My '66 GTO Restoration
 

The work has been going for a few months now.I bought this car back in the late 90s and have been looking for someone (good) to do the restoration.This was my Parents car and I gew up in it until about '72.My parent bought it in late Dec '65 and I was born about 2 weeks later.My dad found the car and bought it for me in '82 so it was my car in H.S.The car was restored in '86,we found out later very poorly and I sold it in '90.
Here is a couple before pics,the lady that bought from me it had the car painted this medium blue.The bottom pic is the guys shop that is doing the restoration and he is letting me help to save me some $$$!

More pics

More dissassembly.

More pics.I got the '67 qtr from Phil.

Progress!

Nice project, I'm gonna love keeping up with yours while I attempt to do mine as well.

Great story. Kinda reminds me of Merlotgoat's as his was handed down by his grandparents. Wonderful to have a family connection to an already great car. I'm rooting for you.

Favorite thread watching a restoration. Always good to see a great car restored, even better that is family.

Thanks for the kind words guys!Skeeter I've been checking out several others restorations myself,those guys have really helped me out!
This time I am making sure the car is done right and nix on the shortcuts.That is the reason I drove to Georgia to get Phils '67 1/4 vs trying to use the ill fitting repop 1/4.
The other big thing for me is to decide on a dark blue color close to what it was painted back in '86.I will post a pic of the original color and the restored color.

Cool story & good luck on the car.

NIce looking car even before you started tearing it down.
Your story confuses me a little bit.....Looks like you or your Dad have bought the car 2 (or maybe 3) separate times?

I'm a little ahead of you on mine....getting it back from the paint shop in 2 weeks. The I'll have all winter to put the dash, interior, and wiring in. Hope you are having as much fun as I am having. :D

Great story!
Good luck on the resto...

Paul Harvys the rest of the story.....
 

Sorry about that.The car was sold in '72 for for around $500 to son of some good friends of my parents.The car passed from him to several members of their family but they didn't always get the title changed.Fast forward to '82,dad came in from squirrel hunting and told mom he found the old GTO.They thought I was out of earshot but I wasn't so I came in to plead my case for the car.A week later we went to see the car,it had rusty lower quarters and faded silver blue paint but I was in love!It was the original 389 and 2 speed auto still in place,the headliner has a couple small holes and the carpet was faded but still decent and seats did not have any rips in them.The topper was in the glovebox:the owners manual with dads name on the protecto plate!
The windshield leaked in the drivers floor,the fuel pump needed replacing because it leaked in the oil pan.That was the worst of it all for the sum of $300 and it ran,the odometer had 112,xx miles!Dad drove it home.
We did the usual tune up,tires,exaust and a rebuilt alternator and from there it was my daily drive in H.S.Some of the kids laughed but not when I beat several of them racing and I still had the snow tires on for some of the races.I rebuilt the moter in Auto Mechanics at VoTech my senior year.('84)
While I was stationed in Germany(Army)dad was having a guy restore the car using sheet metal from The Goat Farm.I was sending money home to help with the cost.The car was finished about a month before I came home from Germany('86).My parents sent pics to me and I could hardly wait to get back.Cometically the car looked great but within a 6 months there were paint bubbles popping on the car and the guy would not fix them.I parked the car a few months before I got married in '88 and bought a '85 GP.The car sat under the edge of the my parents barn with only a tin roof over it for a couple years and when I went back into the Army right before I was stationed in Alaska I sold THE CAR in Dec of '90.
It took several years but I finally found the car with the help of the Mo DMV,I kept the Owners manual with the VIN in it.It also took a couple of years to pry the car from the owner.He had bought it from the person I sold it to and the car was a mess.It still had the original engine/transmission but both needed work as well as body,interior(DUCKTAPE on the seats and headliner!) ect and to top it off I paid more for it than I sold it for.:(That was '96 or so.
The car won't be going back to original,I want to add more power and comfort to it.The car was manual steering and brakes.Sorry this is so long but you asked for it!;)

What a great story!!!!!! thanks

I sure did....and don't apologize because NOW it's a great story! When the story is about a Goat, the longer the better...lol
You're a lucky guy..Very few people get a second chance at the one that got away...Between you and your Dad, you got rid of it twice and got it back twice.

Lol!I was tring to be brief and hit the high points,oh well.

Blue,
Looking good. You will probably be finished with yours before me. What was the original color on your car? Norman still hasn't painted the 64 but he got my buddie's 57 ragtop done. We are going up there tomorrow to take some parts for it. I will take some pics and post one or two.

Great story and good luck with the car, always good to get another 66 on the road.

I think it's good to get ANY old car on the road! :cool: