Jay Leno Drives the Ultimate 1967 Muscle Car Unicorn (With a 6-Speed Swap!) | Jay Leno's Garage

[00:11] Yeah, we didn't do any performance

[00:13] modifications other than the six-speed

[00:15] transmission.

[00:16] But it does just change the car. It

[00:19] really makes it drivable now. It's a

[00:21] perfect day here in California.

[00:24] There's something about a manual

[00:25] transmission in a big tank like this

[00:27] just makes me smile.

[00:29] But just knowing that you're in control.

[00:32] It's doing it because you want to do it,

[00:34] not because the transmission thinks it

[00:35] should do it. I mean, that's what I

[00:37] like. And that's the hood tach, stroke

[00:40] of genius.

[00:41] I just think it's the greatest thing. I

[00:43] like it even better than heads-up

[00:44] display.

[00:50] Makes you smile, goes good.

[00:57] Welcome to the episode of Jay Leno's

[00:59] Garage. The car featuring today, a true

[01:02] unicorn. By that I mean, a very unique

[01:05] muscle car, probably produced in smaller

[01:07] numbers than almost any other muscle car

[01:10] from the era. It is a 1967 Pontiac 2+2

[01:13] HO with the 428 engine. Now, what that

[01:17] means is it's basically the same size as

[01:19] a Bonneville or a Catalina, but it is

[01:22] neither of those. Those had the 421

[01:24] engine. This is the 428. It's not even

[01:27] quite a 428. They call it that because

[01:30] Chevy and Ford had the 427, Chrysler had

[01:33] the 426, so they just kind of fudge it

[01:36] up the 428 to sound a little bit more

[01:38] impressive than 421. It's got the hood

[01:41] tach, came with a manual transmission,

[01:43] rally wheel, you know, all the options

[01:45] of the period. This car was $4,000 brand

[01:48] new in 1967,

[01:50] which was a lot of money at the time.

[01:52] This was the car for the guy that

[01:55] thought the GTO was too small or was

[01:57] like the teenager's car, the young

[01:59] person's car. This is what was

[02:00] effectively called a banker's hot rod.

[02:02] The equivalent might be the Buick GS.

[02:05] This was a big Pontiac. See, not a lot

[02:07] of people wanted a big Cadillac-sized

[02:09] car with a manual transmission. They all

[02:11] wanted the automatic, but there were a

[02:13] few oddballs out there. I think they did

[02:15] maybe about 187 of these, I think. How

[02:18] many they did black convertibles? I

[02:20] don't know. What we did in this one is

[02:22] we took out the four-speed, we put in a

[02:25] Tremec Magnum six-speed transmission,

[02:27] cuz I wanted to get at least

[02:28] double-digit mileage at some point.

[02:31] Yeah, this thing just eats eats gas like

[02:34] crazy. And luckily, our team, George and

[02:36] Jimmy, did a great job. We went with our

[02:39] favorite transmission, Tremec. You know,

[02:41] boy, they make stuff that fits in just

[02:43] about anything. It was a wonderful, easy

[02:46] job to do. American Powertrain helped us

[02:49] with all the ancillary stuff, the

[02:50] hydraulic clutch switch from the to

[02:52] hydraulic from manual. The guy had to do

[02:55] a bit of trimming. This transmission is

[02:57] like

[02:58] a quarter of an inch, or maybe an eighth

[03:00] of an inch higher than the standard

[03:02] four-speed that was in here. So, we had

[03:04] to do a little modification. Had to

[03:05] modify the floor and the tunnel, so it

[03:08] could take this six-speed. And it really

[03:11] works out great, because your revs

[03:13] dropped to about you know, at 70, 2,100,

[03:16] something like that, rpm. It's It's a

[03:18] great car to drive. To me, Pontiac was

[03:20] always the best handling of all the GM

[03:23] cars, I thought. The best suspension and

[03:26] handling. I like the Firebird more than

[03:28] a Camaro. I like the GTO more than some

[03:30] of the other mid-Chevelles and stuff

[03:32] like that. But, I mean, it was all good

[03:34] stuff. I had never really seen one of

[03:36] these. I found this at the Audrain

[03:38] auction. It takes place every year, last

[03:40] week of September, first week of October

[03:43] in Newport, Rhode Island. It's a great

[03:45] car show, and they always have kind of a

[03:47] small auction auction, maybe

[03:49] 80 cars, 90 cars at best.

[03:52] And this was there. Unfortunately, the

[03:54] previous owner had heavily modified it.

