Here’s a 1968 Pontiac LeMans convertible that presents a few good possibilities, one of which is that it’s only a single component away from becoming a fun driver. On the other hand, it could also benefit from a thorough restoration back to factory specifications, or perhaps continue with the GTO cloning that a previous owner began by swapping out the hood and adding the Endura bumper. Whichever route you’re considering, this 1968 LeMans convertible can be found here on eBay in Conway, South Carolina, where the seller has done a fine job describing both the good and bad regarding this Pontiac. The own it immediately price is set at $14,500, but that’s not necessarily firm, as he’s also enabled the make offer option.
The drivetrain presents positives and negatives, with a good point being that the engine is stated as running well. Unfortunately, the original powerplant is no longer present and has been replaced with a 400 cubic-inch motor, with a date code of 1976. The intake manifold is from a year prior, and on top sits an Edelbrock 4-barrel carburetor. If it’s just a driver you’re after, this may be sufficient, but not before repairing or replacing the automatic transmission, as it’s currently slipping. However, once that’s dealt with, this one could be ready to be back on the road.
The exterior is sort of a mixed bag, with some of the panels appearing to be OK, but others in need of attention. The fenders are said to be in nice shape, but the seller thinks that those and the hood may be reproduction pieces. However, the doors are original, and both are claimed to be in decent structural condition. Probably the biggest issue outside is the quarters, with some amateur rust repairs already attempted in those areas, so it might be best for the long run to go ahead and consider replacing them. I’ve seen worse convertible tops before, but this one’s got some holes and at least one attempted repair above the driver’s rear window, so it’s time to add a new canvas. Hopefully, the rails are good enough to retain.
A previous owner has performed some interior work, with the front buckets not original to the car, although they blend in well. A column-mounted tach has been added along with a trio of gauges under the dash, and it’s a plus that the pad on top isn’t showing any cracks. For starters, I’d likely just fix the transmission and drive this one around with the top down for a while as I pondered what to do next, which in this case might be continuing to move forward with the GTO theme in the future, since that’s already been started. What would you do with this 1968 Pontiac LeMans convertible?
I would drive it and just restore it at a later date .. restore as is.. nice ride
Who are the people who think random patches of primer are a good idea. They certainly look worse than any blemish they were sprayed over.
People like me who are learning bodywork and paint on the job and don’t have the money to take it to a professional. No offense but it’s better than leaving it to rust. That said this would be a cool project for someone with more resources than me. If you have to fix the transmission why not convert to a manual. Drive it and fix the top and do the rest at your leisure.
Fair enough. But could you at least buy a rattle can of the matching factory color to cover the primer? Ten bucks at Auto Zone won’t break the bank, LOL!
This is a ok car to restore but I did notice the green gto in the background of the e-bay pictures that I saw for sale sometime last year!
Not stated where this one spent most of its life, but Conway is near the coast and that could explain the rust. Normally an inland non-mountain southern car would not have this amount of rust. Looks like it could be a good project, but the price needs to be negotiated down a good bit with the amount of rust described and the amount of work required to make it decent.
Well it’s got air and power windows, so there’s that.
It had air, the compressor, hoses and brackets are missing. (went with the original engine??) In the rust belt the exhaust would rust out right at the bend of the tail pipe before it goes over the axle. ( right behind the Muffler) this caused the Muffler to start to sag, causing the end of the tail pipe to move up behind the bumper. Melting the tail lights. Always kept 2 left and 3 right on the parts shelf. (3 for the right side for the single exhaust cars)
These were good trouble free cars. 1968 was the top of quality at Pontiac. For many years after when ever you got mail from the Pontiac Motor Division. The mail stamp was a picture of the front end of a Catalina and the words under the graphic was “ZERO DEFECTS”
The only thing that I ever saw in the shop on a regular basis was failed nylon timing gear failures. I think the book time for the repair under warranty was about 5 hours because you had to drop the pan (Besides the water pump/timing cover assembly) in order to clean out the broken nylon pieces.
