Drives well, used for cruise ins and driving tours. Photos & appraisal available for serious inquiries. PHS documentation.
It is a 1969 GTO convertible that I bought from the original owner in October of 1977 when I was in high school. Color is all green: top, interior and exterior. Original 400 cu in 4 bbl engine and automatic transmission. Mechanically very sound, drives well, and looks pretty good, but not show quality. A few visible bubbles which could be rust but they aren't soft, so may be underlying body panel spot welds or something going bad. It had some body panel rust, in the typical spots along the lower portion, which was repaired prior to painting in 1979.
The odometer didn't work when I got it in 1977, and it showed 98,000 miles. The owner said he thought it was more like 140,000, and I estimated I put another 20,000 miles on it before I had the motor rebuilt (discussed further below).
It was originally Limelight green, but after 2 years (1979) I painted it with a non-factory color variation of the green, using the latest and best paint of the day; Dupont Imron Polyurethane Enamel, in Dark Frost Green Metallic 44419UH. Oh the things we did as youth.
In 1987 I had the motor and heads completely rebuilt to stock specs, everything new except the crank which was in excellent shape. This included replacing the camshaft, carburetor, rods, pistons, valve train. Only the bare heads, block, intake and exhaust manifolds were reused. The valve seats were hardened to accommodate unleaded fuel. I am currently using Joe Gibbs Driven HR2 10w-30 Hot Rod conventional oil, which contains extra zinc for older muscle car engines, and original equipment AC Delco oil filter. The odometer/speedometer was rebuilt at the time, and set back to zero. It has 13,020 miles now, that's all that have been put on the engine in 32 years.
The interior upholstery is all original, the original radio (I still have) was replaced in 1978 I professional install an AM/FM/Cassette player, with some small box speakers mounted on the armrests in the back (oh the things we did as youth). The original top was replaced about 1979 with the same green top, and it is in excellent shape. The dash has a crack on top. I took off the original 14" steel wheels with hubcaps and put on 15" Rally II wheels from a 1973 Grand Prix. I also added a used OEM Pontiac swaybar to the rear, although this car did not come with one from the factory. This car did not come with a gauge cluster or clock, only speedometer and indicator lights and a blank plate in the third cluster pod where a clock or in-dash tachometer would go. I obtained a used OEM Pontiac in-dash tachometer and installed it in place of the blank plste.
I am the second owner. I bought when I lived in Canton Ohio at age 17 from a friend of my Dad. A couple years after buying it I was off to college, and the car stay stored at my parent's house. When I moved to Charleston WV in 1986, the car went with me and was garage kept. In 1998, I sent the car back to my parents in Ohio and my dad drove it to cruise-ins and driving tours on the weekends and stored it in the winter. He passed away in 2014, and I went to Canton to get the car and had all the fluids changed, tuned up, and drove the car back to Charleston WV and stored it until January of 2019.
In 2019 I moved to Louisville Kentucky. On January 10, 2019, I got the car out of storage and hauled it on a flatbed (I didn't want to start it with 5-year-old gasoline in the tank) to Dave Hudson at Hudson's Auto Service 9917 MacCorkle Ave in Marmet WV 304-949-3316. I had Dave perform $3000 worth of work to freshen up the fluids and mechanicals. See the list of service items below. You are welcome to call Dave and aks him about it. Dave said the car looked solid underneath, although back in the 1970s I had it covered with undercoating/cosmoline/ziebart stuff including in the doors and hidden areas (oh the things we did as youth). In July of this year I drove it to Louisville 250 miles on I-64 with no issue.
Some things to note:
The car originally had 14” steel wheels and hubcaps, I replaced those with 15” Rally II from a 1973 Grand Prix. I still have the original hubcaps, which will go with the car. But I don’t have the steel wheels.
Manual vent pulls in the footwell act like the cable became disconnected.
No in-dash tach originally, I added it from another GTO.
Vacuum lights will open but not close.
Motor and heads completely rebuilt, all new internal moving parts except the crankshaft.
Replaced at some point in the last 42 years:
Gas tank, Convertible top, Radio with aftermarket radio and speakers, Carburetor replaced but with correct carb, not generic, Alternator, Starter, Water pump
Motor is original and matching numbers: YS block with 9790071 stamp, 119565 (last part of VIN) on block near timing cover, Back of the block near distributor is 1138 or 1128, hard to read, but Sept 12 or 13 1968.
Heads: one is J078 (Oct 7, 1968) and the other is J088 (Oct 8, 1968).
Date car was shipped Oct. 19, 1968.
Frankly, I just need to do something with the car - I only have step-children and no family member is interested in the hobby, sadly, so no reason to keep it for someone's inheritance. So I would rather see it go to someone who will keep driving it for driving tours and cruise-ins (which has been its life the last 25 years) or maybe someone has the urge to bring it up to show quality and trailer it around.
Recent maintenance:
