early Pontiac has a grill badge and hood ornament, and maybe the badge was something that inspired Von Dutch's flying eyeball (yeah, I wonder about that)

remind anyone of the flying eyeball? Or is it just me?

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Most far out thing I've seen in a while, NASA used a Pontiac Catalina as a tow car for an experiemental aircraft

Thanks to John Torres! Who filled me in on the story of the Catalina; This Pontiac was driven at speeds up to about 120 mph. It needed to be able to tow the M2-F1 on Rogers Dry Lakebed next to NASA's Flight Research Center (FRC) now named Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) at a minimum speed of 100 miles per hour. To do that, it had to handle the 400-pound pull of the M2-F1. Walter "Whitey" Whiteside, who was working in the Flight Operations Division, was a dirt-bike rider and hot-rodder. Together with Boyden "Bud" Bearce in the Procurement and Supply Branch acquired the Pontiac Catalina convertible with the largest engine available and then sent it to Bill Straup's hot-rod shop near Long Beach for modification. With a special gearbox and racing slicks, the Pontiac could tow the 1,000-pound M2-F1 110 miles per hour in 30 seconds. It proved adequate for the roughly 400 car tows that got the M2-F1 airborne to prove it could fly safely and to train pilots before they were towed aloft behind a C-47 aircraft and released

Pontiac Catalina tow car for NASA’s M1-F2 lifting body aircraft, c.1963

found on http://www.motoriginal.com/post/51195565490/pontiac-catalina-tow-car-for-nasas-m1-f2-lifting

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Optima Battery Faceoff Challenge completed at Road America, winner Bret Voelkel with Factory Five '33 Ford, and 4 invitations announced for Optima Street Car Invitational in November the day after SEMA

above photo of the 2400 pound, 630 Hp '33 Ford made by Factory Five, owned by the Ride Tech owner, from my coverage of this springs race in Irvine, full gallery at http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-variety-of-cars-at-2013-run-to-cost.html

2400 pounds, 630 Hp

1933 Factory Five Ford (Above),
 1964 Chevy Corvette,

2013 Nissan GTR,

1963 Pontiac Le Mans

 and 1981 Pontiac Trans Am

won entries to the 2013 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational. Above 4 images from Pro.touring.com newsletter

Full gallery at http://bangshift.com/gallery/optima-faceoff-at-road-america-2013.html?pid=150440 who covers cool races like this

Think about watching the kick ass cars live, it's possible, and you can bet the best race will be the Optima Street Car Invitational in November just outside Las Vegas on the Saturday after SEMA

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