MARCH 24 STAR OF THE WEEK: 1969 PONTIAC 2+2 CONVERTIBLE– IT HAD TO BE A SUMMER SHOT

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mar13-24imgp6496-002MARCH 24 STAR OF THE WEEK: 1969 PONTIAC 2+2 CONVERTIBLE– IT HAD TO BE A SUMMER SHOT

There’s no doubt that this has been an extremely long winter in many areas.

That made picking the Star of the Week a simple formula because it had to be a red convertible beside a lake on a beautiful summer day.

Anything to offset the grim reality of a long, long winter.

This car was perfect. The picture was taken August 2009 and the car is a 1969 Pontiac 2+2 convertible with a factory 427 Chevy under the hood. It’s not a perfect car but that’s not important…it’s red and it has no roof.

Before the cards and letters start rolling in…yes, they made these 2+2 Pontiacs in Canada and yes, they did run Chevy motors.

Red and rare, no roof and a great summer day equals MSCC Star of the Week.

MARCH 23 STAR OF THE DAY: MUSTANG II-FORGOTTEN PONY ON THE STREET

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The Mustang II was Ford’s answer to the question “how do we cope with rising oil prices?”.

The flying-wedge era of Mustang aka the 1971-73 version of the pony car had grown larger and less Mustang-like plus OPEC decided to flex its muscle on oil prices.

Enter the Mustang II.

This car hit the mark because it was smaller and more Mustang-like but history shows that they haven’t caught on with the Ford guys like the earlier versions.

Regardless of that apparent lack of interest in the Mustang II, they are still a very cool sight on the streets years later.

This Star of the Day was on the road back in 2009 and it proved that history isn’t always a good judge of cool factor.

MARCH 22 STAR OF THE DAY: ’69 DAYTONA, HOT SUMMER DAY-DOES LIFE REALLY GET ANY BETTER?

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The winter of 2013 hasn’t been glorious.There’s been no sign of global warming in this area unless global warming is defined as snow in mid-October with no end in sight in late March.

That’s why this picture was so important. It was taken on August 5 2013 and that day is significant because it was the hottest summer day we saw in the Summer of 2012.

The Charger Daytona helped too because there’s nothing hotter than a big, bad Mopar winged warrior on a scorching August day.

We don’t see enough of them so this Daytona and that great summer day are co-winners of the MSCC Star of the Day.

MARCH 21 STAR OF THE DAY: A PONTIAC ACADIAN, A TIMMY’S AND LOT OF SNOW ON THE 1ST DAY OF SPRING=CANADA

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There’s something quintessentially Canadian about this Star of the Day. This picture was taken on the 1st of day of spring but there are still serious threats of heavy snow in the forecast.

Canadians know all too well that the 1st day of spring is merely a figure of speech in most years.

That’s a Tim Horton’s in the background.

Most Canadians know them as Timmy’s and Tim Horton’s are so important to the daily routine north of the border that they had to set one up near the front lines in Afghanistan for the Canadian troops.

The last part of the Canadian equation is the car.

This is a Pontiac Acadian–they were the Canadian version of the Chevy Nova and later on, the Chevette.

The 80s were the last run for the Acadian and this mscc Star of the Day fit in well with the Canadian version of spring 2013.

MARCH 20 STAR OF THE DAY: ’59 THUNDERBIRD-THE LINK BETWEEN DIRT TRACK RACING AND SMALL TOWNS

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This 1959 Thunderbird came out of the factory as a personal luxury car. That meant it was mid-range expensive and it wasn’t a practical family car.

It started out as someone’s pride and joy and ended up as a stock car getting thumped on a dirt track in Central Alberta back in the 70s.

The sponsor on the door was the Windsor Hotel.

Every town had a hotel like the Windsor where bikers were regular clientele and disputes didn’t end up in the hands of a judge…unless the judge was Roy Bean.

The Windsor was in Red Deer Alberta and it’s long gone.

This old squarebird is also gone to that Great Shredder in the Sky but today it’s an MSCC Star of the Day because we should never forget the Windsor Hotels, the dirt track racing and this ’59 T-Bird.

MARCH 19 STAR OF THE DAY: AN OLD CHEVY TRUCK LOOKS BACK AT THE HISTORY OF THE HOBBY

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This early 40s Chevy truck was at a show back in 2011 where it was a big hit at a big show. The rat rod culture is an entity that keeps growing in the car culture.

The barebones weathered look is an homage to the guys who raided wrecking yards for parts and basically made anything work back in the late 40s and early 50s.

They stripped everything out to make weight in these little land rockets and plunked in big Caddy or Chrysler engines.

Pretty wasn’t a factor with these early hot-rodders so weathered and rusty wasn’t a concern but top speed was…

This Star of the Day is a great salute to the history of the hobby.

MARCH 18 STAR OF THE DAY: ’59 CHRYSLER-IF YOU’RE AT THIS POINT IN YOUR PROJECT FORGET ABOUT SHOW SEASON

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This picture is actually misleading because it was taken in November 2010. That’s actually the official start to the car project season so the ’59 Chrysler on the rotisserie makes sense.

It doesn’t make sense in March but the picture is merely an educational tool to illustrate a simple point…if you’re at this stage in March, your car will definitely not see the car show circuit in 2013.

Things don’t happen overnight like they do on TV “reality” car shows because car projects are long, complicated dirty jobs that often take place over years, not months.

Little elves don’t come in and do all the hard work while you sleep so every time you snap on the lights in your shop that car is going to look exactly like you left it.

That’s the real reality. This Star of the Day may or may not be done almost 3 years later but every true car guy who reads this gets the timeline in the real world.

For past Stars of the Day please follow this link.

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