Can anybody ID this GTO restoration shop?
 

All of you Pontiac experts, I figured somebody may recognize this shop from the exterior, from the engine test rig, from the interior/office area with the posters on the walls, etc. Or maybe you recognize one of the GTO's sitting around waiting to be restored (one of yours? ;) ). Bonus points if you recognize the dog!

I'm trying to find out what shop did my frame-off restoration, and the dealer I purchased from doesn't know, but provided me a folder with pix. I have more pix but can only post 5 at a time, so let me know if more could help. This was an in-theory approx 2011-ish? restoration.

Any ideas, THANKS for any help! Mainly, I'd like to know exactly how the engine was put together (compression, valve seats, etc for gas/timing purposes), but it would just be great to know who they are and be able to contact them.

THANKS!

That engine test stand is wild!!

These appear to be film photos, so I'd wager they were taken quite a bit earlier than 2011. They kinda give me early '90s vibes.

Do you have any idea of the town or even the state where these photos were taken? That would help people search. Also, there's also the very real possibility that the shop that did the bodywork is not the shop that did the engine work.

Looks like someone's house, garage and yard to me.

That engine test stand, though... What a unit. :eek:

If there is anything in these photos that will yield a clue to who was behind the restoration, it's probably going to be that wild test stand. You don't see something like that very often.

Agreed. Just found @donziboy who has a photo of his car being built in the same shop. Yes, I have other engine shots showing it very likely is their engine test stand, with all the cars they likely ran through there.

I'll be posting 10 more photos this weekend, I created another thread in the 64-65 GTO Tech forum and got a follow-up there.

Agreed the restoration must have been further back than 2011, the car is in such great condition and the oldest receipt I have changing hands is 2011 so I was assuming it may have been around then.

It would be great to find out who runs/ran this shop, they had the full complement of paint booth/etc and had quite a few GTO's parked around the facility, along with the one Impala that has a rear plate that I can't quite make out for the state.

Plus they have _one_ photo of the car shot from the rear that shows the very obvious/significant dent I put in the drivers rear quarter panel, which was still on it when I sold the car in 1985.

You know these guys are Pontiac guys when the test stand has GTO splitters pointed left and right on the back! :jumping:

More shop/car pix.

Well, I posted and the images were rotated, so I deleted the images and uploaded again and they are rotated. Sorry!

Possibly...
 

mid to late 90's is my reference point.
Ron Hamm Autobuilder shop near Rogers or Springdale Arkansas (can't remember which). While on the road to north central Arkansas to pick up a project car, once stopped in Ron's place. Ron "built" a bunch of early GT0's in the late 80's up into mid to late 90's, dabbled in later GTO builds (at least one early Lucerne blue 71 Judge... Uncle Judge & I know it). Not sure how much later Ron kept going. Been in & out of a BUNCH of restoration/body shops since, the most organized ones are the ones that gave me ideas that I incorporated putting up my own shop. Do remember Ron's place as a long narrow old school shop, multiple garage doors, some concrete block walls, lot of native trees around the place as well as future projects & partscars.

What would it cost to have a GTO restored back in that timeframe?

That is awesome, THANKS for the info! It looked to be "middle-America" so I was thinking maybe tennessee, arkansas, etc. Now I know "the rest of the story...".

Makes sense it would be restored around this area, that is only about 100 miles east of Tulsa (where car was first sold) and I sold the car in Stillwater (about 180 miles west of Rogers). Now I just need to find out how it got to Connecticut and Napoli Classics!

No problem. The layout of the place stuck in my mind, as well as the Irist Mist '65 convert, loved to have viewed the PHS on that one.

Randy, are you looking to contact that guy? I lived in Rogers and Springdale from 2011 to 2016. My friend Richard from back there is a Mustang guy, but only because his dad took him to buy his first new car in 1971 and wouldn't let him buy a GTO because it was "too powerful". He still has the 1971 mustard yellow Mach I that he bought new at that time.

Rogers was still a very small town that far back, so he may know this guy. I'll text him and ask if you like.

By the way, are those the redlines I got from you in those pictures? :)

Hey hey, the redlines I have on now are the new Coker redlines, but the prior photos may have had the bias-plies you got from me. Yes I'm looking for Ron.

Just found the shop! Ron Ham's Classic Auto Shop

2114 Little Flock Drive, Rogers, AR is the address

https://www.google.com/maps/place/21...!4d-94.1477177

This shows the building on Google Maps, same front with two rollup doors and two "regular" doors in the middle.

I've tracked down two phone numbers and left VM's to see if Ron is still around.

Well, no response on these two phone numbers. I did find an older listing of a Legend magazine issue that had a name for someone else who headed up a "Ozarks GTO Club" or something like that, with I believe a Rogers Arkansas address. Anybody know anything about that club/president/Ron Ham?

Thanks!

Check in to see if you were able to figure out your engine build. If the answer is no can you describe your curb idle (lumpy or smooth), RPM and what vacuum you see.
Thanks

I haven't cracked into the engine yet:

• Idle: Curb idle is smooth even around 600 rpm.

• Vacuum: I was pulling 17" @ 450 rpm and 18" @ 700 rpm.

• Advance: With centrifugal and vacuum advance, I'm at about 15 base with mechanical bringing it to ~27-28 at 2500 rpm with vacuum adding about 20 more when available.

Ok thanks for the numbers, my engine runs very good with plenty of torque and sounds very healthy. There are not a lot of miles put on it since the rebuild and the odometer shows 4200 miles. I’m currently idling around 725 rpm with 14” vac. My timing is set at 12 initial, 24 mechanical and vacuum takes me up to 43.
I’m running a tri power and ideal screws are 2 1/4 turns out. I would describe my idle as a very slight coarseness at idle.

Interesting! Sounds like our mechanical is about the same, mine adds about 12-13 degrees. But I have more vacuum, adding as much as 20 at some points maxing at around 47-48 degrees, I wonder if they installed different cans on yours and mine. Without me running 110 I wouldn't want to run 15 degrees base, but it really likes it, never pings, detonates, hesitates.

I'm planning a trip to Oklahoma next year, then will be cutting east and I'm going to stop by this shop address to see who is still there/what they know. Then headed to the POCI convention after.