[Kokamo]

Hey guys, I'm kinda new to the PY forums, but not new to cars. I figured I'd post up a little blog of what I'm doing....let me explain.

Here in the past year I built up an 85 S10 drag truck...700ish HP, glide, backhalf, etc. Ran low 10's, high 9's. Got fed up with the costs and all the BS of going to my local track dud to how far away it is. (over an hour and a half one way) Sold the truck and thought that I'd do something special for my old man.

Back in 69 my dad bought a very near new 69 GTO from a local dealer. He got a little help from his dad (my grandfather) by co-sighing for him. He got the car, paid it off, had fun with it, had the motor out doing mods and other BS we all do. Transmission was out at least once every 2 months, etc, etc. Well, in 78 (the year before I was born) he was at work late and driving back home in the pouring rain....it was dark, late, around 2am, raining like hell going about 40, then out of nowhere a Chevy van was stopped in the middle of the road with no lights on....nothing he could do to stop. So the car was totaled and it was sold for scrap.

Ever since I have been old enough to know about cars, he always told me about the "Goat" he used to have. From what he (and my mom) told me, it was a 69 GTO, 400/400, Midnight Green with a white vinyl top, parchment interior and non-hideaways. Here in the past 10 years or so, he told me he wanted to get another GTO someday, but the prices were so high that he'd prolly never own a decent one ever again.

So after seeing , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS3SvdWcAks it gave me the idea and motivation to do something extra special for my old man. So I came up with the idea of finding a car that would be worth restoring or fixing up....restore it to the specs from what he and my mom told me about it and give this car to him for his birthday as a complete gift from me...title and all.

So with the little bit of change I got out of my little drag truck, I'm on a quest to make this "want" my old man has into a reality. Now, this won't be a show car build or a points winning build, but it will be something similar to resto mod.....except for the mod part. Not a frame off or anything as I can't hardly afford what I'm doing now. I want to build the car as close to back to factory as I can, but then again, I don't want to go so far out on it that he has nothing to work on himself....I know he likes fixing and tinkering. That's just one thing I want him to be able to do on his own. I just want this car to be able to go to a local cruise-in and to turn some heads.....not a show car, but somewhere between one and a nice driver.

So, I recently picked up a 2 owner 69 "GOAT" for a pretty decent price. Not factory matching numbers, but it is in fairly decent shape for the most part. I bought this car from a craigslist deal and bought it over the phone and had it shipped to me from 1000 miles away....basically sight unseen aside from a few pics and details from the owner. The car has a 15 year old resto on it and it's starting to show it's age. I know it will need plenty of work, and I'm prepared for the most part. So once I tear into it, I'll find out what it really needs vs what I think it needs......

[The Boss]

Decent starting point - welcome to the board.

Touching story about your Dad & your goals, I look forward to following it.

Chris

[indymanjoe]

thats a cool story,i may have a uncut dash for the radio hack job someone did...i'll look and send it if i do.Fine looking car BTW.i like white goats!pm your address.

[The Boss]

BTW - you passed the first test of posting pictures - you get a gold star!

[68lemansman]

A great story and a beautiful car to start! I bet the look on his face will be priceless! Btw welcome to the forum!

[tekheavy]

Looks to have a LeMans deck lid.

[AngryBird]

Nice!!! I wish mine was in that good of shape to start. Cool thing to do for your Dad.

[nytrainer]

Evan, you mean Tempest right?! Hey, I could use that trunk emblem lol.
Kokomo, great story and good luck with your project!!

[Greg Reid]

That's a great story alright. I know if I were in his shoes, I'd be thrilled with that car AND my son....and I'd want the car just like it is, right now! Looks like a driver to me.

[Kokamo]

Originally Posted by The Boss

Decent starting point - welcome to the board.

Touching story about your Dad & your goals, I look forward to following it.

Chris

Thanks Chris. My dads birthday is April 21st. That gives me almost 13 months for this build. It's more about the money than it is time. I don't have much else to do other than my full time job really. Money is something I haven't really figured out on this project yet. I figure one thing at a time I suppose.

Originally Posted by The Boss

BTW - you passed the first test of posting pictures - you get a gold star!

My first gold star!!! Lolz. I'm a member on several boards and I moderate a few, so this kinda stuff comes natural

Originally Posted by indymanjoe

thats a cool story,i may have a uncut dash for the radio hack job someone did...i'll look and send it if i do.Fine looking car BTW.i like white goats!pm your address.

PM sent!!! Thanks Joe!!!!

Originally Posted by 68lemansman

A great story and a beautiful car to start! I bet the look on his face will be priceless! Btw welcome to the forum!

Man I can't even imagine what his reaction will be. I have an idea I will discuss with the forum before I go on to present it to him.....that time will come soon enough.

Thanks for the welcome!!!

Originally Posted by tekheavy

Looks to have a LeMans deck lid.

Tempest! That is in fact a tempest lid....and a prefectly rust free and repair free lid at that. All I gotta do is weld up the holes and then it suddenly becomes a GTO lid.

Hey, that green goat you have in your sig....what color is that? Looks to be vedoro.

Originally Posted by nytrainer

Evan, you mean Tempest right?! Hey, I could use that trunk emblem lol.
Kokomo, great story and good luck with your project!!

Man you can have that emblem, but sadly it is broken in 3 places, so you prolly wouldn't want it

Thank you sir!

