# 67 GTO Convertible Revival



## Root2812 (Jun 28, 2017)

Hi Everyone. My name is Greg and I am new to this forum. I am a big fan of the GTOs but am not really that knowledgeable about them. My dad has always loved the 66-67 GTOs with 67 being his favorite, plus he loves convertibles. In 1984, when I was 1 year old he drug home his dream car. The poor car had seen better days but it was a real 67 GTO convertible that only cost $100 and had a title. The car had seen its fair share of hardships before he bought it. Sometime it was involved is a really hard collision on the front passenger side and had a... we'll say serviceable repair. Then in the late 1970's the engine caught fire and took most of the dash wiring with it. The car then spend 5-6 years outside in Minnesota. When my dad got it he gutted the car and saved anything he could in boxes. Sadly being a young dad with two kids at the time, the car didn't get much farther and instead moved from garage to garage for the next 31 years.

In 2015 we had a long weekend with not much to do since the machine shop let me and my project down so we drug the old Pontiac out and started to revive the old goat. Keep in mind that this car is no candidate for a concourse restoration and the original drive train is long gone. The car needs so much its not a candidate to have a pro shop do either. This is a father and son in home project with a small budget and the goal of building the car so my dad can enjoy his dream car, luckily my dad owns a small auto repair shop and did body work back in the 70's and 80's so we aren't flying blind. Some purists are going to hate what we are doing but its just what this project is. In the end the car will look very stock and be a driver but colors will not be original. 

Its his project but I am the guy who spends the time online doing research and since we are approaching reassembly I wanted to join here so I could ask questions and learn from all of you. Here is a brief synopsis of where we are at now.

Car was stripped down to the shell and we started rust repair. New floors, a new quarter, new trunk floor, new inner and outer wheel houses, and new tail light panel. We were lucky to find an original rust free trunk lid too. 








Then things started to get better


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## Root2812 (Jun 28, 2017)

I had to break my post into two parts because of the number of pics...

My dad absolutely hated the original color so we went with Victory Red and painted the dash satin black. 







The original rear seat was rotted away and was like hens teeth but I finally found an original one. That was one of the more rare parts we needed. 



We ended up finding a 1974 Pontiac 400 engine with TH400 transmission. The car is close to running. We have a goal of getting it to go in and out of the garage under its own power sometime this year. I get to do the wiring .:| ...... Interior will stay black but eventually be recovered and restored to stock. We plan on a disk brake upgrade also. 

I am hoping you guys like our project and I hope you can all help us along the way as we try and bring this thing back to life. Anyone know where we can get some rust free original doors? We don't trust the repop stuff.


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## 64GTOConvertible (Aug 28, 2016)

I highly recommend new wiring harnesses. But you obviously have the skills to wire it from scratch. Good job! And good luck!


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## Root2812 (Jun 28, 2017)

A new harness has already been bought. The old stuff was all burnt. I could never make a harness like this from scratch so we just bought a good harness made for this model.


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## Pinion head (Jan 3, 2015)

Congrats on keeping the GTO convert in the family & getting going on to the restoration. 
Rome wasn't built in a day, & contrary to the contraption builder cable TV shows, neither are quality high street drivers or true cutting edge Concours restorations. 

Will ck my door racks, may still have a few '67's.


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## Root2812 (Jun 28, 2017)

Pinion head said:


> Congrats on keeping the GTO convert in the family & getting going on to the restoration.
> Rome wasn't built in a day, & contrary to the contraption builder cable TV shows, neither are quality high street drivers or true cutting edge Concours restorations.
> 
> Will ck my door racks, may still have a few '67's.


Thanks for the comment. It's turning out to be a fun project. I appreciate you looking for some doors. The ones we have had a lot of rust and we don't want to fix them and have the rust come back later.


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## Root2812 (Jun 28, 2017)

Slight update here. I see photobucket and their new rules took all my pictures out of my posts. I'll see if I can fix that. 

So our project was an automatic car and we had an auto back in it. The car had a fire and all the dash stuff was gone so we picked up and very rusty and junk lemans for all the dash and firewall stuff. That car was a 326ci 4 speed. My dad really liked the idea of a 4 speed so now we are converting the GTO to a manual. We are missing the z bar and the clutch fork but got everything else. You guys know anything we should keep our eyes open for while doing the swap?


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## Root2812 (Jun 28, 2017)

I need help. I am refinishing our dash and got the vinyl wood decal from Original Parts Group. The fit was terrible. The only other option is the wood vineer but it needs finished with stain. What did you guys do? What stain do I use if I go that route? Should I just make the decal one work?


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## El Monte Slim (Sep 8, 2014)

*Dash wood veneer*

If you want to go with wood veneer, purchase the pre-stained, pre-assembled dash inserts from Ames. Part # A271K if you don't have A/C or Part # A271M if you have A/C. Much easier to install.

You will still have to varnish it, I used spar varnish on mine and it looks just like the original factory veneer, without the cracks!

Another helpful hint. If you don't have one, obtain an Ames catalog and read it cover to cover!


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## Root2812 (Jun 28, 2017)

Thanks for the wood tips. What color black am I supposed to use on the main housing that holds the gauges. Is it semi gloss, satin, or matte black? Should it be the same color and luster as what I painted the main steel dash?


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## Root2812 (Jun 28, 2017)

Question...

So I started restoring the dash in our car and I got a long ways into the gauge pod only to see that the wiring for the turn signals was 66 not 67... The dash pod wasn't installed. Now I think I have a 66 dash pod. Can I make this fit in the 67 or do I need to find another one? I was told by someone that they are different.


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