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The Quiet Kustom: 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Jive-Bomber, Nov 22, 2011.

  1. Jive-Bomber
    Joined: Aug 21, 2001
    Posts: 3,753

    Jive-Bomber
    MODERATOR

  2. RAY With
    Joined: Mar 15, 2009
    Posts: 3,132

    RAY With
    Member

    They were a nice looking car but just never clicked for me. The fire bird was my style.
     
  3. damagedduck
    Joined: Jun 16, 2011
    Posts: 2,341

    damagedduck
    Member
    from Greeley Co

    never had a Grand Prix,but one of my first cars was a 62 Catalina,paid $25 for it & drove it home--i was 14yr old,i drove the wheels off it,even did the super wide track thing to it once or twice {putting rear wheels on backwards}
    jeez the memories of driving that thing through the Black Hills with out a care!
     
  4. GaryB
    Joined: Dec 19, 2008
    Posts: 3,529

    GaryB
    Member
    from Reno,nv

    beautiful cars, i had one life got in the way.had to sell it
     

  5. 296 V8
    Joined: Sep 17, 2003
    Posts: 4,666

    296 V8
    BANNED
    from Nor~Cal

    I had a 63 and preferred it to a 62.………They came lowered stock and had there own GP only top in 63
     
  6. 1960, 61, 62 Pontiacs were the neatest GM designs, ever, to me. Oh, and '63-'67 Corvettes. Ever try to buy those years with tri-power and a four speed? Rare and expensive.
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2011
  7. GassersGarage
    Joined: Jul 1, 2007
    Posts: 4,727

    GassersGarage
    Member

    I just got a '63 but would have preferred a '62.
    PontiacCards 005.jpg PontiacCards 007.jpg IMG_9649.jpg IMG_9651.jpg IMG_9654.jpg
     
  8. I like thw 62 and 64 GPs but favor the 61 cat!
     
  9. Olds Starfires are probably for another day, but along the same lines... Love them big boats with the buckets, console and floor shifters...
     
  10. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    The window cleaner at the Pontiac dealership in Auburn Wa probably hated me on Monday mornings between late 1959 and June of 1962 when he/she had to clean my finger and nose prints off the show room windows every other week. A 62 Grand Prix would be high on my want list of cars. One of the best looking Pontiacs of any year or model.
     
  11. GaryB
    Joined: Dec 19, 2008
    Posts: 3,529

    GaryB
    Member
    from Reno,nv

    had a buddy in high school that had a 62,black on black ,hydros,supremes and bellflowers,I wanted that car
     
  12. IMHO, these 1962-1964 "personal luxury cars" from GM, where a hi-water mark for the corperation. The Buick Wildcats, Olds Starfires and these Grand Prix's are all "factory customs. And yes, I wholeheart-ally agree that all they need is a mild touch to make them look cool. Everytime I drove my Starfire, I imagined some Jet-Setter Nasa engineer, cruising back and forth to the office, then to his MCM ranch home in the burbs. Have a deepove affair with my Oldsmobiles, but the thought of this jet black'62 Grand Prix, back in Cleveland, makes me wish I had scooped one up a long time ago.
    JT
     
  13. customrod48
    Joined: Oct 10, 2010
    Posts: 201

    customrod48
    Member

    My dad had the first '63 GP sold in town, traded a 62 Cad rag top even up for it. The GP was the first car I drove the day I got my driver's license. My dad said it was almost the last I'd get to drive if I ever took his pride and joy out again...........little did he know........
     
  14. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,751

    Deuces

  15. GassersGarage
    Joined: Jul 1, 2007
    Posts: 4,727

    GassersGarage
    Member

    The motor is stock. Except for a remote solenoid. I just fixed the factory A/C and switched to a turbo 350. The slim jim gave up the ghost (LOL)
     

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  16. Lotek_Racing
    Joined: Sep 6, 2006
    Posts: 689

    Lotek_Racing
    Member

    the '62 Firebird?
     
  17. Engine-Ear
    Joined: Jun 12, 2008
    Posts: 706

    Engine-Ear
    Alliance Vendor

    Great post, J-B!

    The '62 GP hooked me on B-body Pontiacs...bought mine at age 17 for $200 in '89 from a co-worker. No engine or transmission, rear gear ass'y was blown out. But just sitting in it was all it took. Ended up getting it running and driving by '96 and put about 10k miles on it. Still have that Freedom Machine; waiting for some $$ to finish off paint and bodywork.

    If anyone is looking at one to buy and would like my opinion on the car, please PM me. My credentials: I have owned about 25 '62s since '89 (currently have six) and have had them fully apart and back together again.

    Stick '62s are low-production cars but worth it if you can find one, esp if it's a Cat or GP (since they use that dreadful 3 speed Olds hydramatic). However, the automatic used in '62 Bonneville and Star Chief models are a (superior) FOUR speed design. All B-body '62s have killer road manners and plenty of pep, even if only with a 2 bbl carb.

