Pontiacs of CENTRAL CALIFORNIA April 2016 NEWSLETTER President’s message th Presidents Letter April 11 , 2016 April is here and the annual Pontiac Show is only several days away. Thank You all for your help and support for this upcoming club event. Please bring your raffle prizes and t-shirt ad monies to the April 11th car club meeting, and turn in to Dave or Paula. Andy will bring us up to date with car show details. If you have not signed up for a particular job for the annual car show, placement of people will be assigned that night. The month of March was the annual Selma swap meet. POCC members did attend and were welcomed with rain showers. I am not quite sure how much money was made, but I know Pontiac stories were told. Also, in March, Judy and Joel set up a cruise and lunch that went well and the weather cooperated great for the convertible cars in attendance. There was good food and fellowship. March 3, Diane and I travelled to Temecula for their annual Rod Run. There were many cars, great food, and beautiful weather. Returning home on Sunday we were met with rain. The rain ceased when coming down the north side of the Grapevine. March 12th was the Hot Rod Coalition Shindig dinner. There were lot of raffle prizes and a very big silent auction. DiCicco’s Italian Restaurant provided the food which was very good. The POCC members were well represented. As you can see, this month was very busy as we March’d on to April! Dennis Simonson 2 Pontiacs of CENTRALMinutes CALIFORNIA April 2016 NEWSLETTER Pontiacs of Central California Call to Order: March 14, 2016. Meeting called to order by Pres. Dennis Simonson. There were no guests present. Minutes: The minutes of Feb. No amendments or corrections noted. Motion to accept Paula Yost 2nd by Dave Valla. Passed. Treasure’s report: Paula Yost, report. Most of the activity accounted for by upcoming car show. There are still some dues due. Pins were handed out for years of membership to include 5 year, 15 year to Paula and 20 year to 3: Dennis Baker, Dennis Simonson and Keith Honeycutt. Newsletter Report: by John Berglund. Thank you for Feb. feature GMC truck Webmaster Report: Janet Massey reported (Brian after a car) that the web site is up to date. Fliers for car show have all been mailed. POCI National Report: Ron Berglund absent. Birthdays/ Anniversaries: Only two admitted, Diane Hoff and Robin Smith. Old Business: Bill Richards reported that the issue of non-profit status will be brought up after car show is out of the way. New Business: Andy Hoff gave an update on preparation for April car show. KMJ on board, sponsors, motel and BBQ, DJ areas covered. Sam Fisher reported on registrations. Bill Tenison reported on parking lay out as well as locations of various displays. Dean Davison reported on trophies. Dave Valla would like to see something special for raffle prize. Need to have notification of items before show. Bill Richards reported on tee shirt sponsors as well as reporting on inventory that Victor Weizel has. Judy Garrett made the motion that we buy inventory and motion was 2nd by Ron Coppola. Passed. Paula could still use some goodies for bags. Ribbons on name tags to identify staff. Activities: Near future is cruise to Sandals in Friant for lunch on the 26th, as well as ladies lunch at High Sierra Grill on March 30. Next meeting April 11, 2016, Denny’s at Blackstone and Herndon 7PM. There will be a signup sheet along with agenda and activities notice. Attendance drawing: Richard Borough 3 Submitted; M. Walter, Sec Pontiacs of CENTRAL CALIFORNIA April 2016 NEWSLETTER Pontiacs of Central California Officers, 201 6 President Dennis Simonson 559-906-8900 [email protected] Vice President Bill Tenison 559-999-9416 [email protected] Secretary Mary Walter 559- 299-4675 [email protected] Treasurer Paula Yost 559-970-4774 [email protected] Newsletter John Berglund 559-790-9271 [email protected] Activities Judy Garrett 559-479-1636 [email protected] Webmaster Brian Massey 559-645-8018 [email protected] General Membership meeting is held on 2nd Monday of the month, at Denny’s @ Blackstone & Herndon at 7PM. interested visitors are welcome. Pontiacs of Central California Mission Statement: Past POCC Presidents OUR MISSION, FUN! Dean Davison 2015 We are made up of a group of people with various Ron Berglund 2014 backgrounds who have one thing in common, we Bill Richards 2013 LOVE Pontiacs. We drive 'em, work on 