Pontiac Firebird 1969 News

Paul Holter, 54, of North Arm on the Sunshine Coast got his nickname from years of converting American cars, mainly Pontiacs, to right-hand drive.Over the years he claims he has restored, converted, traded and owned as many as 600 cars and now has a dozen in his backyard and shed as well as a few restoration projects belonging to mates.  "I've been collecting cars all my life," he says  "When I got married 35 years ago my wife threatened that if I got any more cars she would leave me. She's still here."Holter got his first car when he was 11 years old.  "My dad bought a Mk V Jag and sold off the tyres and battery and gave me the rest," he says.  "I sold it and bought a '48 Ford Prefect for $40."His daily drivers are a 2005 CVZ Monaro, a 2007 Holden Rodeo and a 2008 Honda Civic, while his collectible cars include a 1976 Chrysler VK Valiant Hemi, a 1968 Pontiac Firebird Convertible, a 1959 Plymouth Suburban sports wagon, a 1960 Pontiac Ventura, a 1962 S Series Chrysler Valiant and a 1983 Pontiac Trans Am race car.He bought the Trans Am for $2000 and converted it into a race car by pulling out the 305 Chevy engine and four-speed auto box and replacing them with a Gen III Commodore 5.7-litre V8, six-speed Tremec gearbox and adding GT-R Skyline rear suspension and brakes.  He claims it gets about 350hp (260kW) at the rear wheels and propelled him to 77th out of 185 cars at last year's Noosa Hillclimb.His current project is the Plymouth he bought for $8500 two years ago. It features nine seats, including a rear-facing row in the back.  He's leaving it in left-hand drive, but is replacing the engine with a 440 V8 he bought online.  "I don't know what it will all cost," he says. "I'd prefer not to know as it could get expensive."It's all the little bits and pieces you have to buy that add up."  Over the past six years he has spent up to $40,000 in a loving restoration of the Ventura he bought for $11,000 and plans to spend about $30,000 _ "or something stupid like that" _ on the S Series Valiant.  "When you do it a bit at a time it doesn't seem so expensive," he says.He plans to fuel-inject and turbo-charge the Valiant's 225 slant-six engine.  "It's rated at 145bhp (108kW), but I reckon I can get it up to the middle 300s," he says.  "I do all my own mechanical work, but I get interiors, paint and body done by experts."Holter is a qualified train driver who moved from Victoria to Queensland 21 years ago and started his right-hand-drive conversion business.  He also had a business importing Nissan Laurel four-door, rear-wheel-drive pillarless sedans but found compliance laws kept changing too often. He bought an Autobarn franchise six years ago and another a year later.Business must be good because Holter has been able to indulge his interest in American cars, travelling several times to the US to buy cars and ship them home for conversion and restoration.And Holter is always looking toward his next project.  He's currently considering trading his Firebird for a Grand Prix and he's always had a soft spot for a Valiant Charger although he reckons they cost too much these days, some fetching as much as $300,000.

This week its parent General Motors announced the termination of the Pontiac brand by the end of 2010. It also means the end of the Australian Pontiac export scheme where cars assembled in Adelaide were shipped to the US however Holden says it will not lead to local job cuts. Pontiac was a marquee brand for GM. However, the luxurious but gas-guzzling cars increasingly came to be seen as belonging to a bygone era. The Pontiac name comes from a proud American Indian warrior who led an unsuccessful uprising against the British shortly after the French and Indian War in the mid-18th century. Early on, the iconic brand was known for head-turners long on leg room but short on fuel economy like the Bonneville, Trans Am, Firebird, LeMans, Grand Am and Grand Prix. The first Pontiac car was built in 1926 and within a year it was one of the top selling US car brands. Pontiacs have frequently been honored as Motor Trend magazine's Car of the Year for their sleek styling, engineering and performance. They saw many reinventions over the years with one popular model, the Bonneville launched in the 1950s, aiming to offer speed and luxury in one vehicle. Later, the mid-sized GTO "muscle car" became a popular choice of street drag racer and stock car contests for its powerful engines in the 1960s and 1970s. But while Pontiac cars reached the pinnacle of popularity on its clever marketing and innovative styling, it faltered on fuel efficiency. Later the brand lost touch with its customer base, as it groped for a share of the lucrative family car market. Today Pontiacs comprise less than two percent of US car sales. Pontiac is not the only victim under the restructuring. GM also is looking to sell or phase out Saab, Saturn, and Hummer by the end of this year. Along the way Pontiacs have been the car stars of many movies and American TV series. One of the best known was Kitt, the auto star of the Knight Rider TV show, which was a 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am. In the movie Smokey and the Bandit, the bootlegger bandit played by Burt Reynolds used a Pontiac Trans Am to evade the law. Back in 1971 the car hero of The French Connection's famous car chase was a Pontiac Le Mans. Even the 1960s TV-created cult band the Monkees drove a Pontiac. An extreme make-over of a Pontiac GTO became the convertible `Monkeemobile.' Giles Chapman's book `TV Cars' reports that Pontiac was not happy with the makeover. "Pontiac was concerned its product had been made to look silly, but the cameras were already rolling before they could object." The car came to Australia as part of the Monkees 1968 tour before ending up in Puerto Rico. It is now restored in New York. Local Pontiac enthusiasts say they are sad to see the marque go. Club registrar of the NSW Pontiac club, Terry Bell, says the club has about 150 members, most of whom own Pontiacs. He says there are up to 460 members nationally. They have regular events including the recently-held nationals. Bell says the styling of the American muscle cars has won the brand popularity in Australia, even though few were imported by GM. "A lot of them have Firebirds from the late 70s up to the 80s." He says the mid-60s GTO was a star. "The GTO was the pinnacle of the Pontiacs because of its entry to muscle car market back in 1964. Bell says the writing was on the wall for Pontiac in the US. "I thought the Pontiacs might go with Oldsmobiles going. Pontiacs are a bit stale at the moment." Bell owns a 1966 Le Mans and a 1973 Trans-Am. "I've always liked the shape of the early ones." He says most of the Australian Pontiac owners are home mechanics who enjoy tuning and repairing their cars. "You can work on the early cars a lot better than the electronic, computerised newer ones." However, he says the demise of the brand won't harm local collectors.