# Column shift GTO



## 40lutzag (Jan 25, 2012)

Im looking at a 69 GTO for sale. It has bucket seats with a column shift. Seems little weird but numbers on vin and data plate match. body is in good shape with full quarters done and non factory motor out of a 74 Trans AM for $5500.00. What do you think?


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

Links to the ad?

I've seen other column shift bucket seat GTO's. Seems that if you did'nt pay extra for the console they put the shifter on the column. Just does'nt seem right, does it? I once say a 68 GTO with endura delete (chrome bumper) that had a column shift and a bench. I've also seen another 69 in Verdoro Green that had a black bucket seat interior with a column shift.

Not sure of the rarity but for desirablity I would say a floor shift GTO would be worth more but you could always convert it if you wanted too.


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## jetstang (Nov 5, 2008)

Price is right if it's decent. The GTO is a performance option, not luxury option, lighter the better. Judge was worse with the wheel trim ring delete, really, no trim rings? Pontiac was performance oriented and catered to their customers.


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## GTO JOHN (Dec 11, 2008)

I own a column shift 69 Judge. Has buckets also. Have not seen many like this but they made a few.


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## 67 GTO (Nov 26, 2011)

i have a column shift 1967 GTO.Every where i go with it people think its a clone until i tell them the VIN digits of 242.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

Column shift cars were 3 speed manuals, if you upgraded to the 4 speed the shifter is on the floor with the console being another option.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

I've worked on and driven a few column shift GTO's over the years. Both early 2 speed auto cars ('64-'66) and TH400 cars...('67 and up). I had one original owner of a column shift TH400 '67 GTO with a black bench interior (car was dark blue) and he always had me do the tune ups on it. That car _flew_. They weren't any _slower_ if the auto shifter was on the column!!! A GTO is a GTO!!!


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## OrbitOrange (Jul 5, 2010)

I have a friend that has an original 70 gto judge that he bought when he got home from vietnam. Its a true 100% column shift bench seat judge.


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## kilkm68 (May 5, 2011)

I saw a '67 column shift bench seat goat with 3 dueces at a show last year. I was looking at the VIN when the owner came over to talk. I said I had never seen a column shift Goat with 3 dueces and a bench. The VIN was good and he said he was the 2nd owner of the car. A lady special order the car new in '67 and he had all the paperwork and PHS documents.


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## 40lutzag (Jan 25, 2012)

im still waiting on the owner to get back in touch with me for the sale. I probably will think about converting it to a floor shift once the body and interior job comes up.


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## MickeyKelley (Oct 28, 2011)

The obvious question to me is: is it a standard shift or an automatic?

Aren't there both column and console shift auto's or was the gto auto a mandated hurst dual gate? 

On second thought the 69 did away with the hurst.


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

I've seen an auto/column 69, but I've never seen a 3 speed stick car with the shift on the column. I have seen 3 speed stick floor shift GTO's, and they aren't slow either!


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

ALKYGTO said:


> I've seen an auto/column 69, but I've never seen a 3 speed stick car with the shift on the column. I have seen 3 speed stick floor shift GTO's, and they aren't slow either!


Thats cause there never was a manual shift on the column on a GTO. Column shift was Auto with a TH400. Console shift was a Hurst manual or a Rally Sports Shifter with the TH400.


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

In the July 1999 issue of Muscle Car Review,which celebrated "35 years of The Great One", Paul Zazarine wrote in the article "Top 10 Rare Options" 

Quote -

"Talk about rare. How abut the '66 GTO with base three speed transmission? The shifter was located on the column,. That was the only year Pontiac opted to put the base three-speed on the GTO's column. Every year thereafter the shifter was made by Hurst and was located between the seats."

I've never actually seen one, but if Paul Zazarine said it existed, I believe it!

This was #8 of the top 10 rare options.

Judge, I know we're talking about 69's, I just thought I'd throw this in there. :cheers


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

ALKYGTO said:


> In the July 1999 issue of Muscle Car Review,which celebrated "35 years of The Great One", Paul Zazarine wrote in the article "Top 10 Rare Options"
> 
> Quote -
> 
> ...


Yea I was talking '69's. Paul's word is Gospel. According to the GTO redbook: 1966 offered as STANDARD 3 spd manual shift on the column.

Never seen one and to be honest never knew they had it.


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

Yeah, can you imagine bang shifting a tripower with one of those? :lol: FUN!


