The G T O Tiger Times

October 2017 Volume 22 Issue 10 The Voice of the G T O and Enthusiast in Central Pennsylvania

Preidnt Mesag If, let ’s say 70 of our members attend with their cars, and talking to our friends in the Long Island GTO club who stated they are coming in force, just between our In the past at this time of year we wind down the sea- two chapters we could see roughly 100 cars. This is be- son reflecting back on the season that drove right past fore many of our guests from our yearly show attend. us. This year is different. Rather than kick back and re- And, IF , let ’s say 100 of the 175 attend, we could see lax, we ’re getting ready to hit the full speed ahead lev- nearly 200 show cars before guests from all over attend. er. June will be here before you know it and we ’ll be Pittsburgh is down the pike and they have quite a few front and center on the National Stage. members as well. With the events we ’re promoting in- cluding family orientated activities that include kids, we We ’ve been courted by the GTOAA for many years to have many tangibles in our favor for potentially high host a convention, and in 2018 we ’ll be hosting GTOs numbers. This is IF the stars align. There is weather to and Pontiacs from all over the nation. We ’ll also see In- consider, and unexpected adverse surprises. I like deal- ternational guests as members outside of the USA will ing in real numbers and keeping things in perspective, travel to attend a convention. For those who may not which is why our goal is to procure the average attend- know, the GTOAA has many members in Canada, Aus- ance. Basing numbers on anything higher than that can tralia and even in Europe. Don ’t expect to see them spell disaster. Anything above the average is a bonus, bringing their Goats however, that ’d be great, but cost- and who doesn ’t like getting a bonus? ly. With the convention in Eastern PA I am hoping to see Canadian cars though. For many chapters, hosting a As we forge ahead working on, and preparing for the convention is a once in a lifetime event and we want to convention, I am hoping YOU will be a part of this. Most make sure we do this right! of our membership has never attended a convention. I will tell you they are A LOT of fun. You will see cars It is my hope that you, our membership turns out in from all over the country and have the opportunity to force. Typically a convention will see roughly 10% of its meet and interact with celebrities you ’ve only read bout, total membership attend. 300 -350 registrations is typical attend their seminars and enjoy a week of GTO/Pontiac with mid 200 cars combined in the concours/pop fellowship. Some of your fellow members have been showfields. The 2017 convention held in Springfield, working hard the past 2 years putting together a formu- Illinois saw roughly 417 event registrations with about la that will afford everyone who attends a GR -RRR!eat 256 show cars, of which 73 were concours. This was a time. great turnout and a great convention. We are in a Vic unique situation to possibly draw as many. A couple of factors indicate this. This is the first time back in the east in 4 years, (folks are eager for a convention) and the first time ever in this region. (2014 saw it held in Pittsburgh). Talking to one of Mecum ’s managers who scouted where to hold their N.E. Auction they re- searched the best area based on percentage of the pop- ulace of the region and chose the Harrisburg area. Their research indicated 25% of the nation is easily reachable in this area. Being told by them we chose an excellent area to hold our convention was very reassur- ing. The Valley Forge area is in a hot bed of enthusiasts and located in a major travel hub of all points north, south east, and west. Another positive factor is our highly successful and popular Pontiac Show. Each year we are seeing just about national numbers with 175+ cars. Using this as a base we have the potentia l to draw above average numbers.

SVGTO.COM

The GTO Tiger Times, A 2006 -16 GTOAA Award winner for Chapter Newsletter Excellence October 2017 Club News

