Bill Hamann wasn’t setting his sights too high. He just wanted a fun car to work on, preferably a convertible that wouldn’t destroy his checkbook and would eventually be a fun car to cruise around in on a sunny day. Getting something that was a little uncommon and didn’t show up at every show-and-shine or cruise night would be a bonus.
Running his fingers over the fender of his handsome 1971 Pontiac LeMans Sport, Hamann can smile now and know he has checked off every one of those boxes. His well-dressed Pontiac is exactly what he was hoping for — something he could fix up and be proud of, give him another reason to look forward to the weekends, and not punish his wallet too severely.
“It’s something I can afford and drive it and not worry about it,” says Hamann, a resident of Oconomowoc, Wis. “I have had other cars where you had restored them to the point where you are afraid to drive them. You’ve got too much into it and it’s a nice car, and you’re afraid to take it out. This one, I can take it out and have fun.”
If he had his druthers back in 1999, Hamann would have been buying a GTO instead of a LeMans. Had that been the case, however, he might well be having less fun today. Instead, he stumbled across the next-closest thing to a GTO, but for a much friendlier price, and it turned out to be the perfect choice. “I always had a sweet spot for Pontiacs. I grew up with Pontiacs and I’ve had some GTOs, so I was looking at something like a ’71, ’72, but since I couldn’t afford the big-buck GTOs at the time, I was just looking for a convertible to enjoy,” he said. “I found this in the paper one Sunday — I had been looking at a ’72 LeMans because I like the front end better on those than the ’71s. This was advertised as a ’72. Turns out it was a ’71, but it had the Endura front, which was a cheap option at the time, but it was nice and I liked it. As much as it needed work at the time, they came down in price a little bit and it worked out.”
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