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HomeNews and EventsPontiac-Oakland Club Western Regional Roundup

Pontiac-Oakland Club Western Regional Roundup

Tucson show brought out the Ponchos

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Earlier this November, the Arizona chapter of the Pontiac-Oakland Club International (POCI) held its Western Regional Roundup. Over 100 vehicles, including a huge GMC bus, were present for the Poncho faithful to appreciate automotive history in 86-degree heat.

The event started on Thursday, November 2nd with a mixer and a seminar from Thom Sherwood, who detailed a behind-the-scenes look how his pair of 1967 GTOs were transformed into the cars used in the movie xXx.

On Friday, three more seminars were presented for those of the Pontiac persuasion. First was Jeff Lovich of “Pet Peeves of Arizona” fame, going over his critiques the “quirky, clever, or just plain dumb fixes and mechanical maladies and modifications” you may stumble upon during Phoenix’s auction week. Next was Dave Anderson, Jim Wangers’ right-hand guy who told the tales of Jim’s final decades before his passing this past spring. Lastly, Jeff Sawruk flew in from Michigan to spin stories of growing up in a Pontiac household, as his father was a Pontiac engineer in the brand’s heyday.

On Saturday, the car show and swap meet brought in both attendees and spectators. Scheduled seminars included Bill Schoening, the owner and restorer of the 1963 X-400 show car, and Gerson M. Goldberg, who shared memories of growing up in a family that owned a Pontiac dealership in Connecticut.

A nice mix of Pontiac history was on display, including many that were produced when Pontiac was number three in the industry.  While Pontiac was never number one — that was Chevrolet’s by birthright — it would not be incorrect to say that everyone in the industry wished they were working for Pontiac.

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Diego Rosenberg
Diego Rosenberg
Lead Writer Diego Rosenberg is a native of Wilmington, Delaware and Princeton, New Jersey, giving him plenty of exposure to the charms of Carlisle and Englishtown. Though his first love is Citroen, he fell for muscle cars after being seduced by 1950s finned flyers—in fact, he’s written two books on American muscle. But please don’t think there is a strong American bias because foreign weirdness is never far from his heart. With a penchant for underground music from the 1960-70s, Diego and his family reside in the Southwest.

3 COMMENTS

  1. In all your article ,you forgot one of the rarest muscles car of all …and it’s a Pontiac!
    The 1968 Beaumont SD
    It combine the excitement of a Pontiac with the heartbeat of a Chevrolet! file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/31/01/D01DE2B4-BA80-434E-AA89-03D8B40AEA27/IMG_0068.PNG
    Picture of my car ,owner since 1995 drive everywhere ,winner at all show ,best driver that I had!
    Continue your interesting publications
    Thank’s for your time of reading my comments

    • Thank you for your comment.

      There were no Beaumonts at the event, and they were not branded as Pontiacs–they were just sold in Pontiac’s dealer network.

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