Owner Ed Burns, who is also...
Owner Ed Burns, who is also a co-founder of the Richmond County Pontiac Association in Staten Island, had his ’67 GTO featured in the club’s calendar prior to the HPP photoshoot.
If you told Ed Burns back in 1997 that his ’67 GTO was going to be so visually stunning that it would receive multiple show accolades, and so well built that it would provide nearly endless hours of driving pleasure for him, he probably would have been skeptical. He had just rescued it from a shop that he contracted to restore it.
According to Ed, the shop pirated many parts from his Goat over a two-year period to finish seven other cars before going out of business. He recalls, “It was a long road getting the GTO from where it was to where it is today.”
Motivation came from the fact that he had purchased a Mariner Turquoise GTO off the showroom floor in 1967, when he was just 23 years old. In fact, his wife, Carol, took her driving test in it.
A Walnut shift knob was a...
A Walnut shift knob was a ’67 option that Ed added.
When he located this $13,000, numbers-matching, 400 H.O., three-speed manual trans, A/C-equipped GTO, in Tyrol Blue with a black Cordova top and interior, in Texas in September of 1995, it rekindled all those warm feelings of his younger days. Though the Goat was rough, its engine was out, and the three-speed had already been replaced by a four-speed, Ed had to have it.
The Staten Island, New York-resident’s plan after purchasing the GTO was to restore it to his specs, making it look just like the one he bought in the Lyndon Johnson era. The body would be painted Mariner Turquoise, the interior changed to Parchment, and the Cordova top left off.
Reproduction extensions brighten...
Reproduction extensions brighten up the exhaust, and Keystone Chrome professionally restored the bumpers.
After finally getting the GTO out of Texas and up to Staten Island in 1997, Ed decided to do the bodywork himself. After all, he cut his teeth on body and paintwork on another ’67 he restored prior to this one, which made the pages of Popular Hot Rodding magazine in the ’90s.
He removed the body from the frame and sanded the shell to bare metal. After cutting out the rust, he welded in new floorpans, trunk, and a tail panel, as well as lower fender, door, and quarter patches. Ed applied a skim coat of filler to the outer panels to accentuate the positive and remove imperfections via block-sanding.
The GTO was twice signed by...
The GTO was twice signed by Jim Wangers (one shown here) who, according to Ed, told him that he too had one of the “Great Ones,” harkening to the newly adopted PMD advertising moniker coined for the ’67 model year.
He shot and block-sanded multiple coats of Sherwin Williams (SW) primer and then shot a coat of SW sealer. Next he laid down three coats of SW Ultra 7000 urethane base in Dark Calypso Green Metallic, followed by three coats of SW clear. Ed concluded his artistry by wet-sanding with 1,000-, then 1,200-grit paper, and polishing with Zaino Show Car products. If you’re impressed with the results, you will be amazed to know that the paintwork was performed in a friend’s greenhouse, since Ed has a one-car garage.
The Powertrain and Suspension
The WS-code ’67 400 H.O. was torn down once Ed started it and noted 6-psi of oil pressure. Leaves and gunk were blocking the pickup, so he decided to rebuild the engine. Pete Yacca at New York Speed handled all the machine work, and Ed bolted it back together.
The 400ci H.O. produced a...
The 400ci H.O. produced a factory rated 360hp at 5,100 rpm. This one puts out more with 406ci, a hotter cam, and a Ram Air setup courtesy of Performance Years.
The block was bored 0.030-over and fitted with a stock-cast, refurbished, 3.75-inch-stroke crank and rods; and fresh forged and dished pistons to drop compression to about 9.5:1 to run on pump gas. A high-volume oil pump was installed to increase durability, and a hotter-than-stock “744” Ram Air replacement cam with 301/313-degrees duration and 0.414/0.413 lift with 1.50:1 rockers was employed for more power. The 670 heads were rebuilt with 2.11/1.77 stainless-steel valves, and treated to a three-angle valvejob and hardened exhaust seats.