"These are some pictures of my '74 Ventura. It has a 69 Pontiac 400 with Edelbrock heads, Warrior racing tunnel ram, topped off with dual 670 cfm throttle body fuel injection units that are laptop programmable. The transmission is a street/strip turbo 400.The rear end is a 12 bolt with 4:11 gears,c-clip eliminators and Strange axles. The interior has a hand fabricated aluminum center console holding the electronic controls for my under car LED lights and LED interior lights. If you would like to see more photos go to www.marodders.com . Keep up the good work getting the Ventura name out there. Thanks, Dan Poole ( dpventura@comcast.net )"
"This is my 1974 Ventura Custom that my dad bought me for my 16th birthday and in 3 years all I've been able to do with it is replace both quarters, outer wheel houses, bucket seats, Hurst speed shifter, Flow Master exhaust and Craeger rims. It is almost ready to primer, and the paint I'm using is a midnight metallic blue/purple made by House of Color . Along with silver rally stripes, I think it will look really good."
Encouragement from other Ventura owners really keeps these project cars moving forward. Tyler and his pal look like true hot rodders...can't wait to see how this car turns out!
It has frame ties and is structurally very, very sound....He drove this car during high school and then parked it and only drove it occasionally once or twice a year since. It has Lakewood traction bars with newer springs and air shocks on the rear. The front end is all stock and has NO power brakes / drums all around. I think I will be updating these even though they work good, I have plans for some major drag racing with this car. My plans are to go through the car and bring everything up to date as in wiring, fluids etc...I have purchased a new Coan 3500 10" converter, Competition Engineering 3-way adj. shocks., coolant overflow catch can, 13 1/2 inch 3 spoke Grant steering wheel, AutoMeter 5" Sport Comp Tach with shift lite ( going to retire the old school tach on the dash). I have also purchased a drive shaft safety loop and a set of Hoosier Quick time Pro's 27 X 10.5 X 15, which will be mounted on the Weld Drag Lites that are on their now. It has Moroso long studs and racing open style lug nuts on it.
So as you can see, eventually she'll be in
the body shop getting massaged with a new Pro stock style fiberglass hood,
trunk lid and bumpers. I plan on having it painted blue, something similar
to what it is now. I want it as light as possible, but still retain the
Ventura look..... I haven't decided on what hood to go with exactly, maybe
you or someone else can direct me to a company that makes what I'm looking
for. I would like to retain the stock hinges and use lighter springs.
Bracket racing with friends is going to be fun, I'll keep you updated with
everything.
I hope you can share some of my pictures with everyone and possibly tell a
little about what she's been through and what's in store for her in the
future. Thanks again for a wonderful site. Jeff Mentzer, Kalamazoo Michigan
cbrman@chartermi.net "
I think that should answer just about any possible
questions...thanks Jeff! -Ro
A 6-banger out of Farmington, New York
(R) A fairly decent looking '74 for sale in Garden Grove, California. The original photos off the sales site were pretty bad, I've tried hard to restore them for you. Asking price was $1500.
Joe Velazquez provided these shots of his new project vehicle. This
Texas car came dressed up in Buick sport rims! Looks to me like he's got a solid car to work with.
(R) Some dedicated web surfing turns up a few more nice '74s
This Michigan car was just about to be posted on this site in August, to be sold for parts. Fortunately, it appears that someone came along and bought the car with the intent of fixing it up. Thanks to Mike Morgan for these nice shots. The rest of the parts were stuffed in the trunk. About the car, he writes: "Don't get too excited about these pictures. The car looks awesome on film. A teenager was fostering with a family who owned a body shop. He completely stripped the paint off to bare metal, then lost interest. The owner of the body shop shot it to keep it from rusting."
(R) If you can believe it, this Sprint-striped '74 from Oklahoma has only 16,000 miles on it!
He'd sure like to find his original car, or another Sprint. Give him a yell if you've got a spare car parked out back :-)
A nice study of the '74 from San
Diego, California. Note that the 6-cylinder version does not have the
engine displacement emblem on the front quarter panel. Pics salvaged from e-bay.
(R) What happens when Ro has too much time on his hands, or too little sleep...
“1974 PONTIAC VENTURA WITH ONLY 32,000 ORIGINAL MILES! This car was purchased from the widow of the original owner... this car runs and drives like a new car, the motor is whisper quiet and the suspension is very tight. It is powered by a 6cyl with auto trans. The body needs minimal bodywork and paint to look like a show car. The interior is all original and looks good, no rips in the seats, only the dash pad is cracked from the sun. The floors are rock solid the trunk is solid as well this is a nice virgin car to either restore or make a street rod out of. Instead of a dime a dozen Nova try something different!”
(R) A little more bodywork has been done, and a lot more motor work on Tyler's '74. From the look of that intake, wide open throttle is gonna be the order of the day.
"She's been done for a while now, I still have a lot of interior work to do but for now I'm satisfied. I took fiberglass bumpers and molded them to fit and I really liked the turn out of the look. Hope you like them, Tyler"