July 2012 - Alamo Area Chapter of the Pontiac

PONTI-YAKKIN
Volume 12, Issue 67
July 2012
Official Newsletter of the Alamo Area Chapter of the Pontiac-Oakland Club International
CLUB OFFICERS
President:
Alfred Flores
(210) 435-6333
Vice President:
Thomas Rauschuber
Treasurer:
Mike Prescher
Secretary:
Penny San Marco
Newsletter Editor: Penny Bryant
Website Editor:
Thomas Rauschuber
The purpose of the Alamo Area Chapter
(AAC) of the Pontiac-Oakland Club International (POCI) is assisting Pontiac and Oakland
Car owners with the restoration and enjoyment
of these great cars through sharing of knowledge, and promotion of social activities.
Membership in the international body is a prerequisite of chapter membership. Local chapter
dues are $20.00 per year. Membership entitles
you to receive our monthly newsletter “PontiYakkin”, free personal car/parts for sale/wanted
ads, inclusion in club-sponsored events, and
voting rights on chapter issues. Members are
encouraged to submit articles for use in the
newsletter. All materials are subject to approval, editing, and space limitations. Articles
used are the opinions of their author and not
ACC or POCI.
To submit ads, articles, or request information,
please call one of the above listed club members or contact us at:
AAC Pontiac-Oakland Club
PO Box 34654
San Antonio TX 78265-4654
www.classicpontiac.org
July 10, 2012
Meeting @
Grady's No. 7
327 E. Nakoma
210 343 8070
From the President
Submitted by: Alfred Flores
Our club members are ready for the long drive to the club
convention. Pictures, awards, and club shirts were all on display at
our June meeting. Members gave plenty of input and we hope to
have one of the best chapter displays at this years POCI convention
in St. Charles, Illinois. Frank and Penny SanMarco, Thomas
Rauschuber, and Jim Boring will once again make the trip to the
convention.
July also will mark Collector Car Appreciation Day on
Friday July 13, and I hope that our club can plan a cruise night out
together. We will have plenty of time to plan and agree on a common cruise night spot, so be on the lookout for an e-mail message
on the plans for this event. Last year saw a huge turn out and hope
to continue this again this year.
Progress is really coming along on Jack Keller’s ’68 Firebird. I have been able to help Jack in answering many Pontiac and
mechanical related questions. This restoration is a great example
of attention to detail and can’t wait to see this Pontiac back on the
road. Jack has informed me that the Firebird is really close to firing up for the first time. Progress will be given at our July meeting
and plans for another tech day will be made for the big event.
Recently, Wayne Crist, Justin Rowland, and I attended the
Wonderland Mall cruise night organized by Ralph Gaines. It was a
great turn out of classic and antique vehicles and Ralph tells me
there should be another event planned at the mall for July. Ralph
will give a complete recap and planning for this month’s cruise
night at Wonderland mall.
Our next meeting is Tuesday July 10 at Grady’s BBQ at
7:00 pm. Hope to see you there!
Alamo Area Chapter Minutes
June 12, 2012 meeting minutes will be submitted by Penny
San Marco for next newsletter due to complications with getting ready for the POCI Nationals.
PONTI-YAKKIN 1
The Most Exciting: A Look Back at the 10
Fastest Pontiacs MOTORTREND Ever Tested
Except from article written by: Scott Evans on April 28
2009 in MOTORTREND
of these cars ever made it to the street and those that did would
blast to 60 mph 5.2 sec and thunder down the quarter-mile in 13.7
sec at 102.6 mph.
5) 1998 Pontiac Firebird Firehawk
1998 Saw a new face for the venerable Firebird, as well as a new
LS1 engine under the hood. The tuners at SLP weren’t far behind
10) 2007 Pontiac Solstice Coupe GXP
When the Pontiac Solstice debuted in 2005 as a 2006 model, the
bubbly little roadster turned a lot of heads. Pontiac had managed to
bring the car from concept to production in barely a year and lost
very little in translation. When the Solstice GXP bowed the following year, we knew Pontiac had something special on its hands. The
real clincher arrived for 2009 with the four-cylinder turbo Solstice
Coupe GXP, which covered the quarter mile in 14.0 sec at 100 mph
and managed to rip from 0 to 60 mph in just 5.4 sec.
9) 1962 Pontiac Catalina 421 Super Duty
The big, 421 Super Duty V-8 powered Catalina amazed our testers
in 1962, running down an un-prepped Detroit Dragway in 13.9 sec at
107 mph, with a 0 to 60 mph sprint in just 5.4 sec. In the dead of
winter. With snow still on the ground. If that’s not impressive, we
with their own car, though controversy surrounded the existence of
the car and as such, as few as six cars were rumored to have been
made. SLP quickly ditched the awkward fixed headlights in favor of
the stock pop-ups in 1999, but a few of these ’98 cars snuck out and
we got our hands on one long enough to run to 60 mph in 5.1 sec and
down the quarter-mile in 13.6 sec at 104.5 mph.
4) 2000 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am WS6
The Trans Am was typically the hopped-up model in the Firebird line
and the Y2K model was no exception. Outfitted with the WS6 performance and handling package, the Trans Am blasted past 60 mph
in five sec flat and through the quarter-mile13.5 sec at 107.4 mph.
This car would be the last Firebird we would test before Pontiac
extinguished the flame in 2002.
don’t know what is. We speculated at the time that the Catalina’s
3) 2005 Pontiac GTO
horsepower and torque ratings of 405 and 425 lb-ft, respectively,
The GTO was updated for 2005 with some non-functional hood
were dramatically underrated. We also figured that, given proper
testing conditions, the car was capable of a quarter-mile run in the
mid-12s with a trap speed of at least 115 mph — possibly vying for
