1967 Pontiac LeMans
Personal story and photograph submitted by owner Craig Sass
for participation in the the 2008 GM Century Cruise
THIS IS MY FIRST CAR. THE ACTUAL CAR!!!
The car is a 1967 Pontiac LeMans hardtop.... I purchased the car in 1986 when I was 17 years old. I had it in my head that I wanted an "old" car. Without declaring it, I was defiantly a GM guy. My grandparents and parents had always driven GM cars, and I planned to continue the trend. After a year of looking at every pre-1970's GM car I could find, it was clear my father wasn't going to let get a car that was too powerful. So with many Chevy SS's and GTO's passed up, I saw my LeMans. I liked the way it looked, almost like the GTO, it was old enough, but was it too fast for Dad? I told Dad about it, and he agreed to go look at it with me later that night. It was in relatively good shape. It had 59,000 miles, a dark blue interior, bucket seats (standard on LeMans), a column mounted shifter, black vinyl top, and what looked like a huge engine.
Dad and I took it for a test drive. It started right up, drove nice, but was it fast? In time Dad asked me to do the inevitable..."floor it". This is the time when I'd know if I had a chance of getting this car. OK, to the floor...nothing, just a gradual increase in speed, very gradual. Well that settle it, we would make an offer. They were asking $1700, but told us that a man had offered them $1200 earlier and would take the same from us. To the bank we went, and cha'ching, I had my first car.
After learning more about the car, I found out why it was so slow. It had a 326ci V8, 2 barrel carb, 2 speed transmission, and 2:64 rear end gears. No power, but great gas milage. Not that that mattered at $0.98 a gallon. In the subsequent years, I have made many powertrain modifications to make the car perform like I always hope it could.
It now has what is essentially a GTO drive train. 400ci motor, 4 barrel carb, turbo 400 trans, and 3:55 rear end. I also added a floor console with shifter, and upgraded the wheels to the Pontiac rally II's.
I don't get her out nearly enough, but when I do it like stepping back in time. My wife and I had out first date in the LeMans. It drove me to and from college for 4 years, 350 miles each trip. And it helped me move to my first job, 400 miles away from home. Man can that car hold a lot. Now we, my wife and two kids and I, affectionately call it the "Vroom Vroom", and take her out for occasionally rides to get ice cream, and a couple passes of Woodward during the Dream Cruise every year.
So there you have it, my '67 LeMans.
GM’s Century Cruise pays tribute to GM’s past and the passion owners have for their vehicles. On Saturday, August 16, 2008 this vehicle and more than 100 other classic GM vehicles will cruise from the GM Global Headquarters at the Renaissance Center up Woodward Avenue to the heart of the Woodward Dream Cruise in Royal Oak and the surrounding suburbs. One of these vehicles will be crowned “top cruiser” based on a text voting campaign.
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