Update – This GTO’s asking price has been lowered to $7,500. It’s starting to look like a decent buy, so be sure to take a closer look!
As a starting point for a restoration project, this 1964 Pontiac GTO appears to be a solid one. There are a couple of fairly minor rust issues, but it does look extremely promising. It is also a car that has generated some interest since it has been listed for sale, and although no-one has hit the button on the $8,900 BIN price, there are 128 people who are watching the listing. The GTO is located in Arroyo Grande, California, and is listed for sale here on eBay.
Rust issues are pretty minimal on the GTO, with a small hole in the floor on the driver’s side, a similar hole in the trunk floor, and a small amount below the rear glass seeming to be the worst of it. The underside of the car has a decent coating of surface corrosion, but none of this is severe. The body panels look solid, with no issues to be seen with the lower fenders, rockers, doors, or the quarter panels. It also looks like the majority of the external chrome and trim is present, and this could all be either used after a good clean or they could be restored as needed.
The interior is incomplete, and a large percentage of what is there looks like it will require complete restoration. The GTO originally featured a black interior with a power driver’s seat, but all of that is gone. Essentially, it’s a case of what you see is what you get with the interior, so there’s plenty to do there. While the dash looks like it is largely original, it does appear as though there is an aftermarket tachometer fitted into the instrument panel, and it is hard to tell whether the dash has been cut to accommodate this.
The news under the hood isn’t great, with the original 389ci V8 and 3-speed manual transmission both AWOL. However, the owner does have a Muncie M20 transmission that will be included in the sale. The owner also has a set of 1968 GTO cylinder heads, an intake, headers, an 8-bolt timing cover, an oil pan, balancer, and pullies that will go with the car.
If you went out shopping with $50,000 in your pocket looking for a ’64 GTO that was the same specifications as this one was when new, you might be able to get one, but you wouldn’t exactly be spoiled for choice. Add another $15,000 and that makes a huge difference on that front. The chances are that this GTO won’t quite command that sort of money when restored due to the fact that it won’t be a numbers-matching car. However, it will still be worth some pretty decent money, and that certainly makes it a viable project car.
’64 & ’66 were my favorite GTO’s!! This one could be a nice one finished. As far as #’s matching, who cares as long as another 389 goes in.
I see a Bobcat spec 421 tri-power set up along with a M21 transmission. And convert front brakes to disc. Hurst wheels with redlines. There, now that’s better.
Agree…nice it survives .
I’d be the heretic. LS, AC, 6-speed, 4- wheel discs, 16-18″ wheels (in the period), stock appearing interior- but with shoulder belts, head rests & better support.
Then drive it. A lot…to & fro from car shows is mind-numbingly boring. Use them. You are going to die one day, enjoy it…”Bob always wished he had wiped a baby diaper across it more” has never been uttered at a memorial and this thing is never going to be a legit survivor. Use it, enjoy it, make memories- not paperweights
In 64, I was 12, and I had a paper route, delivering the morning, evening and Sunday papers to about 150 houses in my row home neighborhood. It was working class, but there plenty of cool cars; galaxy xl 500 with a 4 speed, silver vette fastback with crager mags and a 62 t bird were the top dogs at the time. Then one morning I spotted this grey convertible with a black top. On closer inspection, it was a gto, first one I ever saw. Black interior, 4 speed, dual tip chrome exhausts. Found out later it also had 3 deuces. Oh how I loved that car…to this day…one of my all time favorites.
Heh heh. In 64, I was 14 ,on my paper route also,was this old guy in my neighborhood, he was about 18, bought a new white 64 GTO and he ran it up and down a nearby street all the time. Haven’t been the same since !
In the early 70’s, my Uncle Fred, got stuck with a car loan he had co-signed on for his oldest son. I guess he figured if he was going to pay for the car he might as well drive it and drive it he did. It was a factory Black/Black ’64 GTO hardtop with a 389, 3 deuces and a 4-speed just like in the song by Ronnie & the Daytonas.
The vin wasn’t stamped on 64 – 66 gto’s. A dated coded engine would be considered matching numbers.
My Father bought a new 1964 Lemans Convertible; close but no cigar. A rich kid in my high school had a new 1964 GTO, 2 door post, in Honduras Maroon. We would cruise 2 drive in restaurants on the same road. He only had the car a few weeks when he demonstrated its power, and his lack of skill when leaving a drive in. He lost it and trashed the right rear quarter panel hard against a telephone pole. No more goat for him.
I had a 1966 GTO 4-speed 3-2’s I wish I would have never sold it . well car guys understand. You move on to the next car of your dreams. I wish I was rich I would still have that car. I had to sell to go to the next project
I had the sister to you car. I blew the timing chain while in the Army and raced it for nothing, and got a ’72 Chev, 350 Nova. Wish I had that Goat back. My bad !
My first ever ride in a GTO was a friends fathers car. (’64 Convert Light green with white top and guts) The father was a stock car driver and he scared the crap out of me when he picked us up from one of our local bands’ gigs. (Just happened to be REO!) The traffic was insanely bad. But he managed to find a hole, stuff it in (in a big hurry) and then proceeded to blast down the street weaving through traffic like he was running from the cops. What a glorious ride it was! I have been hooked on ’64 GTOs ever since. My ’55 Chev Convert seemed awful slow after that. (.030 over 283, 350 horse 350 cam, 4 speed and dual exhaust)
Thus one is very tempting. (and any large bore Poncho engine will work! 389, 421, 455SD)
Hmmm
Originally a Nocturne Blue/Parchment (not black) interior car, according to the data plate…Hmmmm 🤔….
That hole in the VIN was a security weld that would be a hole if the VIN was removed from the car……..
My first experience driving a GTO was a 67 2dr Hdtop. I worked in a parking lot where we parked the cars. Among my regulars was that GTO, a Firebird Convertible, an Avanti and a Corvair (Corsica I think). These became regulars, there were a few irregulars also. I got to drive them maybe 50′ but anything was better than nothing.
Worst one I ever had was a VW Beetle, not a problem with the car, rather the driver. She was about 5′ (I’m 6’4″) and had somehow fixed the seat for her only. I threw my back out trying to get into that thing to park it. IIRC, I just put it neutral and pushed it off to the side till she got back.
eBay listing, “two door” GTO, Well Pontiac didn’t manufacture any four door GTO’s 😜
Also, the “Hurst” shifter is wrong, for 64.
The Corvair may have been a Corsa….
In 1969 I am eleven years old and it takes me an hour to do my paper route because didn’t have a bicycle and walk the route. One peticular day my oldest brother pulls into town with a used 1964 Pontiac GTO he just bought from a used car lot two towns over for $700. He see’s me walking my paper route and picks me up. We did the paper route in 10 minutes instead of an hour walking it. Of course he squeals the tires every time we take off. That set the seed in me to buy my own 1964 GTO 13 years ago. I always tell this story when my son who is 35 and I go to car shows. He told me one day “Dad I don’t know how many times I have heard you tell that story, but it never gets old hearing it”.