|
Mark Kane's '69 Convertible
I went to high school in the Detroit area in
the late seventies. Let me tell you, it was a great era to be a gearhead.
The used cars that we could afford then ended up being the great late
sixties and early seventies classics at Goodguys shows today. My high
school parking lot was full of American classic badges like ‘Cuda,
Trans Am, Charger, Torino, and a even a few GTOs.
The Detroit suburbs were not an really
exciting place to grow up. There wasn’t much for teenage guys to do but
build hot rods, drink beer and street race on Gratiot Avenue every night
(usually in that order). Though those days didn’t do much for my
grades, they did instill a deep appreciation for V8 powered rear wheel
drive American cars. Pontiacs in general and GTOs in particular were
always my favorite rides.
Through the last 20 years I kept saying
that if I ever found a true ’69 GTO convertible with matching numbers
it was coming home. At the last Goodguys show in 2001 I was checking out
the car corral and sure enough there it was. A green GTO convertible with
85,000 on the clock and factory AC. After a PHS check to confirm the
equipment and numbers and a DMV check on the mileage history I paid too
much and brought it home.
When I pulled the motor I found that it
had been rebuilt sometime in the past, but not well. It had the wrong
cam, the wrong crank and a collection of unfortunate pistons. We ended up
boring the motor .60 over and decking the heads. We installed non-stock
higher compression pistons, the correct crankshaft and a high performance
cam shaft. While we were at it I pulled the transmission and went through
a complete rebuild there too. We also rebuilt the heads and adapted them
for unleaded fuel. Runs better now!
During the down time I sent the chassis
over to Oakland Custom Truck Painting out by the Coliseum. They pulled
the front clip, hood, doors, trunk lid and all of the chrome from the
car, stripped everything down to metal. They removed the small amount of
bondo, fixed it right and repainted the car yellow with several coats of
clear. I added a few extras such as Crager rims, hood tach and the judge
wing, but no modifications that couldn’t be returned to factory stock
in the future. I should have bought stock in Original Parts Group before
I started this project.
About all that’s left to do is to pull
the dash to send out for restoration and to finish collecting parts for a
Ram Air III conversion this winter. I’m also looking for a working
stock stereo am/fm deck to add to the 8-track that I bought on E-bay. My
goal is to restore the vehicle to showroom condition but not original
condition. When I’m done the car will be period correct with the
options that I would have ordered. Since I’m a Pontiac dealer I figure
that I can honestly call them “dealer installed options” (just
kidding).
My 4 and 6 year old sons love the car and
have a great time on family drives. I’m really looking forward to
instilling the same love of cars in them that I grew up with. I can’t
think of a better car for them to tinker with than a ’69 GTO. Not that
they’ll ever have permission to drive it of course.
|