the top spot on this list. Unfortunately, we never got a chance to
retest this particular car, but the photo above is of the exact same
vehicle following a recent restoration.
scoops and a bigger LS2 V-8 packing 400 hp, and we immediately
took it back to the track to do battle with the Dodge Charger
SRT8. With a massive Chevy V-8 heartbeat, the updated Goat
blasted to 60 mph in only 4.74 sec and blew through the quartermile in 13.34 sec at 105.86 mph. Though fun while it lasted, this
would turn out to be our last test of the new GTO, as the badge
8) 2008 Pontiac G8 GT
went back to sleep after the 2006 model year.
Born and built by Australia’s Holden division, the Pontiac G8 GT hit
2) 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP
our shores for the 2008 model year as a bargain contender to take
Our grief over the second death of the GTO was short-lived,
on the BMW M5. A practical, four-door, rear-wheel-drive muscle
sedan, this bargain beasty came with a 6.0L V-8 under its hood offering a substantial 361 hp and 385 lb-ft. That would be enough to
propel our G8 GT tester to 60 mph in 5.3 sec and through the quarter mile in 13.8 sec at 102.3 mph.
7) 2004 Pontiac GTO
After a 30-year hiatus, the car that started it all returned in 2004
with a Corvette-derived V-8 under the hood. Imported from GM’s
Australian Holden division, the new GTO was simultaneously lauded
for its blistering performance and derided for its bland styling. Of
though, as its spiritual successor would arrive just two years later
in the form of the Pontiac G8. Again based on the Holden Commodore, the G8 delivered in both the performance and styling departments, more than making up for the damage done the GTO name. A
year later, Pontiac rolled out its heavy-hitter, the mighty GXP. Behind the wheel of this bad boy, we roared to 60 mph in 4.5 sec and
flew past the quarter-mile mark in 13 sec flat at 108.5 mph. That
blistering speed was more than enough to make this car the fastest
factory-stock Pontiac we’ve ever tested, but not quite the fastest
overall.
course, you can’t complain about what you can’t see, and a GTO
And #1 tested …. 2004 Lingenfelter Pontiac GTO
blasting to 60 mph in 5.34 sec and through the quarter-mile in 13.62
It’s worth noting that fastest Pontiac we’ve ever tested wasn’t even
sec at 104.8 mph is definitely hard to keep an eye on.
6) 1997 Pontiac Firebird Firehawk LT4
Most Firehawks to roll out of SLP’s shop packed either an LT1 or
LS1 Chevrolet V-8 under the hood, but at the end of 1997, SLP was
able to snag the last few Corvette-specific LT4 V-8′s off the line
before they were dropped in favor of the new LS1. No more than 30
the fastest available at the time. In fact, the hopped-up 2004 GTO
we got from Lingenfelter Performance Engineering was the base
model with “only” 100 hp more than the stock configuration. Two
other, more-powerful packages were also offered, but it didn’t matter. The ability to hit 60 mph in a measly 4.37 sec and run the quarter-mile in 12.65 sec at 113.7 mph makes this special edition GTO
easily the fastest Pontiac we’ve ever had the honor of testing.
PONTI-YAKKIN 2
PONCHO POWER
Pavement Pounding Pontiacs
427 Hemi TOHC
This was a project started by Pontiac with the end goal of building a Pontiac 427 Hemi. Pontiac
asked Mopar (Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth) for help in designing it and making it work. Surprisingly,
Mopar actually agreed and sent over several of the engineers that designed both the 392 and
426 Hemi. The goal of making a Pontiac Hemi succeeded but was never produced.
Features: Thin Wall, Cast Aluminum Block 4.257 Bore x 3.75" stroke (3.0" Mains) Forged Steel
6.625" rods (Ram Air V style) 12:1 compression Mechanical Port Fuel Injection
Large Valve Heads: 2.40" Intake Valve 2.00" Exhaust Valve
Small Valve High Rpm 2.19" Intake Valve 2.00" Exhaust Valve
Splayed Main Caps, head bolts tie into main caps. Head bolts do not pull on the cylinder wall causing distortion. Cam Drive: Fiberglass Belt Max RPM (High RPM Engine): >8000 rpm Engine
Weight: Estimated 550 lb (249 kg) complete
Dimensions: Width: 32" Length: 32" Height: 24.6"
Power: estimated 640 hp (480 kW) @ 7500 rpm
“Pontiac’s Experimental
Engine of the Future”
circa 1970
PONTI-YAKKIN 3
The Carl Black Pontiac “Blackbird ”Trans Am
tion System, 6-speed manual tranny, T-tops, and
275/40/17 Eagle F1 Tires. Several extra options are then
Carl Black Pontiac GMC located in Atlanta, GA decided to installed to produce the Black Bird.
take factory spec WS6 TAs and make a few special modi- The Carl Black BlackBird cars have GMMG and C##
fied TAs for sale to the public. An excerpt from the origi- stamped on the right front side of the exhaust manifold.
nal "Blackbird" web page follows:
This makes the car personal for each car number and would
be hard to reproduce."
"In February of 2001, Carl Black produced the first series of High Performance Pontiac Trans Ams in memory of the
late Muscle Car Era. Our goal at Carl
Black, was to produce a performance car
that combines the nostalgic feel and
sound of the Sixties with the technology,
power, handling and style of today. The result was the
Black Bird, the pinnacle of 35 years of muscle cars. Fifty
of these specialty vehicles were sold to collectors and
power enthusiasts across the Country. Each Black Bird
starts out as a stock Pontiac Trans Am WS6 Ram Air with
LS1 5.7 liter V-8 engine, 6-speed manual transmission and
Hurst shift linkage. Carl Black´s high performance modifications include a 380 horsepower / 400 ft lb torque engine
package, short throw shifter, high flow air box lid, chambered cat back exhaust, front and rear Eibach 1.5" lowering springs, dimpled front and rear disc brake rotors and
