66 Nightwatch Blue GTO
 

Been about 11 years since my last Pontiac project (72 Trans Am) My 1st car was a 1966 GTO that I bought in 1981 and sold in 1986. I unable to find my my 1st GTO so I started to looking for Orginal paint survived 66 GTO.

So after working with the 3rd owner of a Nightwatch blue 66 for over 3 months. I flew to Minnesota a 2nd time and sealed the deal! It’s an original paint, chrome, interior, engine, trans, and rear! Unmolested 61,000 mile surviver. Car only had 16000 miles in 2002. Amazing documentation from all 3 owners.

No restoration for this car just paint correction, cleaning and detailing preservation!

Drove it 1200 mile back home, used/ leaked 1/2 qt of oil. Ran great and made about 13+ mpg.

Thanks
Pat


https://i.postimg.cc/qRh0ZQyx/63-DB1...6735-A39-F.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/zvTNqBdL/347-AD...E4-AB89-C5.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/Yqwkb69Q/D9925-...-E2-FE69-B.jpg

Great looking car

Nothing better than a Unrestored Survivor.

Restored / repainted cars are a dime-a-dozen.

We need lots of photos of this car, plus more details, options, PHS, built date and factory.

Do I see Red brake drums?

Thanks for sharing!

Chris.

Very nice find.... enjoy!

NICE !


:)

What a beautiful original '66... congratulations!!
Looking forward to seeing much more of it!

Grant

Awesome car. The paint looks flawless.

Good eyes, 1st owner painted the drums in the 60s
Thanks
Pat

Looks good in the pictures, but paint is cracked :-( I hope to be able to get it much more presentable with a little wet sanding and buffing.
Thanks
Pat

GOOD STUFF...
 

As far as RED DRUMS this was part of the R1 rim offering in '66 so if they are OE then the drum would be red from the factory no question.

And it is known that it was a rolling application with little or no concern for neatness.
If the '66 in question was slated for R1 they would just slather on the Red Paint and mount the Rim.

Can't go wrong with Nightwatch Blue!

Jeff,
Very cool, thanks for the info!!
Here’s a picture from the original owners in 1967 and you can just see the red drums!
Thanks
Pat

https://i.postimg.cc/MKH5V7Cz/D3-CFC...ACB856-AF8.jpg

Beautiful car and color! Really impressive road trip and the vintage pic is very cool

That's a fabulous car but is it really necessary to wet sand and buff the paint?

Just my 2 cents but isn't there risk it taking out the factory grade both good and bad characteristics?

Super car!

Agree with NYGTO.

Rule of thumb on a car with Factory Paint.
Possibly the use of a clay bar to remove dead paint and then high quality wax.

You will risk ruining that 55 year old Survivor paint with wet sanding and buffing, plus ruining the pinstripe.
The topside of Original lacquer paint typically has some checking, but that’s a trademark of a Survivor.

It’s your car but I would preserve what’s there now and enjoy.

PS, what is the Powertrain in this car ???

Sweet ride !

Here is good article on how to put a shine on original paint

https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ge-paints.html

That's a very good article/thread on single stage paint preservation, thank you.

I've had good success with 3M glaze, Chemical Guy's Black Light and Chemical Guy's Ceramic Coating wax. All have zero abrasive qualities, I wouldn't want my factory paint defects to be eliminated.

At a car show, I once had a guy try and pick-off some of the factory paint stripe where the stripe goes about a 1/4 of an inch to far onto the headlight bezel. I enjoy those factory imperfections!

Absolute correct information from Jeff in post #10.

One year only (1966)
If the Tempest Series car was built with the #454 Rally I wheel option @ $56.46 then it came with Red painted brake drums.

Perfect term used by Jeff that the Red paint was slathered on in a hurry so the wheel could be mounted and moved down the assembly line.
This caused the wet Red paint to drip onto the inside of rim.

A couple of pics Jeff used are of my White ‘66 showing the Red mess on the inside of rim.

The other ‘66 Rally I rim is from a Mission Beige GTO Survivor with it’s Red mess on rim.

Cool Factory assembly line hustle.

Agree with Chris, be gentle with the paint, it is priceless to have a survivor. Looking forward to more pics!

Great info! Here’s a picture of my spare with red paint drips!

https://i.postimg.cc/0yDDYRSx/425-D5...14-F3-D4-E.jpg

Unfortunately the roof and trunk will require a 2500 wet sand to knock down the crack edges that are raised. I have already done a few test and it is turning out very good!
Thanks
Pat