This Pontiac is the third Pontiac purchased in my lifetime.
Someone was going to do GTO clone out of this Le Mans.
A friend of mine had bought it not running.
That complicated engine electrical after changing it to the GTO engine was rough.
Whoever was doing the GTO clone idea bailed, so my friend bought the car.
He was going to remove the GTO engine with trips on it for his father's 67 GTO convertible.
First, he got it running right in the body shop's lot.
He drove it away.
He brought it by my shop to show off the new GTO engine with tri-power for his father's GTO.
He's trying to show me the tri-power GTO engine,
I'm going around the car asking him repeatedly..."what about the body....
what are you doing with the shell?...."
"Would you look at this engine, forget the shell, it's rusty."
I finally look at the engine. Wow. That is nice.
I let him tell me a great long story of who built it with what parts and who sold the car to who and so on.
I said yeah, wow, uh-huh, and when he finished I asked about the body again.
He says $800.00 and I'm taking the engine, transmission, radiator and wheels.
I say deal and I get the car. Why do I do these things?
There basically was no interior except for the door panels, kick panels and rear seat.
The buckets in the car were from a Camaro.
There was no carpeting, it was really bare inside.
My friend calls the next day he's dropping the car off at my shop, it's ready.
He works quick. When he wants to.
I get the car and see a few extras not there.
The car was now minus the battery and tray for it, the alternator,
the power steering pump, the hoses for the power steering and pump mounting brackets.
Of course the engine, transmission and radiator were no longer installed.
After dealing with the fact many parts I felt were not part of the engine were missing,
I popped this LeMans together with some parts I had and bought a new 3-core radiator.
Once together, I drove the car that summer of 2000.
Summer ended and this car came off the frame for a restoration.
That disassembly was 7 years ago.
In 2004, a friend turned me on to CarsInBarns.com.
Once, I saw that site, I realized I'm guilty.
Yes, car sitting rusting, me saying "I'm gonna restore that someday..."
It changed my outlook going to that site.
In 2005, I once again continued with the restoration.....
EXTERIOR AND BODY OF THIS PROJECT LEMANS:
Having bought pieces and parts to build this classic car at the Pontiac Nationals in 2004,
Restoration moved along quite a bit in 2005.
Right now, the body is gently resting on the redone frame.
The right quarter metal is all repaired.
So is most of the trunk floor and all of the interior floor patches.
Current work is on the windshield area and rear glass channels.
INTERIOR OF THIS PROJECT LEMANS:
None to speak of - read the beginning paragraphs!
CHASSIS OF THIS PROJECT LEMANS:
The frame was the first part of the restoration done.
Stripped with a needle scaler, primered and painted.
Chassis parts are all checked, painted and installed.
I modified the front brakes to disc.
I changed the rear differential to a 12 bolt posi-traction from a '64 GTO.
I'm planning on using a 1975 400 engine with 1967 GTO 670 heads to power this project.
For the transmission, a turbo 400.
Price listed is not negotiable. You can visit the
NADA guides website for the current value of this classic two door hardtop.This low-mileage car is sold in as-is condition!
