Sunfire Red beauty in Red Hook

SUNFIRE RED BEAUTY IN RED HOOK

I was strolling aimlessly through Red Hook recently when I stumbled upon this majestic brute:

Yowza! This is a 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix in the outstanding color Sunfire Red. This car represents an extinct category of automobiles; the full size luxury hot rod.

The Grand Prix was introduced in 1962 as an amalgamation of the Catalina and high end Bonneville. The Catalina had a more sparse exterior without too much chrome or flash. The interiors got the Bonneville luxury treatment albeit with bucket seats and a console.
That GP grill emblem was new for '64.

1960s Pontiacs represent my favorite overall decade for a car company. The trademark split grill, stacked headlights, and gun sight turn signals all come together for me in a big way.

This is a big car with nice proportions. All GPs were hardtop coupes until the 1973 model year (the only exception being a 1967-only convertible).

The G R A N D  P R I X font is pretty assertive. This pic is fuzzy but that shape under the words is a stylized GP emblem. Those are the correct and original 39 rib De Luxe hubcaps for '64.

I see an antenna on the rear fender so I'm guessing this has the Super De Luxe transistor radio option. Few things are as colorful as the verbiage in sales brochures. Radio? Pfft. SUPER DE LUXE!

The original owner didn't bother with the optional reverse lights or they would be located in the bumper between the taillights and license plate. The taillights are described as "hidden" because the aren't red until used but they are these vertical delta openings on the sides.

The mid '60s were the high point for putting a faux grill on the rear of a car too as seen here.

The Bonneville was very similar to the Grand Prix with a couple of noticeable exceptions. The slim chrome trim along the rocker panel was a massive striped chrome band on the Bonneville. In addition the rear roof was rounded with a faux convertible look.

This concave rear window is Grand Prix only.

The steering wheel rim is clear around the top and bottom with just the sides matching the interior body color. There is a round gauge where the console meets the dashboard. This is a tachometer in one of the least useful placements ever! Imagine having to look down to the ashtray area to monitor your revs. Perhaps it was an overreaching response that Pontiac came out with the hood mounted tach 3 years later.

The paint loss on the hood makes me believe this could be an original paint car. If so it is in truly phenomenal condition! The fact that it is parked on the street is surprising.

The sky was darkening fast so I'm lucky I came across this ride when I did. Out of all the cars I've longed for and thought about acquiring it was a Grand Prix that I regret letting slip away. When I was about to turn 18 in high school I looked at a red 1967 GP convertible (!) that the guy was asking something like $1,500 for. Keep in mind this is 1992 and huge '60s cars were for the most part undervalued. Still it was the only year for a GP drop top and the seller fired up the mighty V8 for me to hear. I passed and bought a '63 Beetle instead, the engine of which I promptly blew up.
That is the only car I genuinely regret not buying. Sitting here in my 40s I think I know what to do.

Enter the Space Age in your Rocket 88!

VERY DYNAMIC RIDE

A few blocks from my store in Gowanus there's a body shop that's constantly working on amazing old rides. Occasionally they'll have one parked nearby that they're most likely freshening up in some way. This was a particularly sweet one!

This is a 1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 in the wonderful color Holiday Red. As straight-up and close to stock as this example is it still looks like a lowrider. Obviously those rectangular '80s fog lights are a later addition, as are the blue tinted inboard headlights. Some people can't leave well enough alone!

This was the last year for this body style that was introduced in 1961. The Jetstar 88 was entered into the Olds lineup as a lower trim level version of this very car, which elevated the Dynamic 88 to the top of their mid range offerings. The chrome fender skirts are pretty over the top but I guess there's enough shiny trim to carry it if that's your thing.

The Space Age writing is great, especially when you consider that the Olds engines were named Rocket. This ride, being the top of the 88 series, would have been equipped with the 394 Sky Rocket V8 as opposed to the smaller 330 Jetfire Rocket V8.

The Lake Pipes are a great touch. I think they're legit because they have those vent slots where the drivers ankles might hit them; just cooling that area enough to save you from a serious burn. The round refrigerator key on the right off this pic below the trim is probably an old alarm.

Window louvers on the interior of the rear window! Awesome period touch. This really seems like an old school lowrider in the most traditional sense. Maybe it was and they repainted it?

