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JOHN AND FRAN DESCALZO’S 1965 GTO
My love affair with Pontiac started
with my family’s 1963 Pontiac Catalina Safari Station Wagon. It had
great lines and the stacked headlights. This was my first car when I
turned 16. The wheel well in the back was the best hiding spot when
sneaking into the drive-in movies. I learned how to rebuild an engine on
the 389 under its hood. I also replaced the old Slim Jim transmission
with a new, heavy-duty three speed automatic.
When I was 17, I purchased a 1965 Buick
Skylark. I replace the old engine and automatic transmission with a newer
350 engine and a Borg Warner T-10 four speed. Now I had a car more
fitting for a teenager. It was not as nice as the 64 GTO a friend had
with the three deuces, but it was fun. Unfortunately, one rainy morning I
totalled the car on the Benicia Bridge.
I then purchased a 1963 Riviera. It was
such a boat, that I traded it for a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda. This was a
pretty peppy car but it had really poor handling and I sold it before I
had another accident. I then had a 1969 El Camino that lasted for years.
I had some friends that were renting a
house together. One of the roommates had this clean 1965 GTO. He was
going to make a race car out of it. He was not much of a mechanic and
thought that removing the complete front end was the best way to rebuild
the engine. He disassembled the car and bought 400 heads, crankshaft,
full race cams, headers and a Holley double pump carburetor. He was never
able to reassemble the car and it sat outside in the weather.
In 1979 the lease on the house they
were renting was not renewed and all of the roommates had to move. The
GTO did not have a home so I offered the guy $500. To my delight, he
accepted the offer. I towed the car home that night with all of the parts
in the back of my El Camino. It had the same stacked headlights and 389
engine as my old Station Wagon. It was the same year as the GTO some
family friends had purchased new. I remember how striking the new 65 GTO
looked to me. When I asked what GTO meant back then, the owner replied
"After 120 miles per hour, God Takes Over".
Over the next year or so I rebuilt the
original engine back to stock and reassembled the sheet metal. The black
paint job was a mess but it was a great car to drive. After a couple of
tickets and babies on the way, I garaged the car on blocks in 1984.
In the summer of 1999, I finally had
the time and money to pull the Goat out of mothballs and have a fresh
coat of paint put on. I pulled the spark plugs and squirted some oil in
the cylinder and let it sit over night. The next day I turned the engine
over by hand a few times, installed new plugs and poured a little gas in
the carburetor. The Old Goat kicked over on the first crank. I needed a
new water pump, diverter plates and thermostat housing but it was back on
the road. As I started the body restoration, the strangest thing
happened. I was in the garage sanding on the car. This guy walked up the
driveway and asked if this was a GTO. I replied that it was. He then said
that he used to own one "and in fact …that one". Yes, it was
the same guy I purchased the car from. I had not seen him since the time
I purchased the car in 1979. As my brother peered from around the front
of the car he said to me "you see, you knocked off the dust and made
a ghost appear". Was it a coincidence?
I went to the Good Guys Summer Get
Together in Pleasanton to look for parts and see if I could see some
other GTO’s. To my unbelieving eyes, I found 40 of them in one place.
There was this club called the Golden Gate Goats. I met a couple of
members and in particular another ‘65 owner. He offered to give me a
spare thermostat housing he had at home. I took his name and an
application to the club.
I completed the body restoration and
had the car ready for Hot August Nights that summer. After removing the
old black paint, we found that the original paint was Iris Mist. To
compromise with my boys between Red or Black and the original Iris Mist,
we settled on Teal Turquoise. We drove to Reno that summer on the same ET
Mags and Pos-A-Traction Torque Twister tires I had back in the late 70’s.
I have now replaced them with some new redlines.
Since becoming a member, my wife, Fran,
and I have met many wonderful people. We enjoy all of the events that we
are able to attend. There is nothing like 50 GTO’s starting up early in
the morning and driving into the Pleasanton Fair Grounds. The picnics,
wine country, Cinco de Wagner, all are a good time. The efforts that the
host members put into their events and that everyone puts into this club
make it the greatest.
Hope to see you and your Goat out at
the next event.
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