After finally getting the brakes sorted it was time for the Pontiac to hit the road for the first time since 1981. Follow along to see how the Pontiac fared. This is the first make or break test for the upcoming Beater Challenge in a few days.
The brake bleed had a bit of an ordeal but there were a few minor bits to take care of before venturing outside the garage. The tie rod ends needed an adjustment as the disc brake conversion had given the front wheels too much camber and toe out. I figured eye balling it was good enough for a spin around the block.
There were a few sketchy looking wires including one to the coil and starter.
It made sense to quickly repair or replace these.
Some of the spark plug wires looked a little thread bare so they were replaced. The spark plugs themselves will be replaced soon as well.
In my part of the world insurance and registration are required before driving on the road but the process this time involved a little bit more grief than I hoped for. I initially targeted classic car insurance as it promised to be both easy to obtain and cheap. I like that combination. This type of insurance had a good track record as I had used it for last summer’s classic beater, the 1975 MG B. I called my broker and arranged for the insurance. They require photos which I dutifully took and brought in. Upon seeing the photos the broker wrinkled her nose a bit and said something along the lines of “it looks rather crappy … are you planning on painting it or fixing it?” I tried to explain that I had mechanically fixed up the car but it would be a shame to lose the original paint and patina. I do not think I succeeded in this regard however. Maybe I am a lousy salesman as I have not yet sold this approach to my wife after several months either. Ironically the MG had way more rust than the Pontiac. I then targeted obtaining vehicle registration and a license plate which required a visit to a registry office (think DMV but run as a private business). There I came across an employee who was not confident in the process and suggested that I just do an “out of province” inspection to make it easy (on her). The inspection is both expensive and extremely strict. I do not like that combination. I suspect it would several thousands of dollars to pass that inspection in an old vehicle so I declined her help. I came back a couple times more in order to find a more experienced employee who was able to get a plate for me the proper way. Out of the woods right? Not so fast. A couple days later my insurance broker called back to say the company had declined my classic car insurance due to the fact that “I was still working on it”. Pretty sure I was clear on that point but perhaps that is a polite way to say “we think your car is too ugly”. As a backup plan I swapped to regular car insurance which involves a few compromises but all reasonable still. On the plus side now my teenage sons can take a go at driving it.
My friend Rod came over the for actual first drive as he has helped me enormously through the process. Above is a short video of us driving. There is no muffler at all so the sound is not ideal but less loud that I would have thought. I suspect driving an old and cosmetically challenged car around the neighborhood multiple times at dust with no muffler is not a great way to gain favor with your new neighbors but I did not want to venture too far yet. Stay within pushing distance. There were no angry knocks at the door after so I will take that as a good sign.
These two are Rod’s photos with yours truly at the wheel. All things considered it went fantastically well with the brakes working flawlessly and the engine sounding strong. The only minor hiccup was one headlight not working. We only got up to about 50km/h (30mph) and the total running time was maybe 15 minutes so it is not a conclusive reliability test yet but a strong positive sign.
Given a successful first test under the Pontiac’s belt I felt confident to move forward with booking an appointment to get the exhaust and final alignment done. Additionally some tune-up parts like spark plug, cap, rotor, etc will be replaced as well. I know some folks have strong feelings on the ugliness of the current wheels but I have not yet got around to ordering some spacers to make the stock rims work again so they will on for the Beater Challenge. They fit the beater vibe at least.
The whole Affordable Classic series:
So the “eagle” has taken its first flight? Cool!!!
Are the dash lights that bright? That is cool since my 1980’s GM cars dash lights sucked.
Yes they are reasonably bright. Pretty good as I did not replace any bulbs.
Yes, always a great sign of things being not too badly buggered up when the dash lights work.
Congratulations. Must have been great to finally get it out on the road if only briefly.
Great stuff David!
I share your insurance pain. When I first got my VW on the road I got the same treatment from the classic insurance broker. The guy sniffed and said “we insure owners of classic cars, not people who want to drive around in old cars” and gave me a year to make improvements and get the car re-appraised.
A year later they sent me a renewal slip without any additional notes, so I renewed. Then they called me up and asked where the appraisal was. So we mutually agreed to terminate the policy, and that kicked off the 8 year VW project.
When I got it back on the road I did NOT go back to the same guy.
Ugh. Appraisals are expensive too. I found it funny that they took my MG B so easily last year – amazing what a shiny paint job can do.
This “we only insure pretty cars” thing is weird to me. Is there logic behind it?
I had classic insurance on my Beetles, one was through a VW specialist and the criteria was “Is it a VW, is it air-cooled?”, and with the other company it was “Is it 25 years or older, will you drive less than 5000 miles a year?”.