[03:57] He put big police spotlights here, you

[03:59] know, the kind of fold down and they got

[04:01] the handle. And he chromed this whole

[04:04] front end, which

[04:06] made it look kind of pimping to me. I

[04:08] didn't like it. He did a nice job on the

[04:11] paint and the chrome. You know, it's

[04:12] funny, when you restore a car like this,

[04:15] if you do it right, it's tough to get

[04:17] your money out of it. Because these

[04:19] things were built when technology was

[04:20] expensive and labor was cheap. Now it's

[04:22] the other way around. When I got it, it

[04:25] looked pretty good until I went to drive

[04:27] it at night and realized, "Wait, there's

[04:28] no lights." We pulled the dashboard out

[04:30] and all the wires had been just

[04:33] zip tied off and in a bundle because it

[04:35] was obviously way too much work, way too

[04:37] much trouble for somebody to put it

[04:40] right. And like with a lot of auction

[04:42] cars, it looked perfect and it it drove

[04:44] okay. It was fine. It just I didn't have

[04:47] any lights, you know? And we finally got

[04:49] the wiring down. That took a few hours

[04:51] to do. So that was a little tricky. As I

[04:53] said, George and Jimmy, our metal men,

[04:56] they just did a terrific job.

[05:20] >> What's that?

[05:22] Only the

[05:24] two real men here.

[05:31] Good to see you.

[05:34] Okay, shifter is there.

[05:37] And that is

[05:39] 9/16 inch, right?

[05:43] Let me get a pry bar.

[05:46] Good to see you as well. Good to see

[05:47] you. Good to see

[05:50] >> Okay?

[05:58] This is heavy.

[06:41] >> [snorts]

[06:43] >> They're all grade eight bolts in there.

[07:48] >> Yeah.

[08:05] George had the transmission out in the

[08:07] day and the new transmission out the

[08:08] same day. And the next couple of days

[08:11] were spent modifying and cutting a

[08:13] little bit bigger hole for the

[08:14] transmission to do a few other things,

[08:15] but for the most part, it was pretty

[08:17] straightforward. The company American

[08:19] Powertrain, as I said, boy, they come It

[08:21] comes with a kit how to do this whole

[08:23] deal. It really makes it a really nice

[08:25] car to drive. And the six-speed really

[08:28] helps you because before, I think it had

[08:30] about 390s in it at 70. I'm

[08:32] You know, I'm turning like four grand

[08:34] and it's just It was just too much. So,

[08:36] now it's like 2,100 and it's just just a

[08:39] lot of fun to drive. You know, it's like

[08:41] being in a toboggan. You're outside in

[08:43] the great open air in this thing. It's

[08:45] like driving your living room. It's so

[08:47] funny. But it it It's addictive. It's

[08:50] comfortable. It's got all the silly

[08:51] options, the hood tach, which I love,

[08:54] the simulated wood grain steering wheel,

[08:56] which always makes me laugh, and of

[08:58] course the manual transmission, AM/FM

[09:01] radio, no air conditioning, no power

[09:03] windows. And when you want to put the

[09:04] windows you actually have to stop, get

[09:06] out, walk around the car, and roll down

[09:08] the windows. This one car should have

[09:10] had electric windows. It should have

[09:11] been this. But the the previous owner,

[09:13] the original owner, didn't spring for

[09:14] it. This is not the original color. I

[09:16] think it was blue and white cuz I think

[09:18] I found an ad somewhere that had this

[09:20] car for sale when it was blue and white.

[09:22] The previous owner, as I said, did a

[09:24] nice job. I mean, the paint is flawless,

[09:26] the trim, the chrome.

[09:28] When we replaced the side uh the big

[09:31] spotlights that were here, we got new

[09:33] new pieces here and new windshield

[09:34] pieces. You know, you get spoiled with

[09:36] American stuff like this cuz almost all

[09:39] parts are available. When you're doing

[09:41] Duesenbergs and all these rare European

[09:43] cars,

[09:44] you're not finding parts and when you

[09:46] do, they're crazy expensive and they

[09:47] don't fit or they're rusted, but that's

[09:49] the one you have to use because there

[09:51] aren't any other parts available.

[09:53] Interior, you can get a brand new

[09:55] interior and which which this did, it

[09:57] was a white interior which I never liked

[09:59] in a convertible, it just gets too

[10:00] dirty. So, cuz it's a little hot in

[10:03] California summer time, but that's okay.

[10:05] But, as you can see, it it's in really

[10:08] nice shape. The chrome is good. I like

[10:10] the wheels. This is exactly as it left

[10:12] the factory, the red line tires. It is

[10:14] so much fun to drive. Before we take it

[10:16] for a drive, let's take a look under the

[10:18] hood, show you what we're talking about.

[10:22] Kind of have to get down on one knee

[10:23] like you're proposing to this thing

[10:25] every time you

[10:26] open the hood.

[10:29] Now,

[10:32] we had to put new springs in.

