My Pontiac was featured in the Union Tribune “Wheels” section last weekend.  I won a copy of “GTO – Pontiac’s Great One” from Motorbooks.  They were running a contest a couple months ago where you just had to email a quick story about your car and a picture.  I did, and then forgot about it, when a couple weeks ago I received an email saying that I had won as a runner up in the contest!

I still need to go by the UT office and pick up my copy of the book, but I saved a copy of the paper to keep with the records for the car.  Here is my winning story and picture:

Hey Kenneth,

Attached is a pic of my ’56 Star Chief down by Mission Bay. Although
it’s not a GTO, its still a Pontiac, and I love it even more
now that our beloved brand is gone! I’ve been working on t he
chief for over a year now…it was an all original pile of rust
(purchased new in ’56 in Chula Vista) when I got it, and I’ve put
my blood, sweat, and tears into it ever since. From months of
body work, to planning and applying the custom paint, I’m building
this car exactly the way I’ve always wanted. This car embodies
a true ’50s hot rod mixed with my own unique style, and I
wouldn’t trade it for the world!

-Ian Grist

I was told about the contest by some friends in the San Diego Pontiac Club (SDPOCI), and when I emailed them to let them know I had won, they posted it in their newsletter as well:

UT WHEELS GTO BOOK CONTEST!!

Congratulations to club member Ian Grist for being a winner in the Union
Tribune Wheels contest for a GTO coffee table book. The new Motorbooks edition
is entitled “GTO: Pontiacs Great One” . It is a great book with awesome
pictures. I personally have picked up a copy and I had to pay for mine!

Congrats also to club member Steve Levin for also being a winner in the UT
contest for his entry and photo of his sweet 1968 Firebird convertible HO!

I’m pretty stoked, and I know its just going to make my car more valuable!  I’m glad other people finally enjoy it too.

On to more interesting things:

I was reading the new XCKD today, and it was a pretty good one.  It got me started on reading the Wiki entry about the Voynich Manuscript.  Wow this thing is interesting!  Forget the stupid Da Vinci code movies – I want someone to crack this code.  It really got me thinking whether it was an elaborate hoax, or really a code that no one has found a way to break.  Pretty damn interesting.

In other news, i finally began testing Windows 7, downloaded the RC and installed it on my laptop last night.  Initial impressions: wow this is exactly the same as Vista.  I’ll have to F around with it for a while to see if there are any real differences (apparently its supposed to be much faster on slower hardware) – I’m running it on a less than a year old HP laptop, so it should scream.  We’ll see.

Evan picked me up a set of Electrosport’s Premium HID Lights, so we’ll be installing those this weekend and blogging about them, both on here and on the Electrosport site.  He installed a pair of them on his 73 duster and they are super bright!  Can’t wait to see what they look like on the Chief.  I’ve been sick all week, so the old girl hasn’t seen much love.

We installed a spa in the Compound.  I’ll throw some pictures of it up soon.  Our electric bill is through the roof, but there’s something badass about coming home from work and being able to relax in the spa in your backyard!

More news to come!