# fell in love with the 66!



## beer guy (Oct 22, 2014)

Hello one and all!
Please bare with me as I am new to this forum but old in my love for the 66GTO.
Recently, I found out my cousin has a 66 for sale and I want it so bad I can hardly stand it!
Some quick questions like:
What would be a good price given it is running, has a different engine and tranny (not sure what), good solid frame and body, needs paint and some rust repair. Second owner.
What is an off frame restoration and is it worth it?
Age old question of how to restore? True to 66 or 66 appearance with different engine etc?
I just love the look of the 66 and consider it my dream car!
Thx
beer guy


----------



## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

Hey beer guy, welcome to the forum. 

A full or frame off restoration is pretty costly, hard to give an estimate without any pictures of the car but I will say that a restoration can easily exceed the value of the finished car. 

Look at prices of complete cars before you buy your cousins GTO. ......unless there is some sentimental value or it doesn't need as much as you think you may be money ahead buying a finished car.


----------



## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

How much is he asking? Show us some good pictures and we can give you an idea on value and how much work you would be in for.

Sad to say these days you can buy more value than you can build. Better to pay 25 for something the seller has 40 into than to pay 15 and put 30 into it (easy to do).


----------



## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

If you can drive it as is, just buy it and enjoy. Shoot a coat of black primer on it to hide all the imperfections, set of good rims, and rip up the street for a while. Once you have flogged it for a while, then you can decide what you want to do with your car.

Price/cost of rebuilding/restoring is based on what you can do yourself. The more you have to pay others to do the work, the quicker the budget climbs -which is real fast.

Going "original" to '66 specs could also add to your budget seeing it does not have the original engine/trans. Let us know what engine/trans is in it now. Horsepower is king and the engine size/year is not always that important -unless you want to go 100% restoration/original.

Does the body need to come off the frame? -this is what is done in a "frame-off" restoration/rebuild. This usually is a timely and costly process and your car will be down for a while because you are essentially disassembling the entire car in this type of rebuild. Can you keep the body on the frame or do you prefer to do a ground-up rebuild?

Give us some more details on the car and what YOU are wanting to do with it and we can throw some options & ideas at you to get your dream going.


----------



## beer guy (Oct 22, 2014)

*want a car that is reasonably close to original*

I don't want this car to look any different than a stock 66. So no mags, no messed up colors, no non original looking trim/moulding etc.
As far as engine goes I want power (it is a muscle car after all!) but I want a original to that time engine and trans. No fuel injection! Must have awesome sounding exhaust. Not loud just growling. 
I am guessing to stay away from the idea of an off frame resto but I do want this last until I am too old to turn the key anymore.
Good Lord I am excited about even the chance for this car.
I will need to find out what engine is in it now but my cousin did say it was from a firebird (year???? and size???)


----------



## Mikesan (Apr 2, 2011)

The correct engine would be a 389, but you could go with a 400 or 455 no problem and have all the HP you want depending on the size of your wallet.


----------

