Until recently, this 1969 Pontiac GTO had belonged to the same family since the day that it rolled off the showroom floor. It has been sitting for years, and time and the elements have taken their toll. However, it is not only a numbers-matching classic, but it has a genuine 56,671 miles on the clock. It needs to go to a new home, so the seller has listed it for sale here on Sonicbidder. Located in Wylie, Texas, the bidding activity has pushed the price along to $5,750.

The story behind the Liberty Blue GTO seems to be quite a familiar one. The family patriarch walked into his Pontiac dealership in 1969 and ordered this car. He then passed the ownership to his son in 1985, and he drove the car sparingly until around 1994. At that point, he parked the Pontiac in his driveway and threw a cover over it. If you ever wanted a graphic demonstration of why you should never do that, take a long look at the rust that has developed. This is one of those rare cases where there is some of the usual rust in the lower extremities but significantly more of it in the body’s upper reaches. Most of the area around the lower back window has been impacted, as have the filler panel, trunk lid, and the sections of the rear quarter panels above the bumper. The hood also had its share of issues, but the owner has replaced this. Thankfully they remembered to swap the hood tach onto the new panel when they fitted it. There is also rust in the lower quarters and door corners, but it is insignificant compared to the rest. Most of the exterior trim looks salvageable, as do the wheels and glass. There’s a lot of work here for the buyer to tackle, but it could have been far worse.

Here’s a look at some of the exterior rust that we couldn’t spot in the previous photo, and it looks like it has also gotten its claws into the cowl. That’s bad news and is going to involve a lot of work to fix it. What makes all of this more frustrating is how clean the underside is. The frame rails are sound, as are most of the floors. The front floor on the passenger side will need some work, but anything else appears to be surface corrosion.

The Pontiac has spent most of its life exposed to the elements in Texas, so it’s no great surprise to find that the interior is well past its best. The rear seat looks okay, but the shopping list of parts required to return the interior to its former glory will be a long one. It will include a headliner, carpet set, dash pad, front seat covers, and numerous smaller items. These could all be purchased separately, but the buyer will probably find it more cost-effective to buy a trim kit. From a positive perspective, the interior does appear to be complete. Apart from the 8-track player mounted under the dash, it also seems to be unmolested. It isn’t going to be cheap to restore this aspect of the GTO, but once the work has been completed to a high standard, it shouldn’t need to be touched for decades.

The GTO is a numbers-matching classic that features a 400ci V8, a 4-speed manual transmission, and a heavy-duty 3.55 Safe-T-Track rear end. This combination would have offered the driver 350hp to play with. At 3,673lbs, the GTO was not the lightest car on the planet. However, it used its power well because the journey down the ¼ mile could be completed in 14.3 seconds. This Pontiac does not run or drive, and it hasn’t done so since 1994. The owner has not attempted to coax it back to life, so that will fall to the buyer. If I were seriously considering bidding on the GTO, I would see this as a blessing. Because it has sat for so long, I would want complete control over the revival process. That way, if anything goes wrong, I have no one to blame but myself.

There’s never been any question over the desirability of the Pontiac GTO, and pristine examples can attract some impressive prices in the current market. Their values continue to increase steadily, which also makes them a pretty sound long-term investment. Even if you aren’t serious about bidding on this classic, I would strongly recommend that you visit the listing and scrutinize the photos. Try to absorb the amount of visible rust, and then consider that most of it was caused by the simple act of leaving the car exposed to the elements under a cover. There’s a lesson there for all of us, and at least learning it this way isn’t going to cost money. Learning it the way this owner has is the hard and painful route, and we all want to avoid that.