Royal info wanted

[jfkheat]

Just got a Pontiac book in today that has several pages on the early Royal cars. The book is MUSCLE - PONTIACS! THE YEARS OF EXCITEMENT. Below is the first few papagraphs from the article titled WANGER'S WINGED WONDERS: A PICTORIAL OF THE ROYAL PONTIAC. There are several pages of black and white pictures of some of their race cars. There are also inserts from some of their brochures. Their first race car was a 1959. For you GTO and Judge fans, this book has about 20 pages on the GTO and Judges.
James

Royal Pontiac, Royal Oak Michigan, began the unofficial Pontiac racing outlet in the early 1960s and, from time to time, they issued racing catalouges of their own which are exceedingly rare today.
"Operation Hot Chief," was the project of Asa (Ace) Wilson, Jr., a Pontiac dealer and hot-rodder enthusiast. Wilson got into the business of producing drag strip Pontiacs shortly after he entered a car in the Daytona, Florida races.The fame of the Royal Pontiacs spread for their superior ability to engineer acceleration into a factory built car with factory built parts. The only nonfactory equipment installed on the Royal Pontiacs were tachometers, special water and oil temperature gauges and lake pipes. Wilson'e cars were extremely successful at the Detroit Dragway during the regular season in 1960. He exploited their fame to attract a great many enthusiasts to his showroom.
There was no great secret to the success of the Hot Cheif; it was simply a car that had been equipped and prepared correctly for its job. The 365 HO engine was an example. It was not a factory-installed item but, rather, factory authorised. Essentially, it was the Tri-Power with particular dealer options, including a special cam, solid lifters, heavier valve springs, larger intake valves, revised combustion chambers, chambers in the cylinder bores under the intake valves and a four-bolt main bearing caps.
Royal Pontiac was still hard at work producing racing Pontiacs up to 1963. In that year, Pontiac was reigning stock car champion. In January, 1963, however, GM ordered a ban on supplting help to racing enthusiasts and "outlaw" dealers, including Royal Pontiac. Basically, that was the end of the great racing Pontiacs. They still won the Grand Nationals but, it was only a matter of time.

[copo9566aa]

Thanks
Hot Chief no 1 [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[copo9566aa]

It's me or this Pontiac "Hot Chief" racing on the 1/4 with the window sticker [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Steve_Hoog]

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[Steve_Hoog]

In this April 1969 issue of Super Stock there appears to be a mid winter trip to the dragstrip for some test and tune. Possibly JW's Light Green converted Judge and the Blue Bobcat.

There are two things to note; one the non production Ram Air set up, and two a 68 RAII Firebird engine shot. The Ram Air set up is probably something Milt Dave and Brian Ballish came up with. Why the article has a 68 RAII Firebird shot listed as the Blue Bobcat, your guess is as good as mine.



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The shroud and fender well are Firebird, the recessed top 3.8 water pump bolt is 68, and also notice this is a power steering car.

[Steve_Hoog]

Here is the full article March 1969 Popular Hot Rodding that the WY picture came from. The other interesting thing is the strange angle the oil sending unit appears to run. It may just be because of the angle the picture was taken from, but it appears to go out at a 45 degree angle. That is why I was checking to see if the V motor had a special adapter, no one seems to think so.



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[Steve_Hoog]

I think I have figured out why the sender unit looks ackward in that underneath shot of the Blue Bobcat. After looking over the March 1969 Super Stock that covered the 350 HO Firebird, I saw this engine shot. Although the nylon tubing cannot be seen on the Blue car, I'll bet Milt and crew did this type set up on cars to allow both the factory and a mechanical oil gauge to work.

[Steve_Hoog]

I was really hoping this was a 69 WY, as you can see from this photo it is a 68 timing cover. Chances are it's a 68 block to go with the code, still leaves the questions of how and way.

This does not in anyway distract from the cars importance to Pontiac history, in my opinion. Just a strange piece of the puzzle.

