New Addition: 1972 Y Code GTO hardtop in Cameo White

                                                                         By: Patrick Smith

   It's been a productive summer working behind the scenes doing more research on Y Code cars. We have some great articles coming up soon. Meanwhile, we have another new entrant to the registry. This car is in  Ontario, Canada and was sold there new. It is the first Cameo White Y Code in our registry as well.Owner, Bob Grim tells us;  I own a '72 GTO Y code which I purchased in 2006 from a colleague's father who had it since new. The car spent it's entire life here in the Toronto, Ontario area. With the exception of the radio, the car was original. I personally commenced dismantling and restoring the car as a good looking driver. The drive train was totally rebuilt, the black interior has been restored where needed, and I prepped and painted the car in it's original Cameo Ivory. The car was always well cared and garaged for by the previous owner so it was not necessary to take remove the main body off the frame. I have the PHS documentation. This car is a very early '72  being built in November,'71.
 

A Canadian sold unit from new, Bob Grim's car is possibly the most optioned hardtop in the registry. 

   When asked for documentation, Bob came through with several photos and a copy of his PHS documents which in his case, came from GM Vintage Vehicle Services in Oshawa, Ontario as it was sold new in Canada even though assembled in Pontiac, Michigan.This is par for the course on Canadian cars. The documentation is similar but not identical to the package you get from PHS in Michigan as run by Jim Mattison and his son. Both are completely valid and sure fire ways to document your car.

Note the "PONTIAC" trunk lid badge and plain GTO decal for lid. The Y Code cars
did not use the "455 CID" callout decal on the trunk lid as used on quarter panels.

  Bob's car also happens to be loaded. A customer ordered unit as evidenced by the PPL code on his sheet, this one had the options book tossed at it. Check it out. We have;
   GTO Option 334, Turbohydramatic 35L, G60 x15 FG  TXL, Tape Stereo 8 412, Air Cleaner HD 422, Outside Mirror Body Color 434, Steering Wheel Formula 464, Wheel Well Opening moldings 491, Power Disc Brakes 502, Front Floor Mats 521, Hood Molding RR 651, Under hood Lamp 671. Glovebox Lamp 674, Heavy Duty Battery 692, Tachometer Gauge 714, 455 4 BBL engine 34W,  Safe T Track 361, Stereo Radio 405, Deck Lid  Con 421, Front Console 431, Custom Belts 451, Rally II Wheels 474, Power Steering 501, Rear Floor Mats 522, Power Windows 551, Custom Trim 654, Courtesy Lamps 664, Ashtray Lamp 672, Dual Horns 681, Heavy Duty Radiator 701, Mandatory Canada Equipment 752. The total came to $4044.29.

Car was sold new in Toronto, Ontario and remained within the family until 2006 when Bob
purchased it and commenced a frame on restoration.

  Being an early production first batch car from November 1971, Bob naturally has the 140 mph speedometer instead of the 120 mph unit used from January on. A curious thing about the car is it came with the "Pontiac" trunk lid die cast letters along with GTO decal. This is supposedly a  non GTO item but since there is already a "LeMans" die cast trunk letter piece used. it makes sense that some GTOs got the Pontiac letters. This seems to appear most often on home plant built cars. I see shaved trunk lids on Texas built cars. Bob says it came that way from brand new and it also came with bare fenders. Bob also brought up the point to me about die cast 455 fender emblems being absent on his car from new. That is perfectly normal as it was ordered as a GTO and would get decals on the rear quarter panels instead. Only LeMans cars got those fender badges and they got them whether it was a round port or D port! We have photos of both on the registry.

I noted the invoice stated HD Air Cleaner was specified for car when new. It's listed as an option.
This is the standard dual snorkel air cleaner element which is correct for a Y Code engine.

    Bob's car was an on the frame restoration as the car was in very good condition, not requiring chassis restoration. It was repainted in original colors. A Cameo White car with the custom bucket seat interior is one nice ride.This makes it the 10th car to join the registry. We have one more joining in a bit; a convertible as well.
 

The 1971 Pontiac catalog displays what the heavy duty air cleaner option looks like. 

  Bob's car is instructive for us restorers for another interesting item. You could order an optional air cleaner assembly for the Y Code engine. Listed as 422 Heavy Duty Air Cleaner, this part is a single snorkel, deep pan unit with dual stage wetted paper air filter element with extra filtration content. It was recommeded for severe service and or high grit environment driving. The standard air cleaner is a dual snorkel unit with single thermal air door and twin piping to both sides. A photo of HD Air Cleaner option is shown from the 1968-1971 era Pontiac Accessories catalogs. The same piece is listed in 1972 but not shown, they opted to display other goodies instead. I chose the 1971 catalog version as it shows the heavy duty radiator option which Bob has as well.
Update: Late this year, the car changed hands to new owners, Al and Barb Leiby in Ohio. Congratulations, you picked up a fine Y Code example and one of the few in registry with original drive train.
  * Article (c) 2016 by Patrick Smith PHS Collector Cars Y Code Registry

Y Code LeMans GT Convertible Found! Anaconda Gold with power options

                                                                             By: Patrick Smith
       

Rolled out of storage for the fist time since 1989.

