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My 1973 Pontiac GTO
This is me with my 1973 Pontiac GTO.
I purchased this car in 1986 from the third owner.
It was kind of a wreck when I first picked it up. Used to be a bracket racing vehicle with what I think was a 454 Chev BB. Can't remember too well. Anyway, the guy (who I went to school with years before) had bought a 1978 Silver Anniverssary Corvette and didn't want the Goat anymore. All the better for me.
I dropped in a 400 engine from a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am and used that for a while until pulling the whole car apart in 1988.
It's original colour was "Florentine Red" which is sort of a maroon/burgundy but it seemed like every 73 or 74 Pontiac I owned through the 80s was some version of that colour. I couldn't do it any more.
It is right now in a Sherwin Williams Custom colour from 1992 called "Lemon Yellow".
The bodywork & paint was applied by a buddy of mine, "Rob Velychko" here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada back in May of 1992.
It was a budget job, yet the paint's still holding up not bad at all after 15+ years.
The interior is all black. (wouldn't know it by looking at the ACC carpet that faded after 8 months installed back in 1991 - another story though...)
Bucket seats, center console, tilt steering, garbage receptacle. We're doin' fine here eh?
Hey! Let's not forget that it's got full guages including 8,000 rpm tachometer. (BTW, don't bug me on the seat covers, I know, I know!)
Where's the Hurst 4-speed tranny shifter? I have it rigged so I can pull it out easily at any time for parking in "questionable" areas of town.
Also at home on the street or behind the house/garage.
OK, so I'm paranoid?!
This was one of the times the shifter wasn't present for a "photo shoot".
It is a 4-speed manual gearbox car of which 926 were built in the USA and 12 built in Canada. Mine is a Canadian built Oshawa, Ontario car and thus 1 of 12 made.
The original 400 engine was acquired MUCH later after original purchase and after that a 1977 T/A 400 engine, but the car now, (as of May 2009) runs a modified
1970 Pontiac 4BBL 455 (7.5 litre) from a green 1970 Pontiac Bonneville and an original Muncie M-22 (Rock Crusher) 4-speed gearbox from a white 1972 Pontiac Trans-Am, both of which I bought and took apart for scrap in the early 90s.Rear end is the factory stock 3.42 posi.
It runs pretty good for a heavy car (4200 lbs) and surprises quite a few.
Yes, I know, 1973 Luxury LeMans tailights. Well, I think they just look better than the plain old LeMans ones.
below; "almost 1968 W-30 Oldsmobile" style induction system works a little better than the open K & N air filter that I normally run.
Gives a best of 12.744 secs at 111.471 mph as opposed to the K & N best of 12.928 at 108.799
Elevation 3280 ft, same day and hour at Race City Speedway
That's not bad for an engine I've got almost $1,200 bucks and a 280H cam into.
Wheels and tires? Wheels are Pontiac Honeycombs 14x7 front and 15x7 rear. Front tires are big ol' 245/60 series 14" and 275/60 series 15" rear.
Suspension, it's stock all around which consists of 1.25 inch sway bar in front and a 1 inch sway bar out back.
The 1973 Pontiac GTO was the best handling of all the GTOs made from 1964 to 1974.
Strangely enough, it was also the heaviest, longest and largest of all the GTOs as well.
(Guess they finally figured out the suspension eh?)
...and what does Mr. Goat do during those sometimes -36 degree winter months of his home in Canada?
He sits on the street, every year...every year... Waiting for his lifelong friend to come along each Spring to wake him from his cold lonely slumber and stretch his legs out to the tune of Metal on the cassette player and lots of Gasoline flowing though his "nether regions".
It's ALWAYS a good thing...
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