[Bobcat]

Well your story is pretty close. A few corrections are in order. 1) There were two Ace's Jr. and Sr. 2) Sr. bought the dealership to give Jr. something to do. 3) Jim Wangers sold an idea to Estes and Delorean on a high perforamce dealership program. He was given the OK to find just one to start. Packer Ponttiac was very interested. But Bill Packer Jr. was leaving town for the weekend and would get back with Jim on Monday. While heaading back to his office Jim made one more stop. Royal Pontiac. Ace Jr. loved the idea and woulid not let Jim leave until a deal was set in stone.Side note Ace Sr hated it. Deal made. Bill Packer was more than a little upset. Packer after all was one of Pontiac's largest dealers with three stores. Detroit, Flint and Miami, FL. 4) The Royal racing program began with the '59 Catalina which was set up as a test bed. It had all of the latest including an Isky cam with a Pontiac part number. Unfortunately, while waiting in the pits at Detroit Dragway for the begining of the races, Bill Sidwell, against Jim Wangers' wishs took the Royal car out onto Dix Hwy with a couple of freinds and rolled the car. Bill was removed form the driving chores. The car was repaired but not until the 1960 race season. For 1960 Royal had three cars. 2 '60's, one automantic driven by Winston "Win" Brown and the stick car driven by Jim Wangers. A Pete Seaton entry racing through Royal was also in the finals. The Racing proram was Pontiac back door to the public. 5)As for all factory only parts that's not true. Inital Royal sold Isky cams with Pontiac part numbers. Royal Pontiac published three "Royal Story" parts books. 1962, 1963 and 1968. These where given out at Royals open houses. 2) Royal began marketing a Bobcat Kit in and a Bobcat dealer built car in 1961. Frank Rediker, while not an employee of the Dealership, had developed the kit and was the head mechanic on the race team. 6) the reason the cars had window stickers on the was because they were later sold as used cars. The cars however had the original engines removed and placed on a pallet and a rac motor was put into the car. At the end of the season the paint was stripped and repainted and the race motors pulled and the original motor replaced in the car. Less hassel and warranty issues. That's why it's hard to varify a Royal car. 7) Royal was hardly an outlaw dealership. They prepared almost all of the magazine Pontiac test cars so as not to embarrass the division with the cars performance. YES, the cars were more than plain jean stockers. Remember this was the back door to the public. Bottom line was to sell cars at all costs.8) A few Royal affiliates would not only hit the local tracks. They were constantly doing "market research" on the streets of Detroit. Royal was only a few blocks off Woodward Ave. Jim Wangers was always on hand with more than a few "hot" Pontiacs. 9) Royal formed a mail order business called the "Royal Racing Team" in 1962/1963. You could join for a couple of bucks and get discounts on Royal Pontiac parts. The mail order business hit it's peak in 1966 with the "Geeto Tiger" program. Over 5,000 members by the time the dealership was sold in 1969. The story goes alot deeper than the story book you just bought. Unfortunately there is a past, glorified porter, from Royal that is constantly resurfacing. I read he calims to have invented Royal and the Ram Air program. This guy wasn't even a line mechanic. Whenever Royal sent him out with another Royal Employee or even "Doc" Watson, this guy couldn't even post as fast a time. The magazines bare this out. The Royal Story keeps getting better and better. There was always a close working relationship with Royal Pontiac and the corp. while Knudson, Estes, Delorean and Wangers where there. Knudson went onto Ford and took his freinds and business partners, Mickey Thompson and Smokey Yunick with him. Delorean went on to Chevrolet and Wangers went onto Hurst than his to own Chevy Dealership in Wisconsin. Sad, very sad.

[jfkheat]

What I posted was quoted word for word from the book I have. I am not familar with the Royal race history. I was just trying to supply what little info I had for someone that asked for Royal info. I will try to scan some pages from the book when I get a chance. All the pictures look like they pages from the brochures.
James