# why stock?



## Hammer (Aug 12, 2007)

lets here the pros and cons on resto versus street performance modifications,,car guy neighbors are all voicing their opinions as to why i should do this or shouldn't do that on reassembling my non original pile of parts i call a 67gto,heck!,i'm going to drive the car when i get the motor back in,that's a ~period~it will get driven weekly,i feel the cars are undervalued myself,mine has sat for 3 years inside it's time to get out!,in other words i've already `collected' it:lol: ,if the car is worth way less than 25 large then it's just a driver,every piece of brightwork has gravel chips,it's all original!,people talk `values'like any old used car is worth top dollar if it's got shiny paint and i look at a car and see=total teardown, rotisserie the body and reassemble with all new trim and chrome glass yadayada and so go ahead and build it to the ninth degree ,and then what?,,,let it sit?


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## Jackalope (Sep 12, 2007)

Hammer said:


> lets here the pros and cons on resto versus street performance modifications,,car guy neighbors are all voicing their opinions as to why i should do this or shouldn't do that on reassembling my non original pile of parts i call a 67gto,heck!,i'm going to drive the car when i get the motor back in,that's a ~period~it will get driven weekly,i feel the cars are undervalued myself,mine has sat for 3 years inside it's time to get out!,in other words i've already `collected' it:lol: ,if the car is worth way less than 25 large then it's just a driver,every piece of brightwork has gravel chips,it's all original!,people talk `values'like any old used car is worth top dollar if it's got shiny paint and i look at a car and see=total teardown, rotisserie the body and reassemble with all new trim and chrome glass yadayada and so go ahead and build it to the ninth degree ,and then what?,,,let it sit?


Do what you want.

If it's a pile of parts without the original motor/trans, it'll never be a collectors car. Matter of fact, you could probably finance the rebuild by selling some of the date coded parts to people who really DO need them and replacing those parts with modern parts.


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## Hammer (Aug 12, 2007)

*parts is parts*

:lol: at this point in the year i'm just attempting to catch the tiger's tail as he heads into living out of doors instead of trapped in the corner of my shop waiting to be rescued like an old dog,,thank you! i needed that:cool ,,,nice to state your case once in awhile


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## macgto7004 (Jul 22, 2007)

Hey Hammer,
I'm with Jackalope on this one.
When I bought my 70, I never intended to make it an original resto, mainly because it did not have the original drivetrain.
The 400 is an XH coded block from a 70 B body Pontiac. It is rated the same 350hp as the original 400 that came in the car. The Turbo 400 AT has the correct number code on the case, so it is possible that it is the original. The rear in my car has been replaced with a 12 bolt, probably a Chevelle rear.
The car had only 56k when I bought it 12 years ago, and the body was pretty straight with little rust.
That being the case, it was never my intention to spend all my days trying to search out the original engine, I just want a cool car to drive.
When I picked it up, the previous owner had painted it Orange. So, I decided that I wanted to make it look original, but was not going to obsess about making it a show winning restoration. i had not the time, money or inclination to do that.
So, what I have now, is an original color, original looking 70 GTO Hardtop, that I can drive and mod internally, to my hearts content and not have to worry about some anal retentive judge nit-picking because my radiator hose is not the right date, or my master cylinder is not anodized in the right color. That's not what I'm all about.
I want to be able to stomp on it out of my driveway and leave 50 ft of rubber stripes down the road! (don't tell anyone, but she'll do it too!)

If you can't drive your GTO, then put it in a museum!

Russ


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## BobG (Dec 20, 2006)

macgto7004 said:


> Hey Hammer,
> I'm with Jackalope on this one.
> When I bought my 70, I never intended to make it an original resto, mainly because it did not have the original drivetrain.
> The 400 is an XH coded block from a 70 B body Pontiac. It is rated the same 350hp as the original 400 that came in the car. The Turbo 400 AT has the correct number code on the case, so it is possible that it is the original. The rear in my car has been replaced with a 12 bolt, probably a Chevelle rear.
> ...




Only 50'??? Sounds like you may need a tune-up ... (or possibly cheaper tires  )


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## Jackalope (Sep 12, 2007)

Heh-heh-heh!

When I first got my 64 GTO back in 1967, my dad owned a service station. Well, that used goat needed some new tires bad so he stuck a set of 775x14 recaps on it.

Two days later I came back for my THIRD set of them and that almost cost me the car. :rofl:


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## Hammer (Aug 12, 2007)

*Hahaha!*

YEAH! this thread is goin' places!,,in about th 9th grade my pals older brother had a `fastback' gto(`8 or`9) and hahaha man! even with 4 people in it it would smoke the tires clear out of site and the interior wouldn't clear out for a mile,,,,WOW! i'm having a FLASHBACK!:cool :cool :cool yeah the car was maroon with a BVTop black interior and a console wit da 4spd,,,,,,,,uh-uoh,,here's one= years later when i had MINE! a buddy said light em up! so,i did:cheers fricken about an 8th of a mile:willy: we were both shocked and he had an SS 454:lol: of course to put it into perspective they resurfaced the roads by `chipsealing' tar then gravel or visa versa so the surface was quite porous,now they've recovered most of the roadways with mega inches of blacktop including interstate 5,and of course the old tires had something to contribute:lol: the area here has grown up you'd proly get handcuffed in short order for being uncivilised:lol:


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## Jackalope (Sep 12, 2007)

It's really funny.

That old 64 goat had the two-speed powerglide transmission. I know it probably would have been lucky to break into the 15's on a quarter. But I've never owned anything before or since that could melt down a tire like that thing could.


