The answer is simple - 1955! That's the year Pontiac
came out with the "Strato-Streak V8". A 287 CID slug! And, I
had one. The year was 1963, and after selling my first car (a 1950 4-door
torpedo body Chevy), for a big profit, I was able to buy my first V-8
car. It was a '55 Pontiac Chieftain and I paid my life savings of $200.00
for it. This was for a car that was less then 10 years old! First
impressions are lasting. I loved that car. It wasn't very fast but it was
a V8 and it looked good. In '64 when the GTO first arrived, I wanted one
bad! But, all I could afford was a used "Tri-Power" setup from
a '57 engine. It helped performance some but the best results was how it
looked! When I was in High School, you had to have a Hot Rod or you were
nobody. I didn't have any money so I was somewhere in between nothing and
nobody but I had my Pontiac with 3 deuces and that helped my social
standing somewhat! Since than I have always been intrigued by multiple
carburetion. It just looks cool! And I always wanted a GTO!
After a four year hitch in the Navy, a friend bought a
used '68 GTO. It was a nice 400cid/400turbo. It ran strong like it should
(better than my '55) but not any better than another friends '68 Firebird
400/400. Neither one had "multiple carbs". I was disappointed!
Old impressions die hard. I was also disillusioned! GM decided to get out
of the racing business and Pontiac had to say good-by to its Tri-Power
system. But for some strange reason you could still get
"Tri-Power" in the Corvette! 435HP/427cid where was the logic
in that? I was mad! I gave up on American cars and went out and bought a
brand new 1972 Datsun 240Z (multiple carbs)! If I was ever going to have
a GTO it had to have (you guessed it) "Tri-Power"!
Twenty years, several cars, trucks and four wheel
drives, (both foreign and domestic) 1 marriage, 2 kids, 2 careers and a
house or two later I found it! A 1965 Pontiac GTO Convertible! It was in
kit form (some assembly required). It had no top, a newly done not stock
interior (looks like '66 seats) in cloth and leather and fresh Ferrari
red paint. The 389 had a bad rod knock and overheated. But the clincher
was the unassembled "Tri-Power" sitting in the trunk.
Knowing this was not a #'s matching car, made my
decision to build what I wanted that much easier. The 455 CID engine and
turbo 400 trans sitting in my garage finally found a home. A little
clean-up, a new white top, some radiator work and vintage "MAG"
wheels, made a nice looking and running GOAT! It was now time for the
Carbs!
After rebuilding the carbs myself, and purchasing
linkage, I installed the set-up on the 455. The car didn't go any faster
but it sure looked sexy and it sounded great. I had finally achieved high
school social status! Everybody liked looking at the car, especially the
engine. I was in heaven. Then it happened!
One morning on the way to work, the engine was running
kind of rough. It started hard and was blowing a fair amount of black
smoke. I figured the choke had stuck and I would fix it when I got to
work. Then it back fired! One of those little pops you hear now and then
when the engine is cold and you give it a little gas. Flames started
pouring out of the cowl in front of the windshield. Oh-MY-GOD this thing
is on fire!!! I pulled over, opened the hood and saw my worst nightmare,
the whole top of the engine was on fire and all I could do was spit. I
had no fire extinguisher, nothing! All I could do was watch it burn.
Finally, a passing motorist with an extinguisher stopped and put the
thing out before it totally got out of hand. Then the fire truck arrived
and made sure it didn't go any farther. They must have poured a thousand
gallons of water in and on that car until it was stone cold. That was a
sad day! The good news was it was not a total loss. In fact, thanks to
the guy with the fire extinguisher the car is still on the road today. It
took a little over a year of rebuilding and refurbishing. It gave me the
opportunity to rebuild the 389 that came with the car. So, for the last
seven years I ran it with a single Carter AFB carb and a fire
extinguisher.
After joining GGGoats in the summer of '00 and seeing
all the nice '64's, '65's and '66 GTO,s with "Tri-Power", I
decided mine wasn't a Goat until it had its Carbs! So, I got brave this
time and had the carbs "professionaly rebuilt". I'm glad I did
it right this time, they sound so much better then the four barrel and
they look so sexy.
So, what is the best year? My car has a little of them
all. From the '55 Chieftain of my youth, to the '66 hood and interior,
the '71 Turbo 400 trans and the '72 disc brakes. All These parts work in
concert to make Gran Turismo Omologato, American style, and I’m glad Im
still driving mine! People still enjoy looking at it. These cars are
truly a "Wayback machine". People go wayback every time they
see one.
The 455 is back in the garage looking for a new home.
I was thinking a '64 post coupe would be nice. Doesn't have to be a GTO,
already have one of those, but, that's another story.
