[The Boss]

Beyond that, I am going to drive the snot out of it.... and leave it alone as much as possible.

Just what I wanted to hear!

[Gator67]

Sounds like a great plan!

[6 Grrrs]

Makes more sense to me now. The bigger guy and yourself do not look old enough to have this car stored for a long, long time. It seemed like a car that was stored a long time due to the hooker header stickers and the wheels/tires. When you stated previous owner, I was having trouble figuring out which guy in the photo was old enough to own it for so long. I thought the hippie looking guy might have been the previous owner and maybe you got the photos out of order

Since your main focus is not to restore the car before driving it, then it sounds like a barn find to me. I agree completely with what you are doing to it. I tried that with mine, but we had issues matching the paint with the few spots that needed fixed, so the whole car ended up getting re-painted. I'll bet that paint will look pretty good when buffed out. Nice car regardless.

I too am looking forward to more photos.

[Unclesamscandy]

Daryl is the skinny guy! He drives across country for the right car!!!

[squirejohn]

Nice to see there are still finds to be had.
I love the pics with the retro (wasnt then) rims and the hooker header emblem on the side.
Glad you saved her and looking forward to progress pics.

[60sstuff]

I hope you try to preserve whats left of the factory dual pinstripes. I have had very good luck protecting them during a buff / wax job by applying a gentle tape over them and coming back later with a "100% wax" gently by hand to bring up a shine. DO NOT use any cleaner type wax as it will remove whats left of those old dry black stripes. COOL 67 HO! Thanks for sharing the find!!!

[GTO JOHN]

Nice find. Looks like a Rat Muscle contender at this year's Muscle Car Classic.

[SD421]

Wow, great find indeed.

BTW I hope you also changed the oil before you fired her up. When I bought my Goat back in 1991, the car had been sitting. I drove it home and went out that night messing around in it. The next day, I went around a corner and punched it. Well, the oil pump seized up and snapped the distributor driveshaft.
Needless to say I had to pull the motor and wound up rebuilding it.

If I had just changed the darn oil after I had gotten home things might have cost me less.

Don

[60sstuff]

Originally Posted by SD421

Well, the oil pump seized up and snapped the distributor driveshaft.
Needless to say I had to pull the motor

Same thing happened to me years ago. It involved a 67 HO 4spd. I found that had been sitting for years. I did all the pre-drive preparations as mentioned but there were small particles of teflon which came on the original timing gears that somehow jammed up the oil pump and twisted and snapped the shaft to the distributor. USE CAUTION on this old beast!

[Tygrr67]

i'm glad you mentioned the oil change.. But yes.. That actually was the first thing I did to the motor. I plan on changing out again after a few more hours on it.

No,the trans am is not for sale. Thank you for the interest though.

Finally, I will be posting pictures of the car as it progresses. I seriously intend on using this as it is. So for now, the hardest decesion I have had to make is getting the right personalized collector plates for it. Right now, the leading contender is "HO67GTO"

[Mister Pontiac]

Originally Posted by Tygrr67

Finally, I will be posting pictures of the car as it progresses. I seriously intend on using this as it is. So for now, the hardest decesion I have had to make is getting the right personalized collector plates for it. Right now, the leading contender is "HO67GTO"

Fantastic! I always appreciate a car that's driven regularly. Mine fit in this category.

As to the personal plate, I totally understand. Like you, I'm thinking of a personal plate for my '71 Vert, when that day comes...

Another option might be to use a 'period correct' plate? I don't know the rules in your state, but here in AZ we can use original 'vintage' plates on our cars. I've sourced correct ones for my fleet, and pleasantly surprising, the color combos work very well with my cars' colors.

[Ken N Gilbert]

I am plating up a 67 vert in Arizona in the next couple of months. I love the look of the plate on your 67. Did you go through DMV for that or just how did you get it?

[Gator67]

Originally Posted by Ken N Gilbert

I am plating up a 67 vert in Arizona in the next couple of months. I love the look of the plate on your 67. Did you go through DMV for that or just how did you get it?

I've done this a couple times this past year. I bought a plate at the Gilbert swap meet and another off eBay. To check whether your plate will work (check before you buy it) go to the following Arizona DMV webpage. It's for checking the availability of number/letter combinations for people interested in buying vanity plates, but it works for the purpose of verifying the availability of number/letter combinations for year of manufacture plates as well.*

https://servicearizona.com/webapp/ve...startChoice.do

Click on the top button "Check my personalized plate choice" and then "continue"

Another page will come up with a bunch of plate designs. Ignore all this and go to the bottom of the page and type in the plate number where it says "Enter Plate". Don't try to enter a dash if one is on the plate. So if your plate is GTO-455 just enter GTO455. Hit "search" Another page will come up and tell you if the plate number is available or not available.

From my understanding of the DMV rules, the year of the plate needs to "match" the year that the car was manufactured. So, for example, you can't use a maroon colored plate from the 1980s for a car manufactured in 1961 even though at some point such a plate could have been assigned to the car by the DMV for a different owner. It sounds kind of arbitrary, but rules are rules I guess. Keep in mind that plates for certain years were used for multiple years. For example, plates stamped with "1966" were used from 1966-1968. The plate for my 67 is a 66 plate with a 67 registration sticker. The plate for my 68 is a 66 plate with a 68 registration sticker. I don't know if you actually need the registration sticker with the correct year, but they were readily available so I got them to be safe.

[Ken N Gilbert]

Thanks for the info. That is a clean look so all I need to do now is find a 66 plate.

[Gator67]

And after you find an "available" plate, you have to take it to the DMV for final approval and registration.