1971 Pontiac Ventura II                                     page 1
Pontiac releases its own version of the popular Chevy Nova.  The 250 in-line 6 and 307 V8 (courtesy of Chevrolet) are the only engines offered during the first year of Pontiac's new compact/economy car.

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Let's have this nice Tennessee car kick off the first page of the site.  A few more pictures can be found on the www.cardomain website, too.

 Apr '03: Owner Chuck Lenhardt tells us:  
"I bought the car in 2000 with 56,000 miles on the original 307.The car now has a 1974 corvette 350 .060 over with .125 domes and a Comp Extreme Energy cam, RPM intake, 650 dbl pumper and a 3500 stall. It now has 57,500 miles on it, yeah I don't drive it much!

"My next upgrades will include Dart heads (stock now), Demon carb, single plane intake, HEI upgrade, 284 Extreme Energy cam (274 now), Eaton diff. (mini spool now), with 3.55 gears (3.08 now), and a good set of slicks!"
Check out his cool drag strip story in the Articles section.

I would guess this is pretty much the way Ed James' ( edjess@cox.net ) '71 Ventura looked when he found it...this picture has that "forgotten in the back lot" vibe.  He's started working on it:  "I took the nose off and cleaned and painted the frame, installed new body mount bushings, and added manual steering.  I have a '69 396 and Muncie four speed for the car."  ...that would make it the first 396-powered Ventura on the site, if I'm not mistaken.  (nov05)
(L) This car was owned by a guy named Tim, but that's about all we know.  If anyone knows the fate of this car, give a holler!

(R) A selection of '71s in the collage format.  "More pic per click", I figure. The rare, neglected Sprint was located in California, and was being offered at $400.

We received a whole set of vintage pics from Rico, who dug out some well-worn scrapbook photos of his former '71.  We tried our best to restore the images, so don't mind the scratches :-)  These photos cover his ownership of the car from 1979 to 1982.

This car at one time had a 307, a 327 and a 454.  He wishes he hadn't chopped it up to be a Pro-Streeter.

 More views of Rico's car.  The driver's front quarter has been replaced, but looks like the paint job has worn quite a bit.  He currently owns a '72 Ventura, shown elsewhere on this site.  
A hot set of photos sent in by Jimmy Grossnickle of his Laser-Red, show-quality '71.   Check out the custom hood scoops!

Update 8-22-03:  Dan Clark (a fellow '71 owner) reports that this car is pictured in the October 2003 edition of Car Craft...get a glimpse of it on page 2 of this section.  Congratulations to Jimmy and his wife!

He's got a 406 tucked in the gleaming engine bay.
Raiding my archives, I found some photos of Brian Lavender's (ex-) 4-door.  View them all in one click!  Who owns this car now?

A sale on Canadian e-bay.  This car had a 307 with only 26,000 miles on it.  Sold by the original owner in Jasper, Alberta, eh?

(L) The Ventura's first year featured these vivid, heart-stopping colors.  Tastefully accented here in one case with some handy primer.

(R) This image was also raided from cardomain, owned by a guy named Matt.  But I removed some terrible streaks that appeared on the original photo.

 (L) This Ventura found its way overseas.  Some may disagree, but painting the bumpers seems to give the car a slightly more modern look.  They don't stand out as much, emulating modern cars whose bumpers are blended into the body.

 R) A selection of '71s from the classifieds

Dan Clark sent in these photos of his purchase.  He has this to say: “This is my 71 Ventura, the car has 59,000 original miles on it.  The 307 has had a nice cam put in it. I can not believe how nice and tight the car drives...I have a stock hood coming for it. The car was originally a light tan color. I just bought this car last week from a cop in Detroit, Michigan. I love this car already.  It was a long drive home with 4:11 gears, it was fun though.”   That unfinished hood scoop was replaced shortly after he bought the car.
Dan's picked a great spot for his photos...a rich green background is always a good bet!  What a nice, straight vehicle!
(L) A rare sight...an old Ventura on the freeway!  Let's just call it a '71 for now :-)

(R) Here are a couple of very nice cars, but I don't know their model year.  Maybe some of our site visitors will recognize them and clear up the mystery. Update 10-9-03: Rico has identified the red car as belonging to the Rock&Roll Engineering crew, making it a '72. Thanks!