# best childhood gto memories



## teamwoody72 (May 23, 2008)

I wanted to start a thread where we post our best childhood gto memories. I have a few. one that comes to mind is when my dad had a 66 gto, tyrol blue 4 speed. It was not a daily driver but was also not a show car by any means. One day my dad was at work and my moms car would not start. My baby sister was sick and mom needed to take her to the doctor. My mom had never driven the beast before and actually hated the car. She loaded all 4 kids in the car and headed towards the doctor office. There was very little gas so she stopped at the gas station. She was not doing well with the 4 speed as far as my 10 yr old opinion percieved. that was back in the day when gas stations had guys come to pump the gas for you. The guy pumping the gas told my mom: Nice car, if you ever want to get rid of it please let me know. Mom said you have a better chance of him selling you one of these kids. I was ok with that as long as i wasnt the kid being sold.. As she pulled out of the gas station she reved the motor a popped the clutch and lit the tires up...by accident cuz she could not drive the 4 speed for nothing. when she did that i got goose bumps and looked back at the guy that filled the tank and he was pumping his arm. Moms exact words when it happened were " I hate this fu$%*ing car..My other memory was when my dad loaned the same car to my uncle and it came back 3 days later....completely totaled on the back of a tow truck. That was the end of the 66 and the start of my gto addiction.


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## AlaGreyGoat (Jul 6, 2006)

WOW! Great Thread!
I was 15 years old, working at a local service station in the early Fall.
I was closing up when a older buddy came driving in with a Brand New 1966 GTO.
Burgundy, 389, 3 Deuce, 4 Speed, beautiful car. He asked if I wanted to ride to
the local joint to get a burger. HELL YEAH! On the way back, he pulls over and
lets me drive. It's on a long straight used for street drags. I pull off easy and
then floor it. Felt better than sex!
Will never forget that drive!

Larry


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## Pontiacpurebrred (Jun 22, 2011)

Sadly my childhood was spent in a Dodge/Ford household. My earliest memory of a GTO was when I was 14 or 15. I honestly didn't even know what a GTO was prior to that. I thought Mustangs, Camaros and Chargers were the only hot rods out there. Sad, I know right?

Well that all changed the day the 1970 GTO Judge RA III rolled into my life. It belonged to a buddy or mine's friend he was 25 they knew each other from a hunting lodge they both belonged to down in BFE Kansas. Well we all became fast friends, and we cruised that car all over Kansas. He was a crazy mother****** and drove that thing like a maniac. That was the baddest car I was ever around, and it changed my life. I never looked back and I was a Pontiac guy from then on.


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## 389tripower65GTO (Feb 2, 2012)

I,too, was not the child of a GTO owner...
My first GTO memory was my friends sisters boyfriend that had a new green 1970 hardtop. I was 10 at the time, and only knew that this car was something special.
As for me, I was a 20 year old "kid", when a friend told me there was a 67 GTO convert for sale in our town. It all orig, but all primer, top was ripped, etc, but I picked it up for the princely sum of $500. Sold it back to my same friend a year later. Bad idea, although he fixed it up nicely. That was the start of my obsession with the Goat. Senior year in college I'm driving a 69 convert, and same friend shows me how to bounce the front end up and down, (chirping the tires, as we go) as we're passing by all the kids changing classes. It was harmless, but one of those memories that stays with me, 27 years later.


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## Joe'sToy (Mar 9, 2012)

My childhood memory was always of my Dad and the Pontiac Parisienne he owned. He loved Pontiac's and would not buy anything else. He never bought a GTO, said he couldn't because it wasn't practical with five kids, but he alway's wanted one.


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

^Those crazy Canuc's. Pics of your Dad's Pontiac "Impala's"?

I know there were some different Poncho's up north; Acadian's, Parisiens, Conso's. They all add to the Pontiac allure and mystery.

I'd love to see a thread dedicated to Canadian Pontiacs.

BTW my dad had a 64 Bonne he cursed because of the 4 speed hydro that always delt him fits but that was about the only Poncho until he bought a 6000 STE back in the Eighties. I remember racing my buddy's 67 383 Chrysler Newport and taking him by a fender in my front drive 6 cylinder! 

