G1K
Well-known member
The GTO story
Sometime in the early 80’s my uncle purchased a 1968 GTO in Virginia, where he test drove it, put it on a trailer and shipped it to Spring Valley NY. The car resided in my grandparents barn where early on some work was performed (front end disassembled, carb work done etc) – the details are fuzzy as he doesn’t recall specifics, just that he hoped to drag race the car at some point.
I remember paying in the barn as a kid, always careful not to mess up the GTO. As I became of driving age I’d casually mention the car in hopes of being able to purchase it. The answer always came back as “No, I’m going to fix it up and use it”. This conversation went on for nearly 30 years as the car sat silently awaiting someone to reassemble and drive it.
At some point in the time line my grandfather passed and we sold the property the barn was on, forcing a decision on storage location of the car. My uncle decided to move it to my grandmother’s house where it stayed until her passing and subsequent sale of the property.
In October 2018 I (and my brother) asked again to buy the car, reply was “No, but you can have it”. So begins the GTO resurrection.
While in the barn, the car was spared any damage from the elements. Once moved to my grandmother’s house it began deteriorating. The extent of which wasn’t known as no-one had laid eyes on it for years. I asked family members who were at my grandmother’s house taking care of the clean up after her death to take some photos of it, specifically the front end as it had been disassembled and not put back together when moved from the barn to the house. The photos showed the hood detached, fender removed and driver’s side suspension disassembled. Both front wheels were MIA in the photos. I gathered what tools I thought we would need, purchased some new ball joints and two used wheels from the junk yard and set out at 4am with my brother and a borrowed trailer from Buffalo to Spring Valley to load up the car.
The drive to Spring Valley was uneventful. This is the scene we arrived to:
It's hard to see, but there is a large oak tree in the background. That becomes important later.
I hooked the power washer to the water heater and it made short work of the dirt and also some of the paint.
3 hours after arrival we had the car reassembled enough to facilitate loading it in the trailer, washed, loaded and tied down.
We then jumped on a train and headed to Manhattan to get some pizza.
Next post - Driving back to Buffalo
Ryan
Sometime in the early 80’s my uncle purchased a 1968 GTO in Virginia, where he test drove it, put it on a trailer and shipped it to Spring Valley NY. The car resided in my grandparents barn where early on some work was performed (front end disassembled, carb work done etc) – the details are fuzzy as he doesn’t recall specifics, just that he hoped to drag race the car at some point.
I remember paying in the barn as a kid, always careful not to mess up the GTO. As I became of driving age I’d casually mention the car in hopes of being able to purchase it. The answer always came back as “No, I’m going to fix it up and use it”. This conversation went on for nearly 30 years as the car sat silently awaiting someone to reassemble and drive it.
At some point in the time line my grandfather passed and we sold the property the barn was on, forcing a decision on storage location of the car. My uncle decided to move it to my grandmother’s house where it stayed until her passing and subsequent sale of the property.
In October 2018 I (and my brother) asked again to buy the car, reply was “No, but you can have it”. So begins the GTO resurrection.
While in the barn, the car was spared any damage from the elements. Once moved to my grandmother’s house it began deteriorating. The extent of which wasn’t known as no-one had laid eyes on it for years. I asked family members who were at my grandmother’s house taking care of the clean up after her death to take some photos of it, specifically the front end as it had been disassembled and not put back together when moved from the barn to the house. The photos showed the hood detached, fender removed and driver’s side suspension disassembled. Both front wheels were MIA in the photos. I gathered what tools I thought we would need, purchased some new ball joints and two used wheels from the junk yard and set out at 4am with my brother and a borrowed trailer from Buffalo to Spring Valley to load up the car.
The drive to Spring Valley was uneventful. This is the scene we arrived to:
It's hard to see, but there is a large oak tree in the background. That becomes important later.
I hooked the power washer to the water heater and it made short work of the dirt and also some of the paint.
3 hours after arrival we had the car reassembled enough to facilitate loading it in the trailer, washed, loaded and tied down.
We then jumped on a train and headed to Manhattan to get some pizza.
Next post - Driving back to Buffalo
Ryan
