Jim's 1964 GTO

Jim's 1964 GTO

For nearly 2 years I searched for an early version of the GTO, the car that started the muscle car era. I wanted a car that was all original, but not already restored. On July 19, 2001 my search ended.

In my local newspaper I found an ad for an original 1964 GTO for sale. The owner of the car had not had this car on the road since 1975. When he took it off the road in 1975 he parked it in his barn and left it there. I was the first of nearly 50 callers on this forgotten treasure.

The car is a PHS documented GTO that is all original. It is a Zone 3 ( Philadelphia PA) car that was sold at the Bradley-Lawless Pontiac dealership in Scanton PA. It has the original 389 4 bbl engine, 2 speed transmission. The car has 77,500 miles on it. Everything that the car came with was still there, even the original key chain from the Pontiac dealer.

Even with the 25 years of bird droppings, old mice nests, and dirt covering this car, I could see the inner beauty of the beast. I did not want to rush the restoration of this car and set a 2 year goal to complete the work. I am still on track to complete the work by summers end of 2003. I am just glad that I did not set a limit as to how much money to spend!

There is one thing that I have learned doing this restoration, and that is that there is a lot of people out on the internet that are willing to help and listen to what you are doing. Performance Years' Forum is the best tool any one with a Pontiac could ask for. I can not begin to tell you how helpful the members are on this site. Another great source is the Ultimate GTO web site. Sean Mattingly has the most extensive library of GTOs on the internet, in fact he made my car the POW July 28 2002.

I had no intention to do a frame off restoration when I started, but in March of 2002 I changed my mind. My mind was changed after I decided to change the dried and broken body mounts. While I had the body lifted off the frame to change the body mounts, I thought oh what the heck might better do it right and pull the frame out from the body.

What I hope to show you with this site is the work that has been done and the rewards of hard work and countless hours. I hope that you enjoy the story and pictures, and thanks for taking time to view my 64 GTO.

This is the way I found the car on July 19, 2001.

This is the car on May 29,2004. It took me 2 years and 9 months to get it to this point.

Here is the car on June 26,2005 with a new front bumper. Go to latest modifications to see what else is new

Go to Latest Modification & Detail to see my Tripower and latest updates!!!

My Favorite Links:

Ames Performance has everything that you will need for that restoration job you're doing, and at a good price. Their customer service is outstanding!