Advice/direction on my 69 GTO
 

Looking for opinions on my 69 GTO. Please keep your mind open!

The orange wrap is going on great. Yes there are imperfections under the paint but the car already looks like more fun.

As this progresses obviously the priorities change. As I’ve said in another post, the finish is not like paint, more like a plastic toy- think Barbie corvette for the sheen.

Someone posted that it gives the car a ‘day 2’ look and I can’t get it out of my head.

The car will be orange with Judge stripes and a spoiler. Obviously the thin white line tires I spent so much on will not fit this vibe.

I can pull the Rallye II’s off my 70 LeMans and roll with them easily.

While joking around yesterday at the shop we realized none of us had done a car with side pipes. I can raise the rear, put 15” slots, side pipes, gold valve covers and yellow plug wires on it and have a relatively proper 70’s vintage ride. Maybe even add amber lights?

I can leave the suspension as is and put some 17”s or 18”s on it and go with a restomod look.

Couple of things to think about- the wrap is not going to look perfect due to the finish under it. I have concerns that putting modern wheels and tires on it (while cool) might look more roadkill than restomod which is not what I’m going for. The car is too nice and solid for that. There won’t be parts hanging off of the car.

Of the cars from this era 68-72 I already have:
68 LeMans convertible stock on 17” Hurst wheels
69 GTO (let’s see what we decide)
70 LeMans stock on 7” and 8” Rally II’s
70 GTO judge clone on 17” honeycombs
70 GTO convertible at body shop- the plan is 17” TA wheels mini lites (I think)
71 GTO Judge clone on 15” honeycombs
72 Luxury LeMans on…. Does it matter? It’s green and has fender skirts.


So….

Keep it stock and use 7”/8” Rallye II combo with no trim rings?

Go full Day 2, really no way to half way do this. Slots and side pipes?

Restomod/Roadkill look with modern wheels and tires?

I like the modern 17" honeys and also those bandit Rally II's myself.

Did you like the 17" honeys on yer judge clone?

Keystone Classics for mags!


:D

Dog dish.

Guess I'm a stale old man... but.... I would've left it alone...

Same. The wrap is fine, but I'd personally stop there since it's such a cream puff.

I vote no sidepipes...

the dog dish with white lines sounds good. maybe, get one of those tire markers and make the white line red.
if you do it like the chevelle in the pic, don't forget to hang a couple small red lights from each side of the diff cover.

To me, side pipes only look good on Corvettes and Cobras.

That seems to be the consensus- I can’t find a pic of a 68-69 GTO/LeMans with side pipes so it can’t look that good.

I probably need to put my Rallye II’s on it and see how it feels.

King- I love the honeycombs- while not applicable for a 70 I went out on a limb and am very happy with them on the car.

I had side pipes on my 69 Firebird Sprint convertible back in 76-77. Crude, loud, obnoxious, and didn't really add anything good to the styling of the car. One of those "had to do it to know not to do it" phases of my misspent youth. They were aftermarket, a freebie off another buddy's 66 Corvette.

The split manifold of the Sprint made it true separated dual exhaust. The Sprint 6 sounded good; if only it were quieter and more mellow.

Only fun part was killing the ignition for 5-10 seconds and lighting up again under bridges at night. My buddy opened the passenger door to see if it threw flames, it did. Noise echoed off the door panels and our ears rang for a while after.

How’s this look? Slot mags and side pipes, up in the air ‘70’s style.

The cool way to hook them up! (not the same car)

I would nix the sidepipes. I built the 442 and '70 Chevelle in '69 and '70, a long time ago. The 442 was mine and it sold a lot of paint and custom work for me and the "look" was popular at the time. Panel painting, cobwebbing, fading, flake, imagineering. The '66 Chevelle I finished a couple years ago, it has 17"/18" dropped spindles, Viper Red paint and a completely different look but way stock.
The late 60s early '70s look was tire/wheel, rake and wild paint. Thrush had sidepipes that were popular, but always too short to fit the car. To me sidepipes are a sports car thing. You already have the bright color but I would change up the stripes and color scheme, since your good at wrapping now. Give it some rake and decide 17" wheels or old school look. Judging by your fleet description, you need something different. Send me a couple pics in email and I can play with some artwork based on wrap.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1670537293
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1670537313
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1670537761

you could put the giant kool aid pitcher man in the main body of the wrap.......

Day 2. How about just big 'n' littles? But no VW Beetle tires or modern pizza cutters, this is a driver. Out front, a 15x6 with something narrow-ish like a 205, and 15x7 with a 275/60 out back? I'd even say 15x8 with 295 if you can keep them tucked in. Sky is the limit with rim choices, but the Rally II could still work. Subtle, but obvious? :noidea:

There is a member here that has a green '69 Judge convertible with side pipes.

Since YOU asked...

My favored looks of classic cars is how they looked in the day. Modern wheels do nothing for me. I see a few cars ((Pontiacs!!!) That look good. I like the honeycomb in post 10.
I had a set of slotted U. S. Mags on another car, in the day. They are being reproduced, and look just as good as the originals did!!! Other brands of slotted wheels look, just OK to me. In comparison.

I'd prefer Cragar SS's, Keystone classics, any of the American Racing Torq Thrust wheels. Or the slotted U. S. Mags....all 15 inch. Of course.

Under the hood, the Old MT valve covers were great!!!
Maybe an Edelbrock Performer RPM, with the stock Quadrajet. Of course throttle linkage, fuel link to carb. And hook ups for vacuum accessories ALL might need modification...most folks here hate headers, but the sound with good mufflers makes a difference!!!

See how YOU like the Rally 2's to start with, go from there!!!!

Can't wait to see your choices!!!!

Here is todays progress. I got the passenger fender and drivers door done today (hood isn’t closed). The fender wasn’t easy, but I expected it. The door was relatively easy except for the very bottom. I will say this- you will know every line on the car after this exercise!

There is a spot on the bottom of the fender that looks like a straight line. That’s where the body filler lined up with the rocker trim.

I have a busy few days coming up for work so it will sit like this until next week. I will do the door early next week and then it’s on to the roof. Need to watch a few more videos about making a seam and maybe try it with some small pieces first.

The car really takes on a different personality in a brighter color.

Just don't put a rebel flag on the roof....

What in the he!! is that??? Someone was high on meth making that exhaust system. Is this a G-body, wait that's not a A-body frame is it? My mind can't comprehend this, how bad this is.

Looked at this a little closer. A-body in first pic no doubt, no way the second pic is an A-body frame. This should be in Epic craigslist ads, wait where am I??? Twilight zone!!!