[10:34] I think we put a new pad in, too. This

[10:36] the original motor, 428. Now, normally

[10:39] this would have been 360 horse. The 376

[10:44] horsepower had the forged steel crank, a

[10:46] few other high performance pieces,

[10:48] different carburetor. That's the

[10:50] original motor, kind of factory headers

[10:53] for lack of a better term. Yeah, it's

[10:55] all as she left the factory. There's a

[10:57] lot of room in here. You can actually

[10:58] stand in this thing and work on it. You

[11:00] got the dual master cylinder. I think

[11:02] '67 was the first year that became

[11:04] mandatory on all cars. Power steering,

[11:07] power brake. We got one of those. We

[11:10] take our Optima battery, we cover it

[11:11] with one of those vintage looking fake

[11:14] battery so it looks period correct. You

[11:16] know, it's funny, I thought the previous

[11:17] owner stuck this as 428 here. I thought

[11:20] the previous owner just stuck that in

[11:21] there for whatever reason, but that's

[11:23] the way it came. They wanted everybody

[11:25] to know, no matter where you were,

[11:27] whether you're being hit by this car,

[11:28] run over by this car, stuck under the

[11:30] hood, they wanted you to see 428. You'll

[11:33] see it, it's in the driver's

[11:34] compartment, too. 428 428, that was

[11:37] their big number. Very straightforward,

[11:39] easy to work on.

[11:40] Plugs are accessible, you know, engine

[11:43] coolant, all this kind of stuff. It runs

[11:45] really good. Runs really good. Let's

[11:47] shut this.

[11:51] Come on, let's take it for a ride.

[12:17] Suddenly it's 1967.

[12:39] You know, I mentioned before, when you

[12:41] restore these kind of American cars, a

[12:44] lot of new old stock still available.

[12:46] When I got this, it did not have air

[12:47] conditioning, which I didn't put in, but

[12:49] it didn't have a clock, but it had the

[12:51] space for the clock, like they used to

[12:52] do in American cars. They leave the

[12:54] space blank, so people know how cheap

[12:56] you are.

[12:57] So, I looked on eBay, found a brand new

[13:00] Pontiac 2+2 clock,

[13:03] you know, the same one that goes in the

[13:04] Bonneville or Catalina, and I I bought

[13:07] it for a couple bucks, and I put it and

[13:09] it works fine. So, it's kind of cool.

[13:12] This thing is so hilarious to drive. As

[13:14] I mentioned, it's like driving the great

[13:15] outdoors. You know, when you get in

[13:17] modern cars, they have all kinds of

[13:20] safety features, you know, and key tops

[13:23] and all this kind of stuff. This thing,

[13:25] you're just out you're on your own.

[13:30] Just a big 428.

[13:33] Still forged crank, 376 horsepower.

[13:36] I think it's 452 foot pounds of torque.

[13:39] It's pretty good. Especially if it's

[13:41] This actually They wanted to make sure

[13:44] that the

[13:46] power rating was the same as the GTO.

[13:49] So, this turned about the same time,

[13:52] you know, low 13s in the quarter mile as

[13:55] the GTO.

[13:57] Just the idea of low 13s was considered

[13:59] blisteringly fast back in the early

[14:01] days.

[14:10] Yeah, we didn't do any performance

[14:11] modifications other than the six-speed

[14:13] transmission.

[14:15] But it does just change the car.

[14:17] It really makes it drivable now. And let

[14:20] me tell you something, these Tremecs are

[14:22] just unbreakable. They're just a great,

[14:24] great transmission.

[14:26] I even put one in my Maserati, you know,

[14:28] the ZF is very nice, but parts for that

[14:32] are more expensive than the entire

[14:34] transmission like the Tremec. And the

[14:35] Tremec is bulletproof. You can't break

[14:38] it. Certainly not with the torque of a

[14:39] six-cylinder Maserati. So, yeah, it's

[14:43] it's always been a a smart choice. Bolts

[14:45] right up. And the guys did a heck of a

[14:47] job putting it in.

[14:56] And it's a perfect day here in

[14:58] California.

[14:59] There's something about a manual

[15:01] transmission in a big tank like this

[15:03] just makes me smile.

[15:05] Obviously,

[15:07] you know, the new 10-speeds and all

[15:09] these kind of transmissions are much

[15:10] faster.

[15:11] But just knowing that you're in control,

[15:14] it's doing it because you want to do it,

[15:15] not because the transmission thinks that

[15:17] you do it. I mean, that's what I like. I

[15:20] I this era of American cars. This is

[15:22] when they really started to get good.

[15:24] Disc brakes in the front, got serious

[15:26] about handling.

[15:28] And you think this car was would be

[15:29] heavy, it's not. It's between 3,800 and

[15:32] 4,000 lb. You know why?

[15:35] Because the complete absence of any

[15:38] safety equipment. No steel door guard

[15:40] beams, no airbag, no airbag actuators,

[15:44] no absorbing bumpers, nothing. Nothing.