2018 SVGTO Membership Annual Banquet This is the time of year I begin sending Our annual banquet will be November 18, Random Pontiacs reminders for 2018 membership dues. 2018 at Enck ’s Custom Catering Banquet Dues are the same as in the past. Some facility just south of Manheim. Appetizers of our members have paid in advance will be served at 5pm with a buffet at and are good until January of 2019. A 6pm. few joined after June and took advantage Once we approve the menu and costs per of the prorated dues. Many choose to person at our October 22 nd meeting at renew at our banquet which is a great the Hillside, you will be informed. A head time to do so. See Secretary Russ with count will be required by Monday Novem- your 2018 dues he will process you. You ber 13. Great Food, GREAT people, door can also renew online on our website ’s prizes and more, I hope you can make it. Members Only page or mail your fee and For our newest members this is a great registration to Bob. If your contact info time to meet many of your new friends. and car ownership has changed please More to follow …… inform us so we can keep our records current. 2017 Marked our 11th SVGTO All Pontiac Show. Hard to believe that we have done Your GTOAA dues will be with them, and 11 shows already. Many of our members you can submit them to the GTOAA when were there in the early days but many of you are reminded by yours truly. you were not. As I perused the archives I came across the newsletter article about Just to remind: GTOAA members: Your our first show in September 2007. I have GTOAA dues must be current as of Janu- included a reprint of this article on ary 1, 2018. If not, you will be removed page 5 . From our humble beginnings from our active roster. If you are unsure hosting a show of 27 cars, to the present, of your GTOAA renew date all you need where our show regularly draws 150+ it do is look at your issue of The Legend ’s is quite amazing indeed. Take a minute to address label, your expiration date will be look at where we started and marvel at on it. If you receive a reminder from me where we are now. that is also a heads up indicator. Dues As we embark on the putting together are accepted the month of January. If the biggest event in our club ’s history, we you haven ’t renewed by the 31 st of Janu- can be secure in the knowledge that ary it ’s assumed you chose to leave us. those 11 successful shows have given us ATTENTION! You will be removed from our active invaluable experience to organize one of member roster and will not receive up- the greatest gatherings of Pontiacs ever! Be sure to check out the dates. You will be reminded often from website now until January of renewals. I hope Also from the archives, I have attached you choose to renew. the latest SVGTO Retrospective issue www.svgto.com from August 2007 . This issue was our first issue produced in PDF format, but For the latest information of also it features a story on the upcoming events. US30 Musclecar Madness, which was the show that introduced our future leader, Vic Schreck, to SVGTO! An historic event indeed!

Next Meeting: Membership Update:

The next club meeting will be Sunday October 22nd, 1pm @ Hillside Cafe We have welcomed the following new members since our Pontiac Show: Ronald Fies; ’64 GTO Jim Teague; (2) ’64 GTOs – ’74 GTO Charles Schultheis; ’67 GTO If you have comments about, or suggestions to WELCOME TO ALL!! help improve The GTO Tiger Times, please We have reached a milestone in memberships: 83 members. Our previous milestone was contact Russ Esenwine. 81 back in 2015. To give you an idea how much our clan has grown, I recall 24 members when I joined in 2006. In 10 years ’ time you can see how much we ’ve grown. We ’ve [email protected] grown while maintaining our 100% affiliation to the GTOAA.

