This one doesn't hardly qualify as an intermediate body style either, but it's a good story.
In 1978, I was asking around, just looking for a beater to drive in the upcoming winter months. A friend of mine who hung around at a Mobil station, called me up and said he found an old Pontiac for $325 and would I be interested. He said he drove it around the block and it pulled pretty good, but he didn't know much more about it.
Come to find out , a Connecticut State Trooper ordered the car new. At that time , he was driving a 428 Ford Police Interceptor for a patrol car. He wanted something with similar power for his personal use.
This what he came up with:
1968 Ventura (which is ,in reality, a Catalina with a vinyl interior)
400 ci, 340 hp with a 4 bbl and dual exhaust
3.08 Positraction rear end (most of those cars were 2.56 open drive)
4 piston (Corvette leaker style) power disc brake with 15" wheels and full hubcaps
(only about 2% of Pontiacs had this option in 1968)
Factory AM/FM stereo radio
The car had a little over 100K on it ,and the paint was faded but it had been Ziebart rust proofed when new ,so it held up pretty well after 10 years in the Northeast.
As soon as I found the posi rear ,I knew I had myself a new Street Bracket car
. I tuned it up, adjusted the Qjet, and stuck some old 7" Firestone slicks on it, and headed for Connecticut Dragway that first weekend.
The old car ran low 15's and I ended up winning $200 ,first time out .
A couple weeks later , I took it up to Epping for a money meet and runnered up our very own Mr Bob Don.
Later that month ,I put a timing chain in it and drove it down to Englishtown, where again ,I finished in the money, running 14.80's at 91 mph.
I had paid for the car in it's first three outings.
In 1980 , I put a .060 over GTO 400 in it and ran some 13.70's,still with the 3.08's in it.
I ran the Street points that year, and managed to win the track championship with Ol' Blue, as it had become known.
After various engine transplants and street driving duty, I decided to hop it up for the 13.00 and slower no-box bracket at Atlanta Dragway.
A healthy 455 and 4.10's put it in the 12.80 range. My ex won the Sportsman track championship with it in1992, 12 years after the first one.
Eventually ,after having the car in Florida and Ohio ,Mother nature got the best of it , so I sold it as a roller before I moved out here, 21 years after shopping for that winter beater.
I still have that 455 though. it's going in my 62 Tempest soon. It knows the way to the finish line / win light.