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## Hammer (Aug 12, 2007)

*mine originally had*

3.55 limited slip and the 4 spd with the high a-- first gear (M-18=?) and with phillips 66 H-78's it was dump the clutch=?=feels like something broke? then notice everything's working , grab second,VROOOM you'd leap out there!,then i got the L-60's on the back and things changed quite a bit when you dumped it,,,,,,- i sort of iherited an old mid 60's cad with a bad quarter panel,abandoned at my shop,it also had rust,,,i used to jump in that between coats of bondo and do one H of a burnout in reverse,fry the concrete you could hear it popping looked cool on film,,,,,,sigh! the good old days 1980 when you could ask about a GTO body and they'd just give it to you:cheers ,,maybe i'll sand on an old tire this afternoon just for effect:lol:


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## Old Indian (Jul 4, 2007)

Hammer,

You just gotta get that thing put together and get out on the road with it. It's hard to get rubber from a pile of parts. Once you have it together, you can always keep an eye open for parts that come available at swap meets or eBay. 'lope makes a great point that if you have date-coded parts and don't plan to make the car an investement, trade them for what you need to make it run and look the way you want it. A guy on American Muscle Car from Butler said it best. He says that rather than spending a lot of money to get max HP out of an original engine, every piece is available in the aftermarket to build whatever you want. The originals are better preserved in a museum. Get yours together and drive it like you stole it. Enjoy!


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## t0ny (Oct 5, 2005)

My '68 Camaro was a base-model. Originally a 6-banger with a 2-speed Powerglide. But I transformed her into a 355 4bbl car with a 700R4. If she was an RS/SS, or a Yenko I would certainly keep her stock, or as original as possible. Because she's just a base-model, I didn't mind putting my own personal touches on her. That car was my daily driver from '95-'02 and put well over 380,000 miles on her and don't regret a thing because I enjoyed evey single mile. It's garaged now, awaiting the time and $ for a "Pro-Tour" style resto. And if I get everything done on my built sheet, she'll be my daily-driver once again. I was never the type to get a classic car just to let it sit there.


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## BobG (Dec 20, 2006)

I think that this thread has helped me with which way to go with my goat. I'm still not sure, but it's given me some ideas.

hammer ... quick question ... what's your favorite Cheap Trick???


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## ppurfield001 (Jan 21, 2008)

*Restoration or resto-mod.*



Old Indian said:


> Hammer,
> 
> You just gotta get that thing put together and get out on the road with it. It's hard to get rubber from a pile of parts. Once you have it together, you can always keep an eye open for parts that come available at swap meets or eBay. 'lope makes a great point that if you have date-coded parts and don't plan to make the car an investement, trade them for what you need to make it run and look the way you want it. A guy on American Muscle Car from Butler said it best. He says that rather than spending a lot of money to get max HP out of an original engine, every piece is available in the aftermarket to build whatever you want. The originals are better preserved in a museum. Get yours together and drive it like you stole it. Enjoy!


:agree. I have a '67 GTO that has an engine and transmission from another '67 GTO. Also, I have white-letter raised tires, same as I had on my '67 GTO in the early 70s. I agree that I don't care if its a 100-point car or not. I just want to drive it without all the pollution stuff on it and have fun. Its mostly redone, but not 100%. Have fun driving the thing and leave the judging to Barrett-Jackson. Enjoy.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

So many cars are 'custom' and more and more are going that way. I just want mine as stock as I can get it. Not that anyone can tell for the most part what`s stock and what isn`t, but the closer I can get it and keep it that way, I`m thinking the better off I`ll be in the long run.
I also agree with ppurfield001, for me the car needs to be drivable, I love to cruze around in the GTO! And love the looks I get in it.


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## 06brazengto (Sep 21, 2007)

Rukee said:


> So many cars are 'custom' and more and more are going that way. I just want mine as stock as I can get it. Not that anyone can tell for the most part what`s stock and what isn`t, but the closer I can get it and keep it that way, I`m thinking the better off I`ll be in the long run.
> I also agree with ppurfield001, for me the car needs to be drivable, I love to cruze around in the GTO! And love the looks I get in it.


1+ thats how i feel, seems like everyone is modding these new goats ,
and i wana keep mine 100% orginal,
cause probaly in 25 years there wont be nice unmolested ones left,
and anyway its fast enough for me ,no need to mod it,
i do have apperance stuff (stainless inserts, gto valve stem caps,and a tiger tail) but they are removable


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## raspantienator (Nov 20, 2007)

I asked the question Mod Vs Stock on another thread. Without going back to count, an easy majority has modded and planned additional mods in the future.

Its so easy to get caught up in modding but I'm more inclined to think like you and leave it stock. I have ordered some things but they're still in the box and if the GTO survives past this winter, I'm thinking I'll just keep that baby looking clean and mean as is. It's plenty fast enough and I'm happy with the width and look of the wheels too.


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## NJG8GT (Nov 14, 2007)

That is the reason why I kept all of my factory parts. The mods I have done were minor and can be changed back to stock. As for the exhaust, well, the tips are original. The resonator is in resonator heaven like the mufflers are in muffler heaven.:lol:


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## raspantienator (Nov 20, 2007)

Eventually Mufflers go. To sell the GTO today, having it stock as opposed to selling the GTO in 2028 with Flowmasters, is more of a big deal .

We are reliving the muscle car era once again with Chevy and Dodge entering the arena. Because of ecology and pending gas prices, Muscles cars may once again become extinct lets say in 2012. If the past is an indication of what may come, keeping these suckers original with little abuse to the drivetrain may pay high dividends down the road for the future driver in your home.


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