Page 2 Recent & Upcoming Events SVGTO.COM

2018 Convention Speakers CONVENTION SPONSORS & VENDORS WANTED!!!! As work continues on our convention and plans begin fi- nalizing, we ’ll keep our membership well informed. I want We ’re looking for Sponsors and vendors for our conven- to inform you of the VIP ’s who will be in attendance. The tion. If you have an employer or a friend who you think below are scheduled to present seminars and will be in may be interested in being a sponsor please let Vic attendance for you to meet and chat with. Although they know. I would love to chat with them and provide them have been scheduled, their schedules are subject change. information on how we can promote them. I’ve had many conversations with all, and all are eager to attend. I will tell you, with POCI having their convention If you have a friend who you think would like to be a the same week as ours, Arnie Beswick will be in Valley vendor or selling parts at the swap meet please let Jim Forge. He was secured and committed before POCI had a Eyer know: [email protected] Many vendors chance to ask him. Their convention is in Arnie ’s back will be indoors and can sell virtually anything new, from yard and as Arnie tells me, POCI is irate he will not be jewelry to hobby items, toys, etc. a Relator table insur- there and he ’s receiving flack over it. They ’re having a ance agent, etc Jim has information and can provide it tough time accepting the fact he won ’t be there. We ’re to you. excited he ’ll be in Valley Forge. ------You ’ve seen him at Mecum as you speed by him on stage. You ’ve seen him on TV giving his play by play. You now Officer Nominations have a chance to meet and talk with John Kraman. You may want to sit in on his seminar and hear his expertise This is the month we accept nominations for club offic- on auction vehicle prices. All of our speakers are easily ers which will take place Sunday October 22 at 1pm at approachable and great to talk with. Get your questions the Hillside Café in Etters, PA. If you ’ve thought about ready they ’ll be happy to answer them. becoming an officer in SVGTO this is the time to be nominated. You can nominate yourself. If an election is needed that will take place in November. If there are no 6/28 - Dennis Kirban (Hurst) - History of Hurst nominations, and all officers accept nomination uncon- 6-28 - Arnie Beswick - Question & Answer Session tested for 2018, they will retain their position by default 6/28 - Ralph Moyer (REM) - Manufacturing of Restoration and no election will be necessary Parts. Ralph is a SVGTO Member 6/29 - Jim Mattison (PHS) - Fraud in the hobby, GTOs at Auction, how PHS originated. 6/29 - Milt Schornack - Royal Pontiac / GTO performance 6/29 - John Kraman (Mecum Auction) - Auction prices 6/30 - Tm Sickle (GTOAA) - Pint Size GTOs. Tim is a SVGTO member Kevin Beal (Ames Performance) - Reproduction Parts [schedule pending]

If you ’ve wanted to meet our speakers, now is your chance to do so.

Page 3 The Back of the Garage

Classified ads by SVGTO members will be placed in the GTO Tiger Times free of charge. Please email your ads to 2017 Club Officers Russ Esenwine, at [email protected]. I will try to get the ads placed in the next issue. If you include a photo of the items that you are selling, please send a clear digital photo in .jpg format. I will include your photos if space permits.

Vic Schreck - President Rare Pontiac ….. were a moonroof, CD player and leather seats. The turbo GP also had more aggressive GM ’s LG5 engine – fitted to the cladding, functional hood louvers and 16 -inch [email protected] ASC McLaren and STE – is still an cross -lace alloy wheels. exceptionally peculiar footnote in the history of The turbo coupe was intended to be a the excitement division, a brand that was selling limited production model, and indeed it was. Brian Little - up a storm in the 1980s and was the third best - However, the 1990 STE Turbo sedan was even selling brand of 1988. rarer with just 1000 units produced (vs 3500 Vice President for the coupe) The standard STE sedan came Manufactured for only two years, this turbo- standard with the 140 hp 3.1 V6 and a five - charged 3.1 V6 was unusual in that it was speed manual; MSRP was $18,539 while the [email protected] never offered outside of the Grand Prix. No other STE Turbo sedan listed for $23,775. Both mod- W-Bodies from other divisions, nor any other els, using a trim level name borrowed from the Pontiacs, would receive the engine, developed by , were differentiated from lesser Bob Krewson - ASC/McLaren Specialty Products Grand Prix sedans with monochromatic color schemes with color -coded wheels and a Treasurer A turbocharged coupe came first, introduced in Mercury Sable -esque full -width front light bar, [email protected] 1989 and priced just over $5k higher than a although only the turbo featured the hood standard Grand Prix coupe. For the extra louvers. money, though, you received a lot of major Russ Esenwine - differences over the already well -praised coupe According to contemporary reports, both the (Motor Trend ’s 1988 Car of the Year). The turbo coupe and STE sedan had a surprising Secretary turbocharged and intercooled 3.1 V6 prod lack of both turbo lag and torque steer. While uced 205 hp and 225 ft -lbs of torque, 15 fewer the steering was lacking in feel, the Y99 r horses than the Taurus SHO ’s 3.0 V6 but 25 more ally -tuned suspension provided [email protected] pound feet of torque. The turbo engine also re- competent and controlled handling with little ceived a lowered understeer. The W -Body platform was compression ratio (down to 8.78:1) and new rather heavy though, and the turbo Grand Prix intakes. Unlike the SHO, the Turbo GP was only models weighed around 3,300 pounds: heavier available with a four -speed automatic transmis- than a Taurus but lighter than the MN -12 sion; the SHO wouldn ’t receive an auto for a few Thunderbird. years. 0 -60 was accomplished in under 8 seconds. Standard features included GM ’s slick head -up display, six -way power driver ’s seat with three -position lumbar support, anti -lock brakes and keyless entry: impressive kit for 1989. There were also full power accessories, dual exhausts and a driver information center. The only options