'em, Keith Watts 2012 polish 'em, restore 'em, break 'em (even cuss 'em) Jack Fusari 2011 and have a lot of fun doing it. Be it an old '52 Dave Valla 2010 Chieftain straight-eight, a new WS6 Trans Am, or Carl Smith 2009 anything in between. Joel Garrett 2008 We are individuals, couples, and families that like to Greg Griggs 2007 get together for a variety of activities. We host an Bill Richards 2006 annual judged car show and participate as a club in other local and regional car shows. We have Andy Hoff 2004-2005 informal BBQ Show and Shines and get together for Ron Berglund 2003 Brunch and Dinner Cruises. We also attend the local Joel Garrett 2001-2002 Cruise Nights as a group. The cars in the club range Dan Seibert 2000 from Concours cars, daily drivers, drag racers and Michael Yoshihara 1999 cars undergoing restoration. Our goal is to have 4 Glen McGhie 1998 FUN while enjoying our Pontiacs. Joel Garrett 1996 -1997 If this sounds like something you Ron Berglund 1995 would enjoy, JOIN US! Jeff Boyle 1993-1994 Pontiacs of CENTRAL CALIFORNIA April 2016 NEWSLETTER Ladies luncheon The POCC ladies enjoyed good food fun and conversations during the March Ladies Luncheon at the High Sierra Grill in Fresno. Everyone wished Diana Hoff a happy birthday. Happy Birthday! 5 warrior’s Pontiacs of CENTRAL CALIFORNIA April 201rides6 NEWSLETTER 1965 Pontiac 2+2 by Ron & John Berglund A hard beginning This particular Poncho has had a rather difficult life. It started out great as a special order Catalina with the now hard to find 2+2 option, and ended in 1969 when the car was totaled in an accident. That’s where it all began because the car sat until it ended up being bought from the original owner by Jay Curry sometime in the early 80’s. I ran across the 2+2 in 1992, when I saw it sitting outside of Curry Diesel Repair, the shop that Jay Curry owned. At the time I was looking for a 421 to put in my 1965 Catalina Convertible. Most of the good parts had been taken but the engine and rear end were there. The engine had been taken out and stored so Jay had to search the shop to find it. The transmission input shaft was broken off inside the bell housing. The front left frame rail was bent and the body at the cowl area was twisted up, furthermore, the steering wheel was badly bent. Jay said the driver had died as a result of the accident. For the damage it had it’s a wonder the car was saved at all. After chatting with Jay about what I was trying to do we agreed on $400 for the whole car. The 2+2 was in such bad shape that the decision was made to dismantle what was left, right where it sat. We began by torching out the floors to save the bucket seat brackets, the seats were missing. The trunk floor was too rusted out to save. There was one good fender on the passenger side. The doors and trunk lid had some dents and rust as well. The car was on the ground without wheels so we used a forklift to pull the rear end. As for the interior the four speed console was still there but the dash panel had been cut out for an aftermarket radio. The Pontiac tachometer was gone, as well as the clutch petals and clutch components. Then I removed the best part of the whole car, the cowl info tag and the door pillar VIN number tag. This is the only thing that can authenticate the 2+2’s existence. These are the matched numbered factory Id markings on a mid-60’s GM car. The original rear license plate had a weathered 1969 tag. 6 Pontiacs of CENTRAL CALIFORNIA April 2016 NEWSLETTER 7 I should note that Jay was a Mopar enthusiast and he had a few cars around thePontiacs place. of ThereCENTRAL was CALIFORNIA a fully April 2016 NEWSLETTER rebuilt 426 hemi with two fours sitting on one of the shop tables (I think he just liked looking at it), and parts everywhere. At the time, the real find was the 421 WG coded engine, W denoted manual transmission, and the G stands for four barrel carburetor. These engines were difficult to find even in the early 90’s. Disassembly was a little disheartening. I knew the motor was seized. The rust was so severe it had welded the rings to the cylinder walls on three cylinders. The engine sat in the weather for years without a hood or air cleaner. To fix the pitting damage two sleeves and a .060 over boar were needed to clean up the cylinder walls. The removed pistons were .040 over. This made the story even more clear on how hard this car had been driven in its first four years.