1970 Pontiac GTO Convertible - Humbled By A Goat

To make a long story shorter, twisting off roughly half of the bolts in the timing chain cover led to removing the radiator, harmonic balancer, and so on, to remove the cover. This resulted in antifreeze dumping into the oil pan. Now that the pan had to be removed, he thought he might as well pull the engine and detail the 30-year-old engine compartment, right? And so it goes.

John says, "As the pile of parts grew-threatening to overtake not only my workbench but all available space in my garage-it became apparent that this was becoming more than an engine-compartment freshening. As each part was removed, it revealed another item that needed attention. When the fuel and brake lines were finally exposed, it was obvious that the body had to come off the frame if it was going to be done right." Thus began a two-year restoration that led to this beautiful result.

John made the decision to do all of the work himself, with the exception of bodywork, painting, and final assembly. Jim Martino of Best of Show in Naperville, Illinois, was contracted for those responsibilities. The striking blue paint applied by Jim consists of four basecoats, followed by five clearcoats of a PPG Deltron acrylic-urethane over three coats of PPG acrylic-urethane primer and a sealer. The final clearcoat was wet-sanded.

John chose to add a reproduction rear spoiler and Judge side-stripe decals, option D98, both of which were available for all GTOs. He didn't include the "Judge" logo decals as this GTO is not a Judge.

Except for a TRW stock-replacement "067" cam with 273/289-degrees duration and 0.410/0.413 lift in the factory YS-code 400 block, hardened valve seats for the 2.11/1.77 valves in the original No. 13 heads, reproduction date-coded plug wires, stock-replacement mufflers and pipes, and the reproduction Wide Oval tires, John's GTO is stock right down to the No. 7040264 Quadrajet and 1111148 Delco points distributor. The code-PY, Turbo 400 automatic transmission was rebuilt by Harry's Automotive in Aurora, Illinois.

Even the original interior remains except for a new carpet, which John replaced himself. Factory options include a console (code 494) to complement the original saddle, AM/FM/radio (code 402), Rally clock (code 492), Power Steering and, oh yes, Factory Air Conditioning (code 582), quite unusual for a soft top back in the day! Notable options outside include Rally II wheels (code 474) hiding factory Power Disc brakes (code 502) in front and factory drums in the rear.

By early Spring 2005, the end was in sight. John could foresee taking the car to the 2005 GTOAA Nationals in St. Louis, Missouri, as a possibility for its "coming-out party." Although more frustrations arose that required the temperament and patience of a saint, he persevered and arrived at the Nationals with this gorgeous '70 Atoll Blue GTO convertible.

After some seat time in the restored, suntan-machine, John says, "My GTO rides and handles like a new car. There are no squeaks or rattles. Getting thumbs up and smiles from passers-by isn't bad either." After receiving a Concours Silver award at the 2005 GTOAA event, John is intent on completing lots of odds and ends to improve his Pontiac. One is to replace the 3.23:1 open rear (code WF) with a 3.23 Safe-T-Track, but he says, "That's what winters are for. As the list gets shorter, maybe by next year it will be ready for higher marks at a national show."

John's next trip with his ravishing restoration was to the former owners as he had promised when he bought the Pontiac. Thus our story of the chase and restoration of this well-loved GTO has come full circle. We are certain they felt younger that day, pleased with and proud of John's efforts.