      The 1972 GTO and LeMans Y Code Registry has another new entrant this week with a stunning find. This is our third convertible LeMans Sport 455 car. Finished in Anaconda Gold metallic with Covert Expanded Morrokide custom interior, this car came with some nice options aside from the spectacular D port 250 horsepower 455 V8 and TH400 automatic transmission.
               

Sold new in one town and remained there all its life.

    Showing about 75,000 miles on the odometer, this rag top sports its original V8 engine, transmission and 12 bolt rear carrier. The car was ordered with air conditioning, power windows, power door locks, console, 14 inch Rally II wheels, M35 body color sport mirrors with driver side remote control, tinted glass and rocker guard moldings.Last but not least, it came with the T41 GTO appearance front end. Those are the major ones. One more cool piece of info. It is a GT option car. The owner reported there are traces of black decals on the wrap arounds of the doors. The car must have been repainted once.The dash instruments are plain with no clock or tach and no rally gauges either. There is a radio but the owner neglected to tell me what kind of features it has.
   

Visible options here include power windows, power door looks, air, sport mirrors. 

    The car has some rust, but is by no means critical. Owner reports the  lower quarters need replacing and rear wheel well houses need replacing but the trunk floor is sound. The floor pans are also solid. The car has more dents and parking lot dings than rust. The passenger front fender and lower valence are both wrinkled a bit.The interior is said to be decent with good dash, gauges. Owner reports it needs carpet and arm rests replaced. (It also needs a top!) The best part of this is the price. He got it for about $8,500 US! That's pretty good considering how rare it is. Pontiac only made Y Code convertibles in 1972. We have three of them in our database now, each one a different color. There is a Sundance Orange one as well but I have no info on what the options were other than it was a GT striped car.

Car has had one repaint and a minor fender bender before storage in the 1990s. Car was sold new and remained in the Chicago area all its life.

    It seems to be an as found, survivor type car. The air conditioning compressor is awol but the other hardware is still intact. It was sold new in Chicago and spent most of its life there. It had 3 owners.It hasn't been on the road since 1989. It was stored indoors judging from the looks of the car's interior. The convertible top is toast but it works and so do the other power options, Car starts and runs but owner says fluid leaks from everywhere, engine, tranny and rear. How many LeMans GT Y Code ragtops were made? it appears to be 1 of 10.This one has been off the radar a long time due to inactivity and indoor storage. Owner has purchased his partner's half of the title and is deciding what route to go with this car.
 

Engine is complete and running, compressor was removed at one point. The usual fan shroud crack is present,

   It needs work but is quite rare, possibly the third Y Code GT convertible. If he gets his PHS documents from Jim Mattison, he will know for sure. Those decal remnants could be D98 stripes without GT logos or it could well be a GT rag top. The GT package came with the following items;  heavy duty 3 speed manual transmission, G70x 14 white letter tires, body color sports mirrors, Rally II wheels without trim rings, Rally Stripes, dual exhaust with side splitters GT decal callouts, With a repaint and higher than normal mileage we no longer can verify with certainty if it's a genuine GT. The 455 upgrade added a TH400 to the mix so the transmission isn't an issue.Confirmed: PHS docs show it to be a geniune Y Code GT convertible, 1 of 2 made.
 
   By the way, plans are proceeding with hard copy of Y Code Registry Certificates. We will have our proof copy to review in a few weeks and when we sign off with that, the first one will be produced for Miss Hot Stuff, followed by others for the verified Y Code registrants. To obtain a Certificate of Y Code Registry, you need to provide the following information. Proof of current ownership in the form of a State or Provincial vehicle registration, a copy of the Pontiac Historical Service shipping invoice showing VIN, options, selling dealer. etc plus the paint and trim combination of your particular car. $15 payable to Patrick Smith to handle the shipping and related expenses of producing the Certificate.
                      * Article (c) 2016 by PHS MEDIA ARCHIVES. 

Two New Cars to be Added to Registry...Updates Soon!

