"Baby Pictures" of your supercar....

[Xplantdad]

The second one I will send may not be of much interest to your American audience as it is a Canadian only car, one of five, which is documented by GM Vintage services with a covering letter sent to me when I had three of my cars documented some years back.

This is a 1968 Pontiac Strato Chief that I purchased new when I was 19 in April 1968, being the lowest model of the Pontiac line. I wanted a sleeper at the time because back then that was still a big deal, even though the factory had got into big motors in mid size or smaller vehicles. The car as I ordered it was a 2 door sedan, 427-385 hrs., M20 4 speed, posi with 3:73 gears, tinted glass, rear antenna and am radio. I still have the original bill of sale, a recall notice from GM and a receipt for my rubber mats I bought at the time, $6.00 I think.

You often see individuals complaining that a vehicle has something on it that is not on the bill of sale. When the car came in it had a power rear antenna, rather than standard, vinyl seats, rather than cloth and a Parisienne steering wheel. The dealership let two of the three go however not the power antenna. They wanted $24, if I remember correctly, and as a 19 year old hot head, we got into an argument over this. The dealership had a body shop at the time and they said if I didn't pay it they would put the standard one on to replace the power one; I gave in and paid the $24.



The reason I mention this amount, is back then $24 was a big chunk of my take home pay, which was $64 in 1968. If you have seen what a standard rear antenna looks like on a full size Pontiac you can understand what the guys building the cars on the line thought about what I had ordered and decided to correct my mistake. A standard antenna is close to the rear window and sticks out at an ugly angle. They must have known what I was going for and changed it. These three things are not on my bill of sale. By the way, I did a body off restoration of this car a few years ago and still have it. The last picture is the day I got the car back when I repurchased it in 1989. Doug

And what it looks like now