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KEN & MARCI FRANK’S
1965 GTO CONVERTIBLE
It’s a mid-life crisis
thing…
I first got the GTO bug
when I was 8 years old (everybody’s got a GTO story…) My dad had just
gotten a ’66 Chrysler 300 with a 383 in it. He was bragging to my
cousin how his Chrysler could beat his ’66 GTO 389/3x2s/411/4spd… So
off we went into the hills of San Carlos; I was in the GTO of course! The
two squared off and bam, it was whiplash city… It was no contest! The
GTO blew away the Mopar! My cousin also used to drag race at Half Moon
Bay. I would get rides in the GTO with the headers open, tires squealin’
and eyeballs-a-poppin. I was hooked!
I have always loved muscle
cars. About two years ago, I was talking to a local mechanic down the
street from me who pretty much just builds Tri-5ive Chevy's. He was
completing a ’57 hardtop, frame-off, rebuilt 350/350 etc… It was
basically sitting there, just the frame, drive train and sanded-down
body. It needed the entire interior and cosmetics… I told Marci about
it and how much fun it would be to restore it. She said how we couldn’t
afford it right now, that we needed the money for other things, on and on…
yada, yada, yada… She gave me all her reasons why we shouldn’t do it,
but actually never said NO. So, I came home the next day and said
"Honey, you’re the proud owner of a ’57 Chevy. She said no I’m
not and you’re not either! Take it back! I told you no! I said, you
never actually said no… you said all the reasons why we couldn’t
afford it, yada, yada, yada, but you never said no.
I told her that I wouldn’t take it back, that I had given my word and I
wasn’t going back on it for anyone…
Well, Marci doesn’t say
no very often and I knew I was in for a fight. I had not only lost the
battle, but the car as well. She did make me take it back and I was so
mad (and embarrassed) I went out bought $500+ worth of camping gear to
take my then 3 year old daughter, Sydney fishing (what 3 year old do you
know with a $100 fishing pole and besides, I haven’t gone fishing in
20+ years, who was I kidding!).
Well I showed her, I didn’t speak
to Marci for almost 2 days as I left with Sydney fishing… (at a local
pond) and then off camping… (our backyard hillside 20 yards from the
house). Yes, sometimes a man just has to stand up for himself.
Ok, so about a year ago, we’re
watching TV and we see this commercial of a guy in a blue GTO convertible
looking up at a billboard about new computer technology… Marci says,
"Wow, that’s a beautiful car"… Hey, I’m no dummy! This
was the perfect time to soften her up. I told her I’d start looking.
She again hemmed and hawed, but this time with not much conviction. After
much groveling I told her it was my mid-life crisis obligation… She
said it had to be a convertible. Two weeks later, we had our ’65
convertible. Marci’s explanation: "Better a 35 year-old car, than
a 25 year old bimbo."
Last August, I found on the web a
place in New Jersey near Philadelphia PA border that specializes in GTOs.
I’m not passing on the name of this place because frankly, (Ken
Frankly) my experience wasn’t exactly first rate. Anyway, I flew back
there, found the ’65 convertible "survivor" with 84,000
miles, 389/4bbl, and 2spd auto. It drove great, had good power, the
interior was awesome, and the engine had been rebuilt to stock at 80,000
miles. I did the PHS documentation and it all checked out.
After driving it around for a
while, we decided that it was a little soft and needed to have the
suspension freshened up a bit. We started out to restore the car back to
stock, so… we installed a ’66 Tri-power set-up in the ’65 (well
almost stock). We then solicited the help of Wayne Barnes and changed the
manual drum brakes to power disks and freshened up the front and rear
suspension with new bushings, bearings, control arms/sway bars, springs,
shocks, etc… Wayne built a TH/350 and installed it to look just like
the old 2sp-power glide. Wayne has done an outstanding job, thank you
Wayne!
I wanted to add some
"juice" to the engine, 'cuz the 16 year old kid in me wanted
more ‘oomph. Marci said nothing too radical; after all, this was our
Sunday driver! So, not wanting to destroy the original motor that itself
had just been rebuilt, I put in a call to Jim Butler Performance in
Tennessee. I told them specifically what I wanted: A Sunday driver that I
could still romp at the track. They built a 475hp 455ci (.30 over) TRW
pistons, Eagle rods and crank, moly rings, Comp hydraulic roller cam and
rockers, MSD ignition, ported #96 heads, port matched the Tri-power and
HO exhaust manifolds and a 2400 torque converter. Wayne (who else) Barnes
installed the engine and ran the MSD box under the driver’s seat so not
to disturb the (stock) engine compartment. Have I already said Wayne did
a great job?
We finished off the resto by having
a new convertible top installed, and rebuilding the seats. The carpets
and seat upholstery were in great shape, so we left them (stock)…
We named our ’65 "Greta
Goat" and our kids (Sydney 5, Piper 3) love driving in her. We get
great looks cruising with the 3 & 5 year olds in the back in their
car seats. There’s just nothing better than going for a Sunday drive in
the summer with the top down and all of us together.
Even though we have been GGG
members for just a year or so, we have had a blast with the club, the
events, the great people and the cars are just too much fun! We’re all
looking forward to doing more with the club!
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