Deliverance:  The Fourth Time�s a Charm

Over 30 years ago I bought my 69 GTO Judge when I turned sixteen. I recall seeing this exact car in 6th grade driving down my local side street where I lived in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. I fell in love with this particular 69 GTO and bought the car of my dreams a few years later for $800. It had gone through a few Michigan winters and had encountered the usual rust spots on the body panels. My first goal was to buy any and all NOS parts that were available. My parents had told me at the time there was only a ten year window of opportunity in which the manufacturer would make the parts after the model year of the vehicle. I gathered up everything I could over the course of a couple of years. At one time I had the damn car, minus the body, in the basement of my parents� home.

Restoration #1: My next step was what I thought would be called a restoration. I ended up taking the car (on a friend of a friend�s recommendation) to a guy who supposedly did top notch work. I had new body panels for the whole car (doors, fenders, quarter panels, hood and trunk) installed. The car came back and I put it back together minus the peripheral NOS parts at this time. I thought the miscellaneous original parts were still for the most part in good condition.

Well, at the age of 18, I was �da man� around town with that GTO. That car was a real crowd pleaser and boy did it shine. I drove the car for about four good summers around metro Detroit. Then, the usual�you meet someone, fall in love, purchase a home, have a child, priorities change, and the car sits for ten plus years.

In the course of moving from one home to another, from one mortgage always to a bigger one, and in the process of yanking out the car from storage, I evaluated what I thought was a top-notch restoration job from back in my teenage years. After further review of the car, however, I must have been stoned out of my mind. There were issues all over the car! Not the least of which were the �custom� red velour seats that my wife immediately informed me were hideous and wondered what mindset I had been in at the time?

Restoration #2: My dad and I had a brainstorm that since we lived in the Detroit area, and that Windsor, Canada, was so close; why not take the car to a paint shop across the border and save some money? (Back then the Canadian dollar was worth about $.50 for every American dollar.) To get twice the amount of service for every dollar made a heck of a lot of business sense in our minds. So, Canada, here we come�

Well, the car was taken down to bare metal. Every weekend I would work on the vehicle and as with any company I hired to work on the car, I insisted to be actively involved in the build process. I should have known something was up when the guy had the frame sandblasted and decided to leave all the suspension components on, including wheels and tires. Thus, I had a three-quarter sandblasted frame. Oh well, this was better than the last time. What the hell did I know?

Everything looked pretty good until the moment it came out of the paint booth. This was the time when painters were just becoming familiar with urethane base coat clear coat. That car came out of that damn booth dripping like it had been through a rainstorm. Well, I finally decided this car has got to go and that I wasn�t going to let this guy touch my car any longer! I brought it home and I had to explain to my wife why I had to get the car repainted again. That the car wasn�t even going to come off the trailer�it was going straight to another shop. Well, after I scraped her off the ceiling and over a few weeks showed her the car, she finally calmed down. Now she even understands �orange peel� and issues with the paint.

Restoration #3: The car sat for a couple of months in the garage on the trailer until I was able to research and find a positively, absolutely, quality paint facility. I did my homework this time. The guy I took the car to had won �Best of Paint� at the prestigious Autorama Show here in Detroit and he as well would allow me to work on the car, which is a huge learning experience for me especially in body and paint. The one criteria was that he had to have the car back to me in three months. Money wasn�t an issue. So now I�m paying beaucoup bucks to have the car done right.

Unfortunately, three months, get this, turned into ten years. And for a number of reasons. Primarily, that I blew out my back, encounter several other injuries, a number of which included extensive surgeries, oh well, I ended up on the permanently disabled list. The painter was good, though. Every few weeks he would have me come down and show me that we were a step or two further along and I would keep feeding him money. Ten grand and ten years later, the damn thing still wasn�t in paint. I now know why people refer to this as �paint jail.� This was now becoming a running joke in the family. Extended family members who had never seen the car were wondering if it truly existed.

Restoration #4: Now because of my health condition we moved into a condo. Along comes the four skids of GTO parts (remember the NOS parts?) to our third home. Due to limited space we had to put the parts into our lower level, luckily it has a walk-out. Coming from a large home to a smaller one, with four skids of car parts, stacks of furniture, and no place to put our things, we simply stacked boxes up on top of each other. The lower level was more like a maze than anything else. Something had to give. Our son needed space for his friends to come over to�so a new search ensues for a quality paint and body shop�.again.

Lo and behold, about five minutes from the condo, I found an automotive facility called Motor City Steel that had been open a little less than a year. They did everything from mechanical to body work to complete restoration work. Once again, they would allow me to work with them on the project. However, this time, due to my injuries, I was very limited as to what I could do. They gave me space for two four by eight tables to allow me to putz on detailing various parts of my car. In the end it was great for me because it allowed me to build up my strength and stamina. I am very grateful to them for allowing me to do this.

So, they evaluate the car and they tell me to come down � they�ve got good news and bad news. The good news was that they could paint the car and accomplish my quality objectives, but the bad news was that they would have to start from scratch again and have to do another frame-off restoration. There were issues with the existing body work and that the only way to get this thing done right was to media blast it one more time.

Now, we are into the insane dollars. But I am determined more than ever that this thing is going to get done and get done RIGHT! I had spent over a year checking into Lateral-G�s website and was taken in by the pro-touring concept. Out went my new ten year old Cragar rims and 15� tires that never even made it on the car. Since I was already good at paint and quality control, I decided why not add mechanical engineering to my resume.

Here we are over two years later. Motor City Steel and I have finally accomplished our goal of creating and finishing the car of my dreams. One day I hope to be able to give this car to my son. Whatever the car�s monetary value is not important, but to be able to give it to my only son some day makes it all worthwhile. He helped me turn the first wrench in disassembling the car as a toddler, and now as a young man in college, he has been with me to help me to complete it. I hope he treasures the car like I do.

The car has been completed in a pro-touring style. It has today�s suspension standards, an overdrive transmission; along with enhanced steering and braking. The goal of the vehicle has been to keep it reminiscent of the 60�s muscle cars and still have today�s driving features and look to it.

Tech Sheet

Engine:
428 Pontiac, four bolt mains
Ported RAM AIR IV heads
475 hp @ 5400 rpm�s
Forged rotating assembly
Edelbrock Torker Manifold / Barry Grant 750 DP
Modified ram air induction system

Ignition:
MSD Pro-Billet Distributor
MSD 6 Ignition Box
MSD Coil and Wires
Transmission:
Tremec TKO 5-speed

Exhaust:
2� Hooker Headers - custom fabricated
2 1/2� stainless steel exhaust with X-pipe

Rear Axle:
GM 10 bolt with aluminum T/A cover
4:10 gear

Suspension:
Global West front / rear upper and lower control arms
Global West del-a-lum bushings
B-Body spindles
3� OPG lowering springs
QA1 front and rear Stocker Star Shocks
1 1/8� front sway bar
Brakes:
Front: Baer Track System with 13� drilled / slotted rotors
Rear: Baer Touring System with 12� drilled / slotted rotors
Stainless steel brake lines

Steering:
AGR quick ratio 12:1 steering box
AGR power steering pump
Level III Hydratech Hydroboost Braking Unit

Interior:
Factory original with optional center console
Fisher Body matching color seat belts
Alpine Stereo

Resto Mod by Motor City Steel � Commerce Twp, MI  248.668.1400