[PurplePackFan]

Well, after 2+ years and reading many posts here, I have decided to attempt to chronicle the assembly of my 1967 GTO. Thanks in advance to those before me that have provided invaluable help already by doing this and allowing the rest of us to learn from them. In particular I have read the restoration threads from Kokamo('69), Ron Cozzo('64), fyrffytr1('67), Mudslinger('68), Nicks67GTO('67), Chipper7('69) and many more. You have been an inspiration, thanks. I refer to the assembly as I have already completed the engine, chassis and the body is on the frame and painted. I will take a step back and provide those buildups as "sub threads" to this one as I go along. I have posted questions here and received great help and some have suggested that I start a thread, so here it is, in all its glory...

Having had a '67 GTO in high school back in '74-'75, I, like others, have always wanted to get another. I like the body style of the '66-67's but particularly like the additional chrome and woodgrain found on the '67. About 10+ years ago I decided that someday I would do one as a project. I have done a '69 El Camino frame-off and a '67 Corvette frame-on restorations and worked on many cars before and had, at the time, a '69 Chevelle SS 396. My vision was to build a '67 GTO with a 428 and tripower, I am close to achieving that vision.

I bought the block back in 2003 and it sat for a long time while life went on and I did my Corvette. About 2010 I decided that I would start on the engine and get the machining done and begin assembly while I looked for a GTO candidate. By 2011 I decided to sell the Chevelle and get going on the GTO project. The Chevelle sold in summer of 2011 and I found on Craigslist an ad for a '67 GTO, rust-free, dissasssembled with a 400 in it that had the machine work done. It was located in St. Charles, Il, not too far away. A friend and I set out in August to check out this one and another GTO in the area and we ended up bringing this one home. It was really a basket case. It had been dissassembled and sat for many years. The body was sandblasted by some genius who must have been attempting to "restore" it. It was attractive because it was, in fact, a rust-free California car, original 4 speed and the engine was a good candidate for resale since it was not a numbers-matching car anyway and I had an engine already in the plans. Also included was a Muncie M20 4 speed and freshly re-chromed bumpers. From what we could find, most, if not all, of the parts were there so we loaded it up and brought 'er home. I was able to quickly sell the 400 and 4 speed and got to inventorying the parts.

Getting it loaded, that's not me. It is the guy I bought the car from. He had taken it as payment in a business deal a few years ago. he did not do much work on it.


Basically straight.


On the way home.


Solid interior, floors, trunk.






The only rust was the usual under the rear window reveal molding and some slight rust by tail lights.


Well, you get the idea, this is getting a bit long. If you are still with me, thanks. I have a lot more to share and I will be working on this as I continue my assembly. Please chime in with questions or comments, that's what makes this forum fun.

Later-

John