1967 GTO - Total Recall

What's black, white, red-and gold-all over? Just ask Tom Hamilton of Carroll, Ohio, the owner of this '67 400 H.O. GTO that earned Gold Concours at the '06 and '07 GTOAA Nationals. Tom's 26-year love affair with his GTO is no riddle. It began in 1981 when he was only 21 years old. "I bought the GTO when I was working at a local Pontiac dealership," Hamilton recalls. "The new car manager had picked up a nice, clean, 61,000-mile GTO off the second owner. After months of persuading him, he finally sold it to me for $3,200."

Tom always wanted a musclecar and his GTO was equipped with the right stuff: 400 H.O. engine (code WS), four-speed wide-ratio transmission (code FO) and Safe-T-Track differential (code YH or ZK). There were convenience options, too, but they were kept to a minimum to give the Goat a weight advantage over its street brethren. They included: AM radio with manual antenna (code 342), custom front and rear seatbelts (code 431), Rally II wheels (code 453), power steering (code 501), power drum brakes (code 502), Soft Ray glass windshield only (code 532), and front floor mats (code 631).

The classic GTO became Tom's daily driver. He kept it garaged, and after a few years it was relegated to show and pleasure use only. Tom didn't even know the GTO had an H.O. engine when he first bought it. "I found out that I had an original H.O. car at a GTO show hosted by the Central Ohio GTO club. Judge Andy Syrkin brought it to my attention that I had the wrong air cleaner lid. The pancake style that I had at the time was correct for the standard 335-horse motor, and the H.O. motor took the open-element type. I actually had the correct air cleaner at home in the garage, but I thought it was incorrect because all the '67 GTOs that I had seen had the pancake-style air cleaner. I quickly changed it back when I got home. At that point, I realized I had something much rarer than a run-of-the-mill '67 GTO."

In 2001, Tom sent away to PHS for a billing history information packet and confirmed that his GTO was a real "242" vehicle, and it was numbers matching. "After I got the paperwork back from PHS, I decided to do a full body-on resto on the GTO. It was already a local-winning car, but I wanted it to compete at the national level," Tom says.

The '67 GTO was the second most popular year of the early ('64-'67) Goats and sold 81,722 units. This one features Cameo Ivory paint, red pinstriping, and a black Cordova top. Although originally optioned with Rally II wheels and Firestone Redline tires, this example rides on Rally Is shod with Diamondback Classic Radial Redlines.

The 400 H.O. GTO is somewhat of a rarity. Only 13,310 were built in the '67 model year.

Reproduction red fender liners were added during the restoration, but are not original to the vehicle.

The Drivetrain
To accomplish his goal, he pulled the engine and sent it to Humphrey Machine Shop in Logan, Ohio. It was subject to a complete rebuild to factory specs, which included maintaining the factory 4.12-inch bore, 3.75-inch stroke, and a cast crank directing factory cast rods and pistons. An "068" H.O. cam features 288/302-deg duration, and 0.414/0.413-inch lift. Bolted to the block are original 72cc No. 670 heads, a one-year-only closed chambered casting with 2.11/1.77-inch valves actuated by stock pushrods, 1.50:1 stamped steel rockers and fresh springs. Up top, a Rochester four-barrel carburetor (No. 7027263) feeds a factory dual-plane intake (No. 9786286). Spark comes from a Delco distributor (No. 1111250) and travels down date-coded reproduction GM wires to AC 44 Fire Ring spark plugs.

Exhaust exits through factory H.O. manifolds (No. 9777646 and 9777641) and a correct-reproduction Gardner exhaust system featuring 2.25-inch headpipes, unequal-length factory-style mufflers, 2.25-inch tailpipes with correct double-angle cuts and an upgraded "concours" package with ceramic-coated flanges, stainless steel clamps, zinc-plated hangers and retainers, and strap clamps.

A stock steel flywheel mates to an NOS Delco clutch and feeds power to a Muncie M20 four-speed, through a stock driveshaft and on to the Safe-T-Track rearend with a 3.55 gearset.

The Body And Chassis
While he was waiting for his engine rebuild, Tom began the body restoration. First, he removed the front sheetmetal and stripped the frame and undercarriage. He then rebuilt the suspension and braking system to stock and reinstalled the fresh engine.