Once upon a time, Ervin Phieffer purchased a shiny new light green '66 GTO. He enjoyed it until sometime in the 1980s when he made the decision to tear the 80,000-mile original down to bare bones to rebuild it, ground up. Twenty years or so later, the parts of the dismantled GTO were still occupying lots of garage space and the Goat was no closer to being finished than it had been after the first year.
Enter Mike Manns, owner of Manns Auto Body in Festus, Missouri, who was introduced to Ervin by one of his customers. Mike attempted to purchase the Pontiac and, after several years of trying, Mike and Ervin came to a monetary agreement. Manns spent two days hauling the Pontiac and all of the associated pieces back and storing them in a corner of the restoration portion of his shop.
Mike had restored a lot of classic cars and musclecars for his customers over the years, but this one was to be his personal collectible. "I had always felt that the GTO was the car that really got the big engine/small car thing going," he recalled. And where better to start than with a solid, rust free, one-owner Goat that brought with it so much original documentation. Ervin had kept meticulous records: the original salesman's write up, the invoice, paid bill of sale and every bill for anything that had ever been done to the Pontiac in its 80,000 mile life were all bundled together.
As it turned out, Mike wasn't the only interested collector. One of his better customers, who had spotted it back in the corner of Mike's shop, offered to purchase it. Of course Mike's response was, "No chance; this one is mine." And then fate stepped in. Mike's son was having some serious physical problems and after hearing about the misfortune, the long-time customer arranged for a surgical team, lodging and transportation to New York where the prescribed surgical procedure changed the boy's life for the better. As a token of his gratitude, Mike signed the title to the GTO and mailed it along with the rest of the documentation to his customer and good friend Lou Conte.
Lou was unaware of the Pontiac's history until he received the packet, but thrilled at the prospect of restoring such a solid, one-owner piece back to its former glory. So he graciously accepted the GTO and promptly authorized the start of the frame-off restification. We call it a restification (a mixing of restoration and modification) because Lou likes to have his cars put back to their stock look, using as many NOS parts as possible. However, the vehicle has to be usable in the modern world so concessions to originality are made for the betterment of the driving experience. Oh, and Lou really likes triple black convertibles. His cars are always made black, no matter what color they started with.
The frame was stripped so it and all of the suspension components could be shipped off to Industrial Powder Coat in Mountain Home, Arkansas to have a slick, durable powdercoating applied to everything. Then it was back to Mike's shop where Jeff Head, better known as Bubba, started bolting everything back together. He used new components ball joints, bushings and bolts, up to and including a freshly rebuilt 3.55:1 Auburn geared Safe-T-Track and upgraded to a pair of much needed front disc brakes.