[Icantdrive55]

It was December 1977 and the blue '64 GTO had been in barn storage for seven years. I think it was comprised more chicken droppings and KY-winter rust than anything else! It had an automatic, a Carter AFB, a set of bald snow tires and 138,000 on the clock. BUT, it was a GTO and a convertible! It was given to me by my aunt and uncle as a Christmas present, but only if I could get it running during Christmas break. I was 14 at the time and in love with the possibility of owning my first car.

After a few hours of tinkering around on the engine, I decided to attempt a startup. While tinkering, I had not noticed that the throttle return spring was missing on the AFB. So, when the car started, the AFB backfired and a small engine fire started and immediately spread over the filthy engine. The engine was so dirty with oil and grease that none of the original parts appeared to be chromed (like the air cleaner and valve covers). I somehow put the fire out with my hands and a shop towel! However,I still did not notice the missing spring! So, I put more starting fluid to it and hit the key...

In the next 5 seconds, I learned the following information about the car very, very quickly: The functioning exhaust system consisted of the exhaust manifolds plus about 15 inches of rusty pipe on both outlets; the oil rings were shot; the throttle-return spring was definitely missing and, most importantly, I learned the meaning of "wide-open" on a GTO! I didn't worry so much about the driverless car taking off down the road as much as I thought it might liftoff and achieve orbit any moment - if I didn't do something quick!

It took about 15 more seconds to figure it out and idle the GTO's engine down. I was feeling like an adrenalin factory, but the car was running (which meant I got to keep it)! While relishing my accomplishment, my grandfather's barn was filled with and pouring out thick blue/black smoke in all directions. Three locals stopped along the country road to see if the barn was on fire and everyone from my grandparent's house abandoned their lunchtime feeding on holiday leftovers to sprint across the road and check out the revived beast, the smoke and the straight-pipe thunder! In a single day, word spread in the little town of 3,000 that the Kirkpatrick's GTO was back on the street. Limping badly, but back on the street, nonetheless!

The next day, we installed a spring on the AFB and took the car into town to get a fill-up. Man, the looks we got in town from the noise and smoke of that 389! Anyway, we also bought some plastic sheeting from the local farm supply store to construct a semblance of a convertible top. That afternoon, we cleaned out about 3 gallons of chicken poop from the interior and later drove the car home to Georgia on New Year's Day.

My dad and I restored the car (for a total cost of $3,700) over the next year. The best race I remember was beating a 74 454 Corvette on the Newnan Highway (at the encouragement of my dad who was riding shotgun at the time)!!! Sadly, within three years, the cost of gas was so high that I traded the GTO away in favor of more MPG and reliability.

Yeah, I wish I had her back.

I was told that a collector from the Carolinas purchased the car within 2 days of the trade-in. I never heard anything thereafter. I have always hoped the car went to a good home.

The VIN # was 824P2244770. I still have some of the early documentation on the car, some photos and a bunch of great memories. I would later own and restore other GTOs, and I even found a 1 of 1 Dodge Daytona now owned by Tim Wellborn in Alabama, but the 64 GTO was (and will always be, to me) the best of my car stories.