1967 Pontiac GTO Restoration - School Days

Through the winter the students at Dauphin County Technical School continued to work on the Carlisle Automotive Classrooms Foundation's (CACF) project '67 Pontiac GTO. The rusted gold body has been sanded down to bare metal, as the students toil daily to bring the valuable Pontiac back to as-new condition.

In case you missed the first installment in the April 2003 issue, CACF is a nonprofit organization founded by Carlisle Events to help high school students get hands-on experience restoring classic vehicles. This year's project car is co-sponsored by Steve Ames of Ames Performance. The '67 Pontiac GTO chosen for the project would make any Pontiac hobbyist proud to have it in his driveway (after the resto of course). It packs a 400 H.O. engine with a four-speed transmission and a bevy of high-performance options.

Sophomores Nicholas Fachler, Tom Cleary, Kelsey Thomas, Scott Dodge and Andrew Sprucebank and junior Jeremy Weyant of Dauphin County Tech have been sacrificing their bodies (literally) in order to restore this unique Goat. They've cut and burned themselves, but they don't seem to mind. In fact, this is all part of the learning process of restoring a vehicle.

Tom, Andrew and Nicholas work in the shop one week, then Scott, Kelsey and Jeremy get their turn the following week. The groups switch each week, with the week not in the shop being dedicated to other forms of study.

Kelsey, Scott and Jeremy said they've been stripping the paint and removing the interior. They also took out the windows and removed the front bumper and grille. Andrew, Nicholas and Tom have been welding and sanding.

Some of the more challenging aspects have been removing corroded bolts and fixing the extremely rusty window channels. Shop teacher Joe Macchioni agreed with the students that the rear quarter panel has been the toughest job so far. "Other than that, it's been good," he said. "The kids are all still excited."

As hard as some of the project is, the students all seem to thoroughly enjoy it. "I love everything about it," Jeremy said. "It's the only time you like coming to school, when you're working on the car," Nicholas remarked.

"I love coming to shop class," Andrew agreed. Aside from having fun, the students realize that they are learning skills that will help them with their future career goals. "I'm learning how to restore a car, so when I own my own shop or work in a shop, I know more about the parts," Nicholas said. "And how they fit together," Andrew added. "You get experience in whatever you're planning on doing," Kelsey told us.

The project car will be on display at Spring Carlisle (April 23-27) and Carlisle All-GM Nationals (June 13-15), and the projected completion date and sale of the GTO is Fall Carlisle (Oct. 1-5). Money from the sale will go directly into the Carlisle Automotive Classrooms Foundation so that other students may benefit from hands-on car restoration. Some of the proceeds will go to Dauphin County Tech in the form of new equipment for the school's auto shop.

See the students, progress on Carlisle Events, and Ames Performance's Web sites, www.carsatcarlisle.com and www.amesperf.com. Visit the sites often to see how the work is coming along and to become better acquainted with the students.

As Steve Ames, member of the Automotive Restoration Market Organization, says, "Remember, the youth of today are the future of the hobby-take a kid to a car show."