Herb Adams’ Pontiac Vivant
April 2019 • By Tony ThackerHerb Adams may not be a name that springs instantly to mind, especially if you didn’t grow up immersed in the muscle cars of the sixties. After graduating from the General Motors Institute in 1961, Herb joined GM working in the Pontiac division, when GM had distinct divisions. He was an aggressive young man and within four years had progressed from being an air-conditioning engineer to a plant liaison to running a test group at GM’s Milford Proving Ground. From the Proving Ground he moved into Advanced Design working under the infamous John Z. DeLorean, at 42 the youngest division head of GM and the so–called father of the muscle car with the 1964 Pontiac GTO.
While chasing Ford’s 1964-1/2 pony car, the Mustang, GM bosses decided to give Pontiac a version of the 1967 F-body Camaro. DeLorean, wanting a better car than the Chevy Z/28 had the team develop the Firebird and Adams worked on the suspension and handling. Firebird sales in 1967 were a reasonable 82,560.
His pursuit of making cars better and faster through horsepower and handling made Adams the consummate car guy's engineer.
—Terry Shea, Muscle Machines, December 2011
Meanwhile, Adams, who had participated in the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild design contest as a kid decided to turn his childhood dream car, actually a wooden 1:12-scale model, into a reality. Based on the trio of Alfa Romeo Berlinetta Aerodynamica Technicas (B.A.T.) concepts designed by Franco Scaglione and built by Carrozzeria Bertone in the early–fifties, Adams’ design was for an open-top roadster version with similar but more restrained fins that swept all the way from the dual grille openings to curl up and inward at the back. The tubular, space-frame chassis, numbered 63-0001 (63 for the year and 1 for the first), Adams built himself at home using junkyard parts including a giant Pontiac Super Duty axle. It featured four-link torsion-bar front suspension that greatly resembled a VW assembly. The rear utilized three links, coils and separate shocks. For power, Adams chose a 6.1L 370 ci Pontiac V8 that had been introduced in 1958. Iron headed, the 370 ‘Trophy’ had a bore of 4-1/16 (103.2 mm) and a 3-1/4 (82.6 mm) stroke. Dry, the engine weighed almost 650 lbs. Fuel injection was offered but it was quickly and quietly dropped. Adams’ engine, meanwhile, was a ‘Super Duty’ version of the 370 apparently built by Ray Nichols of NASCAR fame and fitted with a Carter 4bbl carb. The engine cost Adams all of $75 and put out 405 hp. A Muncie four-speed manual backed it up.
You might have noticed that the Vivant, a word that roughly translates to ‘living or lively’ in French, has 8-lug wheels. No, they are not early Ford or even Volkswagen, they are, in fact, 8-luggers made for Pontiac in 1960 by Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Co. They incorporate a finned aluminum hub and brake drum cast around an iron liner. They attach to the hub with a conventional 5-lug system. Weird, but true. The tires are Firestone Wide Oval E70-14s in front and F70-14s in back. To help create the beautiful all-aluminum but complex body, Adams turned to three Brits living in the Detroit area. Ex-Rolls Royce employees and known as ‘The Beatles of Troy’ the trio consisted of John Glover, Jack Henser and Harry Kennedy and they operated a prototype shop called Proto Products in Troy, Michigan, where they built racecars for the likes of ‘Big Daddy’ Don Garlits and ‘TV Tommy’ Ivo. According to Adams, the trio crafted the body for a very attractive price to show their metal shaping abilities. Unfortunately, I’m not sure there was a payoff as Adams sold the Vivant some time after it had appeared at the 1966 Detroit Autorama. In fact, I found his ad in October ’68 issue of HOT ROD Magazine offering the car for $4,500.
The car then disappeared for four decades until another trio, this time of investors, unearthed the car stored in Ohio. It eventually ended up in the hands of author and collector Dr. Mark Brinker of Houston, Texas, who has since had the car restored beyond its original glory by Jake Yenny of JEM Motorworks, Loveland, Colorado. Dr. Brinker had this to say when describing the resurrection: “Straight away I got in touch with Adams, and from there a friendship began. I shared with him my plan to show the car at Pebble Beach and he was enthusiastic, becoming intimately involved in the car’s restoration from start to finish, and providing key details along the way.”
It would appear that a little license was taken during the restoration as contemporary photographs show a rather plain dash made of laminated aluminum shot through with a few instruments. The Brinker version is much more finished and factory-like with twin nacelles separated by a wide transmission tunnel—all of which reference Adams’ original intention. The surfaces are covered with grooved decorative aluminum to compliment the insert in the hood. The driver gets a speedo and a tach while in the center console there is oil pressure, water temp, amperes and fuel gauges. The instruments are early-sixties, NOS ‘Twin Blue’ Stewart-Warners that beautifully compliment the color scheme. Adams’ original bucket seats that were upholstered in white have been restored and amply upholstered in matching blue. Even the seat belts are rare NOS parts from a Pontiac GTO Sports Coupe as is the steering column and wheel.
After almost two years and some 4-5,000 hours in restoration, the Vivant appeared at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance where it won first place in the special category for American Dream Cars of the 1960s—a fitting tribute to Adams’ original concept.
Thanks to FastCarsLtd.com and MicksPaint.com for access to this stunning one-off.