Susquehanna Valley GTO is an affiliated chapter of the GTO Association of America, the premier national organization for GTO enthusiasts. Each month GTOAA members National Organization Information receive The Legend , a Golden Quill Award winning publication. Members can read the technical articles and have access to the GTOAA Technical Advisors Staff, use 50 words of free advertising monthly, view the feature articles on some of the most interesting GTOs you ’ll come across, and have access to the GTOAA Club Store mer- chandise. For an on -line preview of The Legend, go to www.gtoaa.org. For local chapter information, send an e -mail to Bill Vantuono at [email protected] . To receive a membership application by mail, write to: GTOAA, PO Box 213, Timnath, 1995 2017 CO. 80547, or send an e -mail to: [email protected] for more information. The GTOAA National Meet is hosted by various local chapters, and is held annually. The acclaimed Concours and Popular Vote Car Shows bring some of the finest GTOs together for superb viewing. Other highlights include many renowned Technical and Official GTOAA Chapter, Since 1995 Special Interest speakers, the multi -day swap meet, drag tracing, and other great events.

Page 4 The G T O Tiger Times

Susquehanna Valley GTO Tigers

October 2007 Volume 12 Issue 9

The Power of Pontiac

President’s Message Secretarial Pool

Winding Down I just wanted to pass along some observations from the SVGTO All Pontiac Show.

The car show is behind us. Just a This is the first show that I have done since few more events and our Tigers will joining the club that I was personally involved in organizing. soon be in winter hibernation. And I couldn't be happier. Not because At the beginning, I looked upon it as a the cars are going to sleep, I'll daunting task, one of which I thought I would never be able to pull together. But, not to be always miss that. My joy stems deterred, I wanted to make sure that my from how much the club has grown efforts were at least the best I could put this year. We were right around 25 forward. members at the beginning of the Armed with the power of the Internet and year. I had a healthy dose of making time in between work, home, school, The Original skepticism as to how our club family, football and other car related events, I, Doug and numerous other club members, would fare this year. I shouldn't worked diligently to cross all the “t’s” and dot have worried. Our club has almost all the “I’s” to make sure that all the bases doubled in size. We as a club were covered. planned some great events this As I have learned, it was indeed a daunting year, had great weather for them, task. The devil, as they say, is in the details, and had great people join us in the and some of those details were being hashed out the night before the show. fun. October should be just as fun, with a cruise and a parade planned. But, in the end, I was pleased, very pleased Meeting If you haven't been able to come with the way that the show turned out. All who attended had a good time, and I got to Notice out, I urge you all to do so, a great meet a lot of new people. Putting faces with time is to be had by all. Neither I names goes a long way when you are working in the administration of any organization. nor the officers did this alone. You, The next regular club the club body, made this all So, with that being said, I would like to meeting will be held on possible. Let's wind down 2007 personally thank everyone who played any Sunday, October 15th, 2 pm at with a great cacophony of exhaust part of organizing, and executing this great show. the Hillside Café, Exit notes! 35, I 83. If you were here right now, I’d give you a big hug and a pat on the back! Hope to see you there!

Doug Russ

Be sure to visit our website at: www.gtotigers.wordpress.com October 2007 Club News Attention!!! Meeting Notes 9/15/07 Upcoming Events

The SVGTO The SVGTO Tigers September meeting was Gettysburg held after wrapping up the All Pontiac Show ATTENTION! Battlefield Cruise. at Freysinger Pontiac.

