Gary Shabbazian has been a member of POCC for several years. The only other club members who actually knew this was Dave Valla and myself but his name has always been on the club roster. He has a very busy veterinarian practice in Fresno. As a result, he has never been able to take an active role with POCC. I have asked him many times about this and he always responds that he will “as soon as he retires”. Until then here is the story he provided about his Pontiac, a 1970 GTO.
Bill Richards
My cousin bought the car from a dealer in Los Angeles in 1970. He broke the crankshaft shortly after that. I bought the car in 1970/71 for $2,000. I rebuilt the engine. Fresno Crankshaft Service on Broadway did the machine work (.030)over. My brother got out of the Navy and drove it to Pensacola, Florida. Up the east coast back to Fresno. I graduated from veterinary school and the car was parked in Fowler for years and never moved.
At one point in time I had I actually sold the car for $2000. However, my dad called me and said the buyer only came with $1500 cash. I told him the price was firm. The person never came back or I would have sold it.
The folks died I’m married now. I Towed the car home to my small farm. There it sat. Rats made nests from the wire and destroyed the interior. One day my friend came over and said, “you know guys are restoring these cars now”. That lead to a three-year frame off restoration. That was 30 years ago. About 10 years ago Daves Performance went through the engine again after I blew a head gasket. I wish I had kept the original palladium silver color. It’s all original except HEI ignition. The only other part that I’m really sad about now is that my dad bought a 1965 Pontiac tempest with the 326-engine new from Dan Day Pontiac. I crushed it for $500 at the junk yard. My dad always bought Pontiacs. I’m thankful by fate I kept the GTO.
Pontiacs of Central California 