Member: Linda and Ken Thomas

Car: 1979 Pontiac LeMans

In June of 1979 I owned a new 1978 Trans Am. It was in the shop at Chatwin Motors of Port Alberni almost more than I was driving it. The new car carrier came in while I was waiting for the Trans Am to be fixed again and I saw a 2-tone silver and charcoal Pontiac LeMans on the top row and promptly said, “that ones mine”! The salesman said, “You can’t have it, it’s not processed yet.” As I traded the Trans Am for it, I soon found out the LeMans was a Factory 4 speed. I still have the Original Owners Manual and the Original Option Sheet that came with the car.

In April 2008 the Restoration Started. This year in August 2009 I finally got to actually drive a brand new (from the ground up) totally rebuilt 1979 LeMans. The original motor was the only 4.4 litre motor done at “Island D” Motor Works in Naniamo,B.C. Ken Wilson (former CCCB member) did most of the restoration on the LeMans. Ken Reid of Uptown Custom Auto Upholstery at Parksville, did the front seat re-upholstery, new vinyl top and headliner.

In 2008 I sent my Vin# to GM Vintage Auto research in Ontario and found out this car is one of 24 produced with a factory four speed, one of 37 with the heavy duty suspension package, and one of 614 with 2 tone paint, of a total of 5,700 cars produced in 1979; It’s awesome to drive a brand new car as the original owner from 1979.

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