Pontiacs of Tennessee

Pontiacs of Tennessee www.pontiactn.org Tennessee s Premier Pontiac Club since 1996 Newsletter TNPONTIACINFO@aol.com March 2015 In This Issue President s Message Events Calendar Club Officers Welcome New Member Member Projects 79 Grand Prix SSJ Charlotte Auto Fair Cruise Information Sponsors / Advertisers Mark your calendar for March 14th at 8:30 am We re going to IHOP in Franklin for our first breakfast of the coming spring President s Message WOW What a February February's weather has been the worst I can remember. I hope no one lost power for any length of time. I also hope this weather is in our rear view mirror and warmer days are ahead. If I could get my hands on that groundhog, I d like to make ground-chuck out of his hide I m eager to wake up my hibernating Pontiac and enjoy some of this affordable high-octane fuel. Looking ahead, we have our first breakfast for the new year scheduled for March 14th at 8:30 AM. We ll shake off the cold with some hot coffee and pancakes at IHOP in Franklin. Please let me know if you can join us so we can make sure we have enough tables. Also ahead is the big Auto Fair in Charlotte, N.C coming up in April; but since it is so big and one needs to make plans ahead of time, I wrote an information piece about it for this month. I also included a photo taken a few years ago so everyone can see how big this is. This is not a club event but rather a bucket list item that every car person should attend at least once. It s that good I want to make a combined Welcome as an Honorary Member to our club and a personal Thank You from our club to a special person in the Pontiac hobby. When Gary needed information on the article about Ron Hensley s Grand Prix SSJ, he called Tim Dye, who is the founder of the Pontiac Oakland Museum in Pontiac, IL. Tim sent Gary just about everything the Museum and Resource Center had on the subject; therefore, we all owe a great big Thank you to Tim for the help he provided. I think you re going to enjoy the conclusion to the story about Ron s car. But this is more than an article about a member s car. What s going on behind the scenes is almost as interesting as the story. Ron s car is so unusual that copies of his documentation are being sent to Tim Dye at the Pontiac Museum to add to the known information on these cars. Actually, and I don t want to take anything away from the article, but I think Ron s paperwork may have answered a question about where these cars were converted into the SSJ. Prior to this, there was little known about the conversion and the company that performed it. So you see, information like this is a two-way street and sharing this will only enhance everyone s knowledge about our Pontiacs. The central repository for all that information resides at a Pontiac Museum Please join me to welcome Tim Dye as an Honorary Member of our chapter in appreciation for all he did for us and all he does for our hobby. Pontiac may be gone but it will always reside in history thanks to the work of car guys like Tim. Tim, on behalf of all of the members of our chapter, welcome to Pontiacs of Tennessee. Thanks again. Tom Hart

Watch this column for scheduled COMING EVENTS March 14th 8:30 AM Breakfast at IHOP Hwy 96 in Franklin, TN Please RSVP Tom Hart so we can have correct seating for our group Club Officers President: Tom Hart: tomhart_37027@yahoo.com Vice President: Mark Arnold marnold1970@yahoo.com Secretary / Treasurer: Woody Woodside rjwme38@yahoo.com Newsletter Editor: Gary Dickinson 4253 N.W. High Bridge Rd Wilburton, OK 74578 or garydickinson@me.com 918-839-5515 Welcome Honorary Member Tim Dye Pontiac Oakland Museum Pontiac, Illinois MEMBER PROJECTS Last month, President Tom Hart sent a question out by email to our members asking about who was working on what kind of project. He received a lot of responses including some nice photos. If you haven t sent something to Tom, please do so. Over the next few months, we re going to discuss and hopefully show some of the more interesting projects that are underway. In the meantime, if anyone starts a new project, please let Tom know. It could be the usual project like trying to overhaul an engine or change a transmission from an automatic to a 4-speed. Or it could be that someone found a barn find, as one of our members recently did. This should be a fun and interesting series on some super-projects; including several full or partial restorations, a resto-mod restoration and this very unusual barn find. Yep, barn cars are still out there...

