Mike - The Golden Girls are all dead - as in residing on the other side of the grass, unless one or more reside inside a mausoleum. Maybe I could invite the remaining females of Charlie's Angels, perhaps.

Well, the French Vanilla Cheesecake has been baking 25 minutes inside a water bath in the oven. As said previously, after a cooling down for ~1hr the cheesecake goes into the refrigerator for 10 hrs. I'm going to start on the fresh Blueberry Topping.

Have a safe trip and enjoyable time with your Mom and most likely your sister.

 

Yes Norm I know that. I was being wise. They always ate cheesecake on the show. Thanks for the well wishes. Maybe a chocolate malted would go well with the cheesecake, or is that a summer only item?

 

I knew you were being wise. They always ate cheesecake on that show? I never watched the show. I'd turn it on, see all the old broads kibitzing and move onto something less boring. A chocolate malted + a piece of cheesecake would send me into cardiac arrest I'm almost certain. But, you're correct - the chocolate malteds are mostly a summer treat.

 

Nice VC Jamesbo. Norm, the only A bodies to get the 455 in '69 was the Hurst Olds, otherwise the largest in the VC was the 400, which was of course the engine in the 442, but it was not available in the regular wagon, the flattop as it is sometimes known. Jamesbo, hard to say on asking price, they tend to be all over. Sign up to the Bring A Trailer site, and start watching the auctions there to get a value. Perhaps evilbay and Barn Finds as well. Snowblower update: Bolt for the axle sprocket was sheared, price for 1/4-20x1.75 hex bolt: $3.84. Shop supplies: $3.25. labor 0.4 hr, $26.00. Pick up & delivery: $47.00. Total with tax: $80.52. Greg, has the weatherman in your area mentioned anything about an up coming storm for the end of next week? Locally saying it might be the biggest of the season, with accumulations from 14"-19" of snow. Inland as well as the lakeshore. Not to be confused with the nor'easter hitting the east coast.

 

Dan - Thanks for clarifying the engine availability for the '69 flattop.

 

Norm/James - I did some research, and from what I'm seeing, the largest motor available in the '69 Vista cruiser was the 400ci. If Jame's Vista now has a 455 in it, it would have to be a transplant.

 

That would be correct.

 

The Vista is interesting on its engine options. 66-67 could not get a 400.

They had the big meeting today, and I was on the floor, but I watched it later. Although my conveyor video was shrunk down to 15 seconds, my 2:36 of Metallica got used as the soundtrack to all the other videos that were sped up, too, and jammed in a, not coincidentally, 2:36 segment. The dude that made the montage is a hipster hack; probably the most manly music his Maroon 5 listening self had ever heard. I should watch all these shindigs later, it lets me fast forward through the BS, which was most of it.

 

It's a 70 455 that came with the car when I bought it. Ugly blue. So I yanked it painted it red ( like 69 H / O) and dressed it up

Mike yes it has an unused 3rd seat and the front clip is original

 

Norm it's not a flat top,it's a vista cruiser. Imho most vista cruiser owners are not concerned with original equipment it's a more whimsical kind of car

 

I'll bet that Vista goes pretty good with a 455 in it, Is it a Turbo 400, 3.08 rear? Should run good even at 2 tons+. Seems like my 70 title weight was 4800lbs. We had ours at just the right time, Oldest son was deployed to Iraq, his 3 kids (ages 4-7) went many times with us to our cabin for weekends. All of us including our dog rode up north in the wagon. Awesome!! You think you get a lot of honks and thumbs up in a sharp top down 70's car? Nothin compared to a Vista Cruiser with grandpa and grandma in the front- 3 kids and a dog in back!!

 

Tried to find that pic of us all in Vista Cruiser but couldn't, ended up going on a memory jarring trip though. Here's a couple of the rust


Really rusty windows....
y Vista.

 

Greg my Dad traded in the 67 (I think) Vista Cruiser in on a 70 that is the same color scheme as the one you had. I bought it from him for 500bucks in 1978 as my 1st car at 16yrs old.
My buddies and I had a great time in that car and I got away with doing a lot of stupid **** with it. Great memories. The family had a great family trip in it the summer of 75 we went cross country pulling a tandem axle scamper pop up to Colorado Springs to visit relatives.
Vistas will always have a spot in my heart for sure.
James nice looking car, hang on to it.
Thanks for the pictures guys

Keith

 

 

LOL James,Right On. Great show

 

Good morning guys,

Cold at 28° with light flurries this morning, no accumulation expected. High temps in the upper 30's expected the next several days, with no precip in the forecast, pretty much typical St. Louis winter weather.