                                                                          By: Patrick Smith

  I have been on a business trip which has occupied my time the past week. I have great news however, The registry is about to gain 2 new vehicles, both of them convertibles! One has been a work in progress for awhile due to the unusual circumstances behind the discovery and purchase of car. The other find is very recent and I've only been able to collate data today while catching up on the registry info. We are getting samples of the Registry Certificate this week and will be able to post a sample online soon! Stay tuned this week end for some exciting updates...these cars are knock outs!

Some Changes to the Registry

                                                                    with: Patrick Smith

    PHS Collector Cars has made some changes to the Y Code LeMans and GTO Registry. We track the value of the Y Code model using various pricing guides and auction reports and noticed the average sale price for these cars crossed the $30,000 barrier a year ago. This means there are many of these cars selling over $30,000. Due to the limited production total and rising value, we decided this vehicle is no longer a bargain muscle car to be built up as a cheap ride, 455 HO clone or Judge substitute. It appears some owners are putting them back to original condition. When this situation occurs, it's possible for some bad actors to start using information for unlawful purposes. For this reason, we decided to remove the complete VINs of all entrants except for cars which are in an obvious parts car state or missing a drivetrain or were totaled.

  All the VINs we have recorded are still on efile but are no longer on public view. In future we will also refrain from listing any location details other than State or Province. We are in the process of creating a certificate of Membership to the Registry and when details have been finalised we will post this online.

  By the way, plans are proceeding with hard copy of Y Code Registry Certificates. We will have our proof copy to review in a few weeks and when we sign off with that, the first one will be produced for Miss Hot Stuff, followed by others for the verified Y Code registrants. To obtain a Certificate of Y Code Registry, you need to provide the following information:1 Proof of current ownership in the form of a State or Provincial vehicle registration. 2 a copy of the Pontiac Historical Service shipping invoice showing VIN, options, selling dealer. etc plus the paint and trim combination of your particular car.3 A check payable to Patrick Smith to handle the shipping and related expenses of producing the Certificate. We will be providing the cost as soon as the proof has been approved and we know the production cost.

The address for mailing for a Certificate is:

  1972 Pontiac GTO and LeMans Y Code Registry 

30 Moultrey Crescent, Georgetown, Ontario, Canada 

L7G 4N5

New Y Code LeMans Sport Convertible : Factory Freak

                                                                        By: Patrick Smith
                                 

Yep, that's factory paint, car was special ordered Iris Mist metallic by the original owner.

  This is a milestone for the Y Code Registry; we have landed the first rag top in the database. It's one lu lu of a car as well. Check it out, special order paint code car. That's right, the cowl tag is blank where there normally would be a number code. The PHS documents were ordered and it confirmed the special order paint code and Y Code 455 4 bbl D port engine option along with automatic transmission. A Pontiac plant assembled car late in the calendar year, the VIN number is quite high up as a result making it a June build date from the looks of things.

  This is a two owner car and it still sports the original fender 455 die cast emblems from new. The current owner is Dom Sawicki in Massachusetts. The special order paint is Iris Mist, a 1965 GTO special order color and was regularly available for Impalas. It's a fine metallic Lilac paint, so the interior is Parchment with black accents, regularly called Tuxedo among enthusiasts. Other options his LeMans Sport has includes the T-41 front end. This one-two punch likely is going to push my car off the factory freak pedestal. A position I cheerfully relinquish.
     

Lots of options on this car besides the big bore V8, power windows, custom cushion steering wheel, electric clock, sport mirrors, T 41 front end, Rally II wheels just to name a few.

  For those who are counting, there were 235 Y Code GTO hardtops produced, 5 Y Code GTO coupes and Y Code LeMans hardtops made. They're rare anyway you slice it. There were of course, no 1972 GTO convertibles made. Instead they made 36 LeMans Sport Y Code convertibles. Alas, there isn't a direct breakdown on the total of LeMans Sport convertibles with the T41 option.The total production of LeMans with T 41 for the 1972 year is at 16.8 percent.

   We know production of the 1972 LeMans series ended on June 30th, '72. We also have confirmation that GTOs stopped production early in June when the last batch build ended. The VIN for this car is 2D67Y2P******is near the end of production. This could be one of the last 1972 Y Code 455 LeMans made. I only know of one car with a later VIN than mine, it was special order Starlight Black hardtop GTO in Peachland, BC. Alas, the car has vanished from sight and I lost the VIN. It's in one of several work books I have but haven't seen it yet.

As it's a LeMans Sport, the grille has the Arrowhead and Pontiac script on driver side. No GTO convertibles were made in
1972, this was the closest you could get to owning one.

