# Need advice on restoration of 70 GTO



## Vette1003 (Sep 24, 2010)

Hello all, 
I purchased a 1970 GTO back in October. I was suppose to paint this one for the owner , but he decided to abandon the restore and sold it to me. The car was completely stripped down to the frame and based on all of the paper work, the numbers all match except no numbers on the trans. It has a 400 with true RAMIII and auto Trans. Originally this car came from the factory with a Forest Green Metallic color and black vinyl top, A/C, Black interior with all electric inside and a split bench seat. Came with front Disc brakes. Little to no rust, and Judge stripes on the front and rear fenders. Previous owner completed restoration on the frame and under carriage of the body, added Disc brakes to the rear and install posi rear gears in original rear end.(All professionally done).
That said; 
I am debating on restoring to complete original or doing some mods from original. 
Example of mods: I have a Judge rear spoiler and a hood tach that I can install on the car. I would also want to change the color and not install the vinyl top and moldings. Also looking at replacing the slightly damaged original front bumper with a glass one. I would also like to change the interior to buckets and counsel.

Is the car worth more original or modified?
Would like some recommendations?

Thanks for the advice in advance.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

The car is worth more if kept original. If you're going to keep it to drive/enjoy, do it the way you want. Me, I'd keep it original, save for the vinyl top. I hate 'em.


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## Vette1003 (Sep 24, 2010)

Thanks, I hate the vinyl top as well. do you think the color maters?


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## daveh70 (Sep 4, 2008)

I think keeping it original color would matter. Since this car is all numbers matching, it seems a perfect candidate for restoring to original. Or at least mainly original. That's my 2 cents. Sounds like a nice car.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

i would restore back to original color, that green is actually very nice color, would forgo vinyl (can always be added easily for true resto). as for mods i went on the premise don't do anything that can't be un-done back to original with a socket and screwdriver. welcome to the herd :cheers


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## jetstang (Nov 5, 2008)

I don't like original, but being a well optioned ram air III, I would restore it and sell it. Then get a lesser car and do it how you want. Cutting a hole in an original ram air hood for the hood tach? I think not.. It is your car and you could claim that the hood tach and spoiler were dealer installed.
Good luck and welcome, nice car!


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

geeteeohguy said:


> The car is worth more if kept original. If you're going to keep it to drive/enjoy, do it the way you want.


That's the key question. If you're building it just for you to enjoy, then do whatever you like and enjoy the snot out of it. If you're building as an investment to re-sell, 100% original is usually the best answer. I don't have the numbers on hand to back it up, but I'm guessing that the split bench seats didn't appear in very many GTO's - especially real RA III cars - and might therefore make it worth more.

Bear


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## 85_SS (Jul 26, 2010)

I'm a "build it however you want" guy for the most part, but as mentioned, when it comes to a numbers matching Ram Air car with some unusual options, it would be a shame to modify it. If it were me, I'd do as suggested above - rebuilt to stock and sell, then find another to modify to your liking. At the end of the day, it's your car though and you can do whatever you want 

As mentioned, when it comes to resale - numbers matching is huge to a lot of guys, and for your best resale it really needs to be as original as possible as well. For the purists that would be your target market with a car like this, "numbers matching" loses a lot of it's attraction when everything else has been modified.


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## Thumpin455 (Feb 17, 2010)

If you plan to sell it at some later point but you want to drive it for a while, keep all the parts you dont use, like the trim and seats. I have n HO car that doesnt have most of its unique parts, so it would be stupid expensive to put back original despite having the original block and heads.

I would like to have a bumper for mine, if you or anyone else wants to part with one reasonable.


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## Indecision (Oct 24, 2010)

I agree with everyone else so far. If you are planning to sell it, keep it all original. If you plan to enjoy it, do it how you want it. My goat is a true goat with no numbers matching, so I had no real reason to not paint it the color I wanted or modify it any other way I wanted. (maybe an LS2/T56 swap?)


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