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

That's a great story alright. I know if I were in his shoes, I'd be thrilled with that car AND my son....and I'd want the car just like it is, right now! Looks like a driver to me.

Thank you Greg. Man you don't know how bad I wanted to drive it to his house and say "here ya go man", but I know this car needs some work and I didn't want to give him a pile of chit. First off this car is from the rustbelt. Born in Baltimore, bought in Iowa, then sold to a guy in Colorado. Now it's down in the dry south.....I'm still skeptical about the rust tho. Floors look decent from underneath with only one small patch I can see. 1/4's have been repaired with 60% skins, but look like a real hack job and I know there is plenty of filler in them. I will most likely go with new 1/4's and do it right.

Also, this car has been tuned for 6000 feet of air....not 500 where it's at now. It runs pig rich so the carb needs some tuning.

Lots of things going to happen to this old goat in a short amount of time (if I can figure out how to fund it)

Wish me luck guys! I may very well need it.

~Joe

[Verdoro 68]

Looking forward to seeing this progress. I've always wanted to do the same sort of project for my dad.

[GTO JOHN]

Good post. It's nice to see a newbie able to post quality pics and info right off the bat.

I think that is a great car and with the family history involved, looks like a keeper.

Welcome to PY!!

[muscle_collector]

welcome aboard. i might have missed it, but what was the color combo of your dads car? options it came with? are you going to paint this one to match his? how does this one compare option wise with his?

[Greg Reid]

Here's what he posted earlier-

From what he (and my mom) told me, it was a 69 GTO, 400/400, Midnight Green with a white vinyl top, parchment interior and non-hideaways.

[Kokamo]

Originally Posted by GTO JOHN

Good post. It's nice to see a newbie able to post quality pics and info right off the bat.

I think that is a great car and with the family history involved, looks like a keeper.

Welcome to PY!!

Thanks John. The car is in decent shape. I bought it knowing it needs some body repair. It looks ok from a distance, but up close and in person is a different story. You can see ghost lines in the 1/4's from previous 60% skin repair, cracks in the paint due to heavy use of filler in some areas. I bought this car knowing most of this, but mainly because it was a running driving car with all parts. Not much I need to look for.

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

welcome aboard. i might have missed it, but what was the color combo of your dads car? options it came with? are you going to paint this one to match his? how does this one compare option wise with his?

Yes sir, Greg is on the ball. OK, as far as comparison,

HIS CAR: 69 hardtop Goat
~400/400
~Code 57 Midnight Green metallic/white vinyl top
~Non-hideaways
~Parchment interior
~AM/FM radio
~Non-A/C car
~Non-RA car

MY CAR (His car soon) 69 hardtop Goat
~400/400
~Code 50 Cameo Ivory/black vinyl top
~Hideaways
~Black interior
~Not sure what radio it had (PHS says "Radio P/B")
~Non-A/C car
~Non-RA car

So basically it looks like hideaways and the color are the only two differences between the cars.

This car will undergo a transformation to be as close to his old car as I can budget wise. The interior will be the last thing I do since a parchment interior conversion will be pretty expensive. I am still on the fence about ditching the hideaways and going non-hideaways....not only for originality (to his old car), but for simplicity and aid in the repair time. ANYONE WANT TO TRADE SETUPS???

I know some of you are screaming at your computer telling me not to change the original color of this car.....keep screaming, it's not gonna change my mind.

Also as a something to add to the mix of things, me and my father work together....at an auto parts store of all places. My family has owned and operated a parts house since the 60's....my uncle owns the store (currently 5 stores connected to 40 others) and my old man manages 2 of them. If you want to look them up, search "A-Line Auto Parts". It's going to be hell keeping this from him....he still has absolutely no clue. One good thing about having a parts store is the fact that my uncle (owner) has a bunch of body and paint supplies in one of his stores. He is also on board with me on this project and he committed to donating the materials I will need to make body and paint happen on this car. So that right there alone is prolly a 2K (or better) head start. We carry Valspar if anyone wanted to know.....I have it on my 69 Camaro I built HERE.

Also, here is that PHS paper to the goat.....

[2002Z4CSS]

Nice looking GTO.

[gtojon]

Had to smile as I looked at your PHS. My first car was a '68 GTO hardtop originally purchased from Russ Harvey in Iowa Falls. Your car will be great family heirloom! Have fun with it!

[Chipper7]

Very Cool what you are doing. Welcome to the forum if you have any questions or need advice everyone in here will be more then willing to help out in anyway. Good Luck and have fun.

[68gtoMN]

P/B is a standard AM

[Kokamo]

Originally Posted by gtojon

Had to smile as I looked at your PHS. My first car was a '68 GTO hardtop originally purchased from Russ Harvey in Iowa Falls. Your car will be great family heirloom! Have fun with it!

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by Chipper7

Very Cool what you are doing. Welcome to the forum if you have any questions or need advice everyone in here will be more then willing to help out in anyway. Good Luck and have fun.

Thanks! And that's what I'm here for. I'm an F-body guy myself, but I'll learn the A bodies for sure by the time I'm done with this build.

Originally Posted by 68gtoMN

P/B is a standard AM

Exactly what I thought. Thank you sir.

Well, I got her in the ole dirty garage and started going over what needs to be done. I figure I will start from the front and move back. First thing was to get the front bumper off.......









Ok, car starting to come apart. First thing I noticed was circle cracks in the hood as if a bondo repair was conducted over a hood pin modification.....sure enough, it was what I thought.....









Looks like I have some work ahead of me.