No photos, no appraisal, no clueless “but that one is shinier” assessment. My ’67 looked reasonable in photos and had a current inspection but frankly wasn’t roadworthy.
Good Luck, David! – Hopefully the old girl will be ready for the challenge in a few days.
Off to the Laurentians in the Laurentian! (Easier than trying to go to Paris in a Parisienne…)
Hooray! There is nothing quite like seeing an old car come to life for the first time in a long time. And was 1981 really 37 years ago?!?!? And to think that I felt such accomplishment in resurrecting my 63 Cadillac that had only been off the road for a year or two.
Congratulations on conquering both brakes and bureaucracy.
“I then targeted obtaining vehicle registration and a license plate which required a visit to a registry office (think DMV but run as a private business). ”
This is also standard practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylania. It is considerably more efficient and fruitful than going to a government office such as the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission or the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
First drive in my Hillman was without brakes parking brake worked and it has a four speed so that proved to be enough, Our revin process would scare you its very comprehensive for anything post 1990 with brakes being dismantled and they must be within tolerance etc quite tough pre 1990 is just a very thourough regular Warrant of Fitness check but using a brake roller machine at a testing station not a Tapley meter at the local garage, ever tried to balance four drum brakes perfectly? not easy, trust me, fortunately late Ford Transit/VW Crafter van wheel cylinders fit the front of 59 Hillmans.
Congrats! And thanks for taking some precious time to put up a post. Good luck!
Does it have the Chief Pontiac high beam indicator? That was the coolest thing about my ’65 Parisienne wagon! When wagons were still unloved, mine sacrificed it’s front clip to repair a crashed convertible. I’d love to have that wagon today!
Sounds good around the block, but might get tiring on a long trip?
Oh yes. It will receive an exhaust before we go.
Woohoo!
Congratulations for getting the car all together David. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching you Parisiennes resurrection. I can relate to having a busy life while trying to find time to work on an old car.
I am not surprised about the classic car insurance hassles. I am currently going through dealing with them on renewing my policy and I am likely switching brokers due to my current insurer’s incompetence.
Best of luck on the weekend!
Oops I meant Laurentian and I missed the edit window!
Wonderful! So are those the same spark plugs as were in it when you got it? As easy as they are to replace, I would have yanked those out, at least to inspect. Maybe you already did. And I assume you’ve checked the points; you probably did in an earlier installment.
Sounds good! A low compression row-rpm six like that doesn’t really need a muffler. 🙂
Those are the original spark plugs. I have since replaced them. They weren’t too bad. I still have to check points. I took a look in the cap and it is actually pretty decent in there.
It must take real willpower to fix all the stuff that really needs it, like brake lines, before moving on to easy but not crucial things, like spark plugs. I always want to do the easy stuff first and see if it makes a difference, then I take the excitement I get from that and use it to move on to the hard stuff. You are almost on your way!
Thats very good description on what works well for me too. If I line up lots of boring tasks from the start, the project often ends up sitting. Cause there is not much exictement in crawling under a vehicle, imo.
Hey, looks good. How does the shifter work? No jams?
I had to lube the heck out of the shifter linkage and it works fine now.
That’s fantastic, Dave. Thanks for sharing the moment with us.
That’s great news! With the refusal of the classic car insurance company to cover the Laurentian you have official evidence that this is a beater with a heater that may or may not work. Don’t forget to pack handyman’s secret weapon: duct tape!
And WD-40!
If it moves and it’s not supposed to, wrap it in duct tape.
If it doesn’t move and it should, spray WD-40 on it. 👍🏻
It will serve you well. Have a blast on the challenge.
Nice! GM got a lot of mileage (no pun intended) out of that font used on the speedo numerals — brings back fond memories. And how many decades did they use the same font on the odometer, also a favorite of mine?
+1 🙂
I noticed the same thing right away. That speedo font was used on my dad’s ‘63 & ‘69 Impalas, my ‘62 Bonneville and I think my friend’s ‘68 Impala. I think my ‘71 Grand Ville used that font too, only smaller because the speedo was round instead of horizontal.
That GM odometer font was used well into the ‘70s. I remember thinking it looked more cool & modern than other brands.
’62 Bel Air! Did it go haywire when the temperature got down to zero? That was the best part.
Love the sound of an old six glob-globbing along. Combined with the miniature white world of the instruments and the passengers viewpoint, and the thrill of a night drive (past bedtime), that little clip is very evocative of many trips from childhood.
