John's Vehicle Gallery

This vehicle came from Mississippi and was originally a Le Mans Convertible. The floors and trunk were completely rusted. There was accident damage and it had no engine or transmission. It sounded like an impossible project. But in February 2005 we started work. At the same time we decided to convert the car to a GTO. In 1964 the Pontiac GTO didn't actually exist as a separate model. It was an option on the Le Mans model with different "badging," a hot engine and beefed up suspension. This was the first of the muscle car breed fathered by John DeLorean, a marketing executive at Pontiac. He found a way to circumvent the GM rules that said NO big horsepower motor would be put in the new smaller body cars. This became a marketing triumph and quickly transformed the GTO into a stand alone Pontiac model that became a legend from 1965 thru 1974. Our car was desirable as it was a convertible and also had factory air conditioning. We found that virtually all of the "option" items that made a Le Mans into a GTO were available from Ames Performance Engineering. That clinched the decision to go for it.

In the closing months of 2005 we are almost finished. The end result is a very enjoyable ride and an almost perfect "clone" of the car that started the entire muscle car era. As you can see from the Photo Gallery, this was a complete "off frame" restoration down to the last nut and bolt.