[Spridgets] Not LBC......Both the Pontiac & Saturn end

Norm 2Bs twobees at sprynet.com
Thu Oct 8 12:25:42 MDT 2009


Oh, rats!  I'm too busy for this today.  But,...
My folks had a '60 or '61 Bonne 4-dr hard top.  Neat car.

After my first sports car, a '57 Healey 100-6, I bought my first new car, a
'65 MGB Roadster.  Had that for 2 years along with a '64 Corvair Spyder
coupe.  Sold the Corvair when I got married, the B when baby came along.
Needed something "bigger" so all 3 of us could fit.  So, bought a '68
Firebird 400 convertible, metallic green, white top, gold interior, base 400
c.i., hydramatic, 2.56 Posi, radial tires & some other stuff.  Darn car got
13 mpg no matter how I drove it.  with the 2.56 posi I couldn't spin the
tires (I was into drag racing back then) unless I was on some dirt.  BUT,...
that Bird flew.  1 to 2 shift was at crazy speed like 60.  2 to 3 at 90.  I
saw 135 in that car.  Talk about CRAZY!  A convertible with the first
generation BFGoodrich radials doing 135?????.

Nevertheless, I survived to go faster (Have seen 154 in a Porsche) and
regularly saw over 100 in my MGB on long straights like Watkins Glen (117) &
NHIS (?), and even in my 948-powered Turner at Roebling (102?), even got to
do 205kph on the Autobahn this summer in a 318d at the tail end of a
Mercedes/BMW "train" of about 8 cars.

Hate to see Pontiac go.  But, I lived & worked in the Detroit area in '78 &
'79.  Saw the folly of committee planning subject to accountants.  That's
what has killed Detroit along with quality that improved far too late.

RIP.

Norm Sippel


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