HISTORY
There is a long history associated with
Bill Mellott and Pontiacs. In 1970 Bill caught the Pontiac bug when he helped
work on his brother-in-law's 1965 GTO. The car was a
street/strip setup that had a 389 bored to 401 cu in. with tri power,
hooker headers, a Mallory ignition and a 4 speed transmission with a 4:33 gear.
The car was pretty fast, running in the mid 12’s.
Working on the
1965 GTO had such an impact on Bill, he decided that he had to have a 65 of his
own. Just after Bill turned 17, he purchased his first car, a 65 Lemans, which
he kept for about a year before selling it. While the Lemans was a nice clean
car, it wasn't a GTO.
In 1972 he went to
Colorado
to visit his sister and brother-in-law
with a goal in mind. He was coming home with a 65 GTO of his own, which he did.
Bill's new GTO was going to be a car for the drag strip so he replaced
the 389 with a Ram Air IV. Bill
found an advertisement for an already built engine at an engine shop in
Canton
Ohio
. He called the shop and was told that
the engine was built for a guy that could not pay the bill and they were selling
it for what they had in it. This was exactly what Bill needed so, off to the
engine shop to purchase a race engine (or so it was advertised).
The engine was
bored to 413 cu in and supposedly had a big cam and about 13:1 compression. It
had 2–AFB 4 barrels on it and those really nice round port heads. Bill was
told that the engine made a little over 500 hp. (Who knows what it really made).
Bill bought a set of Hooker Headers for a Ram Air IV
to go into a 65 GTO. The next
steps were to swap the 10 bolt rear, in his GTO, for a 12 bolt taken out of a
Chevelle. add ladder bars, install a
Lakewood
bell housing, add a Zoom clutch and back it with a cast iron
Borg-Warner super T-10 with a 2.64 low gear.
This was quite an impressive hot rod for an 18 year old but unfortunately the
excitement was short lived…..the engine blew up while the hot rod was idling
in the driveway. It threw a rod--a big hole through the side of the block. Bill
took the engine out and tore it down, discovered that the pistons were hitting
the valves and found a broken rod.....bad luck all around. Bill was crushed and
out of money. So back to the engine
shop only to be told, “look at your receipt", "no warrantee on race
engines". Needless to say, the
car went into storage and a valuable lesson learned for a young man.
Eventually the 65
was sold (almost given away) and Bill knew he couldn’t
look back. A few more years
passed and Bill bought a 1975 Trans Am. Although
he really enjoyed driving the Trans Am he was frequently reminded that the car
was not really practical when the baby seat was needed.
Fast forward 20
years....With the kids now grown and the old
Pontiac
fires re-kindled –Bill wanted
another 1965 GTO. This is the era of
Pro Street
. How cool would it be to have a 65 GTO
with a real
Pontiac
engine that made over 1,000 hp and
have a big old huffer sticking out of the hood? So there was a new challenge and
a somewhat unique goal.
Bill found and
bought a 1965 GTO and the next 3 years was spent doing body work. Bill then took
the car to Floyd's Hot Rod Shop in Groveport
Ohio
for the modifications needed to handle
a 1000 hp engine. In the meantime, Bill checked with several
Pontiac
engine shops and ask a bunch of
questions (remembering the Ram IV rod issue). Finally Bill contacted a
professional engine shop specializing in
Pontiacs
, Kauffman Racing Equipment of Glenmont
Ohio
, and met with them to discuss his goal
of having a 1000 hp engine built. To make a long story short Bill contracts KRE
to build a Blown 540 with all the good parts inside for durability.
This whole car
build process took about 5 years to complete and at the end of that time there
was a 1,097 hp blown
Pontiac
in a big tired chassis, ready to hit the street and or strip. This all
steel car, with a clutch, ran a 9.37
@ 147 mph in the quarter mile.
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New 540 on KRE's dyno 1,097 HP -- what a rush |
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New 540 in the car before the final paint |
Norwalk before the paint… testing |
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The '65 rolled out after paint job |
Yes this is the same paint scheme that was on the
very first 65 GTO
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9.37 @ 147 mph was not too bad for this all steel
car but is not quick or fast enough for the desires of Bill. There is plenty of
power but the car is too heavy. But no way is the 65 going to be reworked. There
is only one thing to do and that is to find a light weight ride. There is a 1997
Firebird located in
Alabama
that is just what the doctor ordered. It is an all
carbon fiber body, double frame rail and set up for a Lenco. The car works fine
and runs 8.00 in the quarter with the engine out of the GTO but now there
isn’t an engine for the GTO, he can’t have that, so another engine for the
Firebird is needed. Back to KRE, and another engine combination is contracted to
be built……. so KRE puts together a 522 on injected alcohol with a 1471 Mert-Littlefield
supercharger. In 2003 Mellott runs a 7.10 @ 198 mph and wins the JBP Frantic
Four at the
Ames
Performance
Pontiac
Nationals.
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| 97 Firebird at Norwalk 1.07 60’ |
Firebird at Norwalk rolling out of the
water |
After four seasons of running the 1997 Firebird
it is time to step up again. This time the chosen car will be a 2002 Top Alcohol
funny car. This is a car pro certified to run 5.99 and quicker. They plan on
stirring things up a bit in the 2008 season with this new car as they attempt to
go quicker and faster than they ever have
in the past. The funny car will run a K&M Performance Parts newly developed
MR-1A Pro Billet aluminum block with a set of monster Kauffman Racing Equipment
canted valve splayed port billet aluminum heads. For more information on the
funny car go to our 2002 Firebird F/C page.
The firebird funny car is a really nice car and will handle the power
fine, but it is not a 65 GTO. The 65 GTO has always been the car of Bill’s
dreams. Almost 40 years ago he was drawn to this car and there is no other that
captivates him like the 65
Pontiac
GTO. So it only stands to reason and should be of no surprise that he would
go back to his roots, the car that started it all, only this time he will go all
the way. This will be a state of the art cutting edge ProMod with all of the
Pontiac
power that can be mustered. To find out more about this new ProMod check out
the information on the New Project page.
We are dedicated to traditional
Pontiac
powered racing. Come out to the track and see us race
and while you're there stop by and visit with our team.
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