[15:46] You You know, you die by your own hand

[15:49] in this

[15:52] And that's the hood tach, Stroker

[15:54] genius.

[15:55] I just think it's the greatest thing. I

[15:57] like it even better than heads-up

[15:59] display.

[16:05] Makes you smile, goes good.

[16:12] For younger people who don't know,

[16:14] Pontiac was the performance arm of

[16:16] General Motors.

[16:18] Uh you had Buicks and Oldsmobiles,

[16:20] Chevrolet was the sort of middle America

[16:23] everyday car.

[16:25] Uh Buick was luxury, Oldsmobile was

[16:28] luxury, and of course Cadillac, the

[16:30] ultimate luxury car.

[16:32] And everybody had their own motor. John

[16:34] DeLorean, before he kind of disgraced

[16:36] himself, just a brilliant engineer.

[16:39] Father of the GTO.

[16:41] Ed Cole was president in the '60s. Ed

[16:44] Cole was the guy who developed the

[16:45] Corvair, which I think is probably the

[16:48] greatest European American car. Just a

[16:51] brilliant design.

[16:53] It's so funny, it got beat by Mustang.

[16:55] It was considered a failure cuz they

[16:57] only sold 1.8 million of them. I guess

[17:01] Mustang by that time had sold like two

[17:02] or three million. So it was deemed not

[17:05] successful. But I love mine. I think

[17:07] it's a great looking car.

[17:10] There was some great GM designs by the

[17:12] mid-'60s.

[17:13] I don't think Pontiac sold anywhere near

[17:16] the numbers that Buick or or certainly

[17:18] Chevrolet did. But, they were unique. As

[17:21] I said, I think the Firebird was the

[17:23] best looking of those mid-size cars. I

[17:25] thought it was better looking than the

[17:27] equivalent Ferrari, which it shared the

[17:29] same body with. The Fiero

[17:32] was not really good when it first came

[17:34] out. It had that iron duke four-cylinder

[17:37] engine. But, by the end, it had a little

[17:40] V6 and it turned into quite a

[17:43] performance car. They mistakenly sort of

[17:46] marketed initially

[17:48] as a uh

[17:49] import fighter, you know, just economy

[17:52] secretary's car. When it was actually a

[17:54] pretty good little sports car. And by

[17:56] the final generation of it, I think it

[17:58] had a five-speed manual and and a and a

[18:02] V6.

[18:14] And

[18:19] it goes fantastic.

[18:22] '67 Pontiac was riding high. When they

[18:25] introduced the GTO, they thought they

[18:27] might sell

[18:28] 15 to 20,000. I think they sold

[18:31] something like 80 I I some huge amount.

[18:33] I mean, it was a huge huge success. It

[18:36] made them rethink the whole marketing

[18:37] thing. Cuz prior to that,

[18:40] they only allowed us see, for every 10

[18:42] lbs of car, you so much cubic whatever.

[18:45] You couldn't put the big engine in the

[18:47] smaller car. Big engine only went in big

[18:49] car, you know, that kind of thing. Once

[18:51] they saw how much people clamored for it

[18:54] and how popular it was, boy, that whole

[18:56] formula changed real quick.

[18:59] It's hard to believe this is the

[19:00] standard suspension. I mean, it really

[19:03] handles good for what it is. You can't

[19:05] help but have a smile on your face when

[19:07] you drive in this.

[19:14] Driving in six, what am I turning?

[19:20] 1,700 rpm. That's not bad, 70 miles an

[19:23] hour.

[19:24] And it's got the torque to pull it, so.

[19:26] I love the massive shifter with the big

[19:30] cue ball on it. That Hurst shifter, that

[19:33] was a magic name back in the '60s. When

[19:36] you had a manual transmission, you just

[19:38] got a Hurst shifter. It was just

[19:40] something you did. And they really were

[19:42] good. They really were such an

[19:43] improvement over the factory.

[19:47] Hey, if you've got one of these cars,

[19:49] I'd love to hear from you in the

[19:50] comments section.

[19:52] Uh got a guy named Jack Anderson. He

[19:54] does the uh 2+2 club. He's got all the

[19:57] information. If you're into these cars,

[19:59] join the Pontiac club. It's it's really

[20:01] good. I mean, they have access to every

[20:03] factory thing, every bit of uh build

[20:06] sheets, whatever you need, you can get

[20:08] it through them. So, it's kind of a

[20:10] a fun group of guys. I met them a few

[20:12] times when I got my Firebird. And now I

[20:14] got this one and I got the Grand Prix,

[20:16] so I've gone from

[20:18] not having any to being a three-time

[20:21] Pontiac guy. So,

[20:22] uh so, check it out. Join the Pontiac

[20:24] club. Hey, listen. Well, I'll see you

[20:26] guys next week or on something totally

[20:28] different from this. See you then.