Hello Everyone,
I would like to start out by saying how amazed I am at the level of knowledge and the fantastic atmosphere of this forum. What a great place.
I recently picked up a ’64 GTO that is a bit of a basket case and will be hanging out and asking a bunch of questions over the next few years.
I have wanted a ’64 for about 25 years, and just found that opportunities to buy them didn’t come up often in my area. After many years of casing cars and seeing that the cost of good projects seemed to keep pace with my available hobby money I decided now was the time.
I have quite a bit of mechanical experience, and this will be my third “restoration”. I have prettied-up a ’70 Buick Wildcat, and frame-offed a heavily modified ’61 Willys CJ. However, this will be my first complicated restoration which is more difficult because I didn’t take it apart.
In looking through the old posts I know y’all will not lead me wrong…
About the car…
My GTO is a very late production car (July 27) Pontiac built car with very few options.
This car was built with:
• 3 speed
• Tri-power
• Safe-T-Track
• HD Suspension
• Handling Pkg (it has the steering stabilizer)
• 2 speed wiper/washer
• back-up lights
• soft-ray windshield
• push-button radio and manual antenna
• rear view mirror
• parking brake warning light
• “spinner” hub-caps.
Oh yeah – Seat belt delete.
No dash pad, no console…power nothin’
The good news is that the body with very solid, with the exception of the passenger quarter panel. Here is a glimpse...
Also, it appears that the majority of the parts are both original and still with the car. The 3 spd is gone, having been replaced by a 4 spd (an M-22 of all things).
The short block and engine peripherals all seem to be original to the car (codes, and date codes). Unfortunately, the heads and intake were stolen from the car when it was stored many years ago. Thankfully, the original tripower carbs had already been removed from the intake and are still with the car.
So all in all – a nice mechanical jigsaw puzzle…
My plans…
I plan on building a nice solid driver – presented as a mild “Day 2” car. I plan to use headers, aftermarket (but period appropriate) wheels, audible cam change, etc.
Hidden modifications will include modern ignition, roller rockers, compression changes, gasket matching, etc.
The goal is for the car to appear stock, with the exception of the most basic Day 2 changes. I haven’t decided yet whether I will replace the 4 speed with a 3 speed. If I do go that route, it will be a different 4 speed, since I have no desire to keep the M22. I think that I would at least like to incorporate a 3 spd shift knob.
Thoughts and comments are appreciated.