I am in love..... 77 Poncho

Gawd this is nice, tons of pics also in the link.

http://www.paulsevagmotors.com/used...ri+Wagon-a58443a04046381100d78139607a7640.htm

 

Cool looking wagon, I remember driving a Firebird rental with the 301 V8 in it, decent power, course much smaller car.

 

That should be the definition of clean.

 

Wow, what a gorgeous car. Hard to imagine it being sold by the original owner after so many years, isn't it?

 

Very nice. Except for the RED, I don't like red.
There's been a near-twin of this one on the net for sale, on and off, for two or three years now. Identical to this one except for a silver exterior. Also has under 10k miles.

Still don't think it's worth $14.5k though......

 

Ok one of my long-winded stories....

We moved from Amarillo texas to Tulsa Oklahoma in late 1977. I was 4 years old and Mom was pregnant with my kid brother. Our family car was a 72 Cutlass Supreme notchback coupe, 350, buckets and floor shift. Nice car, but Dad decided we needed a wagon since my brother was on the way.

Dad had always been an Olds man, but the woodgrain that looped over the wheel-wells on the Delta wagons turned him off. Off chance he read in a magazine that '78 was going to be the last year the true Pontiac 400 was optional in the fill size Ponchos. That deciced it.

Dad had a good job with Southwestern Bell, and decided to special order a "man's" wagon...even thought it was for Mom. He walked into Ernie Miller Pontiac and told the salesman exactly what he wanted....and the salesman said he couldn't have it!

Now remember I was only 4, but Dad loves to tell this story, so I know it by heart.

Here's the deal, the Bonneville Brougham offered a wild multi-shade cloth pattern for '78 on the seats and door panels. It was long rectangular blocks of tan, brown, black, and grey...I wish I could find a pic of it...very 70's. Dad wanted that interior in his wagon...and he wanted a silver exterior with dark wood trim. The dealer said he could not order a silver car with tan interior, it would just look wrong. Dad insisited, said if they wanted his business, they would have to order it that way.

After some haggling, and the store manager trying to talk Dad out of it too, and Dad having to sign a letter saying he would not refuse delivery, they agreed to put the order in.

In addition to the odd colors, Dad ordered a LOADED car. He wanted every power option in the book, seats, windows, locks, cruise, basically a Bonneville Brougham wagon. He also ordered the 6.6 Pontiac 400, and told them if it showed up with a 403 Olds, he would refuse delivery, letter or not. He also ordered the tow package, full gauges, heavy duty cooling, and snowflake mag wheels. The car was almost $12K, more than a Corvette that year.

After waiting 6-weeks the car came in. The dealer called Dad at work, and asked if they could keep it on the showroom for a week or two! The silver with dark wood and tan custom interior was stunning in person. The dealer was shocked, but it got a ton of attention when they unloaded it.

Dad wanted his car, but when he went to take delivery, he had a fit. He had ordered snowflake mag wheels, and the car showed up with wire wheel hubcaps. Also, he had ordered a tilt column and deluxe steering wheel, the one with all the wood on it, and the car showed up with a fixed column and base-level tan steering wheel. Thankfully it did have Cruise. Dad still had a fit.

The dealer informed Dad that the snowflake wheel open had been discontinued from the wagon line because of the weight wagons were designed to handle. The mags were just not strong enough. As for the tilt column and deluxe wheel, that was a factory mistake, and they offered to credit my father the option price. Dad was pissed.

After haggling a while Dad agreed to take the car with the fixed column, but he DID NOT want wire wheel hubcaps. The dealer offered to take some Rally II mag wheels off another new car on the lot, and Dad agreed to that. We had a new car.

Dad loves to point out that a few weeks later there were four silver over tan interior wagons on the Ernie Miller lot.

That Grand Safari was a great car. We hauled and towed with it, that 400 was a super engine, we moved to Denver in 1984 and that car would run off and leave just about anything when we went up in the mountains.

In 1986 Dad got transferred to New Jersey. The Safari had just under 100K miles, and was still in nice shape. He sold it to a neighbor down the street rather than ship it to New Jersey. He regretted selling it.

When we got to NewJersey Dad bought a brand new '86 Electra Estate Wagon. Silver over silver interior this time. It was fancy, and pretty, but the 307 was the only engine offered, and it was gutless compared to the old Safari.

Needless to say I grew up with wagons....and I would love to find an old Safari like that one we had....but the ones that show up now all seem to have plain vinyl interior and 301's in them. I want a 400 and that wild 70's cloth interior.

Always on the lookout!

-Mike

 

The white wagon at the start of this thread has the deluxe steering wheel and tilt column Dad wanted. Ha, that's funny...now I know where it went!

 

Now that I've totally hijacked this post, he're one more quick Safari story. Dad took delivery of our '78 just before Thanksgiving. We loaded it up and drove from Tulsa to Waco Texas to spend the holiday with my grandparents.

As you can imagine, Dad was proud of his brand new car. I remember we were not alowed to eat in it on the trip...and my shoes had to come off for fear I'd dirty the new seats.

Well we had car trouble about an hour into the drive. It seems in '78 GM put a mesh screen over the end of the tailpipe, and either something from the cat converter or muffler blew out and clogged the screen. The car could not breath. A trucker at a rest area handed Dad a tire iron and Dad punched a hole in it and pried it out. Car ran like a watch the rest of the way.

When we got to Waco, Dad parked the car at the end of the grandparents long driveway. Everyone that showed up for dinner would see it gleaming there. My grandfather and uncle were mightly impressed with it.

That night we had an ice storm. Well there at the end of the driveway where Dad had parked was a large wooden post with a heavy wood basketball goal on it. It was old, and either the wind or the ice got to it. In the middle of the night the house was awakend to a loud crash. The basketball goal fell over, onto my parents brand new car, denting the hood and roof and shattering the windshield.

My grandfather was mortified, and my Dad was crushed. That kinda ruined that Thanksgiving...

The following Sunday we drove the car back to Tulsa, shattered windshield and all. Dad wanted the dealer in Oklahoma he bought the car from to do the repairs, not someone in Texas. He wanted to make sure it was "right".

They did a super job fixing it. Dad made sure, you could not tell anything had happened.

Despite how our relationship with that car started off, it was a really good car.

Sorry for my long-winded tales!

-Mike

 

Mike: Thank you for sharing your story with us. I laughed out loud a bit reading it. I can see it in my head. I think we all had experiences like that growing up.

But that wagon, WOOOOOOOOO! Love that red interior, she is so puuuurrrrdy. :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

LOL...to each his own, wagnut. I'm 100% with KK on this....I don't think I could even sit in that car with that bright red!

 

Love your stories Mike, and love this wagon. I think I could even enjoy the red interior. Definitely not loving the price though...

 

I love your 442 wagon! As for my stories...I tend to ramble.

And I'm actually of fan of blinding red interior. My old 79 black Corvette had the same red guts. It looked awesome!

 

Mike, I love your stories! You spin quite a yarn! I can see it all happening as I read it!

As for the red interior, I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

I can't understand why today's cars only have biege, gray, and charcoal. :confused: Boring!

Reds, whites and blues are my favorites! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

David

 

....all the colors I DON'T like on or in cars, Wixy!
Not saying that some combos don't look great....just saying that, for the most part...the colors you named are not my car favorites.

 

I totally agree! I hate grey interior...it's so boring!

I looked a long time to find a white Roady with red interior. And my Cutlass is blue inside. I would have preferred maroon in the Cutlass, but the condition and options sold me on it.


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