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

ALKYGTO said:


> Yeah, can you imagine bang shifting a tripower with one of those? :lol: FUN!


I'd pay to see kids today try and navigate one of those.

Here Kid, drive it....... LOL, 

I can't the shift is broken it has all this play in it.


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## 67 GTO (Nov 26, 2011)

how about a 1967 GTO on the column? whats the case with that year with the shifter on the column?


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## MaL (Jun 12, 2008)

I have the PHS document showing my 66 GTO was a 3 spd column manual shift. But, by the time I bought it, someone cut the floor and dropped in a Muncie 4 spd. I've kept the steering column with shift attachments still intact and will consider going original sometime in the future.


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## Smalldog (Apr 21, 2013)

My 72 GTO is a factory bench and column shift car. I need my PHS to prove its a real GTO since there is no 42 in the VIN in a 72 GTO.

I'm considering converting it to buckets and floor shift, hopefully a 4sp :rocker:


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## FNG69 (Nov 15, 2009)

ALKYGTO said:


> In the July 1999 issue of Muscle Car Review,which celebrated "35 years of The Great One", Paul Zazarine wrote in the article "Top 10 Rare Options"
> 
> Quote -
> 
> "Talk about rare. How abut the '66 GTO with base three speed transmission? The shifter was located on the column,.


Hey I have seen ONE. And it was a original paint GTO. It was at one of our Nationals!!!!!!!!! Les


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## ColumnshiftGTO (Aug 18, 2013)

*66 GTO Column shift 3 Speed*

My father bought me a New 1966 GTO with 3 on the tree, Bucket Seats, no console 389 4V. I had this car for 1 year, I wanted to put a Muncie 4 Speed in it but never had the cash. Oh yea it was a post car as well. I have never seen another one. I wonder if all the 3 on the tree cars were Post sedans ? It was stolen, and recovered a year or so later. I got the insurance money and bought a 67 Charger 383, 4 Speed car. I wish I had the GTO longer , but I probably would have put a 4 speed in it. I saw the GTO a few Years later on at a Used car lot, I looked at the vin to see if it was actually my car. To my surprise it had a new vin plate with a Georgia DMV assigned vin, the dealer told me any time a car was stolen and recovered the Georgia DMV would reassign a State VIN number. So by chance anyone has a 66 Post, Column shift Yellow GTO with black interior, with a Georgia VIN Plate, that use to be my Goat. One last note, When I got the Car, my best friend told his Mom, my Dad bought me a Goat. His Mom in Disbelief said " My God what the hell is he going to do with a GOAT !",


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## Iras67 (Jun 20, 2013)

*Iras67*

Check out my pictures on the Iras67 thread. My 1967 GTO I got from my wives grandparents is a factory built 3 speed column shift automatic with a Turbo Hydromatic 400 transmission all original. I have been told Ira ordered the automatic transmission in the hopes his wife would drive it, she eventually did. He did not want the floor his/hers shifter because he wanted the bench seat to fit the family and grand kids:cheers and although apparently you could get the bench seat with the floor shifter it was not practical or comfortable. As to the value, it does not matter to me, if anything the combination of the bench seat and column shifter is relativity rare in 67 and makes the car even more special. The big thing I have learned is that it all depends on how the car was ordered or built. It makes sense to me my GTO with A/C, the 2.93 rear end and bench seat is a muscle car cruiser not a street dragging bruiser with high gears 4 speed manual and HO option. That is what it was ordered and built to be and that is what it excels at still today. Different strokes for different folks that is what makes the GTO's so special


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## Darth (Apr 30, 2011)

My 67' I had back in high school had the TH400, 360 HP 400, with a column shifter and bucket seats with no console. We had a 68' that was in just...rough shape. But it had a bulletproof His and Hers shifter. We were going to swap them out, but then a lumber truck from Ridout Lumber Company (never buy lumber from these GTO destroying jerkoffs) ran into me and destroyed the car.


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## teamwoody72 (May 23, 2008)

my 68 gto ho has buckets and column shift. original owner was a dr that ordered it that way so he could put his dr bag between the seats


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## Iraq 69 (May 4, 2013)

Hey All,
My 70 GTO has the 455 HO, bench seat and auto on the column, A/C and 3.07. PHS docs and matching numbers. First owner a woman.
Marc:cheers


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## kjk990 (Sep 1, 2010)

I drive a 67 GTO column shift TH400. Though it is now a 67 GTO with a floor shifting 700R4. Best upgrade I ever did.


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## Darth (Apr 30, 2011)

Yeah putting in a modern overdrive tranny really helps. My 69' Camaro has a 200raptor in it. I can go 75 MPH on the interstate at around 1800 RPM. My 65' GTO with a 4 speed and 3.90 gears goes around 3500 RPM at 55-60 in 4th gear. Thats why I'm swappin out gear ratios. She's fast through the quarter and off the line though. 

Curious, when you put the tranny in the floor did you put in a standard auto shifter or a His and Hers? My camaro has the standard horshoe shifter, albeit with 4 speeds on the indicator bezel instead of 3. However its a Yenko Clone, and so automatics in the Yenkos where all Hurst His and Hers Shifters. Which were three speeds. I was trying to figure out how to put the shifter in a now 4 speed car. 

Wait, Camaro you say? Bitchomatic transmission you say. Long story was I wanted a GTO but I was in a serious relationship. In the interest of compromise I wanted a classic car, a 65’ GTO to be precise, but she liked the looks of the Camaro. I think they look pretty cool too, so we (I) got a 69’ Yenko Clone that had been restored. At that time, I had taken a thru and thru in the arm and my elbow was shot (literally and figuratively) and so shifting was no fun at all for me, and she couldn’t operate a manual, so we got the automatic. I’ve since had surgery on the arm and its back to probably 85%, so I can stir the gears myself again. I’m gonna track down a dealer or an individual willing to trade and get myself a firebird or just sell it now. Anyway, sorry to derail the thread. Back on topic.

Umm, neither my Camaro, or my GTO has a column shifter. Nor does the 2+2 I'm about to restore although it came with one originally. We put a floor shift from a wreck in it 20 years ago and made it a console car. Just looks cooler.


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## Smalldog (Apr 21, 2013)

kjk990 said:


> I drive a 67 GTO column shift TH400. Though it is now a 67 GTO with a floor shifting 700R4. Best upgrade I ever did.


How intensive is the conversion from column to floor? I assume you needed a new steering column, a console, the floor shifter mechanism, etc? Any welding or cutting on the hump? 


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

You'll need the floor shifter, the hump for the floor, the shift rods, to make it look correct you'll need a steering column. Of course you'll also have to cut a hole in the floor. The hump screws to the floor.


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## Smalldog (Apr 21, 2013)

Rukee said:


> You'll need the floor shifter, the hump for the floor, the shift rods, to make it look correct you'll need a steering column. Of course you'll also have to cut a hole in the floor. The hump screws to the floor.


Thanks Rukee. Pretty big job and $$$. 


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## teamwoody72 (May 23, 2008)

I have a column shift 68 gto h.o. with buckets. the original owner said he ordered it that way cuz he was a doctor and thought it would be a good place to keep his dr bag. back then doctors would go to your house and kept a bag in there cars all the time.


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## 300deluxe (May 7, 2010)

Would you happen to be from Minnesota?


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## 88redconvert (Nov 24, 2015)

I have seen a few column shift camaros but never saw a GTO. Not saying there weren't any, just haven't seen one.


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## pony462 (Oct 29, 2015)

ALKYGTO said:


> In the July 1999 issue of Muscle Car Review,which celebrated "35 years of The Great One", Paul Zazarine wrote in the article "Top 10 Rare Options"
> 
> Quote -
> 
> ...



I read somewhere that the GTO's that were ordered with the three-speed on the floor the transmission was built by ford. ('67)

:crazy:


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

smithd7 said:


> I read somewhere that the GTO's that were ordered with the three-speed on the floor the transmission was built by ford. ('67)
> 
> :crazy:


Yes, the HD 3-speed is a Ford built transmission called a "Dearborn." This is why the Pontiac bell housing has 2 different bolt patterns for the transmission. The Ford 3-speed was modified to work with GM cars. It was used for a number of years.


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## 88redconvert (Nov 24, 2015)

PontiacJim said:


> Yes, the HD 3-speed is a Ford built transmission called a "Dearborn." This is why the Pontiac bell housing has 2 different bolt patterns for the transmission. The Ford 3-speed was modified to work with GM cars. It was used for a number of years.


thanks for that piece of info.. I was wondering why there were two bolt patterns on the bell housing


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