No big plans for us today. We did get the table and chair set for my wife yesterday, it's a nice set for the $50 she paid for it. A little elbow grease and paint, and she'll easily be able to turn it around for $300 - $400. No big plans for the weekend either, just looking forward to the NFC and AFC Championship games on Sunday. Hate to wish my life away these days, but I'm really tired of winter already, and we still have 2-months to go.

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

In 1972 one of the two guys who owned the Magnavox stores I delivered appliances/furniture for drove to Florida with his family & invited me to go along. I was 19 yrs old. His two daughters (17 & 16) were hot, hot, hot. They were going to Florida to stay one week with my ex-H.S. coach who had retired the year I graduated (1970) - the owner's family & the coach's family were close friends. I have wonderful memories of the shenanigans I pulled laying (supposedly sleeping) under the blankets with those two girls in that VC as he drove through the night. The VC was dark green with the wood applique. All our luggage was stored on the roof-top carrier. The girls slapped my hand several times on that trip.

 

James - I loved That '70s Show, watched it every week. Interesting how things worked out for Ashton Kutcher & Mila Kunis (born in Ukraine).

 

Put on your big girls panties, Butter Cup.

 

Good Memories from those 70's, a different time then for sure. Norm I think I read in previous posts you have Netflix, if you get the chance sometime and if you have not already,, check out Crip Camp. Good 70's vibe and amazing for me, things I did not realize about the reform.

 

Keith - Absolutely, will do. Esp. since the greater majority of our family reside in WI. I'll check it out. Thanks.

 

Keith - I just gave a brief look at it A Disability Revolution. Looking forward to watching it....today.

 

I am re-watching it now. Quite Inspirational. Hope you enjoy some of those old clips, keep a look out for the Oldsmobiles they are in there.

 

This was in 2015, kids are older than I was thinking.

What a work horse....

 

Greg= Awesome Pictures, you and your family will always have that Vista in your memories... priceless

 

Greg - Fantastic pictures...yeah buddy.

 

Greg - Love the pics of the family, car, and Michigan scenery, great memories!!!

 

Aloha

Finished work quite early. That's easy when there's only a few wheels to be done and the lead wants to leave. Even stopped at the Awful house on the way home. I made sure to leave before my friends got there, not because I didn't want to talk to them, but because if I was there when they got there I'd be there until 3. I broke from the norm and brought Tiger home some bacon. Makes the dry food only easier to eat when there's no canned food. This way he's had something to eat and his tummy won't be growling the whole way.

Greg those pictures make me want to rethink my decision to sell my wagon. Was yours code 63 Copper Iridescent? Your car looks an awful lot like mine. Mine has dark brown interior.

Funny think about wagon nicknames. Most any other wagon is called a long roof, the closed car being the short roof I would imagine, but only the VC is the long roof and the regular wagon is not. Hm. I often wonder why Pontiac didn't get a window wagon. You'd think that would be a given with a name like Safari. Maybe a clear turret top.

Koda did you get an ending credit for your contribution? That's a compliment right there, the hipster using your music for the other videos. You may have just given him his own personal revolution.

Okay gonna get everything together and hit the road. I don't play the radio when Tiger is in the car so that's a long 5+ hour ride. But thanks to Greg I'll have something to overthink. That and how to make a disappearing floor over a set of stairs.

Peace

 

Mike - Keep us posted I'm interested in following along.

 

I have always loved the vistas. A coach had a mid 80s wood panel that he used as the bus to FCA and various other functions. Started thinking about them so much that thoughts of search deeper began that might trigger an itch. Stop it. Damn it if I didn't have one of the newer Buick Regal Wagons pull out as I was approaching a stop sign just this morning...

Feel itchy... going to look at some wagons...

 

Okay just as I was X-ing out of the page I remembered this wagon. I hope the link works. It's John Wayne's wagon and if you watch the 6 minute video George Barris(who customized it for The Duke) says it's the only one like it. But in looking for pictures I saw several different years with the same custom roof. All for John Wayne. Maybe he meant it's the only 75 like it.

1975 Pontiac Grand Safari Wagon Owned by John Wayne (carlylemotors.com)

Looks like a Vista Cruiser front glass over the front seat. Pretty cool wagon if you ask me.

 

 

You're killing me man, that looks soooooooo goooooood!!!!!!

 

Chris - Thanks. It is absolutely delicious. I posted small pictures since Mike doesn't like BIG pictures.

 

Greg, what lake is that? I can't wait for the season to turn so that I can get back up to Prudenville and Lake James.

 

And the Brits call them estate cars. Did only rich people with property have them?

 

Congrats on the video and music.

 

Wonder if that's how Ford came up with the name for their "Country Squire"???

 

Evening Squire...Nudge Nudge

 

Grey, great pictures of the family

Norm, looks delicious