Terrible pic I know but I included it to show the odd and totally impractical placement for the tachometer; down on the console in front of the shifter.

From this angle you can see another '60s GM oddity; the hardtop roof has simulated bow lines as seen directly above the rear window to make it seem like a convertible. Of course there's 1 out of state plate on the back that I'm not buying. Unfortunately there's also a single brown exhaust pipe too so I guess the Lake Pipes are for show after all.

The Space Age vibe is present in the awesome taillight design too. Reverse lights were still an option on most cars but probably came standard on the Dynamic 88.

This body style was shared across the entire GM lineup with only front and rear fascias differentiating them. A detail specific to the Olds in the straight fin on top of the quarter panels, which are omitted from its Buick and Chevy counterparts.

The missing paint above the left headlight is the only real damage I could find on this car. I think these '60s designs hold up today, and as daily drivers they are pretty manageable. Whoever is prepping this for summer use is a lucky duck.

A quick shot of America and a landmark chapter in the Muscle Car craze

GRAN TURISMO ALMOSTGATO

Lets start off this post with the most patriotic thing I've seen in a long time:

YES! Every once in a while you need an Eagle-Hawk-Bear-Wolf-12-point-Buck reminder of just how great this country is!
Now on to the star of the show which was almost entirely hidden from view;

I was across the street when I caught a quick glimpse of a taillight behind a wall of vans and meter maid trikes out near Sunset Park. Even though it was brutally hot and it meant leaving the shady side of the street I had to investigate. I'm glad I did!

This is a 1964 Pontiac Tempest wearing remnants of either Marimba Red or Sunfire Red. It can park on the sidewalk without fear of towing or reprisal of any kind simply because it has no plates. DO NOT try this in Manhattan, but in Brooklyn you can just leave a car wherever you want for as long as you want as long as there isn't a NY plate on it and nothing will happen.

Show some reverence, people because this is it! The one that started it all. The official start of the muscle car craze was a 1964 Pontiac Tempest with the GTO* option. Even though this one is not equipped as such it is a milestone in the American automotive history, not to mention a sweet ride.
GTO stands for Gran Turismo Omologato which was the name of a Ferrari at the time.

This car has seen some wear and homegrown repairs but seems remarkably complete otherwise. Still, riveting a piece of metal to a rusty section isn't really gonna cut it at the car shows. The original and simple hubcaps are nicely understated. She's sitting nice and high on new tires so someone's got plans for hooking this beast up.

The patina is great. 

Those three chrome accent lines would be replaced with vertical gills if it were a GTO. This was overlooked sometimes in the past by people trying to pass off a Tempest or Le Mans as a GTO when selling. However, real GTOs are worth so much these days that nobody would ever get away with it (especially since everyone has the internet on their phone and can search the VIN on the spot).

I thought this fender was wearing a different color but I can't tell if that's the case or not. If so the entire front end may have been replaced.

The seats are in pretty nice shape, the dash is solid, and it looks clean throughout. That original radio with PONTIAC written on it is sweet. The horn ring is a weird shape from the factory with a flat lower half. WHY with the dice people?

This is the base model 2 door coupe as opposed to the much more popular hardtop. At first glance with the windows rolled up it looks like it could be a hardtop, but the fact that the chrome window surround goes over the vent window on the door means it is a post car.

I think these tidy mid-'60s midsize cars are some of the best looking ever. They aren't too huge and have great proportions. The trademark Pontiac split grill with the beak gives it a tough look.

If this were a GTO those 3 letters would be sitting where PONTIAC is on the left. The following 2 years would feature stacked headlights. The 1967 is arguably the most popular year for the Le Mans/Tempest/GTO line with the split grill being shorter in the middle than on the ends.

This is the famous Pontiac emblem. The name comes from Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa Tribe, a war chief that battled the British in the Great Lakes region in the 1760s. Originally the logo was a stylized silhouette of the chiefs head in a circle, and later within a shield or arrowhead design. Finally the likeness of the chief was dropped entirely and this arrowhead became the logo.

This is all I could get of the drivers side since it was jammed against the wall of vans. This is the sort of ride that's still within reach price-wise, but can be souped up or restored to original very easily as most parts remain available. The Chevelle, Cutlass, and Skylark are all essentially the same car under the skin so any number of upgrades or engine swaps are possible too. I would love to just get a hold of this beast and drive it as-is, patina and all!

