I was wondering that too... I can't find a picture to confirm though... And there seems to be provisions on the bumper for attachment.
I was 12 years old when when I sat in front of the tube filled television set with rabbit ears adorned with tin foil and wondered if this could be possible, my grand dad said ,"Son we live in the greatest country in the would and Americans can do anything if they put their mind to it" HRP
One of the articles I found mentioned it had "straight exhaust" and was "obnoxiously loud." I mean... sounds pretty rad to me...
Ryan, I forgot to thank you for bringing yesterday's launch to light for me. Just that side-note, from down-under. A good news story. Thanks also Stuart. Hope you are OK up there mate. These super-duty Pontiacs have the muscle to back how suitable they look in the company of period aeronautics. I see a Friday Art Show tribute post in some recent future...
The lifting body program,,,,,who would have imagined it would work . This program did a lot of groundwork for what would later be the shuttle . Also,,,in the old Six million dollar man show,,,,,,the crash footage was from a lifting body accident. Those guys were giants,,,,,all of our astronauts and test pilots,,,,were giants walking in the land . It takes a special kind of man to volunteer for missions like that ! They are not all gone,,,,,,the giants are still around,,,,we just don’t hear about them anymore,,,,also,,,much of it is classified ! Lol,,,,you have to have a need to know,,,,Lol Tommy
This is a great Post, thanks Ryan! I got to watch the Spacex Dragon take off Saturday and what memories. I remember the test flight in '68 and the lunar landing in '69. I was 4-5 years old at the time but I remember. That was also when I became "Wide Track" aware. I remember these famous Pontiacs on the pages of Popular Mechanics or like magazines too. The '62 Catalina also fits into my top 10 favorite automobiles is this story completes a fantastic picture in a crazy and uncertain time in our history. Why Pontiac over the other manufacturers? Maybe these explain it. Ha Ha!
There were a few lifting bodies in the program. The opening sequence to The Six Million Dollar Man TV show is actual footage of the crash of the X24A lifting body.
Back then I remember watching that show with my dad, a retired USAF fighter pilot from the 50s/60s era, and him saying "Oh yeah, the lifting body crash, I think that was maybe Jerry Gentry's crash footage, he actually survived that crash." I later found out it was not lifting body pilot Gentry, but Gentry's buddy Bruce Petersen who, though badly injured, did survive the crash and, just like Steve Austin... lost the use of one eye.
Hope this is not hijack- mods please delete if appropriate... Speaking of 'obnoxiously loud', I have a pal who use to fire up and blast around the block on now-very distant Saturday afternoons in a '63 225 Electra sedan with the big 401? nailhead mill. I'm not even sure it had exhaust manifolds. We were kids. I remember one of this gang trying to run a car without head gaskets. This fellow with the Buick was, however, a cut above- handy with a wrench, moved on to racing. He will, in fact, do some work for me this coming week. And he had this old behemoth of an Electra flying. On the sidewalk we buckled over in laughter as this silly great big tomato- red hubcapless Buick again suddenly rolls into view on it's big bias plys , bellowing, hissing & wailing on another neighbour-infuriating lap. It was so loud it was absurd- it was hilarious. Quite the sight- '61-4 full-size GM's in gow mode. BTW Interesting wheel/tyre combo on NASA car. Big tall tyres.
John Starr , You’re right,,,,,,when I was a teenager I saw the guy that was in the crash on an episode of To Tell The Truth,,,,,he was wearing a patch over one eye . It was in the mid to late seventies,,,,,sometime during the run of 6 million dollar man . Boy,,,,when I was a kid,,,,I wanted to be an astronaut so bad ! Tommy
The Jalopy Journal
