# 69 GTO - Slow and Steady Restoration



## mnfirefighter (May 6, 2018)

Just got a 69 GTO Judge clone. Car looks good from 20 feet away but when you get up close a car person will be able to point out everything that I see and know too Love my car though. I drive it daily to work and don't have to worry about it since it isn't in pristine condition. I also have a 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado I am restoring/driving, remodeling my house, Ford F1 to Ranger frame swap with a 2.3 Turbo and have a baby on the way. Hence the name of my thread "Slow and Steady Restoration". This won't be a frame off restoration or anything like that. I will just replace parts as I can and fix stuff as I go. I plan on doing some big projects during winters throughout the next few years as the kid/kids get a little older. I would like to do a few engine mods, then interior restoration, then suspension and drivetrain and lastly exterior. 

I love making long build threads so here we go. 

Got my 69 a month or two ago. Drove it for a few days and broke the threaded stud for the Z bar that is part of the clutch assembly / system. The threaded stud sheered off flush with the engine block. One of the threaded studs go into the frame and the other one goes into the engine block. Luckily it just came up. It wasn't rusted in place or anything. I just order replacement side mirrors last night since the ones I have are not correct. I have the remote mirror spot in the drivers side door panel and it is just a standard mirror on it. I am awaiting the correct replacement. 

My armrest on the drivers side was more or less falling off on the car. The holes were stripped out and the previous owner decided to make new holes to hold it in place. Well those stripped out and the door panel was swiss cheese. I could think of two easy approaches. One would be to weld the holes shut and use the OEM self tapping armrest base screws to make new holes but I didn't want to try to self tap through a weld. I decided to find a washer to weld in place and then I would be able to thread into that. A 3/16" washer worked fine. Welded them in place and it worked really good. The previous owner was also using the interior door handle / release to pull the door shut since you couldn't use the armrest to pull the door shut and made a crack in the door. I put a few welds across that too. 

The previous owner put large wheels on it and didn't address the suspension so I bottom out sometimes. They also cut the inside of the rear wheel well as to not scrap the sidewalls of the real tires/wheels. Whoever painted the GTO for the judge clone had some serious paint runs. There is some rust in the bottom of both fenders. The previous owner must have ran into a few cars or something to mess up the front nose and fender. The inside dash and center console is cracked and so on. There is a long road ahead of me for this car but it is fun to drive. My wife and I have to alternate between the 66 Toronado (our cruiser) and the GTO (the fun 4 speed).


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## mnfirefighter (May 6, 2018)

Here are some of the pictures. I couldn't get some of them to rotate properly.


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## Cafr119 (Dec 9, 2017)

As much as I love Pontiac GTOs and would love to own a original “Judge” I’m not one for one that has been cloned or for any other muscle car clones like the ever popular Chevelle SS is a popular car that has been cloned a lot. With that said, it does look good in the pics, other than the damage, look forward to seeing your progress on your “ Slow and Steady restoration, and I noticed your a Firefighter, Thank you for your service in the First Responder field, as I’m a retired Firefighter/MFR.


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## mnfirefighter (May 6, 2018)

Did PHS on this car. It was originally gold on gold, with the 400 and 4 speed. Sold to a dealer in Kentucky. I can see that someone painted the exterior red on top of the original gold. Then the orange from the Judge clone on top of the red. I was taking apart the interior and can see where someone painted the head liner and other interior components. They did black on top of the gold. I can't imagine everything being gold.


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## mnfirefighter (May 6, 2018)

Cafr119, Thank you for your service as well. I live in a small town and we got a good group of guys volunteering on the department.


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## 1966tempest (Jul 14, 2015)

I would rather look at your GTO clone than a lemans anyday...


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