[GTO JOHN]

I'm sure there are plenty of interesting stories on this subject.

If you have pics that would be good too.

Being only 40 years old I was not active in the GTO or musclecar scene during the early to mid 80's when these cars could be bought for little or nothing. I have heard plenty of "horror" stories about a few rare cars being parted out back then by some older members of our local GTO club. The general consensus is that we are now restoring cars that are in worse shape than the ones that were parted out back in the 80's.

How about these cars: (all parted and scrapped)
67 GTO convertible factory Ram Air 4spd car.
69 Judge Ram Air III 4spd.
70 Hemi Cuda factory black/black 426 4spd car.

My worst transgression was parting a complete 70 GTO Pepper Green auto A/C car. Borderline restoration candidate even today but got lots of parts for my 70 Judge which was incomplete when I bought it.

Lets hear your regrets...

[Old Goat Racer]

58 Chieftan
59 Cat conv. 3x2 3-speed stick
60 El Camino
61 Bonne wagon
62 Cat 4-door
2-62 Tempest6
65 GP
65 Bonne
67 GTO
67 Lemans
71 Cat
68 Cat
50 GMC
56 GMC
72 Grandville
68 Chevelle
65 GTO
72 Cat
70 Chevelle
73 GP
70 GP
69 Firebird
74 TA
74 Nova
79 Grand Am
79 Buick Regal
63 Tempest 4-door

SHAME ON ME

[hpp]

Originally Posted by old goat racer

58 Chieftan
59 Cat conv. 3x2 3-speed stick
60 El Camino
61 Bonne wagon
62 Cat 4-door
2-62 Tempest6
65 GP
65 Bonne
67 GTO
67 Lemans
71 Cat
68 Cat
50 GMC
56 GMC
72 Grandville
68 Chevelle
65 GTO
72 Cat
70 Chevelle
73 GP
70 GP
69 Firebird
74 TA
74 Nova
79 Grand Am
79 Buick Regal
63 Tempest 4-door

SHAME ON ME

Oh my god!

[MetalHead175]

Originally Posted by old goat racer

58 Chieftan
59 Cat conv. 3x2 3-speed stick
60 El Camino
61 Bonne wagon
62 Cat 4-door
2-62 Tempest6
65 GP
65 Bonne
67 GTO
67 Lemans
71 Cat
68 Cat
50 GMC
56 GMC
72 Grandville
68 Chevelle
65 GTO
72 Cat
70 Chevelle
73 GP
70 GP
69 Firebird
74 TA
74 Nova
79 Grand Am
79 Buick Regal
63 Tempest 4-door

SHAME ON ME

Holy hell thats a lot of cars!

[goquick]

Would be what a wad of metal a friend of mine turned his 69 GTO into. but the Ponitac engine found a good home, in a 68 ss396 chevelle!!!

[greggutknecht]

Didnt part it out but regret selling/getting ripped of on my red 72 ventura,would be a perfect car for my 540 Jim Robertson is doing the heads for.Greg

[mmarx]

Parted a 70 T/A in the early 80's, it was a Fl car all of it's life and I beat the livin' life out of it. I had so much fun with that car that I bought another one a year later...

Mike

[gentile3]

parted a 54 star chief that was a factory air car coral color 4 door.... junked the car with the air set up still in it. LOL i was about 5...

[sdbob]

Parting my first car I built up,1955 2 dr with 1960 389 hydrostick,traction bars,upside down starter,4.30 axle.1963 GP 4spd no option car with std steering and brakes.1961 cat 2dr for the 389.

[Old Goat Racer]

Originally Posted by old goat racer

58 Chieftan
59 Cat conv. 3x2 3-speed stick
60 El Camino
61 Bonne wagon
62 Cat 4-door
2-62 Tempest6
65 GP
65 Bonne
67 GTO
67 Lemans
71 Cat
68 Cat
50 GMC
56 GMC
72 Grandville
68 Chevelle
65 GTO
72 Cat
70 Chevelle
73 GP
70 GP
69 Firebird
74 TA
74 Nova
79 Grand Am
79 Buick Regal
63 Tempest 4-door

SHAME ON ME

I've owned 117 vehicles to date, so the percentage ain't too bad. Is it ?

[RA1John]

First parting out... 1978 '68 GTO Convertible.. loaded w/options, triple red.
(donor for my '68 GTO Conv.)

After that, I went to Calif. (USMC)... Junkyard heaven...

(3) '64 GTO coupes
'65-'67 GTOs (several)
'67 Lemans Sprint 4spd (loaded)
(2) '69 Judges (yep, in a yard)
'73 Grand Am with functional Ram Air hood
'64 Grand Prix (4spd- red interior)
Several 428 full-size Pontiacs
'68 Tempest Wagon (factory 4spd; Radio delete)
'69 SS Chevelle
(2) '70 SS Chevelles
'69 Impala 427
'68 Road Runner
'64-'66 442s (several)
'70 Mustang.. forget which engine but it had a shaker hood
'71 Cuda (Rally Guages, 8-track, etc)
+ others I can't even remember. Did save Broadcast Sheets, Trim Tags for most all.

After USMC tour....