    With that typed, I would discourage anyone from buying one who might think that there is aftermarket parts support like a full size Chevy; aftermarket parts are almost nonexistent and original pieces can be EXPENSIVE.
     
  18. O.Hove
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 772

    O.Hove
    Member Emeritus
    from S.D.

    Love the looks of the 62.
    Had a wagon in 63 with factory 4 speed.
    Traded it foe a 64 f.i. vette
     
  19. Keith Seymore
    Joined: Nov 25, 2008
    Posts: 18

    Keith Seymore
    Member

    I think you made the right choice...

    ;)

    K
     
  20. Hdonlybob
    Joined: Feb 1, 2005
    Posts: 4,115

    Hdonlybob
    Member

    Always in a class by themselves. Beauty and power back then, and those wheels were never outclassed.
    I hope to have one of those beauties some day...
    Cheers.......
     
  21. derbydad276
    Joined: May 29, 2011
    Posts: 1,336

    derbydad276
    Member

    I had a 72 last of the good ones 455 sj got it from my grandparents in 84 with
    19 thousand orig miles
    gramps bought it new when he retired from fisher body in lansing
    second brand new car he ever bought in his life
     
  22. nwbhotrod
    Joined: Oct 13, 2009
    Posts: 1,243

    nwbhotrod
    Member
    from wash state

    Was there a bad looking car in 1962. But the Pontiac Grand Prix get me high and hard
     
  23. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,244

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Nice entry today. I've developed a thing for those big GM "X" frame cars. All of em were just oozing with style as delivered. My want list for such would have to include a 61 Caddy, a 61 Buick Invicta, 61 or 62 Pontiac Ventura or GP, and a Starfire but not sure what year. Perfect observation on the mild custom thing too. It wouldn't take much. Past the X frame era, the 65 Riviera, the 67 Eldorado, and a 65 Pontiac Bonneville. I just have to keep trying to pick 6 correct numbers.


    derbydad, saw your replay after. I had a 69 with buckets and console, and it also had a tired 400 4bbl. I shagged a 428 4bbl from a station wagon and that's where I learned the alphabet soup of Pontiac front engine dress. Maddening trying to sort it all out, and those poncho fans here know what I mean. They're not all the same. Still, that ol bitch would bury the speedometer at will. I frightened many of my buddies back then.
     
  24. Engine-Ear
    Joined: Jun 12, 2008
    Posts: 706

    Engine-Ear
    Alliance Vendor

    ...Pontiacs have a perimeter frame, not an X-frame.
     
  25. Nortin
    Joined: Oct 27, 2005
    Posts: 77

    Nortin
    Member
    from Canada

    Memories! I remember the first one I ever saw. I was a drugstore delivery boy on a bicycle and would detour countless times to stop and walk around where that G/P was always parked.The fancy wheels with all those fancy fins and wheelnuts facinated me to no end! As close to one of those as I ever got to own was a 61 two door bubbletop hardtop with a 327 and 3 speed (hurst floor shift),,sawed off drive shafts for tailpipes,and I RULED!!
     
  26. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,244

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Thanks for the info. I thought it was like the bigger early cars that were both with the whole "Wide Track" gig that they were back then. Live and learn, huh? Still, those cars all sing in the same chorus. They all have something special goin on. Even the Chevys from that time have great lines. From the persective of production, some of those cars have a lot of brass and lead in them. You can't physically stamp some of those panels. They had to be "assembled". Too kool...
     
  27. olscrounger
    Joined: Feb 23, 2008
    Posts: 4,770

    olscrounger
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Were a couple of new 62 GP's where I lived-both were 4 spds-sold new at Hartwig Motors in Madera-ran very strong for the time-I wanted one too but bought a 62 Catalina with a stick and tripower in 63 it ran well too but preferred a GP-was totalled after 2 months by ex wife-the 62 GP is a great looking car and very rare today I think in any condition,especially a 4 spd car with the tach on the console as I recall-
     
  28. stuart in mn
    Joined: Nov 22, 2007
    Posts: 2,406

    stuart in mn
    Member

    In the early 1960s, GM stylists were on a roll...there weren't very many bad ones at all in my opinion.

    Tripower? check.
    Four speed? check.

    OK, so it's not a '62 GP, but I like it. :)

    [​IMG]
     
  29. stude_trucks
    Joined: Sep 13, 2007
    Posts: 4,755

    stude_trucks
    Member

    FYI, the row middle left thumbnail opens to the mid/mid photo.

    My parents had a white/white Cat 2+2 convert. with a 4 spd. as the first car I remember when I was growing up. Seemed pretty fast to us kids. The big thing for us kids was asking dad to "take it up to 100" on trips which he did a few times here and there. No seat belts on of course. Don't do that kind of stuff anymore.

    My mom got tired of it leaking in the rain and they got rid of it after one particularly heavy rain and the car getting swamped inside.
     
  30. Jive-Bomber
    Joined: Aug 21, 2001
    Posts: 3,753

    Jive-Bomber
    MODERATOR


    Was there an ugly car in 1962? I'm guessing you forgot about the Dodge Lancer and Plymouth Valiants!
     

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