[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by jwood82d

Thanks for the heads up. We do have the 4th Hurst wheel and I did not know that... I'll have to see if they can be cleaned up.

I believe it is one of the early ones. It came with the trim behind the rear tire and does not have the Judge logo on the dash. I sent the VIN to the Pontiac Historical Society to get the original dealer order sheet a while back also.

Hide those wheels like gold , no matter how bad you think they look at present.
They can be restored . Or just fluffed with nondestructive methods to a certain level.
Coolest wheel you can put on a GTO

The Pattern Judges were the very earliest , and all optioned identical within certain confines.
January and some February cars.
Your seatbelt is dated February , and can see at least 3 of the Pattern options so far..
Hood Tach , Driver Remote Mirror , Deluxe Seatbelts

The PHS Invoice will tell for sure by the order number.
Also , if you have a Lucite GTO emblem over the heater controls - it is about definitely a Pattern Car.

[jwood82d]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

Hide those wheels like gold , no matter how bad you think they look at present.
They can be restored . Or just fluffed with nondestructive methods to a certain level.
Coolest wheel you can put on a GTO

The Pattern Judges were the very earliest , and all optioned identical within certain confines.
January and some February cars.
Your seatbelt is dated February , and can see at least 3 of the Pattern options so far..
Hood Tach , Driver Remote Mirror , Deluxe Seatbelts

The PHS Invoice will tell for sure by the order number.
Also , if you have a Lucite GTO emblem over the heater controls - it is about definitely a Pattern Car.

Thanks for the info! Here's the PHS invoice.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Yes another feather in its hat !
It is a first fruit Pattern Judge .
Order Number 00064 , they were all 000xx

All of the 4spd versions were equipped the same.
Only variances were choice of Black or Parchment Buckets , and AC or Non-AC

I thought the 2 on your seatbelt tag meant February , but might be mistaken.
Trim Tag on driver side cowl will have a body date such as 01C , 01D , 02A or etc ...

It would have originally had a 3.55 gear 10 Bolt Posi
Probably was the first thing he swapped out to go racing

[jwood82d]

I took a picture of the body tag a while back. Looks like it says 01D

So 4th week of January.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Those were the first Judges available to dealers / public
Production started mid-January
They were shipped to zone storage lots and held before going out to the dealers.
We think they were trying to do a timed release for Valentines Day to public .

[jwood82d]

That is cool to know. Dan was actually from Maine, so it made sense that the car was assembled in Framingham MA.

My father's also from Maine but moved to this area of NY in the mid 70's after college. Imagine making that 9+ hour trip today with 4.56 rear gears.

[scott70]

Subscribed. Awesome!

[72projectbird]

This car is soooooo effing cool! The story, history, build date, The Look!

It doesn't get any better in my mind. I wish you lots of luck with it, and I'll be following along closely! Pretty wild to know that was pounding the pavement at tracks local to me. Wish I could have seen it in person.

[Jason67]

I've lived in the town beside Durham, Maine all my life, would've loved to seen this car in action before it went away. Awesome story and subscribed!

[1_Wild_Cat]

Wow...what a really great car and connection to it. I grew up around the Finger Lakes - but would be too young to remember that car. Please keep us updated on the restoration - it is a lot of fun to follow along and see the progress.

[jwood82d]

Some new pics of the quarter panel progress. Trunk pan has quite a few rust holes so that will be getting replaced also along with the cowl panel under the windshield. Next week It’s going on the rotisserie to clean up the welds and prep the body. Frame will get de-rusted and painted next week too!

[Held for Ransom]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

Yes another feather in its hat !
It is a first fruit Pattern Judge .
Order Number 00064 , they were all 000xx

All of the 4spd versions were equipped the same.
Only variances were choice of Black or Parchment Buckets , and AC or Non-AC

I thought the 2 on your seatbelt tag meant February , but might be mistaken.
Trim Tag on driver side cowl will have a body date such as 01C , 01D , 02A or etc ...

It would have originally had a 3.55 gear 10 Bolt Posi
Probably was the first thing he swapped out to go racing

The 2C69 on the seat belt tag is the second week of 69 and C is machine they used or line it was on or operator, something like that.


You should have known the body build date was before 02A by the 01 991 on the PHS.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

It was the ship date from 01-991 that pointed me back.
We didn't have his invoice or trim tag info when I was first spying his seatbelt.

Pattern Cars went on until 02C or 02D

[jwood82d]

UPDATE! My father stopped up to the resto shop for a different project and grabbed some pictures of The Judge. Unfortunately he took the pictures with a potato so they are pretty low quality. The quarter skins are on, the old cowl panel removed and underneath shot with POR 15, and now the new cowl panel is also on. The body is on the rotisserie to start body work and the frame getting the rust removed.

[will slow gto]

Nice progress. I’m from California and am not seeing a lot of rust…are you planning to weld in a piece of metal on top of the engine cross member? Looks like someone took a chunk out of it, maybe for header clearance?

[jwood82d]

Originally Posted by will slow gto

Nice progress. I’m from California and am not seeing a lot of rust…are you planning to weld in a piece of metal on top of the engine cross member? Looks like someone took a chunk out of it, maybe for header clearance?

I did see that a while back and wondered if that’s what it was. It should be repaired in that case but I’ll have to get back to you on it.

[scott70]

Looking good!

[rwfisher]

Frame and underside looks like it would clean up great with dry ice blasting. Pretty amazing what that process can do…

[jwood82d]

New pics from the other day. Paint is just about all stripped, suspension and brakes on the way. Frame is de-rusted and sealed and ready for chassis assembly. Going to be a long road of body work ahead and the trunk pan still needs to be replaced. Floor pans are in good shape other than some minor patchwork here and there. Project is coming along nicely!

[jwood82d]

Suspension getting installed as it comes in. Trailing arms came in today but the rear axle needs to be cleaned up and painted still. The body is completely stripped except for interior. Trunk pan getting installed now too, once done the bottom is getting a coat of bedliner for some extra durability. Side note, can anyone figure out what the decal is in front of the rear wheels in the black and white pics?? I’ve looked all over the web and the only other car I found that has it is the California Flash Camaro in the same spot.