[Hooch]

Well I never thought I would ever get color on this car. It’s a long road to redo any car. I know that I should not own this car but I do and for me it had been a hard road. I have almost sold the car 3 times but I keep saying no and so far I’m happy with that decision.
You get into a rut and you think to yourself that you’re never going to get this car finished. Then you walk into the shop and you look into the paint booth and you see paint on your dash and everything starts happing your mind starts to race and that spark is back all it takes is a little paint to inspire and knowing one day we might get to drive the car again. Thanks Paul at fast.

[69 RA GTO]

Car looks like its coming along very nice, and very cool to own a RA IV Judge to boot

[Simple Man]

Looks great!

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Hey Hooch ,
i forgot all about you having an IV Judge from the past.

Glad you reposted that shot - refreshed my memory instantly !
Good luck on the restoration and best wishes.

Haven't you owned that Judge for about 20-30 years ?

[Hooch]

Thanks guys, It sure seams like I have had this car a long time. For me life as got in the way of getting this car finished. I'm on track of maybe getting to drive this car in 2013 if not then 2014.

[68ragtop]

I remember seeing that first picture too! I am coming up on the anniversary of 10 years after starting my 68 restoration. Its been bothering me lately. I have repainted many cars, rebuilt a few crashed cars & did a rotisserie resto on one other. But somehow the 68 keeps getting pushed back. I think I just got burned out on it & it became my secret nemesis. But I finally got back to it in recent weeks & am making some headway.

Do you have more pictures? They are inspiring. Looks nice!

[68ragtop]

Maybe I was dreaming.....

I looked in your past posts & couldn't find any pictures of it.
Had you posted picts of it before? Just looks familiar.

[Hooch]

I'm not sure if I have posted pic before but hope to have paint on car before the end of this year. Whooo... POSI

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

It may have been someone else posted that pic on your behalf.
The older snapshot.
Have seen it before years ago, on here.
Perhaps it was Paul , or another member in your area.

[Hooch]

This is some pic of the day we picked up the car.

[GTO JOHN]

Hooch that is so cool. What is the background story on the Judge?

[feb69judge]

Ok, I think i remember seeing your Judge on Ebay several years ago from Iowa, Kansas area?? Good luck with the resto. Glad to see it's in good hands!!

[Hooch]

The story of my car goes like this. My brother and I travel around the world with our work. One day he came across my Judge and asks the guy if it was for sale and he said no so each year he would stop by and ask when he was in the area and every year he would say no. This went on for 4 years. He happens to stop in when it was raining and the guy was working outside in the rain so he asks him again and he said yes. Whooo so my brother called me to see if I wanted to buy it. I was in Texas and asked him for the vin he gave it to me and I faxed it to PHS and waited by my computer for the fax. This took a hour or so to me, it was forever. I called my brother Bob back and told him he had found a iv judge and I wanted it. By this time he was 100 miles away from the car so he turned around and went back to give the guy $100 and told him that we would be back on Saturday to pick up the car. I was still in Texas,so I had to call my wife and ask her to get the money out of the bank and give it to Bob so he could get our car. She wasn't too happy about this but she did it for me.
So Bob got home on Friday got the money and drove back to Michigan on Friday what a day for him he got the car out on Sat and had to drive out of his way to get home because of a snow storm that was dropping 1 foot of snow in Michigan so he went through WI to get home. The car was in the UP and we live in Ind. I got home from Texas on Sat about the time he got home with the car. What a week.
My car was sold new in a town in the UP of Michigan and had never left the town it was sold in. I knew who he bought it from so how would I find out who bought this car new. The car had a dealer name on the trunk lid so I look up the number and started calling. The dealer said that the old owner had lost the dealership but he had a used car lot in town so I call the used car lot and asked for the owner of the dealership. I told him that I bought a car from his old dealership and wanted some info on the car. He ask me what car I bought and I told him, He said that he knew the car and remember that car because when it came off the carrier it didn't sound like it was running right so he ask his mechanic to look at the car and the mechanic told him that that is how the car was supposed to sound it was a ram air iv car. He told me that he sold the car to (...) and that he worked a ACE hardware and gave me the number to ACE so I call and (,,,) he wasn’t going to be back to work until Monday, so Monday came and I called ACE and talked to the first owner of my car for a hour way cool. He told me that he blew up the engine in the car after a few months after he got the car and it took Pontiac 6 months to get the engine back into the car. So he sold it in 1970. He told me who he sold it to so I call him and the conversation was not long at all. He told me that he blew up the car after he bought the can and put in a 1970 engine in the car he keep the car for 2 years and sold it to the guy I bought it from the guy I got it from. The guy I got it from had never drove the car he put it in his barn and it sat there until I bought the car.

I have never put this car out for sale but I was offered money for it the day I got the car home. I was offered money for it a few years ago and didn't take it. That is what I was talking about when I said I thought about selling the car no eBay or anything like that. People know that I have this car and they come to me. I don't go to them.

[richard sargent]

Was the car originally from Manistique Mich.?

I lived there in 1969 and remembered a CR Judge that sat a long time before it sold.

I used to go by the car all the time on the way to school (9th grade)

[Hooch]

yes sir, Its a small world

[richard sargent]

Wow that is so cool! We had a 67 Catalina and my dad was a big Pontiac fan.

As far as I know they only had the one Judge, never seen another.

My dad and I would comment from time to time why hasn't that car sold?

Well I know now, IV's were pricey cars, plus the UP was never a high income area.

It finally sold when the 70's came out and the dealer gave it a big discount.

We (my Dad and I) have no idea it was a IV car, it fact at the time hadn't heard of one yet.

I can tell you this I would have begged my Dad to test drive that car had I known.

After one test drive my Dad might have swung a deal, he was a huge fan of the early SD cars and Pontiac racing.

Today I own two IV 69 Judges and that car was one that captured a young boy's imagination!

[richard sargent]

If you ever wanna sell let me know?

[Hooch]

That is so awesome. Thank You. I will make sure that I don't give my wife your name. (ha..) I will put your name first on the list.
Do you have any pic of the dealership ?

[Hooch]

If you come to Dayton for the co-vention this year look me up. If the car isn't finished by then we can drive to the shop so you can check it out if you want. Thanks again.

chris

[John Eiseman]

Hey Chris, Its nice to hear your making progress with your Judge. Very cool history to go with your car. And it is a small world, Richard driving by the dealership with dad, looking over the ole car when it was fresh and new. Keep up the good work and post some more pics when you can.