That was my mom's '67 that he drove to Valdosta. I had forgotten about him driving it down there. I wish I could have gone as well.
1966 is also my favourite model year. Here's a fine example I came across at a car show in Vancouver BC. You can tell that I love those taillights:
steelonly, I like your '66! It is the same color that our '66 was originally (Fontaine Blue). Ours had a black vinyl top and a black interior. Our was originally a low option car with the 335hp engine, automatic, and no posi. After it got crushed by the wood utility pole in 1998 my dad decided to change the color to Marina Turquoise. We have the original engine tucked away and it now has a 406 with aluminum heads and intake, ram air exhaust manifolds, 4-speed, a 3.31 12-bolt rearend, and ice cold knee-knocker A/C.
Thanks (assuming you we referring to me . This car has a lot of history in our family. It has over 300k miles and it's now just a driver that looks good from 20' away (the engine photo above is old and it's now really filthy!). It is the car I rode home from the hospital in after I was born in 1974 (it was my mom's daily driver then and was still light blue with the stock 335hp 389 and automatic trans). We also used it to bring my kids home from the hospital after their births in 2009 and 2011, it completed the "long Haul" on the 2003 Hot Rod Power Tour, my parents drove it 4,000 miles roundtrip from Nashville, TN to San Diego, CA on their 25th wedding anniversary in 1996 (averaged 13.5 mpg with the A/C blowing the entire way), I learned to drive a manual transmission with this car, my 12-year-old recently drove it a very short distance so this is the first car he's ever driven, it won many street races and even a local 1/4 mile muscle-car shoot-out in 1985 back when 13s on street tires was considered to be strong (it had a 389 with Tr-power at that time), it's been badly wrecked twice, etc etc. My dad mentioned selling it several times but my wife won't allow it.
Little confused.. Post *29 was the original automatic car? Regardless it is beautiful and so glad you brought it back twice if its the same car. Did the Ram Air pan come from the dealer or hand crafted? I mentioned before how my friend bought a 66 vert auto 4 bl that was black on black from the original owners for $400 in 1978. It was side swiped by a truck at only 1 year old and had a v shaped gash the length of the drivers rear quarter. They never chose to repair it for some reason. He rebuilt the 389 with some goodies at 18 years old and it ran strong. He came across a 67 GTO vert also which had front disc's, a 4 speed and a 3.55 posi out back. Kinda a no brainer to put the 389 in it. He sold the 400 for a whopping $100, it ran well but was a bit tired. Worked out for me because I got the 66's 3.23 posi for my 66GS as my 2.93 posi had a bad axle or bearing, the owner that I bought it from was a painter and loaded the trunk with supply's. Didn't look into it cause back then it was just another rear end Still so many good parts on the 66 GTO but the motor swap was done in my driveway and my father wanted the car out.. Dumped the axle and everything in the trunk and it was hauled away. Shame as the tail lights and front end, doors trunk lid and the scooped hood were really still nice. Sorry for getting off track..
Yes, it was originally a low-optioned car with the base engine (389/335hp single carb), automatic transmission, non-posi rearend, manual steering, manual drum brakes, no A/C, steel wheels with the small dog-dish hubcaps. Over the years it has had a few engines and my favorite was when it had tri-power during my teenage years. When my dad would let me drive it to school all of my friends thought sounded so cool at WOT. Now that I think about it, the first time my wife ever rode in a car with me was in this car. My dad let me drive it to college for a few weeks and during that time is when I met my future wife. Maybe the car is what won her over? The ram air pan on the car now is for a '67 Ram Air GTO. It's been modified to fit on the current Holley carb. A story similar to yours probably played out many times in the 70s and early 80s when guys never figured these cars would have so much value in the future. They just used them up and threw them away. The parts that you mention that were still usable but thrown away would sure be nice to have now. I don't suppose anyone has a photo of that car?
Nice story! My friend might have some pics of his GTO's tucked away? He always said it was a GTO or no car but later got a few Camaro's and a 85 Vette. Really bummed me out that he strayed from GTO's but we were really kids and tastes change. Last time we talked was about 5 years ago so I wonder what he drives.. I lost boxes of magazines and pictures when a storage bin got shut down without notice. If you look at my avatar on the right you can see a tiny bit of the rear quarter of my GS. I have a little better picture somewhere but that about it.
Nice ride Quick. Love the turquoise. Had a vert years back palmetto green over parchment. Never seen another.
