[Rob B]

Originally Posted by SD455DJ

Rob B,

What times does it run? 1/8 or 1/4 mile? Tell us more about the drivetrain and more pictures!

Dennis

Best actual true 1/4 mile time at a Test & Tune was 10.06@132 and change. 1/8th mile is 6.34@107 and change. If I was running qtr the weekend of the .30's, the car would have probably run 9.98, 9.99, something like that. Motor is a 535 with a relatively small solid flat tappet that I ran in my old motor for eternity. Plan on switching to a roller sometime later this coming year. Trans is a 400 Turbo and the rear is a dana60 with a 4.10 gear.

[74gto]

Hi Dennis!
The figure of 53 black cars has never been verified,as far as I know, but this info came from Rob Beattie, who was past president of POCI Widetrackers in the 90's. I remember speaking with your brother Dan at Autorama when he had the green 71 there about black 74 GTO's, as I had a line on one back then. Obviously I'm going back at least 20 years!!

I'm curious if the AM radio works. If it's the one Steve got from me, it came out of an old bracket racer owned by George Zimnicky. I never tested it, but the odometer showed 57,000 when it was pulled off the streets.

Do you have the engine turned dash bezel or the woodgrain ?.

Did Steve ever find the rear "earmuffs", of find a pair that were not broken?? I may still have a set if you need them.

Do you still have the seat belt interlock module under the drivers seat??

Hope you get it out this year, would like to check it out when you're all done.

JOHN

P.S. Rob's car hauls a$$ and he's deadly consistant, goes to the money rounds everytime I've seen him run

[a95toy]

So what is the rarest color 74 GTO?? I was told it was the Ascot Silver to be the rarest. That of course is unconfirmed. The paint does show on my PHS as a special order color...
Terry

[SD455DJ]

74gto,

Don't know if the radio works yet since the dash is total dismantled. We had to order all new repro dash bezel (insert), heater/vent controls, speedo and tach, gauges and all new lenses along with other pieces and parts. For as solid and clean the body and sheet metal was, for some reason the dash area had lots of wear and surface rust, especially the steering column. The original stuff would look bad and out of place with how nice the rest of the car is.

The dash has the wood grain insert that can be saved and transferred to the new bezel.

I do have the earmuffs and underseat seatbelt interlock system.

The car will be ready for spring, barring any unforseen problems. I'd love to see your car too this year.

Rob"s black car is bad a$$$$$$.

Dennis

[SD455DJ]

Was the engine turned dash a hit or miss thing? Or change over from wood grain to engine turn at a particular date in the model year? Or by plant? Mine has the wood grain that I'm considering swapping out for engine turned aluminum to emphasize the GTO image.

Could someone with there original jack & base post pictures of them? I need to know what to look for?

Thanks, Dennis

[supcarbob]

Hey Dennis, I didn’t know Steve was selling car. Glad that you picked it up. Pictures look good. I had told Steve the bumper fillers on those black ’74’s were white when the cars came in new. They looked a little out of place,but that is way we sold them-(just for info on them).
The ‘dash swirl’ I remember being on most of them including your car. I remember that because I sold your car as a year old car from our used car lot to a friend at the time and I was in car many times back then. There were some that did not have it at times through out the model year.
The other black ’74’s we sold had ‘saddle’ interior. You could not get ‘black’ bucket seat interior on them. Yours was only one with ‘white’ we sold.

[SD455DJ]

Hi Bob, I'm glad you posted. If I got any of the details wrong about the history of the car, especially your involvementwith ordering it, please feel free to correct it. Steve has done all the "heavy lifting" work to the car and Dan & I are doing the lighter stuff (mainly the interior). I don't know if you have seen the car in person, but it somehow survived intact and with the original drivetrain. I'm glad you remember this car having the engine-turned inserts, it really needs them (and I really like them).

A couple of questions:
Did the dash (as you recall) have the engine-turned on the lower protions around the radio and controls? Or did it also cover the wood grain area below the speedo gauge?

Did you order the car for a customer or to sit in the showroom, or on the lot? Were the 5 GTO's you ordered (at different times) all painted black (3 automatics & 2 4spds)?

What was your opinion of these cars back in the day? (Inquiring minds need to know!)

Thanks, Dennis

[74gto]

Dennis,
All the 74's I have owned that have had the engine turned has it around the headlight and wiper switch area, and around the radio. I have seen them both with woodgrain and engine turned, but they may have run out of engine turned at one point, because the cars I remeber having woodgrain were later built cars. Completely going off memory, but I believe I had an April and June built car with the woodgrain. They may have been installed later, I rally don't know, do not know the histories of the cars. I can tell you that some of the engine turned dashes I have seen have had the "clear coat" peeling off of them. Were they replaced with woodgrain?? Another mystery we man never know the answer too. JOHN

P.S. If your car came with door edge guards and you're looking for a set, let me know. I have one set left that deserve to go on a car like yours.