79 SSJ Grand Prix Part II: Editor s Note: This month we re picking up where we left off looking at Ron Hensley s 79 SSJ Grand Prix, beginning with the addition of a copy and transcription of a newspaper article. The Auburn, Indiana newspaper printed the story of the SSJ s unveiling; however, due to the loss of high resolution in trying to get the file size reduced, it is not easy to read. Therefore, the following is a verbatim transcription of the article printed on June 14, 1978 (shown on the right, courtesy of Tim Dye of the Pontiac Oakland Museum and Resource Center). Limited edition car unveiled at museum By Dave Kurtz Star Managing Editor The Pontiac Grand Prix SSJ may never be a museum piece, but it had its start among the classics on Tuesday. Area Pontiac dealers chose the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum to unveil a limited edition Grand Prix made just for them. The occasion is the forming of the Mid-America Pontiac Dealers Association. Only the 18 member dealers will be able to sell the specially-customized car. Since the car s name is the SSJ, the A-C-D Museum was the right place to display it. Other Grand Prix s have been named the J and the SJ after classic Duesenberg models. SSJ was also the name of a limited edition by Duesenberg. It stood for short-supercharged and only two models were built - - for Gary Cooper and Clark Gable. Use of the Museum was suggested by Auburn Pontiac dealer Red Blickenstaff of Potter Motors. His fellow dealers liked it so much that they may come back this fall. A spokesman for the dealer group s advertising agency said he is considering use of the museum for a mini-auto show when the 1979 models come out. He said the Museum is a perfect setting for such an event, since it makes the cars look more elegant. The special feature of the SSJ Grand Prix is mainly a luxury rear roof package. A silver or gold-tinted targa bar accents the roof line. Behind is a landau top with smaller opera windows and rear window than on the standard Grand Prix. The idea is to make the car look more formal. The extra trim package also includes some special striping and logos, and costs $498. That adds to the sticker price of about $6,800 for the Grand Prix. Market Response Group does this for dealer associations all over the U.S. In other areas, the special promotion car may be a Sunbird, Firebird or other model. In each case, it is exclusive to the dealer group. Most dealer groups are in large cities. The Mid-America group is one of the few in rural areas, and covers the largest geographical areas of any of the Pontiac groups. The major purpose of the dealer group is for a combined advertising effort, but the dealers will also share ideas on how to improve their businesses. Local dealers in the group include Potter Motors, Maxton Motors of Butler and G.C.Lepley Sales of Ashley. Dick Bercaw of Maxton Motors has been chosen treasurer of the group. Its membership includes dealers in Indiana and Ohio, stretching as as (the word far was left out of the article - - ED) Marion and Van Wert, Ohio. Exclusive THE GRAND PRIX SSJ limited edition model was displayed in front of Auburn s A-C-D Museum Tuesday, as area Pontiac dealers announced that they will have exclusive sales rights to the special car. (Star photo by Dave Kurtz)

As of this writing, Ron has not received his information from PHS. That should show that his car was originally shipped to one of the 18 dealers in the Association. However, Ron believes his car was delivered i n M i c h i g a n, p r i m a r i l y because of a form he received with his car as documentation. It shows a Detroit area dealer. But Ron also has something very few of us have ever seen; he has a copy of the original Car Order Acknowledgment sent by Pontiac to the dealer. Using this form, looking very similar in format to the window sticker, we can see every option on Ron s car including colors - - and the name and address of the original purchaser. We ll use this form to compare the options because when the form was generated, the VIN had not been assigned. So the name of the buyer becomes important. Remember, one of the extras offered with the SSJ car was a plaque showing the original buyer s name. That plaque can be seen below on the console. The name of the original buyer is Frances Dunn and she is listed on the form (red circle). Looking below her name are the car s color codes, identifying it as a 77L exterior and a 77U interior - - Carmine Red. Looking at the option list and comparing it to the car, there are several unusual options: the power antennae for a CB radio (U83) and the AM/FM stereo with CB radio (UP6), two gauge packages (U14) and (U21) and the automatic climate control air conditioning (C61). This car is loaded with options over and above the SSJ conversion.