'71 GTO 455HO (w/Broadcast sheet & BH- still have)
'70 GTO 4spd, Silver
(3) '68 Firebirds including a 400 HO (ouch!)
'64 GTO conv. TriPwr, Cus.Sprt.Strg.Wheel
'69 Firebird 400 RAIII w/functional RA hood (very rusty car)
'67 GTO factory Ram Air car (still have the block)
'65 Tempest Wagon (from Royal)
'65 Bonnevillle 421
'68 GTO 400 HO (Red) original owner, 4spd, 3.90
'68 GTO 400 HO (Grn) original owner, 4spd, full pwr options (still have engine)
'66 GTO (red) 4spd bone stock
'65 GTO conv w/pwr windows, 4spd

And the worst of all...
'68 GTO Conv. Grand Marque factory show car
Owned by my wifes cousin... very rusty.. every option...Engine died in '77
I went by and pulled several options for my '68. Car went to the crusher in '81
(Had no idea how rare this car was until late 80's when cousin gave me one of the 'Grand Marque' emblems that was on the fender... UGH!!)


Who knew

[MCronkGTO]

Plenty of them through the 90's. However the one I wish I had kept was a good one.

1970 RA IV Judge, M-21, 3.90 posi, Orbit Orange with a black interior.

Interesting story about this poor car. I saw it when it was painted red with no decals and only a Judge emblem on the glove box. Some kid had it and mentioned he had a factory aluminum intake he would trade me for my Torker. Such a deal. When I got the intake I checked the part number and guess what, it was for a 1970 RA IV. That's when I tried to track the car down. The kid could not keep the motor together (said something about a 455 engine in the car, turns out they had the #614 heads on top of a 455 and were trying to run pump gas). He sold it to another guy who had a local Pontiac "expert" build a motor. Three weeks later it broke a rod. The guy parked the car outside with the windows down and dismantled the entire drive train. By the time I tracked it down it was looking rather sad but still restorable. However at the time I was only after the RA IV heads for a race motor I was putting together. I ended up buying the entire car and hauled it to my friends body shop to see what he thought about putting it back together. He recognized the car from years earlier when he painted it red. He told me some 16 year old kid put it in a ditch and he replaced the fender, door and painted the car but never put the stripes back on (they were still with the car when I bought it).

Here's where it gets even more interesting. My brother-in-law is down for a visit and remembers this kid from his high school (around 1980). At that time I remember seeing an ad in the Auto Trader for a 70 RAIV Judge with a spun main bearing for $1,600. Guess what? It was the same car! The story is a high ranking officer at PAFB bought the car for his son. The kid spun the main bearing in the 400 and they sold the car as is. Now that I discovered all this I am trying to figure out how to restore the car back original. I stored it for a while as I figured up how much it was going to cost. I was already in the middle of a race car project and had just finished a nice resortation on my 69 GTO. I simply could not see how I could afford to restore this car in the near future so I tried to sell the car. I got tons of calls from people wanting to buy parts but not the entire car. I eventually boned it out but some of the parts went on a very nice silver 1970 RA IV Judge owned by a collector in the 80's and early 90's.

But the story does not end here. I sold what was left (just the body and frame) to a guy in my neighborhood who made a drag car out of it and put a cage and BB Chevy in the car. I saw it a couple of times then lost track of it for a couple of years. I moved to another town nearby and one day while driving by a junk used car lot I saw the nose of a red GTO sticking out of the back row. Needless to say I went in to check it out and it was the same car all beat to hell! I thought about trying to get it but the car lot owner had the PHS on the car by then and knew what it was. I still go by that lot but have not seen the car in years. I suspect the VIN tags may have been removed.

Poor car never had a chance. Everyone tried to make it into a hot rod and ended up beating the crap out of it.

And then there was the completely original 67 Catalina 2+2 428 car that I drove home and would have been an easy restoration. How about a 69 Bonneville Brougham 428 HO car that had more factory options than I have ever seen on one vehicle. I drove it home too. When I got done with those cars they both were hauled away on a flat bed (I pulled the tilt wheels and posi rear ends).

Who would have ever thought a Judge would bring well over six figures?

MarkC

[Transam Stripper]

1 '79 4peed 10th Anniversary
3 '79 auto 10th anniversary
3 Indy pace cars
2 Nascar pace cars
4 '78 Gold editions
I lost count of the Bandits/ 3 were 4 speed cars
2 '76 455 4speed cars
1 79 4 speed silver T/A it had been rolled

[1stGenFB]

My regret is a '76 Trans am 4 speed. Had a rebuilt 1973 Formula 400ci motor in it and super t-10 trans. God it hurts to even think about it.

[Tellyshavilli]

Probably the 69 RAIV Judge 4speed carousel red black interior and hideaways . Had some rust but thinking back it was not that bad . What a mistake .
Also several 70 ta's ra III cars and a few 74 super dutys .Those were the days when you could pick up a rusted out 74 sd car for a couple thousand pull the motor and after selling the rest of the parts have a sd for free sitting in the garage .

[goatmanmitch]

Originally Posted by Tellyshavilli

Probably the 69 RAIV Judge 4speed carousel red black interior and hideaways . Had some rust but thinking back it was not that bad . What a mistake .
Also several 70 ta's ra III cars and a few 74 super dutys .Those were the days when you could pick up a rusted out 74 sd car for a couple thousand pull the motor and after selling the rest of the parts have a sd for free sitting in the garage .

Now THAT hurts to think about!

[saltwater cowboy]

sold a 1970 mustang boss 302,80 turbo ta,81 ta but kept my favorite 1970 trans am

[6704gto]

WELL MINE GOES
67 GTO
67 LEMANS
67 TEMPEST
78 CAMARO
67 CHEVELLE
66 CHEVELLE
70 CHEVELLE
64 GTO
74 GTO
04 GTO

[72EnduraWagon]

71 Lemans Sport Convertible(bad Frame)
71 Mustang GT (Bad Car all together)
64 Comet Convertible (bad Everything)

[69taconv]

65 GTO HTP/Maroon ext black int 389 4pd/rusty
65 GTO Conv /Red ext black int 389 4 spd/bad frame