Tulsa, Oklahoma– One of our favorite aspects of the Hot Rod Power Tour is that you get the chance to bump into the same Long Haulers throughout the week.
Case in point: our pals Bonnie and Scott in their LS-swapped 1972 Pontiac Le Mans.
We first spotted their Sundance Orange Le Mans as we snuck up on them in the Summit Racing Prodi-G 1987 Monte Carlo while travelling to the next destination on our first day—but we got separated after a few miles.
Then as luck would have it, we ended up staying at their same hotel outside Rantoul, Illinois.
Then we bumped into them again in St. Louis, Missouri as they walked into the Summit Racing display tent.
Suffice it to say, after several conversations, we got to know the Louisville, Kentucky natives pretty well and, better still, we got a close look at their restomod A-body too.
“This is our empty nest plan,” Scott chuckles.
“For our 25th anniversary, we always wanted to go to Italy, but we had three kids in college, so I’m like ‘How about a car?’,” Bonnie smiles. “It was my idea.”
Then, as Scott describes it, he rolled up his sleeves and did a two-year restoration in six months, and the Pontiac’s maiden voyage was out west to celebrate the couple’s 25th.
As for the car itself, it’s a 1972 Le Mans with some Goat flavor.
“They didn’t make a GTO convertible in 1972,” Scott explains. “So, like somewhere around 2,100 Le Mans convertibles got a package with the GTO front end and the hood scoops. That’s all factory.”
What’s even more interesting, is that the car didn’t come with any Le Mans badging, it only featured a Pontiac nameplate fore and aft.
“People are always asking ‘What is it?’,” Scott laughs. “You get used to that. It’s a conversation every time.”
Though the car originally came with a Pontiac 350ci V8, that powerplant was pulled in favor of a 6.0L LS2 from—where else—a late model GTO. Behind that is a 4L60E and a Ford 9 inch out back with 3.50 gears and disc brakes at all four corners. A DeWitts radiator keeps things cool under the hood while a Vintage Air unit handles the passenger compartment.
A complement of Dakota Digital gauges helps Scott and Bonnie monitor things from the cockpit.
Better still, Scott’s done some interesting, and very clean, customization. For starters, the engine tuner module is hidden in the car’s factory flip-down ashtray so it tucks under the dash when not in use. In the back you’ll find a center-mounted speaker between the rear seats—an idea plucked from the Pontic Grand Prix.
Each modification was done to ensure that the driving experience would be a fun, comfortable one as the car racks up thousands of miles.
And when we say the car gets driven…that may be an understatement.
“We do a couple trips a year,” Scott quips. “It’s no trailer queen.”
Indeed, Bonnie and Scott begin rattling off all the places they’ve taken their Le Mans, and the list is impressive: Key West, Florida; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Glacier National Park; the Badlands of South Dakota, and beyond.
“We did Route 66, then we did Minneapolis to Western Kentucky along Mississippi River Road,” Scott continues. “Then we went to Virginia and went all the way to Maine, hit every state in the Northeast.”
“It’s been everywhere,” Scott tells us.
“48 States plus Canada,” Bonnie adds.
“We also do two or three nights a week. We’ll get in it at like eight o’clock at night, sunset kind of time, and we put the top down. I love it. It’s just the best, man,” Scott continues.
“It’s the only car I can imagine driving.”
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