We stated previously that Ron received a form which leads him to believe his SSJ was not delivered by a member of the Mid-America Pontiac Dealer s Association. If that s true, it raises more questions about what might have happened. But we won t know exactly until Ron receives the shipping information from PHS. The form on the right looks like a Pontiac form we would see at a dealer, showing all of the colors available. This one shows all of the color combinations for the Grand Prix SSJ; but it s not a Pontiac form. Notice that the Carmine Red car is circled, just above a dealer stamp for Bob Sellers Pontiac of Farmington Hills, Michigan. This dealer was not listed as one the members of the Mid-America Pontiac Association. To add credence to Ron s theory that Bob Sellers Pontiac was the original selling dealer, the Pontiac Car Order Acknowledgement form on the previous page shows the buyer lived in the same city as the dealer - - Farmington Hills. Unless the original owner can be located and asked, we may never know what happened or why. But the fine print on the lower left of the form has a legal disclaimer that is very interesting. It says: Creative Automotive Inc. reserves the right to make changes in cars built by them at any time without incurring any obligation to make the same or similar changes on other cars built by Creative. So it appears that the conversion company was likely Creative Automotive Inc; unfortunately, we don t have any indication where they were located. Until we learn the information from PHS, there seems to be two additional things we don t know about. One is the faux metal wheel / wire wheel cover located on the top of the trunk lid. In reading all of the paperwork about the SSJ package, there is no mention about this trunk lid conversion. Did all SSJ s have this or was it something additional? The original Press Release about the car (in last month s newsletter - - ED) mentioned a deck lid, but there was no mention about specifics. The press release also mentioned special fender identification; but Ron s car has the standard factory SJ fender identification. Why? What happened? If Ron s car was not sold by a member of the Association, does that mean the conversion was made to appear like the SSJ but slightly different for legal reasons? Was there a similar car for Detroit area dealers? Could any dealer send a car to Creative and have them convert a Grand Prix into a car that looked super-similar to the sanctioned SSJ? We may never know what actually happened. Who knows? But the bottom line is we can document Ron s car is an SSJ conversion, at least without the PHS information. That could conclusively prove it is one of the cars from a Mid-America Pontiac Association dealer OR the PHS selling dealer information may confirm that Bob Sellers sold this car - - leaving us with those dangling questions whose only answer may be who knows. Ron has a very nice survivor car that very few people have ever seen - - much less knew ever existed. That s worth a wow factor at any show Editor s Note: Tim Dye once wrote a final thought about these cars. If I may paraphrase what he said, it was that the next time we see a 79 Grand Prix sitting around or offered For Sale, take a second look. It might just be another of the little known SSJ Pontiac Grand Prix s for 1979

Charlotte Auto Fair by Tom Hart Auto Fair What is the Charlotte Auto Fair? It is possibly the largest car s For Sale offering and swap meet in the spring For those of you have never been, this spring car show and swap meet is in my opinion Spring s biggest car event. The show is held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which is about a 6 hour drive from Middle Tennessee. The Motor Speedway is a 1.5 mile super-speedway and has a double row of For Sale cars all the way around the track. On the inside of the track you will find vendors of used parts and auto supplies; in fact, there are so many vendors, it has spilled over to the outside of the track too. The photo above shows just how massive the swap meet really is; it can take days to cover the entire swap meet area;. But if you need parts, this is the place to go and look Jim Heidenway goes every April; he actually has a reserved space for a For Sale car at the Start / Finish line He is a confirmed attendee and I couldn t agree more. This is a spectacle unto-itself If you ve never been, it is something to add to add to your Bucket List. It is something a small group of two or three guys could have a memorable weekend. If you are planning to attend, this years show is April 9-12. I have found that Tuesday seems to be a set up day and Sunday is a breakdown day. The best days to maximize your time there would be Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th. That being said, deals can be made on Thursday and Sunday. Wear good walking shoes and bring lots of sunscreen. Hotel space goes pretty fast. If you have never been, I recommend going at least once. Cruise Information It s that time of year again when we need all the information we can get on the 2015 cruise-in s in the Middle Tennessee area. If you have any information on any cruise, please send an email or call our Newsletter Editor. His information is on page 2 of this issue.

SPONSORS / ADVERTISERS Frank Patton Terry Steagall 931-437-2229 615-895-3160 Steagall Fabrication 614 Dill Lane Murfreesboro, TN 37130 Plastic Media Blast & Sandblasting, Sheet Metal Shaping & Fabrication Doug Bendle P.O. Box 100333 Nashville, TN We have two openings on this page for additional advertisers. A business card size space is $25 for one year. That s eleven newsletter issues, at a price that has not changed in the past 17 years For additional information, contact Tom Hart or Gary Dickinson. Their contact information is on page 2 of each newsletter.

HOW TO JOIN PONTIACS OF TENNESSEE Club dues are $15 per year for our local chapter. Pontiac Oakland Club International (POCI) dues are $39 per year, which includes the monthly Smoke Signals magazine. Although POCI membership is not required, we encourage new members to also join the national club. Either way, your entire family is included in all club events. Please indicate your payment and submit this application with the appropriate check amount to: Pontiacs of Tennessee 2230 Oakleaf DR Franklin, TN 37064 I am not a member of POCI and only wish to join Pontiacs of Tennessee for the $15 annual dues. I am not a member of POCI and wish to join both POCI & Pontiacs of Tennessee for $54 annually. I am a currently a POCI member & my membership number is. Enclosed is $15 to join Pontiacs of Tennessee only. Name: email: Address: Phone: City, State, Zip: Current Pontiacs* owned: *Pontiac ownership is not required for membership Pontiacs of Tennessee 2230 Oak Leaf Dr. Franklin, TN 37064 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED Activities Breakfast at IHOP March 14th 8:30 AM Franklin, TN Join us for our first breakfast of 2015 at the IHOP in Franklin on March 14th at 8:30 AM