1972 Pontiac GP SSJ Hurst Edition - Photos

[CaseyJPorter]

I wanted to share a photoshoot I did over a year ago for High Performance Pontiac (HPP). A year ago I was doing some shoots, articles, and videos for Super Chevy Magazine. The same company, Source InterLink, now The Enthusiast Network (TEN), owns HPP and at that time worked out of the same offices. The car was about an hour and half away from where I lived and I actually shot it twice. The first day of shooting the car was a crazy one. I was not familiar with that area so the owner had picked some locations. Sadly those locations didn’t work out. I don’t blame that on the owner as he was a very nice guy and was doing the best he could. He’s simply not a photographer nor did he know about legal restrictions as to when and where we could and could not shoot. So we went to a housing development and saw this very nice house. I shouldn’t say house, given that is was a $1.6 million dollar estate. My assistant and me went and convinced them to let us use it and the unfinished neighborhood surrounding it. They were very gracious and the shoot couldn’t have been done without them as well as the flexibility of the owner of the car. After all was said and done I got a message from a senior editor that big changes were on their way within the company but he would not elaborate. Those changes as many of you know were the shutting down of several magazines as well as offices around the country. This affected me directly because TEN had a policy at the time, which I have no reason to think it’s changed, that they do not pay a writer or photographer until the work has been published. So in short I never got paid for my work. It’s a business model I strongly disagree with but at the time I wanted to shoot for them and had no reason to suspect I would not get paid. Another downside to all of this is the owner of this SSJ would never see his car in print. I tried shopping the photos around but no one would bite. The car is just so unique to the Pontiac brand that most magazines and/or sites really didn’t have a place for it. As far as the author of the article goes I’m not sure were that text is. One of the main reasons I do this work is for you: the readers and owners of these cars. Seeing the excitement at the work is really fulfilling to me. So after working some things out I’m proud to share with you this photoshoot as well as some behind the scenes photos. I’d like to thank the owner of this SSJ, his family, and the property company for helping this shoot come together. As far as future shoots go I did two features I both wrote and photographed a year ago as well.

One was published here:http://www.superchevy.com/features/1...lin-on-chrome/

The other still has yet to be published, a 1955 Chevy, but I hope one day the owner of that great car gets to see his car in print.

1972 Pontiac SSJ Hurst Edition El Casico (1) by Casey J Porter, on Flickr

1972 Pontiac SSJ Hurst Edition El Casico (2) by Casey J Porter, on Flickr

1972 Pontiac SSJ Hurst Edition El Casico (3) by Casey J Porter, on Flickr

[CaseyJPorter]

1972 Pontiac SSJ Hurst Edition El Casico (5) by Casey J Porter, on Flickr

1972 Pontiac SSJ Hurst Edition El Casico (8) by Casey J Porter, on Flickr

1972 Pontiac SSJ Hurst Edition El Casico (10) by Casey J Porter, on Flickr

[terryscott621]

Nice pics as always.

[bowtiefan]

Very nice looking Grand Prix! Too bad this was never published, nor that you got paid or received recognition for this. Great that you are able to share it here. Perhaps you can also post it in a Grand Prix forum (I'm guessing there is one or more?). Nice El Camino article and shoot as well. I was disappointed that they discontinued HPP and replaced my subscription with Hot Rod Mag! I still think there is a big Pontiac following for a dedicated mag, but hey, what do I know? Too bad Hot Rod won't pick this article up. Not too hard to Photoshop out the HPP plates!

[kevinm0131]

Cool retro look at the 70's! I like most everything about this car except for the landau top! The interior is so 70's it's almost kitschy, except, that's how you rolled back then. Maybe that style will come back. :-)
Thanx Casey, great work as always.

[farsighted770]

Baller as ****.

I want that and shag carpeting. Now.

[CaseyJPorter]

Very nice looking Grand Prix! Too bad this was never published, nor that you got paid or received recognition for this. Great that you are able to share it here. Perhaps you can also post it in a Grand Prix forum (I'm guessing there is one or more?). Nice El Camino article and shoot as well. I was disappointed that they discontinued HPP and replaced my subscription with Hot Rod Mag! I still think there is a big Pontiac following for a dedicated mag, but hey, what do I know? Too bad Hot Rod won't pick this article up. Not too hard to Photoshop out the HPP plates!

I actually contacted the editor of HR mag and we talked about this and he was one of the people who just didn't have a place for it. The response this is getting online is great though and I think it would have worked well as an online article. I just bought a 2004 GTO which when I got it had 47,000 on it. Super clean, I love it. I agree there is still a Pontiac following but the magazine business is in rough shape. Or at least the automotive side of that industry is. I think it's a combination of some things out of their control, like changing technology and how younger generations consume media, and things within their control like changing with the times. I won't go into greater detail but I do wish that they had modified their business strategy before it got so bad they had to shut down so many magazines. Most magazines will go away over time I think, as much as I don't want that, but I think publishers should still put out bi-annual or annual special editions of titles like HPP that no doubt would become collector items and serve the loyal fans who keep names like Pontiac alive.

[texn884]

Wow its so cool to still see the classics out there and your pictures bring them back to life.

[MongosG8]

Again Casey you always seem to amaze me.. Again Nice work! Agree too bad this was not published.

Classic GP ..When I was 16 I had a 76 GP and a 76 Monte loved them both