Intro from an old Assembly Plant guy

[Chief Bail]

No Sir thank you for the trip down memory lane. Huh yes I do. I have some family in Waterford, Troy, and Warren. They are my fathers family.

[Chevy-Art]

I just finished reading this. That had to be an awesome experience to work at GM and see your vehicle built. Nice truck.

[Keith Seymore]

I told you guys I was gonna' drive it:

[JohnC]

Uh Keith I hate to tell you this, but that is just parked.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by JohnC

Uh Keith I hate to tell you this, but that is just parked.

LOL! - I need to get some "rollin'" pics....

K

[Keith Seymore]

Wendy's story -

I had something funny happen a few weeks ago, back in the November timeframe, that I haven't shared with you guys yet.

I had some errands to run in support of getting ready to go to Chicago (to the Muscle Car Nationals) so I decided to grab some lunch and take the afternoon off. I almost never go out for lunch and I never EVER stop at the Wendy's closest to my house - but - a bacon cheeseburger sounded pretty good so I stopped in. I pulled into the parking lot and parked way in the back, away from everybody else, as is my custom now that I am driving my restored pickup.

If you've been following this thread than you already know my little truck is a red Chevy regular cab 2wd shortbox. Because of that it was only natural I noticed, as I pulled in, a guy followed me in a newer (GMT800 style) pickup, also a red Chevy regular cab 2wd shortbox. He parked back kind of where I was, next to me but leaving a respectful distance between his truck and mine.

After I finished my burger (...which was excellent, by the way...) I walked back out and I noticed his truck was still sitting there. I didn't see him come or go so I looked around a bit as I was walking and right then he came out of the restaurant. He caught up to me and spoke first, saying "...hey, that's a sweet little truck!" or something like that.

I confided that I had noticed his truck , too, so we spent several minutes talking about (red) Chevy pickups, then onto working for GM and living in the area. I told him (gradually) about restoring the truck through the summer, giving him short snippets of info and then responding in more detail as he asked more follow up questions.

I haven't mentioned this yet but, because I was heading to the Muscle Car Nats that weekend, and because I wanted the author Darwin Holmstrom to sign my book, I had my big GTO book laying in the front seat of the truck.



As the pickup truck conversation died down a bit, he said "....I see you've got the new GTO book. Have you had a chance to look at it much?".

I didn't tell him that I'd had it since May but did indicate that I had flipped through it a time or two.

At that point he said, matter of factly: "My car is in it". Surprised, I said "really, which one!?!".

His car is the red '61 Catalina, shown early in the book on pages 40 - 45. He got pretty good coverage spanning over several pages.





So now the conversation was off and running again, this time talking about Pontiacs, and how he got the car painted a year ago, and how the motor is out now (spun a cam bearing) and going back together. I told him my car was on page 99 and that we did the photo shoot in November of '07 pretty much across the street from where we were currently standing. We marveled at the fact that we lived only a few miles apart and never had met before, and how unusual it was for us to meet under these circumstances.

My car:







I bet we stood in that Wendy's parking lot for almost an hour before we finally decided we'd better get going, parting ways but vowing to stay in touch.

That was one of the most bizarre chance encounters (and one of the most enjoyable) in recent memory....

K

[dan76]

I can relate to your experience. I've moved several times to different areas of the country in past years. Each time the new friends I make are the guys I've met at car shows or chance parking lot encounters. Almost without exception we've maintained contact even though several have relocated throughout the world.

[JohnC]

That's a cool story Keith. That's what makes this vehicle obsession we have so enjoyable. So we can expect pics from the Nationals right?

[DBLSPRT68]

Great story Keith! My wife dosen't understand how I can talk to a total stranger for hours about cars..... She thinks I'm crazy. Well, I am CAR CRAZY! LOVE the GTO; but I have a PONTIAC also....

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by JohnC

That's a cool story Keith. That's what makes this vehicle obsession we have so enjoyable. So we can expect pics from the Nationals right?