My dad owned some neat cars back in the day including a couple of 56 T-birds, a real 66 Hemi Charger (factory painted in "Evening Orchid" with a white interior), 64 T-bird (which I loved) and some misc. Chevelles.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

*My GTO Story*

Ok, I'll share my story again 

*How I Fell In Love with GTO's.*​
It was around 1968 or 1969, during the summer. My dad owned a small used car lot in the small Texas panhandle town were I was born and raised. I helped out during the summers and on weekends, going down early to open up the place, make sure all the cars would start, filing the paper work for sales transactions, running errands, and the like. We had a relationship with a local bank for customer financing, and one day our contact dropped by to ask if he might store a couple of bank repo's on our lot until he could decide what to do with them. It's good to be nice to the bank guy, so of course we said 'Sure! bring 'em on by." The "them" in this case turned out to be two GTO's: one a maroon '66, the other a '65 - both 4-speed cars. The '65 was that metallic orchid color that Pontiac called Iris Mist, you know the one, it looked good for about a week until it oxidized. Then it looked like metallic puke. I was still fairly young, just barely in high school, and though I'd heard all the hubbub surrounding GTO's I'd never actually driven one. I usually just drove something "off the lot" and at the time, that was a '62 Ford Fairlane with a mighty 221-inch V8, "three on the tree", four-door sedan. The manual transmission was fun, and it was, embarrasing as it is to admit, the fastest car I'd ever driven. Well, since I had keys to the place a buddy of mine and I made plans to return late one night and test drive one of those GTO's. We chose the '65. Of course it was almost out of gas, and as we eased it off the lot I kept thinking about how much trouble I'd be in if we got caught, or managed to tear up a car we didn't even own. I was very careful with it - for awhile. Leaving a stop sign at an intersection on a residential street in the middle of town, not far from the lot, my curiosity got the better of me and I dropped the hammer. Mercy! In about 1.5 heartbeats the tach needle swept past 5000 rpm and I grabbed second gear --- then third gear. We were rocketing down this residential street, winding out third, parked cars flashing past in a blur, well north of the posted speed limit for the highway (let alone a tiny residential street) with our eyes as big as saucers. Nothing, and I mean nothing, in my previous vehicular experience had prepared me for a car that would accelerate that hard in such a short time and distance. That's when I looked up and saw the rapidly approaching stop sign where that residential street we were rocketing down tee'd into the main highway going through town. We were in big trouble. No way was I going to get that GTO stopped in time.  Well, I got on the brakes and locked up all four wheels. We slid through the stop sign, across all four lanes of traffic, and off onto the shoulder on the opposite side of the highway. By some miracle we didn't hit anything or anybody, and the car was still upright. As we sat there, with a huge cloud of dust and debris slowly settling down around us, for awhile all you could hear were two pounding heartbeats and the sound of that idling 389.

That's when I looked over at my buddy, sitting in the passenger seat, his face white as a ghost, and said, "I have _got_ to have one of *THESE!!!*". 

That's how I fell in love with GTO's.

My dad and I never talked about it or whether he knew what we'd been up to that night. In retrospect, considering that he always seemed to know everything I was doing even before I did, he probably did know. However, if either of us had ever admitted that openly then the rules of engagement would have required him to take action so netiher of us ever spoke of it to each other.

My dad, in his wisdom, knew enough to keep my little round butt out of a car like that though. I probably would have killed myself. A few years later, when I was still going through college and married, I found a 69 hardtop. I talked it over with him, and we bought it ih about 1974. It turned out to be the last car that he and I would buy together before he died in Janurary of 1980, and I still have it. It's the one you've seen on here, the one I call "the Beast". It took me more than 20 years to finish the restoration project and get it back on the road. Some day I'll pass it on to my son.

I still miss you, Dad.

My 1969 Pontiac GTO Restoration Project

Bear


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

I got the disease when I was 15 (1974)...saw a '66 GTO do a massive burn out down the block from where I lived....saw the tail lights eventually....had to have one. I got a '66 vert, 389 4 spd. the next winter ($400) and had to wait until 9/76 to get my license to drive it. It lasted about 6 months ttill the "motor went". I then started the long road to becoming Eric GTO in my neighborhood..........................................still at it.


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## Joe'sToy (Mar 9, 2012)

ALKYGTO said:


> ^Those crazy Canuc's. Pics of your Dad's Pontiac "Impala's"?
> 
> I know there were some different Poncho's up north; Acadian's, Parisiens, Conso's. They all add to the Pontiac allure and mystery.
> 
> I'd love to see a thread dedicated to Canadian Pontiacs.


The Impala was my uncle's car, my Dad and him would fight over which was a better car. Just got a little mixed up posting this morning. My brain is slower than my typing skills. :lol:


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## 68GTO4004Spd (Jun 19, 2008)

In 1976, I was 10 years old, (allready a car nut) my older brother 15. My brothers best friend had an older brother that had a black 66 GTO 3 speed, I believe it was a 389 tripower. My brother and his friend asked Jeff the owner of the GTO if he would do a water burnout on the street in front of his house. Jeff said OK and got in the car and backed out of the driveway while my brother and his friend ran to get the garden hose. I was standing on the sidewalk when Jeff backed the car up looked at me and said "I don't need water to do a burnout", reved it, dumped the clutch, drug the brakes and burned the tires halfway down the block. I stood there in a cloud of tire smoke that I could barely see through and I was hooked. My brother and his friend missed the whole thing while getting the hose.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

remember watching the old super 8 movies of when i was a baby and seeing dads 65' GTO and moms 66' Lemans in the driveway long before i knew what a GTO was, all i knew is i loved those old cars. Dad got rid of the GTO when my brother was born for a LeMans wagon for mom and got T-boned in Mom's Lemans not long after. They always had a pontiac while i was growing up and when it was time for me to buy my first car at 15 i found a 67' GTO for sale in the neighborhood just a bit out of my price range....in the time it took for me to get up the extra money it was sold, so i ended up buying a 69' firebird and then 3 more after that before it was time for me to get something "practical" to start raising my own family. So with my girls flying the coupe for college and a lot of extra time on my hands for an old hobby first thing i thought was GTO.....and within a week of seeing what i could'nt afford i stumbled upon the Tempest as a possible GTO clone....well as you can see i just could not bring myself to defame the intact and original car and actually like the fact that it is quite unique in it's own right....when was the last time you parked next to a clean Tempest at a car show? After all the concept GTO was just a Tempest that Delorean had the techs soup up for him.


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## Wob (Dec 2, 2010)

One of my favorites:
My dad had a 65 LeMans for his daily driver for 23 years or so and it was his baby. He worked 2 full time jobs 6 days a week so Sunday was his (and my from as early as I can remember) work on the car. I was certainly more of a hand me this wrench guy but none the less. I used to watch my dad open the hood by reaching in the bumper all of the time. One day he was either off or a Sunday he wasnt working on the car and I decided I wanted to admire the engine. I stuck my hand in the split of the bumper and felt around for something (didnt know what I was feeling for). And hmmmmm,, my arm seems to be stuck. I was mid arm deep and rotated my arm and was stuck. It took a while and probably a small panic that I was going to get in trouble before my neighbor across the street came over with a shovel and pried me out at the same time my dad came out. And smash cut to 2012 and my 65 is at the sand blasters on its way to glory!


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## BlackoutV (May 19, 2009)

Okay guys, I have kind of a long one lol...so bear with me....

Backstory:

My dad was a gto lover. He bought his 1970 goat back in '79 and was the second owner. Red on red, 400, 4spd, beautiful car. He owned it from then until he passed away 3 years ago, and now it, and its little brother the 2006 red on red goat are in my posession. 