There was not a lot of business to discuss Be sure to check out the website Saturday, and for the most part we hung around and October 6th. critiqued how the show went. http://gtotigers.wordpress.com

See below for Upcoming events were discussed, including For the latest information of upcoming details or check the the Bohn Pontiac Show, hosted by the Royal events. website. GTOs in Westminster Maryland. By the time New information is now posted for the you read this, that event will have taken following events: place. Also discussed was the York Halloween Parade. Abby Smith has again The Bohn Pontiac Car Show York Halloween stepped up to coordinate the event between the club and the YWCA. Detail are on the Hosted by The Royal GTOs Parade back page and on the website. In The Gettysburg Battlefield Cruise is fast Westminster, Maryland See Page 4 for all approaching on October 6th. September 30th, 2007 the details. See below for details or check the website. The Fall Gettysburg Battlefield Tour Nominations for club officers will be taken at October 5th, 2007 the October meeting for elections to be held at the November meeting. York Halloween Parade Kyle Miller has offered to host a holiday party October 28th, 2007 at his house. Tentative date has been set for the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Details will be coming shortly.

Gettysburg Battlefield Cruise the park, highlighted is the loop we will be taking. Meeting place will be at the Visitor’s Center located on Taney- SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY town Rd (Rt. 134) in Gettysburg. The Keep you Pontiac GTO address for Mapquest would be 97 pure! Insist on Taneytown Rd., Gettysburg, Pa 17325. Genuine Pontiac TIGERS Approximate time for the tour with 2 Service stops will be 1.5 hours. At the end of 2007 GETTYSBURG the tour once everyone has gathered at the end of the route (ending back at the visitor’s center), we will cruise BATTLEFIELD TOUR to a local restaurant/pub called “The Pike” for If you have comments October 6, 2007 – 12 noon refreshments/lunch. The Pike is lo- about, or suggestions to Welcome to the 2007 battlefield auto cated Rt. 97 (Baltimore Pike). Detailed help improve The GTO tour! The tour will take us through maps with mileages will be supplied Tiger Times, please most of the Civil War battlefields of the day of the event. For any informa- contact Russ Esenwine. Gettysburg following the auto tour tion needed, feel free to call or email : through Gettysburg National Military [email protected] Park. We will have 2 – 3 stops along Brian Little the auto tour for photo (717)677-4241 opportunities and to regroup in case [email protected] we get split up. Included is a map of Page 2 GTO Tiger Times SVGTO All Pontiac Show http://gtotigers.wordpress.com/

