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Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick get's a little sideways in his 1964 GTO. This picture was our Picture Of The Week for 5/5/02. It was sent in by Lee & Kathy Stagni from the GTOAA Nationals Drag Day in July 2001. CLICK->
Midnight Blue 1964 GTO sports coupe owned by Kenny and Debby Lentz. This was our Picture Of The Week for 6/30/02. It has a 389 4bbl and a 4-speed manual transmission. It was built in the 3rd week of October. It has had power steering added to it. Ken and Debby are members of the Indy GTO Association.
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Here's a shot of Jim Winn's GTO the day he bought it. Here's the story as Jim tells it, "I bought a 1964 GTO hardtop exactly a year ago today. It sat in a barn for 25 years. All the numbers match and I have sent to PHS and received documentation that this truely is a 1964 GTO.
It is a 389 4 bbl, 2 speed automatic on the column. Everything that came on the car originally is still there, even the Scranton Motors key chain. I cleaned the 25 years of bird and mouse droppings off the car and totally cleaned the inside of the car as well. My wife thought I was crazy when she first so the car (unwashed) and so did a few others. After cleaning, polishing, and deodorizing nobody was thinking that I was of my rocker.
I started out thinking that I would do a frame on restoration. After removing the engine and jacking the car up on blocks I sand blasted the exposed portions of the frame. I coated it with Eastwoods Coreless and painted it with Eastwoods Original frame paint. I sandblasted the engine room and detailed that as well. This was all done in October of 2001.
In January of 2002 I stated to replace the rotted truck floor pan and noted that the body mounts were quite dried and some of the mounts were missing. Then I made the plunge to replace the body mounts on the entire car. This is when I said that the only way to do this is to do it right and do a frame off restoration.
Once I got the body bolts to break free or just break off I jacked each end of the body to where I could get an 8 foot 4X4 between the frame and body. I placed the 4X4's where the firewall mounts are in the front and where the body mounts in front of the rear tires are, leaving equal amounts protruding from the sides of the carbody. From there I would jack each 4X4 about 4-6 inches and place blocking as close to the carbody, but enough room to roll the frame out from under the body. I am doing this in a 2 car garage and only have an 8 foot ceiling height. I raised the carbody about 30 inches off the ground, but still could not get the frame out from under the body safely. (I had already put new springs and shocks on the car which made is sit higher than it did when I first brought
the car home) So what I did was remove the tires and put a spare set of rims on the frame which allowed me to roll the frame out with no worries.
I am so glad that I did a frame off, because once I got the body off the frame I found some concerning areas on the drivers side of the frame. Good old Upstate New York winters really took its toll on the drivers side of this car. I have repaired the area of concern on the frame and will not have another worry about the frame again.
I have replaced the trunk, welded in replacement quarter panels, repaired a spot on the floor that had rusted, removed the old under coating from the bottom and wheel wells and recoated with 3M rubberized under coat. I have cleaned the frame and recoated with Coreless and repainted the entire frame. Put in new springs, shocks, upper and lower ball joints, new stabilizer end bolts. Rebuilt the engine boring it .030 over and putting in forged pistons, molly rings, new bearings, line bored the crank, decked the block .005 and planned the heads, new 480 lift 284 duration cam, valves, springs, guides, & seals, soft plugs, and rebuilt the water pump. The engine was balanced and blueprinted and the tranny has been gone through too. I detailed and vapor blasted the engine bolts,
brackets, and painted the alternator and power steering pump to original look.
I still have to strip the paint and prime prior to filling any body imperfections and paint the outside of the car the original Yorktown Blue. The interior will get new carpeting and insulation as well as a new headliner and insulation. The interior is in really good shape and does not need anything else.
The chrome is in decent shape, but would like to either replace or re-chrome next year. I originally paid $3000 for the car and have about another $3500 into the car. I would like to put in a 3 speed 350 and keep the column shift thanks to the adaptor kit from Shift Works.
I just love this car an cannot wait to hear it run and drive it. My youngest son and I have a goal to get this done in time to drive it out to the GTO show in Colorado nest year. I have the time, just not the money with one going into his sophomore year in college." CLICK->
Jim's Yorktown Blue 1964 GTO is all done. Jim tells us, "It took me a little over two years to restore this car. Runs great, real strong and quite quick." CLICK->
Yorktown Blue 1964 GTO hardtop, right side view with hood up. That is one long radio antenna. CLICK->
Yorktown Blue 1964 GTO hardtop, right side view close up. CLICK->
Yorktown Blue 1964 GTO hardtop, left side view. CLICK->
Yorktown Blue 1964 GTO hardtop, engine view. Nice! CLICK->
There were two shades of blue that could be ordered for the interior in 1964. This is the darker one (code 215). The other is an aqua blue (code 217). CLICK->
Yorktown Blue 1964 GTO hardtop, trunk view. There's another Pontiac in the background too. CLICK->
Yorktown Blue 1964 GTO hardtop, engine view. Jim tells us, "I just recently restored a 64 Tri-Power set up for the car and have since installed it. What a sound it makes when all 3 deuces are WOT. Sweet!!" CLICK->
Yorktown Blue 1964 GTO hardtop, another Tri-Power engine view. CLICK->
Grenadier Red 1964 GTO sport coupe owned by Al & Amy Geier from Warren Michigan. This was our Picture Of The Week for 6/8/03. It has an automatic transmission and air conditioning. CLICK->
Grenadier Red 1964 GTO sport coupe, right rear view. CLICK->
Grenadier Red 1964 GTO sport coupe, with the hood up. Can you spot the crazy gorilla face in this image?
Here's a comment from a recent visitor...
Says Stuart McGinley (stuart_mcginley.@hotmail.com) - "Looking for a 1970's GTO. Black with two red stripes running up the bonnet and roof. Its featured in the film "The Faculty". That car makes me want to cry...with joy."
