Last weekend, C and C Automotive held a car show, and the featured guest was Kat Delorean, the daughter of automotive legend John Delorean. Not surprisingly, her pick for “best of show” was a 1966 Pontiac GTO owned by Edward Pettit.
Pettit, retired dean of arts and sciences at Augusta University, has a special GOaT that is mostly original and has never had a full restoration. Pettit says that is a testament to how well built the car was coming out of the factory.
“You’ll spend more money on restoration than the car is worth. My car is in the same shape I bought it 25 years ago. I like it just the way it is,” Pettit said.
The original engine has been replaced with a 428 cubic inch from 1969 that features the “Tri-Power” carburetion system which uses three two-barrel carburetors. The engine pumps out around 300 horsepower.
Pettit says the car brings back great memories from his youth, and he chose the car partly because 1966 was the year he graduated high school.
“I remember when we were on road trips, we would play a game where we tried to identify on-coming cars, and this front end (the ‘66 GTO) was one that you could spot a mile away,” Pettit said.
I know the feeling. The first car I paid for with my own money was a 1977 LeMans, and that car took me through high school. The car purred like a Sherman tank and had so much interior room that I could pile in all of my friends to go on joy rides; the backseat was large enough to double as a bedroom.
Ah, youth.
How I got the LeMans is quite the story. My grandfather sold me the car and made me pay him every dime before I was allowed to take the car out of his driveway.
Gran Gran himself bought the car from the elderly mother of a mechanic who worked for Pontiac. According to Gran Gran, the mechanic wanted a muscle car but had kids and needed a four-door vehicle, so he special ordered the car to his specs.
The engine ordered was a Can Am engine, which I believe was a 455. The car had a four-barrel carb and an aftermarket dual exhaust system. Despite weighing nearly two tons, that car would fly, and, because of the wide track suspension (a Pontiac exclusive), the car seemed to float no matter what the speed.
Unfortunately, the mechanic could not keep up with the payments, so he sold it over to his elderly mother who drove it to church and that was about it.
When I got the car in 1988, it had less than 40,000 miles on the odometer and still had factory plastic on the backseats. I immediately put shiny mag wheels on it and took it over to show it off to my grandfather.
“Now, boy, don’t you let me catch you racing that thing. That car has more horsepower than you have brains. Remember, you ain’t too old for me to give a good spanking!” Gran Gran said.
I’m glad I heeded his advice. I remember a Corvette pulling up next to me at a stoplight on Washington Road at Westtown on a Friday night when we were cruising. The driver gunned his engine and pointed forward.
The Corvette driver didn’t see the road deputy sitting in the Pizza Hut parking lot. He peeled out and took off like a rocket and seconds later, the blue lights were swirling.
I didn’t need to race anyone. I knew what that car could do.
My LeMans, which I named Alexis, could pass anything on the highway except a gas station. I believe that hungry monster got around seven miles to the gallon, and after high school, I sold it for something more economical.
I now rue the day I let that car go.
While my LeMans was built long after John Delorean left the Pontiac division, it was constructed under the ethos of Delorean’s management. It was wide, it was fast, and it was comfortable.
Delorean arrived at Pontiac in 1956 when the brand was searching for its identity. Slowly, Delorian was able to move the brand away from the chrome-laden dinosaurs to become the sport division of General Motors.
Fearing that the GTO and Firebird would outsell the Corvette, GM management tried to rein Delorean in, but it was to no avail. The suits demanded that Delorean abandon the two-two barrel carburetor system, so instead, Delorean created the Tri-Power system.
Technically, Delorean obeyed his bosses, so he couldn’t be reprimanded, and after that, the suits largely left him alone.
In my opinion, the Delorean era was the golden age of Pontiac. Too bad that the brand abandoned Delorean’s vision and began offering rebadged clones with quality issues that plagued all of GM. Finally, the pitiful Aztec, which was styled as poorly as the Edsel, sank the brand for good.
But, boy do I miss that ‘77 LeMans.
Make sure you check out Taylor Bryant’s interview with Kat Delorean in next week’s column.
See you on the road!!