The mechanics in our shop .modified the factory tools and made some others so that they could do the job in 60-75 minutes. There would be 2 or 3 a week in for that repair and they would take turns on who got the job. Most of the guys would do the job on their lunch hour just to make up some extra time. It was a fun time in a Pontiac dealership in the late 60s and early 70s with all the fun cars to drive.
A good solid driver that can be repaired or restored at one’s leisure, as soon as the transmission issues are fixed. I’d replace the top as well, and try to get the air conditioning operational again, perhaps with a conversion to the newer R134a refrigerant. Vintage Air can be a big help here!
Although I’d lose the aftermarket tach on the steering wheel, as the factory hood tach is sufficient. If the hood tach has gone belly up, aftermarket replacements are available from National Parts Depot, or the original can be rebuilt and/or restored at any shop that repairs instruments or instrument clusters, like Instrument Specialties in North Kingston, RI. Here’s a link:
https://www.instrument-specialties.com/
instrument Specialties became famous after several mentions on the Graveyard Cars TV show,
I like Wayne’s info. I had a 1973 350 Chevy impala from 1998 to 2003 and it had a nylon timing gear and I changed it on that engine back then. It was worn out to almost no teeth.
Yes, many cars had engines with nylon timing gears for a while, until they began failing with annoying regularity, LOL! Score one for the “bean counters”, who didn’t care about failures after the warranty expired, because the side effects, such as loss of customer goodwill and repeat business, couldn’t be quantified in their bleeping spreadsheets! The damage such short-sightedness does to customer satisfaction is incalculable, but like I said before, the accountants wash their hands of it, because it’s not their problem, it belongs to the Engineering Department! The fact that they wouldn’t allow the Engineers to use the metal timing gears that had been the gold standard for decades, due to cost cutting, conveniently escapes their myopic notice! I wonder how much extra the warranty returns and lost business cost the company because the customers wouldn’t buy another GM product when the failed plastic timing gear blows their engine!
To be fair, this problem wasn’t unique to GM. Ford’s Cologne 2.8L V6 also had plastic timing gears, but metal replacements are available on the aftermarket. My 1985 VW Jetta Gai ate three (3) manual transmissions because the bean counters forced the engineers to omit a ten cent circlip on the transmission output shaft. The lesser Jettas got a tranny with the circlip installed, but the GLI versions didn’t. After tranny #2 went bust, I got smart and had the replacement rebuilt, with a brand-new circlip installed, before putting it in the car!
My understanding was always that the nylon gear “teeth” were used to reduce engine noise, and not a cost-cutting issue. I would venture to say that the extra steps involved with casting the nylon over the gear actually increased production costs over an all metal gear.
19sixty5, that was my understanding also. I decided to change the timing gear on my Mom’s ’67 Pontiac Executive wagon. It had a out 140,000 miles on it at the time. (She bought it with 85,000 miles. I took it apart to find a steel gear. It went 400,000 before the cam let go. I replaced the cam an lifters and it ran well, but was slow due to the crud buildup in the combustion chambers as it was being used constantly basically as a a cab. (Not really, but it never stopped) The engine kept running better and better until I gave it back to Mom and it would run 70 MPH. My sister then took the car on a 600 mile trip to rescue her boy friend and averaged 78 MPH (evidently the crud was finally burned out!). As soon as she returned, Mom took it on a 200 mile trip and the oil light came on. (Where that happened, I wouldn’t have stopped either) She drove the car an additional 40 miles before the temp light came on and 10 miles after that 2 connecting rods ventilated the oil pan. The cost of ownership was quite low for a car that cost $400 at the time of purchase.
Never heard that saying before and I am a auto tech for 35 years. 2rods ventilated the oil pan. Something wanted to get out!
That’s what we saw when we picked it up with the tow truck. When removing the engine we found that the block was also broken at the mount bosses! I asked my Mom how fast she was going when the engine quit. She said “Only about 20 mph”, I said the engine was going alot faster. And my mother “Joe Mechanic” said ” “well, I was hearing a noise and decided to put the car into neutral and rev the engine to see if the noise was the engine or the transmission”. Let me get this right, you drove the car many miles with the oil light on and then miles with the temperature light on. And you were concerned that you might have a transmission problem? Anyway it was good for a laugh at the dealership when I put the car up on the lift!