The actual story:

Growing up, I would always help my dad work on the goat. I was as infatuated with it as he was. He always included me when working on it, and he knew how much I cared about the car. Well, when I was a senior in high school, he let me drive it on my last day of school. My friend Bobby also drove his dad's 66 vette convertible, and we parked next to each other (such badasses haha). Anyways, when I was on my way home from school, theres a spot on the road where it goes from one lane, 40mph, to two lanes and opens up to 55mph. Well, I decided to get on it a bit, and pass the truck that was putting along in the right lane. WELLL....the guy who was in that truck, knew the original owner of the goat, who lived in the town next to us, and who my dad still kept in touch with. To make a long story short, the story got changed around as it passed from person to person...and when my dad got wind of it, aparently I was "speeding, passing on a double yellow, and driving recklessly." When my dad came home from work that day he asked me how my day went, and if anything interesting happened. I told him no, and then he told me what he had heard....all with a funny grin on his face of course. I told him what really happened, and we laughed it off. He didn't trust me driving it by myself for a little while after that, but I think deep down inside he was proud that his son turned into just as much of a gearhead, if not more, than he was. 

...and that is my most memorable moment about growing up with GTOs in my life! lol


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## LittleMs.ChatterBox (Apr 11, 2012)

seriously cute stories.



I dont have story like that, but if I did id prob post it. 
I wasnt even born yet ...and i didnt own one till now sooo yeah.


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

LittleMs.ChatterBox said:


> seriously cute stories.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hey! Someone with your name ought to have much more to say!! Post some pics, and tell us about your car........and Welcome to the forum Eric


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

Yeah ChatterBox if you have a GTO there has to be a story behind it...and welcome to the forum...:cheers


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## LittleMs.ChatterBox (Apr 11, 2012)

LOL! thanks guys.... 
You guys are nice. 



Lets see..... ummm its just a 65 GTO. nothing major. Well you see/hear one....pretty much you hear/see all. Although, Ill be honest....i dont really ever see a GTO in Orange County. 


Oh you know what...I do have a story actually.
So, on Sunday (April 8th) i woke up and went outside to the garage w my coffee and i tried opening the driver side door and i couldnt do it. Believe, it was so freaking hard to open. whatever, i gave up and went to passenger side and sat down on the seat. I was looking at and kept thinking....Oh God, this car is so dirty. i gave it a quick wipe but i was not happy still. well i cleaned the whole interior from 10am till 930pm. honestly, i was happy. however i was so tired that the next day i called in sick for work. lOl!


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## jetstang (Nov 5, 2008)

My first car was a hand me down 69 Electra 225 w/a 430, burned out great, but a boat. Found a 71 Lemans Sport for a $150, bought it. Bought and installed a 3.55 posi and GTO front clip for $150. Car was fun and quick, but got hit head on in my lane. Got $500 insurance, woo hoo.. Found a 66 Tempest with a 455. Put the 3.55 in it and was the hit of high school in 83. Spun a rod bearing in it and parked it, went in the Air Force and Mom sold the car for $100. Now, 30 years later, my 70 Lemans Sport is almost done, no car is ever done and a 66 GTO is in the process of resto, so I have both my highschool cars back. Also, the bodyshop I spend my time at have a 70 Buick 225 outback that just needs paint, body work is done, so I could have all my highschool cars back! But I can pass on the buick, lol..
Oh, in 80 neighbor across from from my Grandma had a 70 Blue Judge and piled it up and turned him into a 10 year old, bad wreck. Also, went to a garage sale when I was 13 and they had a 66 GTO tri power convertible that had a carb fire for $1500, wanted that car bad.


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

Are we talking front seat, or back seat memories?arty::cheers


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## rickm (Feb 8, 2012)

hey, i have some awsome memories, not sure if their considered "childhood". i had a '64 royal bobcat hardtop at age 18. the car was a downright " wild girl magnet ". i spent alot of time in the back seat if you know what i mean. i remember going to many keg partys and clubs with my buddys where i would have to tell them " sorry, i got lucky again. catch a ride back home with one of the guys". girls loved to be seen ridin shotgun in that car. you could have been like "waldo" from the little rascals, if you were driving that car you had more "poohtang" than you can handle. the rest of the story is x rated....rickm.