efforts. Joe Frattarolli’s customized 66 GTO was a close second. This car had to be seen to believe. The level of detail was amazing. After the award’s presentation, we drew the 50/50 raffle drawing. The winner of the The SVGTO All Pontiac Show is now in the club archives. drawing took home Saturday, September 15 th , 2007 turned out to be a better day for a car $70. Coincidentally, show than anyone could have hoped for. the Freysinger The morning started off with questionable skies, but by first light, the rain dealership, this had cleared and the cool breeze was drying out the roads nicely. year, is celebrating Doug arrived at Freysinger’s about 7:30 to begin the set up. The staff at it’s 70 th year in the dealership had business. graciously cleared the lot for our show, so that was one less thing we The show raised needed to do. Much to $200 dollars for MJ our Anderson Loving surprise, they had also Care Inc. set up a As the day wound down, the cars were packed up, the show area portable signboard to cleaned up, and all the Pontiacs began to filter out and go home. welcome us. Though we would have liked to see a larger crowd, it turned out to As the GTOs began to be a very successful show. Had it not been for the rainy morning, arrive, we set up registra- I’m sure we would have had a bigger turn out. tion tables and hung our Congratulations to all the winners and a big Thank You from all of club banner. us at the Susquehanna Valley GTO Tigers! The majority of the cars began to arrive between 8 and 10, and by noon there was a show field of 27 cars, shined up and ready for inspection. Though the show heavily favored GTOs, other Pontiacs took spaces on the show field, from Grand Prix, LeMans, G6 and a beautiful 55 Catalina. Capital Concessions was on hand to keep the hungry well fed. I would like to personally thank Lou Pirnik for providing the food. As the day continued, all the entrants inspected the cars and cast their ballots for the Log on to the website to see all the pictures from the show. winners. There were plenty of onlookers who stopped by to And the winners are: peruse the beautiful Pontiac hardware on display. The staff of Freysinger Pontiac spent Brent Lehman 69 GTO Judge - Dealer’s plenty of time inspecting the Choice goods, some of which may have originally been purchased there. 10 Best Winners Millard Freysinger, the owner of the dealership and his staff were on hand to choose the Dealer’s Choice Award winner. Bob Reigel and John Maddux provided live music, which kept everyone Brent Lehman 69 GTO Judge entertained. Joe Frattarolli 66 GTO Custom With all the ballots in the box, we set about to tabulate the winners. The winner’s list is included in this issue. Clayton Miller 06 About 2:30, we began the awards presentation. Doug opened the presen- John Maddux 68 GTO tation by thanking all those who participated in the organization and par- ticipation of the event. Marion Anderson was on hand to thank everyone Kyle Miller 05 Cyclone Grey GTO and the club for our Matt Natale 05 Torrid Red GTO support. Rich Slarb 67 GTO The awards were presented to all the winners and photos of the winner’s cars were taken so I could print them on their award certificates. Ron Green 55 Catalina Brent Lehman’s stunning 69 GTO Judge was given the Dealer’s Choice Russ Esenwine 70 GTO Hardtop award by a wide margin. Brent literally completed the restoration the Ron Frye 06 Brazen Orange GTO night before the show and all those attending rewarded his Page 3 Classified ads by SVGTO Tigers members will be placed in the GTO Tiger Times free of charge. Please Susquehanna Valley GTO Tigers email your ads to Russ Esenwine, at [email protected]. I will try to get the ads placed in the next issue. If you include a photo of the items that you are selling, please send a clear digital photo in .jpg format. I will include your photos if space permits.

2007 Club Officers Swap Meet

Doug Warble—President 2007 York Halloween Parade 513 Chickadee Drive Mechanicsburg, Pa. 17050 The York Halloween Parade turned out to be one of the best events of 2006, so it’s Phone: 717-975-9126 only fitting that we do it again! Last year we had 5 cars participate, and we won [email protected] first place in our class. This year, I would like to at least double if not triple the amount of cars this year. All you need to do is show up at the York Expo Center at Joel Miller-Vice President 1 pm on Sunday, October 28th. We will gather for a pre parade meeting in the 2169 Long Lane parking lot by the administration building. Come in the Carlisle Ave gate, and go to Lebanon, Pa 17046 the left to the admin building. Those participating in the parade will need to make 717-228-0196 a photo copy of their driver’s license, vehicle registration and insurance card. This [email protected] documentation will need to be brought with you the day of the parade. Abby Smith is coordinating with the YWCA for our application. Also, again this year, we will Pete Jensen Sr -Treasurer have our Tiger Mascot walking the parade route, handing out candy to the kids. 8 S Madder Drive We will also be asking for some volunteers to carry the banner ahead of the cars Mechanicsburg, Pa . 17050 to proudly announce the clubs participation. 717-697-1578 We made a great impression last year with the spectators and I’m sure they look [email protected] forward to hearing the Tiger’s roar again!

Russ Esenwine-Secretary 1715 Church Road York, Pa 17408 Congratulation to Brent Lehman for winning the Dealer’s 717-764-5203 Choice Award for his beautiful Limelight Green 69 GTO [email protected] Judge!