Twofer Tuesday/Wednesday returns with a Falcon Crest marathon!

A CAST OF FALCONS

Winter was just giving way when I stumbled upon the bruised little birdie in South Slope:

This is a 1961 Ford Falcon in Raven Black. One bird painted in another ones color! She seems to be capable enough to drive around in but there's no denying the one bad day she had way back when.

Blammo!

That's a tough knock indeed. That tree just jumped out in front of me!

Being a compact car she took it pretty well. You can easily identify this as a 2nd year Falcon because the grill is convex in shape, while the inaugural year of 1961 sported a concave grill. Starting with the '62 model year the grill was no longer tucked in under the lip of the hood.

The Falcon was introduced in 1960 to help stave off the ever-successful European imports such as the VW Beetle. Initially Fords little compact was a runaway hit, with points for economy and reliability. With the small inline-6 cylinder engine that was standard this little cruiser boasted 30mpg! The fact that automakers brag about numbers like that 54 years later illustrates how impressive that was.

Everything on this car is rounded from the overall silhouette, to the side trim, to the shape of each window. The '60s are second only to the '80s in sharp-angled square cars so this is a friendly look.

In California you get Mexican blankets as seat covers in old cars, so I guess you get some '80s Nu Jazz artsy print in NYC?

As thrifty as this little frumper is it does have some options; the radio certainly wasn't included back in '61 (a $58.45 option; $4 more than the non-pushbutton version), nor was the 2-speed Fordomatic automatic transmission (a whopping $163.10!). This Falcon also sports the Delux Trim and Ornamentation package which includes (among other things) the white steering wheel with chrome horn ring.

With the damage hidden this is a sweet looking ride, especially in black.

Visibility is excellent thanks in part to the wraparound rear window.

No reverse lights for 1961!

The gas cap placement was in this spot for just about every Ford right up through the Pinto of '71. Bizarrely the Pinto is best remembered for the potential for the gas tank to explode in a rear-end collision even though its gas cap was located on the quarter panel.

These rocket taillights are a design feature carried throughout the Ford lineup in '61, from the Falcon on up to the luxury Thunderbird and Starliner.

I think the chrome trim wrapping around the taillights before heading up to the front of the car is just neat.

Believe it or not, the former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara is known as the Father of the Falcon. He was Fords general manager in the late '50s and he commissioned the creation of a compact car. By the time it was launched he had been promoted to Vice President of cars and trucks and he was directly responsible for keeping weight and costs down in the final design.

Even though this car is on the small side it was meant for 6 passengers to ride in relative comfort.

These smart but simple hubcaps were standard but the mini whitewalls were optional.

Well we'll leave this ride and move on to its younger sibling.

This example is a Falcon Futura from 1964. In every mechanical sense this car is the Ford Mustang that was released halfway through the '64 model year. The grill is a 1-year-only unit with horizontal bars replacing this rectangles-in-a-grid look in '65. Perhaps most importantly, this is the year of the car driven by the Rodriguez Brothers in Repo Man!

It's a bit foggy with age but this hood ornament consists of a piece of glass with the stylized Ford logo suspended within.

This day was bright and beautiful, but the car was parked on a harrowing 1-lane raceway with lots of traffic, so the pics are crummy.

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SCREEN! The next 2 warped pics are a result of a reminder I'd set in my phone going off while I was taking pictures. It warps the image while the chime is playing so you know to pay attention to whatever alarm you set. Little did I know that the pics would be as warped as the screen I was looking through.

One more goofy warped image. This car was restored well and perfectly straight.

The brushed aluminum panel between the taillights and accent gills on the rear quarter are just enough extra detail to make this a classy ride.

There was no purple color option from Ford for '64 but it looks fine. This car looks sharp in any color.

The overall look is decidedly more aggressive than the earlier Falcons. It was all a part of Fords "Total Performance" look which was meant as a precursor to the launch of the Mustang halfway through the year. This car is literally identical to the Mustang with the exception of the body. For this reason the Falcon became somewhat redundant, finally being terminated after the 1970 model year.

*There actually was a 19701/2 only Falcon which was essentially a base model Fairlane and bore no resemblance to its former self.

One more look at these puppy dog eyes on the way out.