   As for options, this convertible has a few; M35 sport mirrors, L75 455 4 barrel 250 hp V8 with dual exhaust, M40 TH400 three speed automatic, console, power windows, tinted windshield, radio,14 inch Rally II wheels, custom cushion steering wheel, electric clock, rocker panel moldings, wheel well moldings and tilt steering are all visible to the naked eye. Most remarkable is the over all condition of the car. Word is that Dom Sawicki is the second actual owner of the car from new.

   Dom purchased the car from a woman in Attleboro Massachusetts.The seller's mother bought the car new from Fiore Pontiac in Warwick, Rhode Island. She owned a Beauty School for girls so that's why she ordered a convertible with white interior with the flashy special order Iris Mist paint.She also ordered all the GTO options including a 455 engine with a turbo 400 transmission.Somewhere between late 1973 and 1974, Pontiac installed a new 455 engine under warranty for some unknown reason. Dom couldn't find out what it was.

The home plant ( Pontiac, MI) LeMans most often had the Pontiac letters on the trunk lid where cars at other plants
often had no letters. 

   A correct  Y code 455 for that year was installed.Her daughter could no longer garage or maintain the car so Dom purchased the car in 2013.He stripped the interior and carpeting and found all the floor pans and bracing like new. Dom also installed the new jute underlay, carpet new upholstery, front and rear new door panels and top boot.The undercarriage was pressure washed primed and black satin enamel.The finishing touch was a new Flowmaster dual exhaust system.The engine compartment was also cleaned and detailed. It also sports a new set of Cooper Cobra tires on the Rally II wheels since these pics were taken. Dom of course, has the PHS documents to go with his awesome find.
                  *Article (c) 2016 by Patrick Smith PHS Collector Cars Registry
 

New Y Code GTO: Lucerne Blue Hardtop

                                                                       By: Patrick Smith
                   

Here is a close up of the latest Y Code find in Saline, Michigan last belonging to Mark ____. 

    A little over a month ago, I became aware of another Y Code GTO hardtop. I was waiting in vain for details on this car which turned up for sale in Saline, Michigan. Alas, no information was forthcoming. This is what's know about it. Lucerne Blue hardtop with parchment interior. The options include power steering, power disc brakes, Rally II wheels, sports mirrors, wheel well trim, rocker panel trim and tinted windshield.
 

Car was up on hoist being examined before listing for sale by owner. 

   The engine is a non original motor 1974 455 with 1971 455 HO cylinder heads, Holley four barrel carburetor, aluminum intake manifold and aftermarket camshaft. The car has a rear spoiler. It's possible this car has a new owner by now as it was listed for sale a month ago.
    * Article (c) 2016 by Patrick Smith. 

New Y Code GTO: Shadow Gold with Pewter Bucket Seats

                                                                               By: Patrick Smith
                       

This car despite the ram air emblems on hood is actually a Y Code GTO.

   Our latest Y Code find hails from Hoover, Alabama. It is Shadow Gold metallic with Pewter interior. This is one of the more unusual early 1970s color combos in the very hip "earth tones" which were all the rage in the ecological era. This particular car has some nice options; notably power steering, power disc brakes, air conditioning, custom interior (bucket seats and upgraded door skins), remote control driver side mirror, body color sports mirrors, rally II wheels, tinted glass, under hood lamp and custom sport steering wheel. There may be more options as well. This is all I could spot on the page which was listed online.
                 

The engine bay reveals a dual snorkel air cleaner, power brakes, power steering, underhood lamp.

   It appears so far from surviving examples that the Y Code GTO and LeMans were quite varied in appearance, trim and options. Some like Kirk Harbarger's car were loaded to the max while others like the one in Ranger, Georgia had the base interior, air conditioning and little else. It's making the registry quite interesting to observe. We have yet to obtain a Luxury LeMans Y Code car. They were available with that engine. In fact that was the top dog for it. The X Code 455 HO wasn't available in the Luxury LeMans to no one's real surprise. It was the luxury platform and a hulking rasping big bore with four speed or automatic and round port heads just doesn't go with smooth ride and 60 extra pounds of sound proofing!
 

Pewter custom interior is also a rare color to go with the equally scarce Shadow Gold metallic paint.

      The tip off this was a Y Code was the lack of a ram air intake system in the engine bay. Only round port 455s got the intake system from the factory. It wasn't a dealer over the counter deal. As you can see, this one sports the dual snorkel air cleaner pan as found on D port engines.The interior shows an automatic transmission which was the only gearbox offered on a Y code 455 engine.

Nice close up of this car's front end.

    Attempts to contact the seller of this car for details have been unsuccessful. If the new owner recognizes his car from these pics, give a shout out so I can confirm details for the Registry.
     I can be reached at phscollectorcarworld@gmail.com
                      Article (c) 2016 by Patrick Smith. Images from PHS MEDIA ARCHIVES