SVGTO on the web at: http://gtotigers.wordpress.com/

National Organization Information

The Susquehanna Valley GTO Tigers is an affiliated chapter of the GTO Asso- ciation of America, the premier national organization for GTO enthusiasts. Each month GTOAA members receive The Legend, a Golden Quill Award winning publication. Members can read the technical articles and have access to the GTOAA Technical Advisors Staff, use 50 words of free advertising monthly, view the feature articles on some of the most interesting GTOs you’ll come across, and have access to the GTOAA Club Store merchandise. For an on-line preview of The Legend, go to www.gtoaa.org. For local chapter information, send an e- mail to John Johnson at [email protected] or call 573-581-8013. To receive a membership application by mail, write to: GTOAA, PO Box 455, Timnath, CO. 80547, or send an e-mail to: [email protected] for more information. The GTOAA National Meet is hosted by various local chapters, and is held an- nually. The acclaimed Concours and Popular Vote Car Shows bring some of the finest GTOs together for superb viewing. Other highlights include many re- nowned Technical and Special Interest speakers, the multi-day swap meet, drag tracing, and other great events. 2007 York US 30 MuscleCar Madness http://gtotigers.wordpress.com/

Musclecar Madness Wrap Up. and decided to pack it in for the day. Saturday, July 14 th , greeted us with beautiful sunshine. I have to say, that So, another the SVGTO Tigers have been duly blessed this year, with wonderful event successful Muscle- weather, and the day of Musclecar Madness was no exception. car madness is Arriving at the York Expo Center, we were history. If you immediately thrown a curve- happened to miss ball, as the event had moved it, there’s always from the next year Memorial Hall, to the New Toyota Arena. Consequently, we were not allowed to enter the grounds through the Highland Ave- nue gate, as usual. Not to be deterred, a quick and smokey U-turn put us on the path the main gate. Once inside, the parking lot adjacent to the Toyota Arena was nearly filled with all matter of vintage Detroit iron. A quick scan driving in revealed a herd of goats already parked and shined up. We pulled into our spot, surrounded by 3 other club members who had graciously save us spaces and we were there. After check in, it was off to see the cars. And boy, were there cars. By mid- For more photos from Musclecar Madness please day, the count was somewhere between visit: 300-400! There were http://nikivee.fotki.com/york-us30-nostalgia/ approximately 20-25 GTO on display. Every GTO from 64-06 was represented, except, of course, the elusive 73-74 varieties. Many hours were spent walking First Rolls off the Line! around the show field, admir- ing all the The first engineering prototype of Pontiac's new G8 rolled off beautifully restored, and the the assembly line of GM ’s Elizabeth Australia factory. amazingly untouched survi- Carrying on the lineage of vors. the GTO, the G8 is first Inside the arena were the model to use GM’s new “hands-off” displays of the US global Zeta platform. RT 30 Dragway Nostalgia Re- Available in North America in union. On display were the early 08, the G8 will very cars that used to scream replace the current Grand down the ¼ mile track that Prix. was US 30 Dragway, before, of A rebadged Holden course, it became an airport runway. Having not lived in this area during Commodore VE, the rear those Dragway years, I was in awe of what some of these, dare I say, crazy wheel drive G8 has been motorheads had driven. How would you like to scream down a drag strip at garnering glowing reviews in the 150 mph, sitting nearly on the ground, with the differential in your crotch? motoring press. Uh, not me. Initially available with a 261 hp But, I must admire the bravery (read: insanity) of these pioneers of drag 3.6 liter V6 with a 5 speed AT in racing. base form, a GT model will be As the day wore on, more cars continued to arrive, as others left for the day. coming later as the top dog with a 362 hp 6.0 liter V8 and A needed break, a comfort- standard 6 speed AT and optional able chair, and a yummy pit 6 speed manual. The new G8 will beef be Pontiac’s new flagship model, putting the accent back on sandwich does wonders GM’s performance division. when you are wore out. We can only hope that We had to Pontiac opts to lop off two continually circle the field as doors and give us goat more and more cars arrived. herders a real We head-turning G8 based certainly didn’t want to miss GTO! anything. Though, by about 330, we were just plain exhausted, Page 3