Torq-Thrust II 17" ARE wheels. The Black Bird´s performance is very impressive, doing 0 to 60 mph in just 4.40 seconds, and turning the quarter mile in 12.87 seconds at 111
mph. The cat back 3 chambered exhaust system provides
increased horsepower and an impressive note reminiscent
of the late 1960´s muscle cars. The under-drive pulley system delivers 337 horsepower to the rear wheels. The dimpled rotors add additional cooling to the 4 wheel disc
brakes, and the lowered suspension offers improved handling and control. The Black Bird appearance package features dual 380 HP hood accent stripes, Black Bird Cloisonné
hood and fender badging, Metallic Silver rear lower panel,
all new silver face gauges on the instrument panel, nostalgic
black shift ball, auto dimming rearview mirror with compass, Mobil 1 oil fill cap and decal, car cover and floormats
with embroidered Black Bird logo. Only 50 Black Birds were
produced. Each car´s number is displayed on the windshield
and rear view mirror, and is stamped on the engine and exhaust manifold. The Black Bird was only offered as a complete package, and only from Carl Black." GMMG was responsible for converting the TAs from their stock form to
the Blackbirds that were offered for sale by Carl Black
Pontiac.
There were only 50 380hp Blackbirds produced in 2001 and
50 in 2002. The Black Bird begins as a standard Trans Am
WS6 with all available options including the Ram Air Induc-
50 BlackBirds were produced. (2001 + 2002 total)
7 BlackBirds were convertibles.(1 -2001, 6 -2002)
2 BlackBird convertibles were Black. (2002)
Reprinted from AllGenTransam.com
35th Anniversary Firebird Series
35th Anniversary Firebird
series, based on the Blackbird Trans Am. Only 50
original Blackbirds were
produced, and sold so
quickly that Carl Black
Pontiac wanted another
series of 50 high performance Trans Ams, which they would refer to as the "35th
Anniversary Firebird" package.
These cars had the same performance modifications as the
Blackbirds, but sported unique Anniversary badges/
emblems and different nostalgic wheels. The production
run of these cars was cut short due to General Motors legal issues, and only 17 promotional cars were allowed to
continue to full production, with 2 additional cars being
pushed through late by Carl Black's sales manager, for
a total of 19 Anniversary edition cars according to
Matt Murphy, president/founder of GMMG. Car #1 of this
series was painted Arctic White, with Blue 380HP callout
stripes on the hood (reminiscent of the 1969 Trans Am).
Interior is black leather, white Hurst shift knob with short
-throw performance linkage, Anniversary specific gauge
cluster and floormats. These cars represent the pinnacle
of Pontiac's all-American muscle - a thrill to own, show and
most importantly drive!"
Reprinted from firebirdgallerycom
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PONTI-YAKKIN 4
Pontiac Banshee - a fixed-head
coupe with 2+2 seats
Source Carfolio.com
NASCAR, AHRA and PONTIAC
The wheelbase was 105 in and overall length was 201 in.
The width was 80 in and height was 46.3 in. Length:
wheelbase ration was 1.91. The engine was GM manufactured and was a V8 (4 litre, 4042 CC (246.658 cu. In.)
placed in the front of the car and it was rear wheel drive.
Bore x Stroke 3.62 x 2.99 in. Bore/stroke ratio 1.21. Valve
gear, DOHC 4 valves per cylinder 32 total valves. Max
power was 233.2 PS (230 bhp) (171.5 kW) at 5600 rpm.
Specific output 0.93 bhp/cu in. Compression ration 9.5.1.
The engine was water cooled. Cylinder volume was 505.25
and it had a catalytic converter.
Pontiac Engine Families: 350, 400, 421, 428, 455
Coming out of the 1950's Pontiac was dominant in stock car and drag racing, engineers and designers started the muscle car
era, continuing the performance development program based off of one of General Motors best engine technology engineering teams. The Pontiac focus to maintain leadership was managed by key insiders including executives, engineers and marketers. These Pontiac enthsiasts stimulated an ongoing engine development programs designed to offer a wide variety of performance levels. These engine packages were integrated through various models thereby maintaining Pontiac's strong competitive tradition, while achieving innovative vehicle
model leadership over a substantial period of time.
The 326, 350, 389 and 400 engine families introduction
over an 8 year period culminated in full-size, mid-size cars
and then pony car models. This popular power plant was
able to dominate because common external engine dimensions included a cast iron block that packaged well into
each chassis. The 326-400 engine family maintains a common crankshaft main journal of three inches with a variety
of bore sizes ranging from 3.719" to 4.125" provided the
increased cubic inches with great flexibility in performance and packaging. During this time the hottest 400 CID
factory performance models were denoted by the Ram Air
III and Ram Air IV designations and featured purpose built
4-bolt main blocks and high performance cylinder heads
and induction systems. The exotic Ram Air V was a stand
alone engine designed for a limited road racing series that
required no larger than 305 CID. It featured the ultra-rare
tunnel-port cylinder head design.
The big block 421, 428 and 455 Pontiac engine family,
which dominated drag racing and stock car racing are
physically and dimensionally able to also fit in popular
mid-size Pontiac models. These big blocks used a 3.25
crankshaft main journal and physically also bolted in, helping the later Pontiac pony cars stoke up the performance
well into the late 70's. These 421-455 engines are obvious
when installed because of their unique configuration including a 4.094 - 4.150 big-block bore. The Super Duty
and HO models were designed and cast with 4-bolt main
blocks.
Tony Stewart
PONTI-YAKKIN 5
Upcoming events

