# New owner 1968 GTO restoration attempt



## the pitts (Jun 11, 2014)

About a week and a half ago I bought my 1968 GTO I have wanted a classic GTO pretty much since I first saw pictures of them and could understand just how cool they were, but now that I have one I am going to need lots of help trying to figure out how to get it all put back together and turned into the awesome car it once was...well maybe a little better in some respects than it was when it first rolled off the assembly line if I am able to accomplish that. The previous owner or owners have torn the car completely apart the only things still assembled are the body still attached to the frame and the steering column still mostly installed so it can be moved around, right now my first concern is that the rear package tray area and rear window frame is all rusted out and I want to replace that so I can get cross strength back in the body before I try taking the body off of the frame so that I can hopefully not tweak the body any more than it might already be, but no one seems to make that structural under piece of steel for the '68 GTO's I have seen it in the OPGI catalog for '66 and '67 GTO's and I know they make it for '68 Chevelle's but I am not sure if any of these pieces would be close enough to make them work and then get a replacement trunk to rear window filler panel (my car currently does not even have this piece on it rusty or otherwise) and put over top of it or if I will have to try and hand fab the entire part myself.

I will try and post pics when my internet is being more cooperative


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## the pitts (Jun 11, 2014)

here are some pictures of the rust in the package tray (I think that is what this area is) area


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## 68GTO4004Spd (Jun 19, 2008)

looks pretty roached. I think what you are looking for is the rear cross rail and the rear deck filler panel. The package tray is the flat piece that the speakers attach to. I have links to summit racing, but you might find the same parts at Ames Performance and Performance years. OPGI kind of screwed me over so I will never order from them again and Year One is way over priced for the same parts. Congrates on getting a 68, they can be hard to get parts for, but it's better now than 15 years ago. FYI the deck lid is a one year only, the 69 is slightly different.


http://www.summitracing.com/parts/s.../year/1968/make/pontiac/model/gto?prefilter=1

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/shi-852-72/overview/year/1968/make/pontiac/model/gto


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## the pitts (Jun 11, 2014)

It looks to me like the rear cross rail is this piece








Under the rear body cross rail in the very back of the car behind the trunk pan


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## chuckha62 (Apr 5, 2010)

First, I would look for a donor car. Perhaps a junked Lemans. Try Frank's Pontiac parts. If you can't find anything, I'd say it would be worth trying the Chevelle part. If it's not perfect, it may not be a difficult modification to make it work.


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## 666bbl (Apr 13, 2014)

Look up the rear window and see which cars it fits. It's most likely the same for Chevelle, Cutlass, etc. If so, you're on your way to better pricing. Most every repro body part, even GM "Goodmark" sheet metal, is stamped in the same Asian plant and simply re-tagged. Sherman, Trojan, Cross Canada, Year One, and Summit, all the same part. I'm a busy old bastard these days, but if I happen to stumble upon my Sherman catalog I'll try to cross reference the parts. Think positive...


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## the pitts (Jun 11, 2014)

I just found out last week one of the guys I work with is big into pontiacs and has owned all but one year of gto over the years (I don't remember now which year that was) and he said that that part should be the exact same for all gm a bodies with something you can't see like that, and when I looked closer at the listing for the package tray for the 66-67 gto in the opgi catalog it is the same part number as the one for the 66-67 chevelle so it would seem to follow that the same should be true for 68


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## rlslavik (Jun 21, 2014)

You might try Muscle Car Metal if you haven't already.
They had the best prices on my 2 fenders and a door skin.
A fender showed up pretty dented but they replaced it free of charge and let me keep the 1st one.
Good customer service at ;east.


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## the pitts (Jun 11, 2014)

So after a lot of reading and talking to various people I think I have made a good plan of attack for the bodywork I am going to finish building the rotisserie that came with the car when I bought it get the body off have it media blasted and primed so it doesn't flash rust on me (it is already rusting pretty badly where previous owners sanded a good part of it to bare metal from all the humidity in west Michigan this time of year) then I will do all the minor patches that are within the scope of my abilities on my own then take it to a professional body shop and have them do the package tray whatever quarter panel work is deemed necessary replace the trunk floor and rebuild the window channels get a uniform coat of primer on it again then I will bring it home undercoat the body and interior (I am thinking of trying the "lizard skin" coating) put the body back on the chassis do as much paint prep as I can myself then take it back to a body shop and have a professional finish the prep work and paint it before I bring it home and finish the build

I would like to be able to say I built the whole car myself but I am smart enough to know that just because I can weld doesn't mean I am a body man and some of this work is going to be well beyond what I can easily learn as I go and I would rather have it be right than have the bragging rights of saying I did all the work myself


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