Thanks for all the initial posts peoples! It's good to know that there are fellow wagon freaks out there who love these monsters. This car was the one that started it for me. After she went bye-bye like 20 years ago, I moved to back Washington for awhile to the Seattle-Tacoma area, Tacoma to be specific (home turf). There I found a '66 Caprice wagon I bought for $400 from the original owner: 327 4v, 3 on the tree, ugly green with vinyl wood paneling just like the one in the '66 brochures, power nothing. The guy unchecked every possible option yet still retained the Caprice badge! Said he had to wait 2 months while the car was being built before he got it. I rebuilt the whole suspension, lowered it a bit, rebuilt the transmission, and drove the hell of that one for 7 years until I had to sell it and it went to a Canadian car collector. Maybe one day I'll get that one back too! Yep this one is worse for wear for sure. The frame looks good still but there is quite a bit of body rot. Once the 2-speed tranny went I parked it and started buying all kinds of parts for it, the new floor boards and front and middle cross members are still inside it, though not installed. There is significant rot on the quarter windows and the rear posts. Once I get it home, I'll begin the process of photographing everything and slowly taking it apart, cleaning things up that can be saved, labeling cans of bolts, listing the things that need replacing and sweeping up quite a bit of rust. Hell at least it'll keep me out of the bar! My original intent was to make a GTO wagon out of it with the scoop hood, front buckets, etc. I even had a console and a Hurst His-and-Hers shifter at one time but those are gone now. Thinking prolly a 455 with a manual 5 speed (Tremec?), 12 bolt (gear ratio in the air), dual exhaust, GTO hood, 4 wheel disc brakes, Hotchkiss suspension, and a kick ass sound system. NO RAP here, I'm into heavy metal (hence a Pontiac!). Won't be a daily driver but the weekend cruise mobile, take her to shows yada yada. She does have the luggage rack intact and the wind thingy on the back to direct air over the rear window. Would like to add a power window in the rear but keep the rest manual. It is an original Florida car with factory air (still on the firewall), factory power steering, and factory power brakes originally purchased right here in St. Petersburg, Florida. I do have the Protect-O-Plate with the original owners name in the back of the original maintenance manual along with the original owners manual and options leaflet! Awesome! I will be here to pick brains, make friends, and learn all I can. According to one site I visited and the VIN it is a regular Tempest wagon which only 4095 were produced in 1966 so does that make it somewhat rare?
Welcome aboard, Scarymonster! What a GREAT story!! Congratulations on finding the car. Sounds like there was divine intervention involved! There is a lot of Pontiac specific support available for your project. I find these 3 forums to be very helpful when it comes to all things Poncho: This forum is sponsored by Performance Years: http://forums.performanceyears.com/forums/index.php This is an independent forum, LOTS of great tech help: http://psp.aquacomp.net/ This forum is sponsored by OPGI: http://www.gtoforum.com/forum-index.php Home site of Pontiac Oakland Club International (POCI): http://www.POCI.org Home page of GTO Association of America (GTOAA): http://www.gtoaa.org/ Good used parts (not usually much wagon stuff, but you never know...) http://www.frankspontiacparts.com http://www.dvap.com (Very expensive...) These are my favorite Pontiac parts suppliers: http://www.amesperf.com http://www.inlinetube.com http://www.rockauto.com (you'd be surprised how many parts these guys have for classic cars) http://www.usapartssupply.com/pontiac.php I'm looking forward to following your progress! Post questions whenever you need help; there is great advice here.
Way to go Scary! Hell at least it'll keep me out of the bar! With the condition that wagon is in and the amazing way it was saved just for you, it may cause more trips to the bar. But hopefully those trips will be while driving your new old girl. No matter what shape she is in right now, nothing would stop me from building my dream machine from the rusty hulk remaining. Far from the same story, like a fool, I traded our 55 Chevy wagon while at a swap meet. Took us three years of begging the new owner to get ours back. Hope you locate that rear end and get her home soon. I read the story Fannie copied to my wife and she was thrilled. But that's why I keep her. Like Fannie, she's a wagon guy too! We're not real far apart so hope someday we can actually see that big girl in all it's glory.
awsome story man. i am in the same boat as you finally got an old wagon from the family years ago and starting my restoration on her
One thing is for sure, that wagon of yours is certainly rare. One of fewer than 5,000 40 years ago adds up to very rare now. To have one with factory air, power steering and power brakes, too, makes it rarer again. I would be tempted to keep it a Tempest wagon, but do all the bolt on mechanical upgrades to have a true sleeper. I've always had a thing for the true Q-ship. Nobody suspects what it can do until it is too late.
ok, sold the car then find it in a junkyard with your name on the title. WAY COOL!!!!! I would write that one in to a magazine! Plus, no title search or transfer fee!!! Way cool car. good luck!
