1964 Pontiac GTO True Muscle

Pontiac GTO 1964 Description

My son and I bought this car about fourteen years ago when he was in high school to restore for him to drive. The previous owner was in the process of making a drag car out of it and it was missing a lot of parts. He had had the engine built and it runs very strong. In fact, it was so strong that I knew right off I didn't want my son driving it so I dragged out the restoration until he was safely away at college several years later. The motor is a 428 cubic inch taken from a full size 1968 Pontiac. It was bored and fitted with forged pistons, cam and stamped 64 heads from a 455 HO Pontiac. It runs like a scalded dog but is surprisingly good on gas mileage

We set out to build a car that ran like a hot-rod, but retained the period correct flavor. In that vein we went with new Cragar SS mag wheels, the aftermarket gauges, the Hurst T-handle shifter and the Edelbrock valve covers.

The motor is equipped with Hooker Headers that go down into Flowmaster mufflers, an MSD ignition, a Rochester Quadrajet carb, and "old school" Edlebrock Valve covers that give the engine bay a great period-correct muscle car appearance. The motor transfers its power through a Muncie four speed transmission out of a 1964 GTO which I had professionally rebuilt. It shifts effortlessly and true with no grinding or gear noise. The rear end is a 3:23 posi.

The car is being sold as a "clone" as I'm not sure of it's origin. When I bought the car the trunk pan had had several fiberglass repairs done to it, so we decided to replace the entire pan. When we removed the pan the VIN number was visible on the top of the frame rail and it didn't match what was on my title. The previous owner had told me that the frame had been changed on the car at some point, but not wanting to take any chances I called the Texas DMV. They sent out an inspector who proceeded to remove the VIN tag from the car! They made me apply for a new title and VIN which would match the VIN on the frame rail, so now this car has a VIN that begins with 624 instead of 824. DMV also replaced the VIN tag on the car with a replacement tag with the 624 VIN on it. The previous owner swore it was a real goat and when we stripped down the body there was no evidence of the "Lemans louvres" on the sides having been removed and filled in. However, because there is no way to be sure at this point, it is being sold as a clone.

Clone or real goat, this is a great car. I have driven 64's since the 1970's and know them pretty well. I went on a parts search to find good quality original parts to bring this girl back to life as a road-worthy muscle car, not a drag car. That meant finding things such as turn signals, a steering wheel, radio and speaker, tail lights, dash bezels, glove box, etc. that met a high standard for quality. You can see from the pictures that this is a high quality car with high quality original parts.

Where original parts couldn't be found we bought as close to original as possible. Every wiring harness on the car was replaced with exact factory duplicates from M&H Fabricators. We added items like the Day/Night inside rearview mirror and the fender mounted remote outside mirror, which I had rechromed. We also added a factory reverberator for the radio and a reel out trunk light for fun. The heater control was trash, so I went on the hunt for a good one and found one out of a 1965 goat, which, while not correct for a 64 only because of the finish, looks great and works perfectly. I also did not like the 64 factory tach, so it was replaced with one that you can see. We also added under the dash gauges which look and function very nicely and also kept the temperature indicator light functional as well.

The car has front power disk brakes which were installed by the previous owner. The turn signals, horn, lights and gauges all work. The speedometer works, but the odometer does not. The instrument panel does have a new lens on it and it is bright and clear. The windshield was replaced with a new one as the original had some deep scratches in it. The tint on the windshield is as on an original 64.

The car also has new carpet with an extra thick jute pad underneath, new deluxe package tray, and new seat covers. There is a new jute pad between the trunk and the back seat. It also has new sill plates with riveted on emblems, not the cheaper stick on emblems.

I never liked the 1964 seat belts and when I happened upon a nice set of carriage seat belts out of a 1965 I chose to install them instead. They look and function better than the 64's and bring a pretty penny on the market.

The bumpers were rechromed and the rechromer did an "okay" job on them. There is one small place in front of one of the turn signals where the chrome peeled up, about the size of your little fingernail.

The car body was not removed from the frame when we restored it, however, the frame and the underside of the car were painted and look good.

I personally spent many hours polishing all of the stainless on the car. It looks great, but man was that a lot of work. The taillights are as near perfect as I've seen on a 52 year old car. New lenses make them "pop." The 64 GTO steel hood is in great shape and the hood scoops are originals with very little pitting. The car had been repainted a metallic blue Chevy color, so we decided to just pick an original 1964 GTO color that we liked instead of going back to the original white. We settled on Gulfstream Aqua Metallic which is an authentic 1964 Pontiac color and one that we think is one of the prettiest colors for that year. There are a couple of small scratches in the paint, but nothing even noticeable. The paint looks great.

The car still needs a few things done to it, but nothing that needs to be done that will keep if off the road. It can be driven today and enjoyed while the new owner tinkers with it. I bought a vacuum reserve canister to ensure adequate vacuum to the power brake booster on those few occasions where the cam keeps the motor from building up sufficient vacuum on it's own. I never installed it because it really isn't a problem. It would look cool under the hood though and I will include it with the sale. Also, the package tray needs to be glued down as it keep popping out of the retainer. The rear quarter windows do not run up and down well, which is something my body guy messed up. I bought a set of used run channels from another 64 but never got around to installing them. They will be in the trunk for the new owner. The radio doesn't seem to work as well as it should. I don't know if it needs repair or not, but it can still be listened to and the reverb makes it sound really cool. The odometer doesn't work, but can easily be replaced. The backup light switch wasn't installed on the transmission when I installed it. My mistake. I just haven't had the energy to try to remedy that. I found a nice two speed wiper/washer switch for the dash and a good two speed wiper motor along with a washer pump. But I didn't locate a set of squirters or the tank and hoses, although they have begun making some pretty good reproductions of those items now. The car has new Cragar SS mags and lugs. The front tires are in good shape, but the rear tires...not so good and should probably be replaced before long. Finally, the body man got a little Gulfstream Aqua paint on the tailpipes which I never got around to removing. How you do that and yet seem to otherwise take pride in your work escapes me.

All in all, this is a car that runs great, sounds great, shifts great and looks great. It's been a heck of a lot of fun for us, but it's time for it to go to a new home. I've got another 64 that I'm working on and a 67 waiting in line. My wife has been very patient, but I don't want to test the limit of that.

Very reasonable reserve for a car of this quality. I'd be surprised if it didn't sell for more than the reserve price.

Feel free to contact me with any questions. If you want to fly in to San Antonio to check the car out, we live 15 minutes from the airport and would encourage you to do so. You will not be disappointed in this machine.

Note: I have a dual quad Offenhauser intake manifold with two Rochester carbs that fits this motor. If the winning bidder is interested I will sell it for $400. There is no linkage and the carbs will undoubtedly need to be reworked but they and the manifold are all in good shape. How cool would that be? ALSO: If the winning bidder, for some reason does not want the GTO hood that is on this car, I will replace it with a Lemans hood which I will have painted to match the car and will knock $1000 off of the winning bid.