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

The "X rated stories" are probably PG-13 by today's standards......:rofl:


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## Bigbang (Dec 24, 2011)

When I was a kid, my dad had a gold with black top 69 goat with a 4 speed standard transmission that he had bought new. It was so cool I just could'nt wait to get to drive it. Two weeks before I got my drivers permit, it got totaled by a drunk driver one night while it was parked in the street in front of our house. I was so so upset because it was going to be my car to drive through high school. I got to drive a Skylark instead, but it was pretty quick so i cant complain to much. But talk about dreams being crushed. I guess it may have been a blessing because there is no telling what would have happened if I got to drive it. Who knows. Anyway, I have always wanted one but I got married young and had kids right away and now that they are out of the house, it time for me to enjoy the car I have alway wanted. I'm 48 now and finally get to drive the car of my dreams. Here are a few pictures of it from the site I bought it from.
It has the matching 400 Pontiac motor and the turbo 400 auto transmission. It is in very good shape and a great driver which is what I wanted. I get thumbs up every time I take it out and couldn't be more proud of it. I think I am sick and need a intervention or some help because I have a deep desire to buy another one. It's funny, every time my wife sees me on internet sites looking at GTO's for sale, she always says "don't even think of it". But in her defense, she never said a word and didn't mind me buying it without even letting her know until it showed up at our house. I'm a lucky man. Anyway, here are a few pictures.


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

It's a beauty!!!:cheers


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Very nice car! Isn't it sweet when a long-time dream finally fights its way into reality?

Bear


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## Bigbang (Dec 24, 2011)

Yes Bear it is and thanks guys.
Also, one more quick story, but this was recent.
I bought the goat Last December a couple weeks before Christmas. I wanted to surprise my dad with it on Christmas day by showing up in it for our extended family Christmas get together. Anyway, after we showed up and spent about 15 minutes hugging family members and saying hello to all, I started looking around for my dad and couldn't find him anywhere in the house, so I look outside in the back yard then the front and low and behold there he was. In the goat just sitting there. I went out to see him and he had the biggest smile on his face. It was priceless. He told me how he had missed his goat all the years since his was totaled and just sitting in it brought back so many memories. My younger brother also came out and told us how much he use to love riding in dads GTO and he remembered the smell of it. It's strange because I thought the same thing the first time I set down in my goat and thought how it smelled the same as my dads back in the day. Anyway, the GTO memories will last forever.


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## bayou4us (Nov 27, 2011)

Well it's not childhood memories but it was when I was about 19. I bought the 70 GTO from one of my older twin brothers. The other twin brother had a 1980 Z28. We used to race everywhere we went. He could never come close to me. He might catch me 5 miles down the road because he had more top end. He used to brag that my car would be in the grave yard while his car would still be around for a long time. Well he totaled his car and needed to bring it to the shop I was working at for tempory storage. He had just unloaded the car and was taking a picture of the tataled Z28, and by coicidence I was passing in the back ground coming to the shop. So the proof is in the picture that the Mighty GTO out lived the Z28. Here is the scan of that poloroid.


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## 389tripower65GTO (Feb 2, 2012)

B-bang,
I had to comment on your stories.
As much as I like the story about you buying the Goat,
I like the one about your Father even more.
My Dad's been gone almost 18 years, I'd give my left arm
to have a moment like you had with him in your GTO.
You are a very lucky man.
PS. You married well, too.


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## jetstang (Nov 5, 2008)

389tripower65GTO said:


> I like the one about your Father even more.
> My Dad's been gone almost 18 years, I'd give my left arm
> to have a moment like you had with him in your GTO.
> You are a very lucky man..


I'm with you, yesterday was a year for the death of my Dad. My Dad drove big Buicks and Olds, so no cool stories, but we did a bunch of home renovations together, miss that. If your Dad is still around, appreciate it, wish everyday I could of had more years with him, he was 77.


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## Bigbang (Dec 24, 2011)

Thanks for the kind words and you both are right, I'm going to make an effort to spend more time with my dad while i still can. Thanks


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

Bigbang, very pretty Goat and a great story, thanks for sharing! :cheers

I wonder if kids today will grow up with fond memories of Dad's Nissan Altima or Moms Honda minivan.....Nah :shutme.


