"The car was purchased in Feb 1973 for $3800.00 Cdn including tax. It was the Ventura Custom with the Sprint package (sort of a baby GTO), loaded with everything except a/c. It had the 350 V8 blue Pontiac engine with a 2 bbl carb; it was the only option available but had factory throaty dual exhaust.
"I test drove it right off the car carrier, and told the dealer not to touch anything under the hood, or I would not buy it. It had a 3 speed turbohydramatic trans that was sweet. It seemed to function as if it had a "lock 2nd gear" and was real fast until about 90 mph when I shifted it into Drive. It had all the chrome trim available, including bumper strips and guards, wheel opening moldings, window glass trim, but NO body side molding.
"Back in 73 there was no FM station nearby, so it had the AM with rear speakers. At the time I was a Customs Officer on the NB-Maine border, and the car was always spotless and on display, and got lots of comments from tourists at the border crossing. I was often asked to race Novas but always declined, kept them guessing. One nite I was clocked by a friendly RCMP at 127 mph, so I was told.
"I traded it in 1974 for a Pontiac Lemans Sport Coupe with a 400 c.i. 4 bbl, dual exhaust, AT, and it was nice but not the same as the Sprint. The Sprint stayed in New Brunswick and I would see it from time to time when I was visiting from Ottawa. When I moved back to NB in 1984, I tried to locate it but have had no luck to date. Unfortunately it is the only picture I still have." If anyone spots his former car, drop him a line!
(R)An e-bay refugee from a while back, which actually looks like a very nice car. Tried to tweak the pictures to bring out the detail, but the originals weren't too great. Nice start on the interior, which could use a major upgrade no matter what model you look at.
Here's the tech data for this Squaw Valley, California car. Darn nice work.
"motor : 69 428 four bolt main, cross-drilled
crank, new connecting rods, full floating pins on je pistons, 0 deck height,
studded heads: 69 #16 new manley valves port and polished, harlen sharp
roller rockers.
"carburation: Bill Mitchell 750 holley on top of performer rpm with air gap
port matched to heads. Tranny: turbo 400 with tci 3500 stall, hooked
to an auburn posi with 410 gears"
Chris Haggerty ( fishmaster79@yahoo.com ) sends these 3 shots of his 4 door from scenic Florida. Nice before & after set of the engine!
"Hey there! I'm very glad to see some other Ventura connoisseurs out there! Kudos on the cool site. Attached are some pics of my 73 Ventura. It has such fabulous options as: Automatic transmission. That is all.
Heheh! Gotta love those half moon hubcaps, and the matching orange rims! It was my grandma's car, bought new in 73. It has the 250 straight 6, and is pretty much all original, with the exception of one side of paint (the other side, not shown in the pic. It's never been winter driven, which is kind of strange, coming from Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada. I just finished up some light maintenance on it, and it still purrs like a kitten! ...it has a nice cozy place in my garage to hide for the winter. Anyhoo, hope you enjoy! There's still a few of us die-hards out there!"
(R) Jake Laduke had a small fleet of three Venturas out in California. Unfortunately, the nicest of the bunch, the '73, suffered an impact in front, so there's no grille, header, or bumper. He has since sold his '74 and '74GTO parts cars.
Some very nice photos courtesy of pont73ventura@aol.com . His story is below...
Those Cragars are looking sharp. Kind of like a richer version of the Pontiac Rally II rims!
Dan Schoonover's (former) '73, which appears
to have the original floor shifter still in place. Some details:
"(It's a) 2 door hatchback with a 350 all
stock, even the block. Bored out to 475, has 67 Camaro bucket seats, needs a
new clutch that I will get soon. 3-8s cam, $3800 in the engine, 4bbl
can hold direct port NOS injection. Runs 8.3 on 1/8 track..." Update Aug05: "I recently purchased Dan's Ventura in Feb. 05, I have added a bunch of mods to this baby, I am on car domain and in the process of taking photos of the upgrades... Thanks, Greg Jacobs
Savannah, GA ( jacobsgreg@bellsouth.net )
(R) A rolling chassis belonging to Derick Cox