Today’s Car is a 1966 Pontiac Le Mans convertible owned by Tony Todd. I saw this car at the Inaugural Classic Cars and Cigars Car Show, held by the Santa Monica Police Officers Association in Santa Monica. I noticed that this was a very cool looking Pontiac Le Mans with many subtle changes and started photographing it. I did not know any of the cars history. I saw Chip Foose and well I did not know who Tony Todd was as they were cordially talking to the car owners as walked around the show. It wasn’t until someone explained to me that he was an actor and that the car had been featured on the show “Overhaulin”. Charlie Sheen and Rob Goldenberg, very good friends of Tony’s had applied to have the car restored on the show and it was accepted. They secretly stole Tony’s car with the help of Beverly, Tony’s mom, to have the car “pimped out” on the show.
It is finished in a Metallic Silver Blue with Graphite rally stripes that are outlined in Red striping. The interior is finished in Black leather with baseball stitching and a Black convertible top . It is powered by Butler Performance 462 cu in engine with a Holley 770 carburetor producing over 500 hp. It is mated to a GM TH400 3-speed automatic transmission built by Bowler Performance to handle those extra ponies. Helping slow this beauty down are Baer disk brakes in all four corners, The suspension is one of the Hatchkis Performance sports packages. The finished car has the signature Foose stance and his wheels.
The original MSRP for a 1966 Pontiac Le Mans convertible was $2,901.00. The total number of 1966 Pontiacs Le Mans produced was 107,553 with 13,080 being convertibles. A lesser known fact is that Tony had sold the car and had even received half the money as a down payment just before it was stolen for the show. He had to call the guy and give him his money back. This is a great car that I am not sure hits the car show circuit very often, but I am sure that it can be seen cruising through Santa Monica, top down and the Boston Acoustics sound system blaring. Thanks for riding along. Frank