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## Icefan71 (Apr 7, 2011)

Wish I had a cool GTO story to share like you guys. Growing up in the 80's my dad drove a Toyota Corolla. Father, mother and 3 boys crammed in that tiny shoe box. What a nightmare! When my oldest brother got his license, he bought a blue 67 GTO and he hammered that thing everyday. I was dying to get a ride in it, but he never took me. And the car didn't last long. One day, it came home on the back of a tow truck. The front end completely black from a fire. So he bought another GTO as a parts car, a white 66 convertible. Then he joined the Army and they both sat in the driveway for about 3 years. I used to go out and wipe the snow off them, sit in them and pretend to drive them. Any excuse to play around with them. Then one day, my mom had enough. She called a junk yard and had them hauled away. Now 30 years later, I finally have my own project vehicle. Not a GTO, but I love it. And when she's road worthy, I'll take my kids for a ride any time they want!


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## howthenotesbend (Apr 17, 2012)

well my father had a 69 el camino ss 396 when i was a child up until my uncle borrowed it and drunk drove it into a pole... when i was about 16 (im 20 now) i saved up all of my money and bought a 1970 Pontiac LeMans Sport 350. had some good times in it as a driver and finally getting around to restoring it completely. Thanks for all the awesome stories guys!


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## old68goat (Aug 11, 2010)

*First GTO & current GTO*

Dad was a Pontiac man with a new one every year from 1948-55. At 10, I remember him pegging the 55 Star Chief’s speedo racing a neighbor and it stuck at 120 mph. Next was a 62 Tempest (4 cylinder w/4 barrel carb). Dad was doing 105 mph in it as we went by the Olatha, KS City Limit’s sign leaving the dealership with that brand new car. At 19, I ordered a new 68 GTO and for 2+ years, I terrorized eastern Kansas. I put on almost 90,000 miles (many at over 120 mph with the 2.56 posi rear end) before I joined the Navy and got sent overseas and had to sell it. Then 2 years ago I bought another 68 that was a close match to that original one. This GTO was for my wife because it was like my original GTO I had when we first dated. Best memory of the original GTO was when I was heading home late one night and punched it leaving an intersection, burning rubber for about 100 yds before I got off the throttle. I settled in at about 80 mph over the rolling hills heading towards home. I saw headlights coming behind me and thought it was a co-worker trying to catch me so I got it up to 120 and after a mile I saw the flashing lights of a cop in the mirror. I floored it since it was just 3 miles to my home and knew I had the fastest car around. I was home and behind the garage before I heard the screeching tires and saw lights reflecting off the barn. The car pulled up behind the garage and parked beside the GTO. It was my neighbor- a highway patrol officer! He got out and said, “I got one thing to ask – What have you got under that hood, I was doing 140 and you were leaving me?” You have got to realize this was rural Kansas back in the 60’s and there weren’t many people out driving at night so we could get up some speed on many occasions and I did. Never did get a ticket with that GTO but I did get lectured a lot. I think I inherited my lead foot from my dad…


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## harp (Jun 22, 2009)

we were a pontiac family from dodge city kansas, a new red 68 tempest, then when i was 10 a new blue 69 lemans [ which i aquired as a first car at 16]. there were always a few special cars around town, but one in particular was a highly customized candy red 66-67 gto that i now realize was jacked up like a gasser. never forget the feeling watching him drive by my house one day. in 1976 after banking 2000$ for college, the lemans became mine! if you want a laugh, check out one of my exploits with that car, my thread " how fast do you think i was really going? " another special gto in town was a 1970 judge convetible. timmy masser's dad owned masser pontiac/cadilac in dodge and i think for timmy's 18th birthday he got that car. imagine the highly optioned car it must have been! blue / white top 4 speed. in 1978 that gto showed up at the vw dealers used car lot, and since i knew the sales manager gary hoffman, my best friend and i got to take it for a test drive! awesome, and for only 2500$. too bad i had the lemans and my friends parents wouldn't let him, neither one of us bought that car that day. the way the market was a few years ago that 70 judge could have been one of those 250K cars! 3 years ago i bought my 69 gto and am currently driving it every day!


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