Hi there,
Glad to be a part of this forum. I have been lurking here for some time now and have finally registered. I assume I am worthy as I am working on a father/son restoration of dad's 1971 GTO 400 ci, 4 speed, Lucerne Blue, that he ordered new in 71. He picked it up at Doten Pontiac in Oakland, CA, only miles from the Fremont plant where it was built. In 1976 we moved from California to Utah. In about 1986 Dad and I decided we would restore the GTO and disassembled her. We built a wood support for the body and separated it from the chassis, completely stripped everything but the interior and then life took over for me and the project stalled. Everything was always indoors and the car body garaged...Fast forward 25 years, My kids are almost grown and dad has a great job and makes bank. We are both not quite as spry as we used to be, dad says we should get the GTO done and that he has the financial resources ready to go. I agreed to assist in the project; after all, I disassembled her for the most part, back in the day. Well the official restoration started about May last year with the logging and categorizing of all the parts removed and to be removed, and then we went hunting for a restoration shop that would work with us. (That’s a whole other story!) Right now we have a rolling chassis with the fresh 400 (vin# matching), 4 speed trans (vin# matching) mounted and ready for the body. The body is at;
http://www.slckustoms.com/curentproj...tobrugger.html being massaged to perfection. We are projecting finishing this car by fall of this year.
Dad is my step-dad and is only 14 years older than me and he say to me one weekend that all my hard work won’t be for not, as he will leave me the GTO in his will. Well, I kind of chuckled and he asks me why, I say to him, he’s only 14 years older than me and grandpa is 90 something and sharp as a tack, furthermore, he is healthier than me and he will probably out-live me. He thought about that for a few weeks and out of the blue, says to me, “When the GTO is done we can do a 69 firebird for you and I’ll pay for the restoration.” I almost fell on the floor! I have already found and purchased a 1969 firebird convertible that was born in CA, went to AZ and then WI. I am road tripping on Tuesday morning to go and pick her up. Suffice to say I will be needing a lot of advice and help!