. I also am affraid of this smart grid system. I am not sure if I like the idea of the Goverment or Energy company being able to regulate my use. Who are they to tell me how hot or cold to keep my house? People don't like the scanners in the airports now just wait till they are effected in their own homes.

The last election moved us a step away from Carbon Tax. Both Dem and Rep that were elected for the most are against it. That is not to say it could come back depending on who the independents are mad at in 2012. On the other hand we are only one major Middle East comflict away from a major spike and shortage of oil. It is one of those things that has been hanging there for a long time. The way it is in the that part of the world right now we are as closer to major deal since the 1968 war. Iran is a wild card and they can change things real fast. If economic issues prevail in the coming years some in that area will take advantage of it. I kind of see the Volt as a Small car in the 60's. Not a must have now but could be a major need in the future. Coal and Natural Gas could keep us on the road if hard times hit.

That was before maketing was so important and the internet fails to keep the seceret.

You always can run into something. Engineers are not fool proof. But I think they have reduced the chances greatly. I also expect if something does come up we will see it address very proactively. They know what the stakes are high if they want to fundementally change the outlook on cars like this while enhancing their image in technology leadership in their other cars. Hell people for years believe the Germans walk on water with their technology but gave GM little credit for their own. Now BMW has HUD or night vision and people make a big deal when Cadillac had it most people just did not care. GM will hopfully gain some trust here.

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You got this one right. COTY is more about market impact and how a car can effect or change the market and the types of cars we buy. Just some years the impact is just not so great. This is why the Vega got it when it first came out. It was expected to make a great impact but we know how that one worked out. Also there is a lot of politics also involved. Autoweek covered this a few years back and explained how it worked. It is a little new inovative car and also a little wink wink. The Volt winning is not a big deal as it is now in production and now offically for sale. the Magazine will be the January issue and the car will have some sales time already under it's battery. The Volt is going to win a lot of awards this year. While it will not save the world all on it's own it will change the way many automakers build future cars. I suspect others will play catch up in time and come out with other similar systems. The Plug in Prius Leaf are only a stop gaps. The industry as a whole fear the Volt as they all have spent money in different product and now GM may change the direction people will want to go. Toyota as a lot invested that may not help in this case and a lot to lose. THere have been reports on this and I can not recall the numbers but it will cost them a lot of money to change direction. The Volt can and may impact the industry just as the Flat Head V8 did and other inovations. Most magazines will not want to over look this as if they are right that this is a market changer they can brag on it. If they are wrong it will be forgotten. In the case of the Vega and X body they both proved to be troubled cars but they did lead the change of a industry and better products later. The bottom line is this will be the best thing for Chevy in Marketing this car. This will help them convince the know nothings on this car into the idea they have the right plan on how to improve the car. With more cars built and better batteries/hardware this car can and will improve while getting cheaper. The key is to keep ahead of the other makers and keep moving the standard forward. GM has a lead on this market and they need to keep it. The Volt will bring a lot of showroom traffic. This also will help sell a lot of Cruzes too. People who can not afford this car will also look at the 40 MPG Cruze that would have never stopped into a Chevy dealer otherwise. While the Volt will do ok as a car it will help Chevys image as whole on what they can do with cars and it will reflect on the entire line. The Halo effect here will be even greater than the ZR1. That is as long as they don't have some major issues like Battery fires or electric motor failures. The pay offs can be great here or it could be a marketing nightmare. I feel as much work as GM has put into this they have not taken many engneering short cuts. They know this car needs a zero failure image. Any hints at major issues could shut this baby down fast. This is not a car for everyone here. But at some point in the future the technology from this car and its decendants car will effect in some way everything we will be driving in the future. Yes it got the Automobile award and I am sure the Popular Mechanics and many others will follow. Few will pass this one over.

The latest Motor Trend hints at a Bently Coupe challanger from Cadillac. That would be nice and a good image builder. But it all could be wasted if the ATS is not best in class. No matter how good the best car is the poorest car will always bring down the image of the entire line.

I just saw a 15 min GM promotional film on one of the Classic Movie Channels on the Corvair. It showed the rebodied Prototype. It had been a while since I had seen a photo of these first Corvairs and forgot how East German they looked. They really made the 1960 look really nice and modern. It was fun to see how they showed the Corvair off road and even claimed how it was driven 20 mile in a stream with no ill effects on the car. In a way it kind of reminded me on how Chevy is presenting the Volt as not just a new car but a new kind of car. this must have been a fairly shocking car just coming out of the finned 50's.