The second-generation Pontiac GTO was a big hit with both consumers and the press, being named as Motor Trend’s Car of the Year for 1968. One innovative feature cited in the award announcement was the Endura front bumper. Made of a heavy-duty rubber plastic material, the Endura bumper was able to absorb minor impacts while being integrated into the lines of the body. Television commercials for the GTO highlighted this feature, one of them depicting a line of men in white lab coats whacking the front end of a new car with a crowbar. This 1969 Pontiac GTO available here on eBay in Butte, Montana is a 47,000 mile survivor from this rubber beaked second iteration of Pontiac’s signature muscle car.
This numbers-matching GTO was originally delivered to New Orleans, as evidenced by the dealer badge on the trunk, which could explain its rust-free body. It still wears its original Palladium Silver paint, which is in fair condition, the worst areas being on the hood, front fender tops, and front bumper. A repaint would not be unreasonable, but it could certainly be driven and enjoyed as-is. The black vinyl top is in good condition and provides a nice contrast to the silver paint. The original 14-inch Rally II wheels appear to be in great shape and wear period-correct redline tires.
Under the hood is the original 400 cubic inch V8, fed by a Rochester Quadrajet carburetor. There are few details given, but the engine is said to run strong. Despite being covered in a layer of grime, the engine compartment looks like it would clean up well. Power is delivered through a three-speed automatic transmission. It’s not specified whether the front brakes are discs or drums, but they are said to work well.
The black vinyl interior is the most well-preserved area of this low-mileage muscle car. The seller describes the dashboard and seats as “flawless” and that doesn’t appear to be an exaggeration. The headliner is also in excellent condition and the only weakness is the slightly faded carpet. One unusual feature is the column-mounted automatic transmission shifter that always appears slightly out of place in a muscle car, especially with bucket front seats. There is air conditioning intalled but it is not mentioned if it still works. The only update to the interior is a set of three auxiliary gauges mounted below the dash.
The top bid is approaching $30,000 with just less than three days left at the time of writing. That’s a lot of money, but not unreasonable for a sub-50k-mile GTO in original condition. Would you leave this one as-is, repaint it, or do a full nut-and-bolt restoration?
There’s the engine for the bonneville…this needs a 455 anyway….
Nut and bolt singular.
omg… its a column shift automatic…… yuck
Ha! Would you say yuck to a column-shift automatic in a LS-6 Chevelle? I guess, not. Yes, for those in the know, this is/was the hot setup. An automatic will beat a 4-speed car in consistency and doing it with a column shifter vs having a console and all the trappings, weighs less to boot! And yes, the LS-6 I had my hands on was just that; column shifted Turbo 400. And it would ignite the tires simply by flooring the gas pedal in any gear! I wouldn’t say no.
Right? I like rowing-my-own for the fun of it, but if it’s an auto, save the space and weight. Console or column, you don’t “look cool” shifting and auto anyway, but I bet this Goat is still a hoot to drive.
Was the 1970 Chevelle SS454 available with column shift? THAT would be really cool, to have a bad boy LS6 with that trademark 1970s Chevy bent column shifter!
The column shift is what drew me to write about this car. I like weird details like that.
I had a column shift auto 70 GTO. Idiots who know nothing would open their traps at car shows and say oh that’s a LeMans, all GTOs had a console. NOT. Console optional. Stupid people. This is a nice car. Too bad he put a Buick air cleaner label on it. No GTO in 69 had labels. The engine is the wrong color blue, but overall a nice car.
Nice thing with the 69 model year is just look at the vin in the windshield. The GTO had it’s on vin number so no confusing it for a LeMans.Was good for most of the years 66 to 71 had that specific vin number.
Did not know Buick made their air cleaner labels with a Pontiac emblem on them in 1969. I thought they waited till 1975 to do the “use whatever engine is laying there” approach. Guess I’m one of the “stupid people” you refer to. Been restoring Pontiacs using Pontiac emblems and parts for 35 years and doing it wrong all this time…..
I had a Custom S with 350 2bbl column shift car in this interior and exterior color. Was a nice car and I wish I didn’t have to sell it but I did. Miss it often. A lot right now after seeing this one.
Looks like the factory tach is gone.
Paint it, pull the column out, get a floor shift console and column, paint it, throw some 15 inch replacement wheels, add front disc brakes if not there, repair A/C , drive the wheels off it summertime, oh, it would be black
Some cars, not all, got there best recorded acceleration times by leaving the fargin thing in Drive,, ahahaha. All depended on revs, shift points, that stuff.
I like this old GTO just the way it sits, beautiful scenery in the back ground too. Lets face it, by ’69 the GTO was surrounded by hostile competitors in the super car market from every brand, not to mention amped up pony cars even big block Novas. AMC was in it.
For me ’69 is the wildest year of muscle cars,,,, high strung, more timing and bigger jets, wild cams and of course if you were a Pontiac guy the Ram Air IV was a thing of legend. Maybe I’m off track but looking at This GTO I see just a real nice cruiser/powerhouse. Like a daily driver with not much fuss…so to speak.
you can see in the 1 photo that the carpet is fresh where the bench seat use to be. they did a cheap conversion.. should have left the bench in it..
Would need to look closer at this car. Engine is not the correct color for the year. 69 engines were a lighter metallic blue
Agreed it doesn’t look factory, but could it have faded over the intervening 50 years?