Collector Car Appreciation Day. July 8 and 13, 2012

POCI Convention July 19-22

NTOC Annual Oldsmobile Zone Show on Sept 14, 15
& 16.
New Cars/Parts wanted/for sale

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month. 8 am to 10 am.

Recurring Events:

Friday Night Cruisin’ Biff Buzby’s at IH 35 &
Toepperwein Rd. every Friday night.

Castroville Cruise Night 2nd Friday of every
month at Wommack Chevrolet.
The Rim Cruise Night @ Bass Pro Shops
every 3rd Sat of the month. 1604 & I-10
Pig Stand Swap Meet on the last Sunday of each
month.
TJ Burgers in New Braunfels on Saturdays.
Cruise night in Boerne, TX every Sat. night 6-11pm
Carson’s Car Corral, 1604 & Blanco - last Sat of


Vineyards at Blanco & 1604 Breakfast at 8:00 am
every 4th Saturday
Soda Pop’s in Boerne “Hot Rod Night” First Saturday of the month (next on May 5th) and monthly during the summer. 103 N. Main St.
Midnight Rodeo Cruise In (Every 1st Friday of the
Month) 12260 Nacogdoches Rd.
AAC Pontiac-Oakland Club
P.O. Box 34654
PLACE
POSTAGE
HERE
San Antonio, Texas 78265-4654
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
PONTI-YAKKIN 6