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Car
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For May 2000 |
Dave Frizzi's 1967 GTO |
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DAVE FRIZZI’S 1967 GTO
A Little Bit of History... I’ve always been a car freak -- no doubt about it: and way back in ‘63-64 I was a 19 year old Chevy man, pure and simple-end of story. Yep back then I was the proud owner of two (that's right, two) ‘57 Chevy BelAirs. And Pontiacs?...Heck to me they were just oversized “satellite cars" not worthy of the GMC family name. Anyway, in '63, I sold my beat up black '57 for what was then real good $ (800 bucks). Then, during late '64 I proceeded to ruin a perfectly cherry BelAir stocker I had purchased off a used car lot earlier in the year... More on that later. About this time, a "religious experience" of sorts came my way in the form of a new breed of Pontiac, the likes of which I had never associated with the Pontiac name before. What happened was a good friend of mine broke the Chevy tradition when he traded-in his perfectly gorgeous BelAir convertible for an almost new '64 GTO tri-power convertible. Well, at first I barely forgave him. (Besides I could never understand his love for convertibles, anyway. Sure, girls seemed to love ‘em. But, unlike me, he cared for girls more than cars...By the way, I NOW agree with his love of girls over cars, for what it's worth...) Well, I mean to tell ya, my buddy's '64 Pontiac "beast" turned out to be hot and sassy in every sense of the word!l (It certainly did not look like the Grand Prix, Bonneville, or Ventura “boats” I threw jabs at prior to ‘64.) Mostly I remember the frequent “goat trips" we took on Summer Saturday nights over the hill to Santa Cruz. You see, my friend had $ through his “daddy”, so he was able to juice the engine-up a bit and add 12” steel pack mufflers (which really didn't “muffle” anything) I remember the times he approached the down hill stretch on the long Hwy17 straightaway into Scotts Valley. That’s when he would play “THE GAME”. Yep, he would purposely slow almost to a stop at the crest of the hill, then ever so slowly wind it up in first gear.This was followed by a sudden pop of the clutch, while tromping on it full throttle through the remaining gears. Man, he laid down strips of black between gears you'lI wouldn’t believe! And the sound?...To this day, I've never forgotten it; best way to describe it was a "deep-throated sucking roar" that quite literally blew you back flat against the seat when those three 2's kicked in. The sound and the brute power - nothing like it! But the thrill wasn't over yet, because power - - nothing like it, -- for when he downshifted, at top-end, back into third, those 12": steelies would resonate and crack off the pavement so loud it would darn near wake the dead! (You bet this poor sucker got burned by the “Chippies more than once for loud pipes.) Meanwhile "back at the ranch" I still persisted in trying to keep the Chevy tradition alive in our group--over time pouring what little bucks I had into the thorough ruination of that cherry white-over-turquoise BelAir stocker I had purchased off the car lot. Yeh, like a dumb cluck I torched the front coils and played with the leaf springs, dropping it to the boards. I had my sister's boy friend (a body shop student) mould off all the front and back chrome highlights and insignias. I installed gaudy, beat up used “M/T rader rims" (and if you can believe this, I actually stomped the beautiful stock Chevy hubcaps flat, trashing them in my garbage can - oh, geez!!) But the real height of my stupidity came when I travelled to TJ with some buddies on May 5, 1965 (Cinco de Mayo) I will never forget it...I had my perfectly gorgeous stock turquoise-over black interior unceremoniously ripped out: and replaced with gaudy blue rolls and pleats throughout. Needless to say, we had the time of our lives at the bars in downtown Tijuana on this Mexican traditional holiday! (That's a another story.. However,as you might have guessed by now, leaving those locals to work on my car was not the smartest move. What happened was they all got “looped" throughout the day and the upholstery job ended up-looking like s___! (Oh well, live and learn kid....) As time passed, I began more and more to envy the roar of my friend’s '64 goat when he would do his "Saturday night live” bit: laying on that tri-power. It was tight and sweet and, as I said, the girls were wild I about it. I mean, that baby was a real-crowd pleaser when we dragged the main on many a Saturday night during ‘64-65. So, I guess by then I was truly hooked on ‘64 goats. But, unlike my buddy, I didn’t have daddy’s money to tap into, so my dreams of GTO ownership were just that -- DREAMS! Oh well, I did take one lesson of the experiences of my youth that served me well later in life: Just leave your cherries pretty much stock. That ‘64 goat was 100% better looking than my “customized” Chevy, I have no doubt in my mind! Later in 1965 I got closer than ever to my dream of GTO ownership in kind of a round about way. You see, my school teacher mom was really into cars. My brother, my older sister and I, along with our friends, had always been a part of the "flashy car sub-culture" in high school. (....that’s right, we were not hippies or jocks -- just chrome and metallic paint freaks who lived to cruise!) So my mom just kind of got infected over the years with all the cars around. In fact, at one time I remember in my senior year our group’s roster of cars included a baby blue 327 Chevy powered '38 Plymouth sedan, a raked competition orange '49 Olds with B &M Hydro trans, a candy red Joe Bailon-painted ‘57 Desoto, and those '57 BelAirs-mine, a '31 Ford green-over-black original "Vicki" with 283 Chevy power, and last but not least, the biggest, baddest jet black, lowered-to-the-boards '55 Buick Roadmaster you ever did see. Yep, with kids like these around, how:could my morn not like cars? Anyway, back to my original story. Mom was in the market for a car, and me and my siblings convinced her to drop her bucks on a brand spanking new burgundy ‘65 GTO. Well, it turned out to be a great choice a she truly loved the hype and flash of that car. My Ma became a “GTO granny” in every sense of the word. Then, after two years of very granny like driving, she headed back to the Larry Hopkins dealership for round #2. You see she now fell for the more lady-like,long, big car-lines of the '67 model and traded in her stout little '65 for a snow white sleek '67 beauty. (As you might have guessed by now, this is the very car in the pictures, that I still own today.) Like her ‘65, my mom continued the ''old lady treatment” on this car too. She maintained it by the book and had no problems of note other than some hot summer overheating and dropping a timing chain outside of Reno (ugh!) Then, unfortunately, she contracted Multiple Sclerosis and her driving days were suddenly over. My sister who lived at home quickly took over use of the car; but, it didn't take long before she lost interest, and the car finally ended up early 70's semi-stored in a dark old garage. (I later found out that 'sis occasionally cranked it up to haul hay to her horses out in the fields near where she lived....YIKES!) Meanwhile, I had gotten kind of away from cars as I worked hard to make a living and raise 3 kids over the years. Then about five or so years ago, when I was a "50 year old kid” I got the bug again and approached my sister about unloading the Goat to me. She rarely even started it anymore and in addition to major front end work, it needed brakes, master cylinder, rear main seal, and much more wear and tear stuff. So she was actually glad to get the bargain price I offered her, and I rescued this “beauty in hiding" from its dark, musty storage place amongst all that horse gear. And that, folks, is when the love affair really began! It became my passionate hobby - detailing the GTO over the past few years to near mint condition. Many hours were spent doing the kind of restoration that is near and dear to all your hearts. I became an "expert" at using an exacto knife and any other number of weird tools and products to detail every inch of this Goat. Presently, I try to drive the car at least once a week, taking it out for leisurely weekend jaunts from its home at our place in Monterey. I think what I appreciate most is all those smiles and thumbs-up responses I get from folks on the road....guess that's a reward we all trip on. This Goat is basically a stocker. As indicated, I've spent countless hours as "detail expert in residence." I've been inside, outside and underneath this baby replacing some of the chrome highlights and mouldings, completely restoring a badly rusted trunk, painting the undercarriage and engine compartment throughout. In addition I’ve had the rugs, upholstery headliner all professionally replaced. All the mechanical work has been performed over the years by Natale's Automotive Shop in Monterey. These hot car “crazies", including my mechanic Larry, love to maintain muscle cars and do major mechanical restorations! They're good at what they do and well known in Monterey. Over time, Larry (who owns a Pontiac and loves them dearly) has extensively worked on the engine and virtually all the other running gear. When out, the stock engine was repainted to its original Pontiac blue color scheme. I had the car re-sprayed white, its original color. In fact,10-coats of the whitest paint available was used. (I liked the smooth, glassy appearance so much that I chose not to reapply the stock side striping.) Other than ongoing routine maintenance, the only projects left are re-chromlng the front bumper and replacing the cracked plastic “grill surrounds.” My wife, Kathy, laughs at me and says, “Sure, Dave” when she hears me insist it is done. But really, unless I make it a "racer"' (which I won't), it IS done. Sure, there will always be little nicks and wear ’n tear from use. But, that's part of driving our cars...besides detailing projects are what keep me occupied and out of trouble. The "cat's growl" for this stocker comes from the 400 cubic inch mill"plumbed" to a Flow Master exhaust system beneath. In addition the automatic tranny is hooked into the original dual gate his & her, shifter (with the "his" side providing plenty of fun for this 4-speed manual "wanna be".) Other highlights of note include electronic ignition, adjustable air shocks, customized spark plug wire guides, copy red line tires and original (irreplaceable!) PMD wheel covers. So, that's it (probably more than you ever wanted to hear!) Now I'm glad to say that I'm back with folks who love muscle, having joined Golden Gate Goats a couple years back after meeting up with Lollie Mayeda at Cherries Jubilee and hearing, "Hi!, I'm Lollie, and here's a membership application.” I really enjoy the big runs, like Cherries Jubilee and the anniversary picnic we had at Henry Cowell Redwoods in October. I wish I had time to participate in more events...maybe when I retire in 4 years, huh? One final thought: If it weren’t for the sentimental family value of my Goat, I'd dearly love to relive my youth in a ‘64 tri-power convertible...Gotta admit, that’s my dream car; and if I had one I’d take it you know where late some night I'd trip to that long straight stretch on highway 17 and play "THE GAME"......GRRRRR!!
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