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Starlight Black 1973 GTO, further back interior view. It's got the optional LeMans GTO Sport Coupe Morrokide bucket seats. CLICK->
Yellow 1973 GTO was sent in by Jon Sev. It's an Ohio car which was our Picture Of The Week for 7/27/03. CLICK->
Yellow 1973 GTO, front end view. CLICK->
Yellow 1973 GTO, rear end view. CLICK->
Yellow 1973 GTO, left rear view. This one doesn't have the rear quarter windows inset with a set of vertical louvers covering it - as this was part of the LeMans Sport Coupe package. This car is the LeMans Coupe with the GTO option. CLICK->
Yellow 1973 GTO, left side view. CLICK->
Yellow 1973 GTO, engine view. CLICK->
Buccaneer Red 1973 GTO Sport Coupe that used to be owned by Don Zappone from Anaheim, California. This is our Picture Of The Week for 3/27/05. Don tells us a story, "In the summer of 1979, when I was between 11th and 12th grade, I totaled my rusty and ratty 1970 Maverick and found an absolute mint 1973 GTO with all the options; 400-4bbl, T400 trans, power steering, windows brakes and seats, A/C, tilt wheel, etc. I bought the car for $1650 and drove the hell out of it for a few years. It was Valencia Gold with a tan vinyl top (which was the only thing I didn’t like about it) and after a couple of years I took off the vinyl top and painted it Buccaneer Red. I put probably 50 or 60 thousand miles on that car over about a 5 year period. It never let me down. It always started and ran perfectly. Then one day, I found a 1965 GTO convertible with a 389-4bbl, powerglide, power windows, power top, tilt wheel, and Posi rear. I bought the convertible and kept both GTOs for about a year. Being a broke, single twenty-something didn't allow two gas guzzling muscle cars, so one of them had to go. I sold the 1973 GTO. Within 15 seconds of the new owner driving away I regretted it. I tried not to think about it and consoled myself with the fact that I still had a WAY bitchin' 1965 convertible. About a year later, I saw my 73 GTO being towed down the street and so I waved the wrecker driver over and asked him about it. As it turned out, the guy I had sold it to was a real jackass and had been involved in a police pursuit and had blown the engine. He was in jail and I was able to buy the car back for $300. I also happened to have at the time a rusty, wrecked low mileage 68 Catalina with a 400 in it so I put that engine in the 73. The SAME day that I finished with the engine transplant, I was driving it home, reveling in my good fortune and in a moment of temporary insanity, lost control on a slippery curve in the rain and center punched a huge oak tree. I spent the next month or so completely rebuilding the front end of the car with new suspension and sheet metal. Then I re-painted it. When I was done, it was absolutely beautiful and a real head turner. Since I still didn't have the financial wherewithal to maintain two muscle cars, I decided to sell the 65. I sold it for $1400. I know, I know, I can hear the horrified gasps now! All it needed was a new top. I shudder to think about what that car is worth today. If that's not bad enough, about a year later, I decided that I couldn't afford to keep putting gas in the 73 and I sold it to buy a new Nissan pickup. AGAIN, as the new owner was driving away, I was almost in tears. It seemed like the sensible thing to do at the time, but I have regretted selling that car (both of them for that matter, but mostly the 73) ever since. It has been almost 20 years since I watched that guy drive it out of my driveway but I remember it like it was yesterday. I will never forget that car and the great times I had in it. Now I'm in my 40s and all I have left of my GTOs are photos and memories. Some day I would really like to find another 73 GTO and start all over. This story can be filed under 'Stupidity masquerading as Common Sense.' I have no one to blame but myself. No one was pressuring me to sell either one. I made the unfortunate decisions all on my own." CLICK->
Buccaneer Red 1973 GTO Sport Coupe, left side view. CLICK->
Buccaneer Red 1973 GTO Sport Coupe, rear end view. CLICK->
Buccaneer Red 1973 GTO Sport Coupe, front end view. CLICK->
Buccaneer Red 1973 GTO Sport Coupe, in a snow storm. The vinyl body side moldings are missing. There are front bumper guards installed in this view. CLICK->
Here is the result of a 1973 GTO impacting an Oak tree. Don't give up on this car quite yet. Don rebuilt it. This must be where Don lost his front bumper guards. CLICK->
Ouch! Another shot of Don's messed up 1973 GTO. CLICK->
Don Zappone repainting his 1973 GTO after his encounter with the oak tree.