Is it possible to re-register a car there without some sort of roadworthiness inspection from the state (or the private contractor for the same purpose)? Here, if it’s been unregistered for long enough, it must pass a reasonably strict govt-mandated test by a private garage AND then go to a DMV-type office and be inspected by them in their garage before plates and reg will be issued. Unless I misread you, that doesn’t seem to be the case there, which is a bit surprising.
I was a little surprised at that as well. You can just walk into your local insurance broker, with a bill of sale and they hand licence plates over to you?
Here in Manitoba, a mandatory safety check is required by a certified garage to determine your car’s roadworthiness, then if it passes you can get your licence plates.
Every province is different I guess.
Good luck with your Beater Challenge.
It is up to the insurance company to ask for the safety inspection … or not.
Ontario demands a stringent safety check at the time of transfer..You can get an unfit vehicle permit and buy a 7 day “trip permit” sticker.
Ironically you can get away with driving anything once the ownership has been transferred…Unless of course the cops pull you over and yank the plates .
Glad to see the old Laurentian running under it own steam. Good luck in the challenge
Is it mandatory to deal with an insurance broker in Canada? If not then why bother with them? Can one not go directly to a classic car insurer, such as Hagerty, and request coverage. You send in a couple of full shots of the car, state a value of at least $5000, and you are good to go. That is all I have ever done with mine. Granted two were already in great shape but the other three were projects. I even stated one at $2500 and I was told it had to be $5000. OK, so I then said make it $5000 and the car was on just like that. No hassles.
Oddly it is cheaper to go through the broker.
I’ll be curious about your alignment. I spent a day calling around the see if anyone could align my 67 Park Lane which uses slots where you mount the upper control arm to adjust caster and camber. No one would touch the car until a fellow who works on older cars was mentioned to me. Called him and he asked if the car used an eccentric cam in the LCA. I told him no and he went oh. Then proceeded to tell me the tool used for my car broke 20 years ago. So obviously there is no call for aligning 66-67 full size Fords or Mercurys. Just as obvious I’ll have to take the measurements myself.
Funny you mention that. This has become a problem for me today.
So the tool for the cars with the slots to move the upper control arm is still available the last time I checked but can certainly understand why no one would want to invest in a new one.
However what the tool does is allow you to loosen the retaining bolts and use a pusher screw on the tool to move the shaft while reading the measurements. You can do it w/o the tool it is just more of a pain because it requires a bit more finnese. You don’t loosen the retaining bolts so much and then give it a few love taps with the hammer to get it where you want it to be. Which of course can often result in the too much/too little battle.
I found such a tool on eBay and bought it for a total of $30. Not the cool Ford tool in the FSM though. Anyway it just arrived today. I will be setting up caster and camber with the front end on jack stands and the tires off. Less pressure on those bolts that get torqued to 100-150 lbs. Front bolt out and back bolt in maximizes positive caster. Then tilting them inward gives negative camber. I want -0.25 to 0.50 camber so with my gauge of the rotors I will decrease the already positive camber to head negative. This will also decrease positive caster some. I’ll settle for a little less caster to get my-0.50 camber. I’ll check when at zero camber by placing the weight of the car on the tires and then my other gauge to check where exactly I am and then go from there as needed.
I know where the last setting was given the long term impression in the slight surface rust after taking out the bolts and the control arm. May do an story on the rebuilding of this front end and the alignment process after which the 15 year old tires are replaced.
Congrats on getting the Pontiac back on the road. I hope it proves to be reliable for you as you put on the kms or should that be miles as in the old days?
I also give a thumbs up for the dash lighting on the speedometer. Brings back memories of my father’s 62 Comet.
Here in Indiana you are required to have insurance when you register a car, but there are no safety inspections and emission checks in only a few localities. I have never tried to get classic car insurance, but have just insured my two old cars, and at one time a vintage motorcycle, through my agent along with our two daily drivers. I have never had any trouble obtaining insurance.
The agent that we used a few years ago wanted to look at our ’35 Plymouth street rod when we first bought it as a drive able work in progress. I drove it to his office and he came out and gave it the once over noting that the interior was gutted. He said that he was not going to mention that in the application. He then noted that it had no bumpers as he took the required pictures. He told me that the company would cover it. It was 3 years before the parent company realized that the car was bumperless and finally raised our rates. Did I mention that the agent was a real car guy? I would still be using this understanding guy except that he was killed a few years ago when a draft horse stepped out in front of his SUV at night. His replacement was nothing like him. I use a different company now. The Plymouth was sent on it’s way several years ago.
My dad’s ‘73 Impala had the same font on its speedometer as well. No need for those silly old metric conversion stickers on it – as a fellow Canadian, you should know the equivalent speeds in km/h. By the way – love the sound of that old straight six. Great engines, and it sounds like there’s a lot of life in it yet.