They are sort of buried in this thread:

http://forums.performanceyears.com/f...=594667&page=2

K

[menace121978]

another awesome story Keith! i love it just another reason i cannot wait to get my truck done!!

[menace121978]

Keith, i was just looking through your pics and i happen to see the front end of a blue 73+ square body in the back ground of a white 60's chevelle (i think). do you happen to have any pics of it?

[menace121978]

here...

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by menace121978

Keith, i was just looking through your pics and i happen to see the front end of a blue 73+ square body in the back ground of a white 60's chevelle (i think). do you happen to have any pics of it?

Not if they are not shown in that thread; I remember seeing it and being intrigued but (in my defense ) my son took most of those pictures.

Sorry, Dennis -

K

[menace121978]

good excuse buddy! i'll have to remember that one

tell your son great pics anyway!!

[Keith Seymore]

Public Service Safety Reminder!


Always use jackstands when working under a vehicle:




and use caution when backing trailers:



(lol) -

K

[JohnC]

[McMurray76]

You had me at GMI! Very cool story overall though.

[Keith Seymore]

Ok - I kind of set you guys up with those previous pictures. I was looking for this one when I found those others.....

This is my oldest son - back in October of 1987.




...and here he is today:





Here's an outtake where we both look a little more happy about the whole thing:










Since many of the old vehicles and locations are still available in my life, I'm kind of on a mission to re-visit those places and retake some of those old pictures. It's one of the top projects I have in mind for this summer.

Here's another example -

Me, with Dad's '63 Super Duty Catalina, in September of 1963:




Me, with my '63 Grand Prix, winter of 2010:




I guess it's pretty obvious now why I like those aluminum wheels so much!

K

[Keith Seymore]

The pictures of my son are from last night; today we are getting pounded with snow.

My wife is a schoolteacher, so she and the kids are pulling out all the stops with their "voodoo magic", hoping for a snow day tomorrow.

I told her "...babe, that's the downside of working for GM Full Size Truck. You don't get any snowdays."












She said "honey, you don't work for GM Full Size Truck...."

















I was like "hey! That's right!!"

I guess those old habits die hard -

K

[3r!c84]

thats some cool pics

[83GMCK2500]

Keith, what a great thread you have here. Thank you for sharing your life and history with GM with us. I am a pretty new guy here but not to forums on the internet and it is nice when you can find this degree of closeness. I too have a truck with a lot of family history that will be my project in the future. As it is, it's still very much driveable and enjoyable. One of my goals is to add factory options to it as they would have been available in 1983. I've sourced doors with PW & PDL to gut, I also have the interior harness and relay for the cab, I have the cargo light kit, I have a set of cab clearance lights, I have a cruise control kit and a few other things.

I assume this is the thread for questions about your truck. My question to you concerns your tach, did you add it or was it some ungodly rare option? It was my understanding that the tach was no longer an option after 1981.

[JohnC]

Those are some cool pics Keith. Looks like your son has grown just a little bit.

I think that's cool that you are taking pics in the same spot, or at least similar settings as some of the old pics. There is a fellow board member here that did that with his truck back in the day, and after the restoration.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by 83GMCK2500

I assume this is the thread for questions about your truck. My question to you concerns your tach, did you add it or was it some ungodly rare option? It was my understanding that the tach was no longer an option after 1981.

Thanks for the comments.

The tach was available (in general); however I added mine after the fact.

It was available on everything prior to the Stop Order, but when the SO was lifted Engineering Specifications re-released the tach for the M62/M64 column shifted three speeds but *forgot* the MY6 trans. As a result, it was not available through the dealership ordering process even though I knew the parts would fit and function. I tried my best to get them to fix the engineering release but was not successful.

I grabbed one after the truck had about 1500 miles on it and it has been going strong ever since.

K

[Big Block]

Originally Posted by DBLSPRT68

Great story Keith! My wife dosen't understand how I can talk to a total stranger for hours about cars..... She thinks I'm crazy. Well, I am CAR CRAZY! LOVE the GTO; but I have a PONTIAC also....

I can second all of the above! I also own a 1965 Tempest, I am the second owner.