[Red]

What is more respected?
What is worth more?
I have a 70' LeMans Sport I just finished.I put on the GTO hood. I am planning to put on the Lemans Sport emblems. Should I be putting on GTO tags.I realize there are other differences,I'm looking for some opinions on CLOAN vs. Original.

[Red]

What is more respected?
What is worth more?
I have a 70' LeMans Sport I just finished.I put on the GTO hood. I am planning to put on the Lemans Sport emblems. Should I be putting on GTO tags.I realize there are other differences,I'm looking for some opinions on CLOAN vs. Original.

[gtoric]

Absolutely correct and original examples will always be at the top of anyone's value list. The more original the better. Super-low-mileage original examples, "survivors" if you will, are the most respected and, IMO the most valuable cars in existance. A car can only be original once. You can restore a car many times.

As far as your putting a GTO hood on a Le Mans Sport is concerned...did you also install the GTO front clip assembly? Did you save the original parts? Are you going to keep this car for a while, or are you reselling it?

If you are going to keep it, build it like you want to build it. If you want a GTO clone, make it a GTO clone. The problem with cloneing manifests when it comes time to sell. The original builder can give full disclosure to the new owner, but will that person also tell the next buyer that this is a clone? Somewhere down the line, someone buys a car that he or she thinks is a genuine GTO when it is not. Of course, if the original VIN tag is still with the car, that should make the pedigree clear. Tampering with VIN and Fisher Body tags enters the realm of fraud and deception.

I don't know your situation with this particular car, but in any event you should build it to suit yourself. I am currently restoring a '74 Ventura. I am adding all of the GTO-specific items to the car except the GTO identification badging. I want it to look like a GTO, but I don't want to pass it off as a GTO. It will be worth more than a stock Ventura, but that is only because the GTO parts are worth more. In your case the GTO front clip or just the GTO hood is worth more than the Le Mans parts that they replace. This makes the car more valuable than it would be stock, but just by the added value of the GTO parts.

Your GTO clone will be worth the value of a restored Le Mans Sport plus the value of the GTO parts on the car. It will not be worth the value of a restored GTO.

[notquitegto]

I agree the value in the GTO clone may be a little higher. If you have no plans to sell the car, do what you want. If you do a GTO clone, however, do it correctly. If you don't you can look forward to a lifetime of explaining "No, its just a clone."

Mike

[Randy Frazier]

Whether you plan on selling the car now or not, eventually it will enter the market and there is a chance it will be bought by an unsuspecting buyer. Cloning real musclecars is not good for the hobby. This is probably not what you want to hear but it does no service to those that happen to own a real GTO.

[HUMBLER]

Never quite understood cloning, keep it original or make it a street machine but keep the labels correct. Just my 2 cents.

[Brutus_5150]

I think there's nothing wrong with a Ram Air hood because you could get one on a Lemans Sport, but as far as the front clip goes, naahhhh.... It looks fine with the chrome beak in my opnion.

[Jack Peters]

BRUTUS_5150,

Never heard of a RA hood on anything but a GTO or FB. None came from the factory that way. Would like to see the build sheet or MSRP for one. Just curious.

[78 GHOST]

Red, as time passes more cars disappear, including cars OTHER than GTOs. Athough I have a GTO, I would be equally proud of a nice clean LeMans or Tempest. In fact, there a lot of nice things about having a Lemans or Tempest.. you don't have to stick to the GTO script when it comes time to upgrade the car.

I saw a nice Lemans at the POCI Convention in Charleston, W.V. a couple of years ago, and it opened my eyes to just how cool these cars were. Up until then, I had the GTO blinders on.. if it wasn't a GTO, I wasn't paying attention.

I agree the chrome front bumper is very cool.

In the end, do what you wish as long as you're honest about the representation of the car.

[slowgto]

I think the '70 is the best looking Lemans, so I would leave it alone. I always thought the Magnum 400s were very cool and that would be a way to jazz it up. They had the '69 GTO stripe.