The Search Begins.....and GTO is acquired
So I will backtrack a little....
So I sold the 88 GT in 1999, I just was not driving it, in fear of someone scratching it, or anything. The car was depreciating ...... I decided it was time for look for my first classic muscle car. IT was between 2 of my favorites.... First choice was a 67 Pontiac GTO, ever since I was 13, I had fallen in love with the looks of the car, and at this point, I learned to really appreciate the history and feel of Pontiac. Another thing is ..... if anyone knows GM history, was that Pontiac was known for their interior appointments, especially their dashboard layouts. My back-up choice if I came across the right one was a 69 Chevelle SS 396. My grandfather worked at a Chevy dealer when I was little, and had a 68 Chevelle 4-door...... so, just sort of a connection to that body style.
I was married for 3 years at this point, and I was given the blessing from my wonderful wife to try and fulfill my dream.... so the search began....
For 2 years..... for a few hours nearly every night....
My requirements:
4 Speed
NO A/C
Power Steering
Either White or Silver
Clean driver that could be enjoyed right away, did not want a resto project.
I would search the internet.... looking a normal classifieds and also Classic Car dealers throughout the country. The neat thing was, most of the Classic Car dealers had an inquiry feature, that if you did not see what you want, you submitted a request, and they would contact you if they came across what you were looking for....
At this point in my career, I was a Finance Manager @ Saturn of Denville. Well, one day as I came into work, my Used Car Manager came over to me with a note. It was regarding a Gray 67 GTO. He said this must be for you….. The message was from Debbie Greene from Greene’s Classic Cars in Knoxville TN. And she had the car I was looking for, a Gray 67 GTO. I thought it was a joke….. For 2 reasons. One, of all the dealers I had searched online, I could not recall ever going to that website, second reason…. GTO’s were not available in Gray, the closest would be a color called Silverglaze. But I called the number, and Debbie picked up, and quickly realized, this was real. I had to ask…. How she got my name and number…. Well, it seems I had just contacted an early Internet Hacker, she said she was able to infiltrate other dealers websites and look at their inquiries from customers…. To this day…. I have no idea how she did it. The next topic we covered was the color… She said it was indeed Gray, not Silver. She said it was a Special Order Color car. The original owner ordered the car 67 Buick Riviera Charcoal Gray. More detail followed. It was a numbers matching car, very original. Car was there on consignment from 4th owner. Had tons of documentation. Price was $15,500…. Which was about $3000 over my budget, but I asked her to send photos for me, which I included below.
That night the wife and I looked at the pictures and noticed the name of the selling dealer matched her last name….. little spooky for us. At his point, I ordered the PHS documents which is a service that validates on how the car was built. It helps to see if the car is actually what the seller says it is. The info came back validating everything…. It was a true 1967 GTO that was equipped with the rare HO engine option and was also ordered under a Special Paint code….
Little background on Special Paint code cars…. Back then you could order your GM car any color from the GM palette. IF you ordered it a Pontiac NON-GTO color, the data plate on the firewall would have a “1” where the paint code would be stamped. IF you ordered a NON-Pontiac color, the data plate would be left blank. My car’s data plate is blank…
So after a short discussion with wife, I left a $500 deposit on the car. That weekend, I hopped into my truck to drive to Knoxville to see the car in person. I arrived and it was waiting for me on their showroom floor. I spent at least an hour going all over that car on the showroom, and then they put it on a lift, where I spent another hour….. and then took it for a ride. I loved it, it was what I had been looking for. I called the wife and we discussed the over budget issue…. Her response…. “ If it's what you want….. get it”
I will not hide the fact it was a very emotional moment for me….. I committed to the car, and Debbie Greene had a guy with a trailer on speed dial…. And within 2 hours… I was following my dream car home on Rt81 North…
The car came with so much documentation it was amazing…. Original Window Sticker, Protecto-Plate, Deposit receipt when original owner ordered the car, receipt when owner picked up the car. EVERY service receipt from the Pontiac dealer when the car was serviced, from 1966 till 1986 when she sold the car at Carisle Fairgrounds.
Now that I had the car in my garage, curiosity got the better of me, and I made it my mission to track down the original owner and talk to her….
So with the power of the internet and using the Service receipts, I found she was still living in the same house she lived in when she sold the car in 1986. I wrote her a letter and enclosed a current picture of the car. A few weeks later, she called. We spent an hour on the phone. I got all the details on the way she raced the car, and why the color. It was a great conversation… I asked why the color? She said she was on her way to Pontiac dealer to order the GTO and passed by a Buick showroom, and in the window was a Buick Riv in the Charcoal Gray, and fell in love with the color. You can see on the window sticker it was a $83.20 option for Special Color. She ordered the car Oct, 23 1966, I had just turned 1 year old the day before, and she picked it up right after Christmas. If you look at the window sticker, you can also see a few rare options. The most important one to me, the HO engine. Of the 80K GTO's built that year, only 12K were ordered with that engine. The Opera lights and Power Antenna were also considered rare options.
I asked her if she remembered who she sold it to in 1986 at Carisle, but she could not recall, so that was a dead end. So I decided to work my way backwards. I reached out to the 4th owner, who I met at the dealer in TN when he brought down the title...... He said it he bought it from 2 brothers that buy and sell GTO's and other muscle cars as a business..... I was able to track them down. I wanted to find out who had restored the trunk pan and taillight panel. Once on the phone, I asked the guy if he could give me some information..... he curtly cut me off saying they had bought and sold so many GTO's over the years, he would never remember the car..... I said it was a 67 GTO in Charcoal Gray. He stopped dead cold and said..... Oh man, I remember that one, We NEVER should have sold that one..... We continued with a short conversation regarding the car.
I will say, the 1st photo below makes the paint look better then it actually was in real life, as you will see in my next segment. The car at least 2 partial paint touchups, One was when the tailpanel was replaced and another one to help the painted surfaces that had faded over the years. The most original paint was near the front of the car below the pinstripe. In the sun, the car was 3 shades of Gray.....
The interior was original..... nothing had been done, and it really could be left alone, if I wanted to, but I never leave anything alone....LOL
At this point, my goal was to try and keep the car as original as possible, but making it enjoyable to drive..... for reasons that I will mention later, those thoughts changed....
I think that pretty much sums up this entry..... More to come
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