Let the tiger loose when you prowl the streets in this beautifully, refinished GTO. This 1965 GTO is in excellent restored/driver condition and has been completely refinished, it needs nothing except to be driven and given a good home.
I purchased the car in a semi-restored, mostly original state in 2009. It had mostly original interior, that was serviceable but not restored. The car had its original 389 CID tri-power motor still installed and had been rebuilt shortly before the purchase. The car came with a non-original four-speed transmission.
Originally, an Iris Mist, two-door hard top, the car was refinished in a beautiful shade of Mayfair Maize. The repaint was professionally done and looks as good as if it were the original color. All trim was removed and even the tough spots were painted (jambs, under hood, trunk lid). All the original trims and bumpers are in excellent condition. This is an original California-built car (Fremont, California) and as such, the body is in excellent condition with no rust on the body, or the floor pans. The trunk is also rust-free and in stock condition. After having the car for a year, we decided to take the car to another level and refinish the interior, detail and refresh the motor, and upgrade the transmission and brakes and suspension.
Since the car was originally a four speed, with drum brakes all around, the change to an automatic and power disc brakes were the biggest changes. The following paragraphs will highlight the changes and the current condition of this car, which is now show-winning quality.
BODY: As stated earlier, PHS (Pontiac Historical Society) documents show the car was originally Iris Mist, and was changed to Mayfair Maize. During the upgrade, some small paint imperfections were repaired when the glass was out of the car. The car received some new lenses on the factory lights. All the stainless trim was removed and professionally refinished. All of the factory trim was repainted where necessary, and a new windshield was installed. The biggest change to the body was done to the hood scoop. Since ’65 GTOs have a solid metal hood scoop, this one was removed from the car and CNC cut out so that the motor could breathe fresh air into the tri-power air cleaner pan, which was added
INTERIOR: The interior of the car received the biggest change, as it was completely redone. All NEW carpet, headliner, door panels with pulls, seat upholstery, front and rear with new foam. The dash was freshly painted with new trim panels, and the gauge panel itself was re-chromed by Mr. G Vacuum Plating. Anyone who knows Pontiacs knows that Pete Serio at Precision Pontiac builds the best gauges, so the stock panel with “idiot” lights was replaced with a fully restored rally gauge panel at the cost of $1,400 alone. The other big change was the driver’s seat. After a long, exhaustive search, we located an original 1965 Pontiac Power driver’s seat. That seat alone was completely rebuilt and recovered, and then installed with a factory-style seat harness. I’ve been told that the seat alone could be worth $2000 because it’s so rare. The trunk was also completely refinished with all-new mats and tire cover.
MOTOR: The motor on the car had been rebuilt shortly before my purchase of the car, so it didn’t require anything but a little freshening-up. The biggest issues were the tri-power carbs. Since this was the original set, they hadn’t been rebuilt in years. The carbs were shipped to the best in the business, “Sparky’s Carbs,” for a full rebuild and detail, along with all the necessary linkage pieces to make everything function properly. The motor was given all-new gaskets, as well as a new ignition system. We installed a new aluminum radiator with overflow and shroud. The motor got new HOOKER jet-hot coated headers and exhaust system. The tri-power pan, sealed to the hood, is a great addition, along with the custom-cut hood scoop. Everything was detailed and shows amazingly well, and shows fantastically.
