1975 astre lil wide track

[cammerjeff]

Sorry about reserecting this old post, But I may have stumbled on a Old Pic showing a slightly used Lil Wide Track! As I have never actually seen any of these other than the original Show car at the 75 Detriot Auto Show I thought I would share. Not a great Pic, and very small, but it does appear to be a Lil Wide Track that was actualls Sold!!!!! You can see the Stripe Package, 1/4 window louver, and possibly the front airdam. The stock wheels are gone though.

Still question the stated 3000 cars Built by Motor Town numbers. You think one would have appeared by now if they actually made that many Lil Wide Tracks.

[hammerdown7]

Who was it that had the contact info for Jack Purcell in the Monza Mirage thread. I'm sure B.O.R.T. designed the Li'l Wide Track and marketed it to Pontiac.

Dick

[stage169]

When I asked Jack about the wide track he said they didn't build it? But the article he sent me said that they had. Might be a good reason to send him another email. Brian

[stage169]

Looked around some from what Jeff posted. Found this site for Pontiacs http://www.pontiacsonline.com/JIM%20WANGERS.htm

Dave Landrith, one of Jim's friends from Hurst Performance had presented to the Detroit area Pontiac Dealers Association the idea of a dressed up Astre to differentiate the car from being a Vega. The dealer association liked the idea. With that, Landrith approached Jim Wangers for ideas on the car. Jim came up with the name L'il Widetrack and the stripe package. A facility had been setup in Detroit to convert Astres to L'il Widetracks. This was the birth of Motortown. All parts and accessories used to convert Astres were sourced from aftermarket suppliers. Sales were so successful with the L'il Widetrack that other dealers outside of the Detroit area wanted L'il Widetrack Astres to sell as well. One thing Jim Wangers had learned from his L'il Widetrack experience is that the aftermarket wheels made by Appliance Industries used on the car did not meet GM warranty specifications. Pontiac took notice of this. Jim's lesson learned was to never use aftermarket wheels for such future programs conversions.


PO: How many L'il Widetrack Astres were built?

JW: Approximately 3,000.

PO: Were they all Silver color?

JW: Yes.

PO: The brochure for the L'il Widetrack pictures an Astre Safari Lil Widtrack wagon, were there any Astre wagons converted to L'il Widetracks?

JW: No.

JW sidenote: To keep delivery cost down, all Astres were actually driven to Motortown's Detroit facility and after the conversion the L'il Widetracks were driven to the selling dealer.

[283vega]

Sounds like they probably stayed in the Detroit area and rusted to death.Major sheetmetal protection improvements hit the streets in 76.What a shame!

[cammerjeff]

Like I said, I am not Buying the "aprox 3000" production number. I live in the Detriot area, was alays into cars, and received my 1st Drivers Permit in the summer of 75 so you think I would remember seeing them!!!!!!!! For comparison they made less than 1000 Astre Formula's in 77, and we have documented over 15 survivers, granted mostly not in the rust belt!!!!!
So there could be something to the fact they were pre 76 rust improvements. And the wheel Failure mentioned by JW way explain the differnt wheel on the car in the photo I stumbled on, and the back ground could be almost anywhere on the east side of Detriot in the mid to late 70"s

Thanks for the input!!!!! I really would like to find one of these cars to compliment my Formula!!!!!!

[hammerdown7]

I agree with Jeff. From the time I was born through 2000 I lived within 2-5 miles of Royal Pontiac who worked with Wanger on the Royal Bobcats and always had close ties with him. I've never seen a Li'l Wide Track in person, 3000 surely weren't sold around here. I still think B.O.R.T. had a hand in it, maybe in the background.

Dick

[sportriderok]

I haven't responded in this topic before because my memories on this car are a bit foggy, but I'm pretty sure there was one near my hometown of Dayton, Ohio. I know I've seen the stripe package for sure, and it seems to me the car had the lace wheels and rear spoiler at least. I don't remember the side window slats, though. We had a lot of GM executives in the small town near Dayton where I was raised, and most of them bought smaller GM cars for thier kids. I can't remember where this car was located, but I know the owner didn't go to my school. The car i remember was silver, and I remember seeing it deteriate over the years. It seems like the stripes faded out to nearly white. I always thought it was stuff the owner had added, I had no idea it was a factory deal until I saw this post. The GM dealers in our area seemed to offer a lot of "factory packages" with combos not normally approved for production. (The Oldsmobile dealers did a Special Edition every year, and one Buick dealer did a "Drive-Away" from the Flint factory in the spring.) Dayton was a GM powerhouse of production at one time, sadly not anymore.

[stage169]

Like you guys have said there should be more examples left if around 3k were made. That is not a successful amout in my opinion either. Here is the article that mentions BORT.

[vegastre]

Here is a link to some Astre Li'l Wide Track info although I started it to investigate the origin of ”SJ” name just wade through that and you have some good info.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28524&start=60

[monzaaddict]

the article here mentions jerry m suska of dymar. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28524&start=45
I googled the name and address of the company and came up with this ( mentions jerome m suska )
http://businessprofiles.com/details/dymar-inc/MI-043825

I then googled jerome m suska and came up with with a internet marketing college course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgH5JnCTzXM
http://www.rollins.edu/mba/faculty/marketing/juska.html
http://www.bizapedia.com/mi/DYMAR-INC.html it appears dymar is still in business
http://www.zoominfo.com/#!search/profil ... id=profile


I will bet this is the same guy and possibly he could shed some light on the lii wide track if contacted - have fun
here is his email jjuska@rollins.edu
here is his phone number Personal Phone: 407-350-7119

[cammerjeff]

Its Back up on CL with a $16000.00 asking Price

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/4692224710.html

[vegastre]

The only known example?

[cammerjeff]

Phil,

If you know of another one please share, I have only seen pictures of this one, and the crushed one I found in a yard about 10 years ago.

[vegastre]

Well Jeff,
I know you talked to Jim Wagners and although he mentioned a production number of 3000. I guess his memory is failing because I agree with you that more should be around at that number. Pay no attention to me because when someone advertises something as the last one on earth it seems four or five somehow turn up. If not, then $16,000 is a bargain for any real deal car collector.