[WAKman]

Hello all,

I just joined this forum, but I've been chasing a particular 1966 GTO for over ten years, and this week got to see it for the first time. Very long story short: it's my former neighbor's elderly dad's car, I asked him to sell it years ago, got "I'll think about it," now he's in memory care, and my former neighbor wants to sell to me. In garage storage for 40--yup, 40!--years, covered with newspapers. Car: 1966 Hardtop, Montero Red, 4 bbl, manual trans, factory AC & PS, non-rusty PNW car, paint is 3.5-4.5 mils. All trim is there, no dents, paint is faded but can be brought back. Interior is moldy, but intact. No rips, no tears. A bit of critter damage is evident inside, and the A/C has been taken apart. I put it on jack stands today--underside looks clean, all the wheels rotate, does not have a Posi. The bad: the engine does not turn over when I put a wrench on it. It's stuck fast. The car was left with oil in it, and my guess is it "ran when parked" since it was backed into the garage. The owner doesn't remember the car, or, indeed, his own house of 44 years. It's a sad story.

I'm deciding whether I want to buy this car myself or help them sell it. My first choice is to buy it get it back to running condition, but not restore it and just drive it as is--as a survivor. I want to offer the owners a fair price on the car and would appreciate any advice folks might want to offer on how to reach a fair price. Since it doesn't run, it's less than a Hagerty #4, but it's definitely way more than a parts car, and it has cool options.

I write about cars for various magazines--Porsche & BMW--but I love American muscle cars, and I've always loved GTOs. This "barn find" will make a cool story or series of stories.

Anyway: Watch this space.

Nice to meet you all!

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Sorry to hear about his fathers condition. That is a rough road to handle.


It is strange about the engine though.
Maybe it has been locked up for 40 years, and the tow truck / rollback backed it into the garage as it was unloaded.

Good Luck with all your efforts

[camerjeff]

Also sorry to hear about the original owners condition. Went down that road with my father the last couple of years he was with us. It is hard to watch.

As for the car I am sure it is worth cleaning up and checking. If it is rust free it is worth saving. Clean up the moldy interior and put some Kroil oil in the cylinders thru the spark plug holes and let it soak for a few days. If you are lucky its just the rings stuck to the cylinder walls.

But as already stated the engine could have been locked up 40 years ago, and be the reason it was parked. People don't usually park a running and driving car for long periods of time. But it does happen.

Welcome and good luck with it. Post some pictures when you get a chance, we like pictures, and it will give the experts (not me) more to go on about it value.

[1_Wild_Cat]

If it has sat that long - it could be the clutch stuck to the flywheel too.

[WAKman]

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas. Here is a photo--this site's uploader is a bit confusing to me.

[428ho4spd]

Did you by chance remove the belt(s) first?
My '67 sat for 32 years inside a garage and it too "acted" like it was locked up at first, but after removing the belts it would turn over by hand. The coolant sitting in the water pump had dried out and rusted locking up the water pump.
Just a thought.

[WAKman]

Originally Posted by 428ho4spd

Did you by chance remove the belt(s) first?
My '67 sat for 32 years inside a garage and it too "acted" like it was locked up at first, but after removing the belts it would turn over by hand. The coolant sitting in the water pump had dried out and rusted locking up the water pump.
Just a thought.

Interesting. The next time I go over I'll check that. It was pretty doggone stuck, though, even after I got the wheels off the floor.

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by 428ho4spd

Did you by chance remove the belt(s) first?
My '67 sat for 32 years inside a garage and it too "acted" like it was locked up at first, but after removing the belts it would turn over by hand. The coolant sitting in the water pump had dried out and rusted locking up the water pump.
Just a thought.

Have run into this as well with the water pump. I would take the belts off, remove the plugs, and squirt some ATF or Marvel Mystery Oil down the cylinders and try to turn it over after a day or so. Looks like a very cool, totally savable car, IMO. More pics would help us estimate a value, which is likely in the 15k and up range.

[60sstuff]

This Red ‘66 sounds really nice. You may have a legit Survivor?

I have a few questions.
1) What mileage does it show?
2) Is it factory paint and pinstripes?
3) Try to get the PHS and take a clear photo of the Data Plate on the firewall.

If it’s been stored the past 40 years, that means it was being used for around it’s first 15 years.
The 389 GTO motors were tough and hard to kill, unless it was used for drag racing.
That engine should be fine baring something extreme early in life.

Good luck and give us more information and photos.

Thanks for sharing!

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by WAKman

paint is 3.5-4.5 mils. All trim is there, no dents, paint is faded but can be brought back.

Sounds like the factory finish going by the Mil Gauge
And no dents is amazing too
66 would have a single black painted pinstripe on a Red car (unless stripe delete was selected)

I hope the engine comes un-glued with the belt trick - or a little elbow grease.

Rally One wheels ? Red Fender Liners ?

[60sstuff]

From the one photo above it seems it has black interior.

A black pinstripe would look very nice on this Red body.

You could get both, Black stripes or White stripes on a ‘66 Red GTO depending on the interior color.

[Darren 639]

Pull plugs out. Spray high quality penetrating oil in cylinders like blaster. this will work for engines with seized up piston rings I’ve done it myself a few times. Now use a floor jack with a breaker bar on the crankshaft bolt. Leaving said jack in place. Put some pressure on it and add pressure more every other day eventually you will see the engine turn a bit sometimes it could take a month but it will free up.
I would rather see you actually use the teeth on the fly wheel with something to push on because the crank bolt can’t take as much torque as the teeth on the fly wheel will be able to handle but I’m sure it’s easier to access the crankshaft bolt

[Sloan66]

Car has passenger side mirror, interested in the PHS and more photos

[unruhjonny]

VERY cool sounding car!

Were I in your situation, I'd try every trick to unstick the engine - but if the belt trick works, you're laughing.
I'd wager that for stuck engines, most can be unstuck.

The interior mould is something I had not heard of till I was looking at some long term stored PNW cars...
There was a white '73 Firebird Esprit that a guy I knew owned - it had that - but it was otherwise immaculate...

Good luck with the GTO - and please share more info and pictures when you can!

[GT182]

Looks good from the front end. It looks like mine but yours is missing the flames. Not as original as yours. It's an old photo that's a little blurry.

[Ab69]

I would try sta-bil fogging oil in each spark plug hole, get a breaker bar or torque wrench with a pipe over the handle for more leverage and go back and forth. Make sure you leave all spark plugs out, belts off, trans in neutral. Looks to be a nice car,I like the color and year of this one. May have been backed in the garage to jump start if needed.

[bdk1976]

I would turn the car upside down (without major disassembly) and/or ask the family if they have a file on the car somewhere if you have not already. Hard to beat a POP, build sheet, and/or original dealer sales docs for documentation if extant.

3spd car? (you mention manual trans but not 4 speed) If so, assuming floor shifted Dearborn trans and not a super-oddball 3/tree?

Also -more pics!

[60sstuff]

New guy came and went.

Maybe he’s busy writing stories.

Sure sounded like he found something and needed advice.

It would be nice to get more information on this ‘66, if it exists.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

It is probably going to be a drawn out ordeal if limited access to the car at the fathers house.
And the father is gone.
Contact person was a former neighbor - the son of the owner.
And we had a holiday weekend in there too.

Pontiac-Action has been a bit slow around here lately
Hope he does make it back on here with an update

[Drag Star Le Mans]

I have a 66 389 block, crank and 092 heads if you need them?