The GTO started life as an options package to get around GM’s ban on high performance cars, but the GTO was a true performance machine. We rarely find GTOs hiding in old barns, but this 1969 GTO is one of the few we’ve ever come across. It can be found here on Spokane, Washington’s Craigslist with an asking price of $7,200 OBO.
This Goat has seen better days, but it looks solid and could be a good starting point for a project. The seller states that the car came from the factory wearing Palladium Silver paint, but it’s currently painted black. These cars look great in black, but we would want to return it to its original color.
The heart of this GTO is Pontiac’s 400 cui V8, which was rated at 350 hp. The seller claims the engine runs and that the car even drives, but it is definitely going to need some work before being put back on the road. The GTO may have started life as a performance option for the Tempest, but the huge success of the GTO showed GM’s Top Brass the need for such a car and by ’66 they approved it as a model.
We are fans of the GTO and would love to see this car back on the road, but without inspecting this car in person it would be hard to tell if it’s worth the seller’s asking price. If there is any serious rust, this car maybe past the point of being a realistic project. Hopefully someone will be able to get this Goat for the right price and will get it back on the street where it belongs. Would you restore this Goat or make it drivable and leave it rough and dirty?
I would definately put her back on the road!
I would grow a mullet and drive it as is.
Bought a ’69 GTO about twenty years ago, had been abandoned at a garage. Could never get a title for it. The motor ended up in my ’67 Goat, replacing the original that was shot. The interior went in my brothers ’71 Le Mans, the TH400 went into another guys ’73 Grand Prix and the hood ended up on a buddies ’68 Tempest. Hated to do it, but had reached a dead end.
~ high potential, low achiever. WAAAAAAYYYY cool! !
clean it up, make it safe, drive the bejesus out of it, shop all the required pieces, stuff it in the shop, dismantle the whole thing, reassemble the way you, YOU! want it, drive the bejesus out off it some more, already!! there is some lucky guy out there with $7,200 OBO in his fist and he’s gona be screaming happy when he wakes up and pinches himself tomorrow!!!!!!!
Hard to say without knowing the extent of the rust issues but I prefer cars with some patina.
Patina special it is then
I wouldnt pay 7200 without extensive going over of this car. I got burned on a ’68 that was worse than it looked. Still have it, just took more than I wanted to put into it.
Hey! Spokane is on the dry side of Washington. This could be a great car. … I had a 68 GTO in the seventies. It had a funky “reverberation” switch on the radio that made it sound like you were in an echo chamber. Never really figured out why they thought that was cool, but the car was a lot of fun to drive –when gas was 30 cents per gallon. Then gas prices spiked up to 50 cents per gallon!! What a rip. I was ready to stop driving just to protest…
Supposedly runs and drives, why not drive it out of the garage, give it a bath and take a decent picture or two?
And yet another muscle car that does little but go straight. Heavy, big, bulky……..boring.
Restore it and loose you butt. They made thousands of GTO’s.
You would be money ahead by leaving it where it sits…………………….
VERY optimistic price for the poor condition of this car. My brother in law bought one of these—same year, same color—about 6 weeks ago for about the same price as the asking for this car and drove it home. A bunch of us then went to dinner in it. He got a nice, clean car that only needs minor attention. And this all took place within about 200 miles of where this Craigslist car is.
I hope no fan of GTOs is fooled into thinking this is a great deal.
There is patina, and then there is neglect. If a car is mostly original and somewhat worn, leave it alone. This car needs a resto.
Joe Dirt Special! Leave it be!