[74gto]

I think i sold the last base and jack I had , along with the anchor bolt that holds it to the right inside quarter pannel. I will take a look and let you know.

[74gto]

Dennis,
If you ordered speedo and tach from a Nova, unless it's 73 or 4, they are different. Nothing major, but the turn signal arrows got larger in 73-74 as compared to 1968-72. Took me a number of years to find that out!!!!

[SD455DJ]

74gto (John), We'll make sure the speedo is the same, or will send it back. I know that the original has a clip-on speedo cable while the new repro has a screw-on type. We are hoping that we can switch the two around. You can see that when we tried to gently wipe the speedo face the white numbers smeared like the weren't dry or decomposed to powder, so we ordered a new speedo. The Classic Ind. catalog picture looked the same, if not identical. We'll find out later this week.

Thanks for checking for a bumper jack and base. Let me know if you happen to find one.

There appears to be glue residue on the surfaces you said the engine turned portions are usually found, so it must have had it. There wasn't any above where the wood grain is? I'll try to attach a photo of my dash bezel if it isn't too large.

My car didn't come with any chrome anywhere on the sides, so won't need the door edges guards, but thanks for offering.

Dennis

[supcarbob]

Dennis, I don’t remember any woodgrain on dash. I ordered the black ’74’s at different times through out model year. They were all ordered for dealer stock -including yours.
The ’74 GTO sure was a different car to sell then previous model year GTO. I really liked them , because we still had a GTO and a car to compete with the very popular Nova SS and Duster 360. I remember guys with 2-3 year old GTO’s coming in to look for a new GTO and wanted no part of the ’74. A lot of them felt let down on what Pontiac did to car. The traditional GTO owner from the past was getting a little older and didn’t want less then they had and some switched to a Grand Prix or Grand Am. Firebird fever was really spreading also. We did sell a lot more ’74 GTO’s then the past couple of years , but it was a different buyer-we sold a LOT of them to 17-21 year olds. Looking back I guess it worked out the way intended , Pontiac found new customers (younger) to sell new GTO and a lot of traditional GTO owners did buy another Pontiac model (GP,Grand Am). I always wished Pontiac would have tried a little harder on the car and at least offered a 4004bbl option, to me that would have been best of both worlds!

[SD455DJ]

Bob,

Thanks for specific memories of this car. It really adds to the alure of it. I wish they had put the 400 4-bbl in it too, or at least offered it as on option. I think that would have changed alot of minds towards liking the car or not. They should have offered 3.42 gears and the Muncie or B-W M-20 4-speed tranny. That would be such a cool and more desirable car today if built from the factory that way. There is a place in Chicago that makes custom order engine turned dash inserts that I could have them make for the car. They are called FPM Metals and they have done TA dashes and tons of street rood dashes as well as classics from the 30's. Ever heard of them?

Dennis

[Rob B]

Originally Posted by SD455DJ

Bob,

There is a place in Chicago that makes custom order engine turned dash inserts that I could have them make for the car. They are called FPM Metals and they have done TA dashes and tons of street rood dashes as well as classics from the 30's. Ever heard of them?

Dennis

Please let me know what you find out on doing this and how much it would cost. I 'm interested.

[SD455DJ]

Rob,

Will do.

[74gto]

Dennis, here is a picture of a dash insert that I had in an old bracket racer. The circuit board is date coded 5/16/74. Also attached is a close up of the engine turned insert for reference.

[74gto]

Dash insert

[74gto]

Dennis, here is a picture of a dash insert that I had in an old bracket racer. The circuit board is date coded 5/16/74. Also attached is a close up of the engine turned insert for reference.

[SD455DJ]

74 gto,

Thanks for those great pictures of the engine turned dash inserts. I am sending my old dash to FPM Metals (in Nebraska, not Chicago) along with your pictures to get a quote. I will post how much it costs and see if anyone (Rob B) is interested. Maybe if I get enough interested we could get a discount.

Is the upper most piece where the gauges are factory?

Dennis

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by 74gto

Dennis, here is a picture of a dash insert that I had in an old bracket racer. The circuit board is date coded 5/16/74. Also attached is a close up of the engine turned insert for reference.

John,

Is the engine turned on each side of the radio factory, or do you think it is a one piece insert that was cut?

Thanks, Dennis