Where were you in '62?
 

This Poncho may have beaten John Millner's deuce...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__TtJcjRCK8&ab_channel=TheThrottlestop

Very cool car. I think those old factory racers were cool. This is one that I'd never heard of.

'62? I wasn't even a gleam in anyone's eye at that time.

Pontiac had everyone beat, with the 421SD at that time. While rated @405HP at the flywheel, the actual number was significantly higher - @460+ believe it or not. That's from a stock machined production engine, before blue-printing and tweaking.

Also unknown to most that Smokey Yunick had considerable involvement/ contribution in developing that engine and platform. If I remember correctly, there was a specific frame and suspension set-up only to those cars. The frame was from the sister car convertible.

Smokey did as much for Pontiac up until the ban, as with Chevrolet.

If you go UT, there is a dyno test on absolute bone stock dual quad solid lifter Chevy 409 and the 421 SD. While Pontiac obviously has more cubic inches, there's a lot more the dyno tells us. Good stuff

I was just a kid living in Hawaii back then. We moved to the territory of Hawaii and we were there when it became a state. About to experience culture shock, as we soon moved to Montgomery, AL.

Cars were just transportation for me back then, or as toy cars to play with.

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Weird that in the video they showed the 409 run up to 425hp, but then they said and showed 406.5 at the end.

In 1962 at this time of year I was probably playing stickball in the street.

I guess I was stuck on 3rd base. lol (figuratively)

I wasn't born. [emoji23]

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If I remember correctly in a sand box by the swing set 😋

I spent the summer of '62 vacationing with my aunt and uncle at Camp Lejeune, drinking RC with a pack of peanuts poured into the bottle, riding my bicycle around the neighborhood with playing cards making horsepower on the spokes.
I was just getting interested in cars. High points of the summer were sitting in the cockpit of a B-47 and playing on the dummy Mercury capsules sitting on the beach that they used for retrieval practice.

As a kid whose Dad had a '59 Pontiac wagon with a 389 Tri-Power in it sitting in the garage, I was starting to get into NASCAR watching those Poncho's race. Learning all about 10:1 compression ratio's and why we always needed to fill it with Chevron Custom Supreme or it'd ping like crazy when pulling the trailer on vacation. In those days the air ride suspension still worked so you had to jack it up with the car in the full 'up' position. My brother and I got the dubious task of changing the spark plugs as our hands were small enough to get around the A/C compressor and the air ride pump/power steering pump. Our go kart racing days were just around the corner.

I was 9 at that time. The car bug hadn't bitten yet.

12 then BUT

I remember the cuban crisis

anti aircraft hawk and nike poping up allover here

duck and cover drills for real

saw a AA/fuel digger blow a hemi
fast ones were 1/2 as quick as today

dad got an 58 HK-500 for a grand in good shape about then last year 392 hemi
fastest ride in our hood till the 427 cobra showed up

fireball roberts won nasty car with that motor that year

and died in a ball of fire a bit later in a ford

I was also 9 but I was daydreaming about 57 Chevies and T Birds.

Not born yet

I caught the car race bug in 53 when zora moved upstairs
at our lake house at 10 mile and lake st clair

for those lacking history zora's team got the first 356 points post war
he built corvettes but infected my dad and brother with 356 lust

1962, I was splashing around in the sea watching the surfers. I guess I haven't changed much.

Very cool car.

My Grandfather had a car just like that except it was a Grand Prix and blue.

BTW, I wasn't even a thought in 1962

I love those old Pontiacs.

Thanks for the chuckle...:) Okay, I'm old...I was a year out of high screwall in '62..and I didn't know anybody who had one just like it.