69 GTO
 

Hello, must say I am glad I got pointed in the direction of this forum. I have been non stop reading and searching and finding there are a lot of knowledgeable/passionate people on this forum!

I bought back my parents old GTO many years ago and am finally getting the ball rolling on bringing it to life. Have so many question so I thought I would start my own thread!

Have alittle different ram air 69. It’s been in the family since 73 and it was painted red before 73 so don’t know what it would of originally looked like.

Would really love to give it a complete Supercar Specialties type of resto but is it worth it? First of don’t really have that kinda money to spend on it and it’ll never be sold and would like to drive it...

A few options I know off hand are:

Cameo white, red interior, hideaway lights, N95 wire wheels, tape player, door edge, D98 stripe, posi 3:90, M40 Column shift and L67.

First off should I do my best to use nos sheet metal? Is acid dipping and soda blasting the best options for stripping it down?

Read that Baltimore 69’s aren’t that famous for build sheets. Is that true? So far I searched the whole interior and looks like something might have been under the rear seat but the mice got to it. Did find this. Any idea what it would of been from? Looks like interior code and body type.

L67 is Ram Air IV and very desirable/valuable. Especially if you have the numbers matching drive train. Having the build sheet isn't too critical since you can order a report from Pontiac Historical Services (PHS) which will tell you all the options that were installed on your car when it left the factory. If you don't already have it, I recommend you get a PHS report just to make sure you know what you have and if you elect to share the report keep the last 3 or 4 digits of the VIN to yourself ;-)

NOS sheet metal is much preferred to reproduction sheet metal - I wouldn't even consider using repop on a car of your pedigree. Factory sheet metal from a donor car might be the best route to go since it can be purchased for less than NOS and you know it fit properly since the factory let it out the door.

As far as metal refinishing, there are many more experience people here that will hopefully chime in but if you have any photos you can share of how the car sits now that will help people advise the best course of action. Good luck with your resto!

I do have the documents from vintage vehicle services! It’s mostly there but it does have a SR block with all the original stuff put back on. Except headers have been added. I have looked for the original manifolds but they might have gone to the dump back in the 70’s!

Also in the 70’s the original rear end got swapped with an Olds for a lower gear ratio, as daily driving with 3.90’s wasn’t ideal. I did end up finding 1970 xk rear end though.

I’ll work on some pictures!

A couple pictures.

A few more.

Nice car! Very desirable and looks like well optioned.
Interior doesn't look bad from the pics?
Hopefully you can get it back on the road again .
Brent

Bigd, very cool car and history. I’m a big fan of just about anything with a red interior but black and white are my favorite. Not to mention the L67... :)
Start a build thread when you get to that point as I’d love to follow this one through.

This is exciting. cool car :D:D

Awesome car! Good luck with the resto!

Super cool car
Thanks for sharing it with all of us here.

Was it sold new in Canada , or USA ?

I sort of think a "paid labor" full frame off restore including drivetrain etc ... might be break even on its market value. Especially if a lot of NOS items got thrown into the mix. Would be a close call.

Labor keeps going up , materials have gone crazy in price .
NOS 69 parts are very scarce now , making them mostly exclusive to Ram4 Judge and J-Vert in price.

If it were a RamAir 3 , with SR block , it would go upside down quickly.

Do whatever you can , or whatever you can afford , and keep enjoying it
Its really neat to have something like that with family ties.

Mine was on top of the gas tank.

It was sold in Canada. Is the Phs worth getting as well or do they have any more details? I’ll get some pictures of my vintage vehicle documents.

Actually that’s one of the reasons it’s been hiding in storage so long as I have always wanted to do a concours resto on it. I have talked to a few shops that do unreal work and would love for one of them to do but it’s a lot of $$!

I ended up with a good opportunity with a body guy that does very clean thorough work. So the tear down has started. One thing I wanted to do is keep as much original body panels as possible but that really increases the labour! He is talking about all new panels then obviously they are working with rust free panels and can give me more of a “Guarantee” in a couple years I won’t start seeing rust coming back.

That’s kinda why I was wondering about acid dipping. My fenders and doors aren’t that bad to me. So would acid dipping get rid of 100% of the rust and be the same as starting with new panels besides what ever damage was done by the rust??

Very neat and rare GTO! Looks quite solid for a Canadian car, being from Alberta helps a lot, Eastern cars literally dissolved in a few years. I notice you have the blackened "Judge" grilles, seems like many later Ram air (and Ram Air IV) cars got those dark grilles.

As for the resto I'd think a good starting point would be to strip the car to metal anywhere it looks like there is bodywork so you can assess what your sheetmetal needs are before sending the car out to resto. From what I see in the pictures you might be able to salvage things with quality patchwork rather than starting to cut away original panels. For example is the quarters, NOS is better than repop but if you can avoid changing them by careful patching if its just a few soft spots in the wheel openings that would be even better. Even NOS quarters are still changed quarters, nothing like factory spotwelds and joints.

btw the Canadian document from GM says tape accent stripes but they are actually painted by the factory. GM of Canada historical services uses chevy descriptions for most of their option names, they are not the correct Pontiac descriptions.

Thanks! That did have me wondering and thought I read some where they stopped painting them in late 68 or 69. But you obviously know or stuff! If they do go back on I’ll likely use pin striping like you mentioned before.

Also I believe I seen an old post that you have a car with the same hub caps? What did you think of them? I have a couple that need fixing if possible. Surely rally rims would look more sporty though

bigd400, for sure RII's are the best classic look on a 69 GTO but given the rare and unique nature of your car I'd be inclined to keep the wire wheel covers. Here is a pic of the ones on my LeMans ragtop.

Beautiful car, they look good!

Hey Jones , was your car built in Baltimore Plant ?

We have never been able to source a build sheet from any 69 Baltimore A-Body cars.
Yours would be great to see , if that is the case.
Thanks

Thanks for posting those Documents .
Canadian sold cars , that is usually the better and more complete info document to have.
The PHS invoice just looks more official than those , no big deal at all though.

They listed the wrong Horsepower @ 366 (R/A 3) instead of 370.

Y96 was the Ride & Handling - spring & shock package.
Also known as Option 621
Price for USA = $4.21

No Charge Options / Alternates are usually disclosed on the Canadian Documents.
Yours doesn't list anything concerning tires , so G78 x14 Redlines were standard = PY2 - RC
Whitelines were a no-cost alternate , but those would be listed on your document = PY1 - RD

So car was White
Red interior
Redline tires
Red center caps on hubcaps
Red lower accent stripes

Sounds like they were duplicating the Canadian Flag

On a whim , wondering why they didn't install KILO speedometers in the Canadian bound cars ?

Other export GTO's have gotten them.

Was Canada using MPH speed limits back then ?
Only been there once about 7-8 years ago and all were KPH speed limits.