It's cool how us car guys can se a car in the paper or in a junkyard and know that it was our old car. I was at a flea market and a vendor asked me if i was the guy that had the purple Challenger years ago, that was on the road last in 1984 i think.
Wow!! Great story. I truly think that it was meant to be that you would be reunited with your Tempest wagon. Take it as an omen and put that baby back together and road worthy. Hope you're able to find a rear end for it locally. Good luck! Jack
OK, got a '65 3.23 geared open rear end that apparently came from a restored GTO. Bought it from a reputable auto shop who said it came from a '65 GTO that the owner decided to "upgrade" after finishing the resto. He swapped out the original 10 bolt for a Chevy 12 bolt (so now I have the 10 bolt), converted it from an original 4 speed car to an automatic (again Chevy TH700R4) and swapped out the engine for a Chevy 350 based 383 stroker. I know. Pains me too. But hey at least I got a rear end, I got the narrow pre- 67 one and this one came from a real GTO! What would be a good stout carrier to put in there later on down the road when the time comes? I'm planning at least a 30 over 455 and may go as high as a 501 with a stroker kit from Butler. Would a stock type posi unit be healthy enough or should I get something different (as in better)? Thanks!
That 3.23 gear set is a good one for a 455 or stroked 400, especially if you're going to run a 3-speed automatic and tires that are between 26.5" and 28" diameter. If you're planning to go with an overdrive transmission, you might consider going to a numerically higher gear set (3.23 to 3.73). I use the attached spreadsheet for these kinds of decisions. Just plug in the appropriate tire sizes and axle ratios and you will be able to see the effects of your selections. Enter your information in the cells with Blue characters. Everything else gets calculated for you when you change any input and click "Enter". The top section is set up with the ratios for a TH350, the bottom section is currently set up with TH200-4R ratios. If you're contemplating a different transmission, just type the appropriate ratios in the "Gear Ratio" area.
Yes, overdrive will come in the form of a Gear Vendors unit on the end of the TH400 giving me 6 forward gears with a final .78 overdrive. Final tire size is in the air and down the road but yes I do want to stuff the biggest, fattest, widest tire I can safely fit under it. With a six speed I've been told a 3.55 is a good all around gear ratio. Rear end upgrades will include adjustable upper and lower control arms, frame mounted sway bar, and disk brakes. Rims will be either Cragar SS, Keystone Klassics, Weld Superlites, or some good ol' polished up slots.
ok so today with a lot of help from Dale, the owner of the salvage yard, previous owner of my wagon (thank you very much!), all around way cool dude, treasure trove of Pontiac info, AND owner of a badass '65 Lemans with a built 455 in it that he sez he can to 104 mph in the 8th mile...and it's street legal!, we got the rear end in. I need another one of those thingies that go inside the spring at the bottom and then you bolt it to the perch on the axle tube so we can then push it up, set the springs in place, and bolt on the shocks. Old air shocks which apparently still work by the way. Get that part and then the rear end will be buttoned up except for a couple wheels. I want to start a resto thread, how and where do I start it? And go looks in my garage: lots of pics of rust today!
Start your project thread in the "Station Wagon Projects" section: http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=32 By the way, did you know that those honeycomb wheels are worth more than you paid for the car? Don't let them go cheap if you decide to sell them! Here's a set currently offered at $325: http://owensboro.craigslist.org/pts/3653877455.html Yours are "Honeycomb" wheels, not "Snowflake" wheels. Often, people selling the snowflakes will incorrectly describe them as Honeycombs...the Honeycombs are harder to find and usually more valuable than the basic snowflakes.
