# 1969 GTO Judge



## Goatman64 (Jul 7, 2016)

Hi

I am looking at 1969 GTO Judge project. 

Car is totally rust free. Panels are straight, clean and currently primed for paint. (needs to be blocked and painted). Original RAIII motor is gone. Has a 64 389 Tri-power in it now. Runs, drives,stops. 

Options: 
4 Speed,
3.55 rear
PS/PB
In dash tach
Console 

It has never left 30 miles from where it was purchased. Seller has PHS and sales invoice. 3 owner car.

For some reason, someone put on side pipes, mags and raised the back. (not my taste) 

Current owner has a fresh, date correct RAIII (WS) that he would sell with the car. 

What is a good price to pay for this type of project? 

Any feedback welcomed. I need to figure out if I am going to travel to see the car next week. 
Thanks


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Tough to tell from the pictures. I'd sure go over it with a find tooth comb. Just because he claims it's rust free doesn't make it so. Problems areas on 69's are the rear quarters (water collects in the corners of the rear window and tends to eat through the channel, down into the trunk, and take out the areas around the wheel house and lower edges), the bottom edges of the front fenders behind the wheels (there's an inner fender brace in that spot that tends to trap moisture at the bottom), and the on the cowl along the bottom of the windshield channel. Another problem area can be the rocker panels.

Without the original engine it'll never be a 6-figure "Barrett Jackson special", but if it's really a solid and almost paint-ready car and you get a date code correct RA III with it (along with all the associated RA system parts, and other things that appear to missing in the photos such as grilles, window trim mouldings, etc.) then it could be a worthwhile deal. *IF* that's the case, to take it from where it is to being near show-quality, you're probably looking at another $25k-$30k depending on how much of the work you can do yourself and how much is missing (body, paint, and drive train being the big ticket items). I'm not 100% up to date on the market, but I'm guessing a non-"numbers" but otherwise pristine and date-correct 69 Judge RAIII 4-speed would probably bring $60k-$80k on a good day.

Your call...


Bear


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## Goatman64 (Jul 7, 2016)

*69 Judge*

Agreed. How can I verify the body panels? He has all the ram air stuff, trim, grills, etc. Trying to figure out a good offer for the car with running 389 Tri power and replacement RA3 motor (2bolt main). Any suggestions welcomed.


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## Pinion head (Jan 3, 2015)

This project car looks like its in the Desert. Personally, I would be very wary of any rust free body huge project Judges anywhere near Phoenix. There has been a scourge of rebodied GTO's and rebodied Judges getting "new" body's installed in this area for the last dozen years. The culprit is well known in the hardcore collector community. When I do examine cars blown apart like the one in the pics, I always examine the frame code and date the frame was produced. if it doesn't jive with cowl tag and VIN on a '69 or '70 body, its often easy to deduce what is going on. On such cars I always take a lot of time examining the cowl tag, cowl tag attachment, as well as the VIn tag attachment.

As far as the tripower engine goes, most are thrown together. if its a bigcar 389 tripower by the casting dates and original stamped codes, it is not worth much. Value of the tripower unit, plus a little more. IF its a real '65 WS or '66 WS or CA coded GTO tripower 4spd engine, it's worth some good coin. Personally, I don't get the packaging of the tripower engine and the roller Judge project. Have always had tripower units and occassionally a tripower coded GTO block in my garage, and Id never package one in a roller project Judge sale. tripowers appeal to the earlier guys, not something one would desire in a Judge restoration.


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