CHAPTER 3:

GENERAL MOTORS

IF YOU GO BY THE NORMAL IDENTIFICATION of a muscle car—a big engine in a smaller body—it all started with General Motors (GM). I don’t mean the GTO either. It started way back in 1949! Oldsmobile rolled out the Rocket 88. It was the smaller body, but had the bigger high-compression V-8. There were others since then that toyed with that same idea. Chrysler had the 300 with the Hemi lineups. Ford had its share with the Thunderbolts and such. But most people say the proper use of term started with the 1964 Pontiac GTO.

It started with the idea of dropping the big 389-cubic-inch V-8 engine from Pontiac’s full-size Catalina in the engine compartment of the midsized Tempest. At the time, the largest engine you could get in the Tempest was the 326-cubic-inch V-8. There was a sportier option already available, the Le Mans, but it still retained the original 326. Wanting to sell the street performance, Pontiac called its car the GTO, which stood for Gran Turismo Omologato, and was inspired by Ferrari race cars at the time. In some circles, it was called the “Grand Tempest Option.”

That really kicked things off, especially at GM. Almost overnight there were high-performance versions of all of each GM brand’s cars built on the A-body platform, such as the Tempest. Chevrolet had the Chevelle Malibu, while Oldsmobile had the 442 (4-barrel carburetor, 4-speed, dual exhaust, originally), and Buick had the GS (Gran Sport).

The owner of the yard had a thing for saving Chevrolets, and this 1969 Camaro RS was saved from being crushed. Its current situation is better, but not great.

While they were built on the same platform, the GM A-body, they all had different engines during the heyday of the muscle car era. At Chevrolet, the Malibu SS was the top of the heap with the Chevy 327-cubic-inch V-8 under the hood. The Oldsmobile 442 had a 330-cubic-inch V-8, Pontiac had the GTO with the 389, and Buick had the Skylark GS in 1965 with the 401-cubic-inch V-8 (which was publicized as a 400 because GM had a limit on displacement in midsized cars).

Things went well for all parties; the GTO was a huge success and all the subsequent models sold fairly well. Model year 1966 saw the first major redesign of the A-Body since the introduction of the muscle car. The cars became bigger and had more of a Coke bottle look to them rather than the boxy, squared-off look of the earlier models. GM continued producing its full muscle car lineup, and even expanded it as the smaller Chevrolet Chevy II/Nova was coming into its own as a muscle car with a full list of engines and options on the X-platform.

Most of the cars were available with a variety of engines in the early years. The GTO was known for its Tri-Power (three two-barrel carburetors) setups, and Oldsmobile toyed with the setup for a single year. Chevrolet produced a limited-edition Chevelle in 1965 with the 396-cubic-inch V-8. This was the Z16 option and only 200 were produced; the engine would return in regular Chevelle SS models after that.

Of all the cars in this yard, this was the craziest, a 1967 Camaro SS 396 convertible that was sold new by Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was not one of their high-horsepower offerings, but was a complete surprise to find in a junkyard in the modern era.

Buick GS in the 1960s stood for Gran Sport, and this one had the 400-cubic-inch V-8. Being a convertible didn’t hurt any either!

The start of Buick muscle cars was the Skylark lineup, and this basic Skylark sits in a junkyard slowly being picked away at.

It says Buick GS Stage 1 on the grille, which would be just about the best Buick you could get at the time.

While the front half says 442, the main body shows it as just a regular Cutlass, still cool and sad to see, especially sinking into the pond.

Model year 1967 featured a big change to the muscle car world with the debuts of the Camaro and Firebird. They were specifically designed to be everything a muscle car was intended to be: a smaller body with all engines available, from the inline six-cylinders to the largest V-8’s available. All engines were available in these models from the start. The Camaro was available with the 396-cubic-inch V-8 right out the gate in the SS model, and Firebirds were right there with the 400-cubic-inch V-8. They were the cars to have, and first-generation models are among the most desirable muscle cars to this day.

Just sitting on the side of the road, this 1966 Chevelle SS 396 has been sitting there as long as I have known about it.

Rescued from being junked, this 1970 Chevelle SS is a true SS with telltale signs of being an original LS6 454 car, but sans engine now.

The first major redesign of the A-body and X-body cars from the ground up came in 1968. This major redesign carried on until 1972. All the cars got the new chassis and bodies. They carried on the Coke bottle theme, and you could definitely tell they were an evolution of the brands and cars that had come before. And as before, they all had the ability to hold every engine that GM produced. For the 1970 model year, everything got better as GM dropped the 400-cubic-inch V-8 displacement restriction.

Of all the cars in this yard, this was the craziest, a 1967 Camaro SS 396 convertible that was sold new by Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was not one of their high-horsepower offerings, but was a complete surprise to find in a junkyard in the modern era.

The crown jewel of the junk-yard owner’s collection was this nearly all-original 1970½ Z/28 Camaro, with original LT1 350 V-8 under the hood.

Model year 1970 featured the best of the muscle cars at GM. With the displacement restriction lifted, all the brands went wild dropping in the hottest, largest engines they could with only one caveat: no car could be faster than the Corvette. But some cars got around the restriction, so the horsepower race was open to all without having to bend any rules. Chevrolet put its 454-cubic-inch V-8 under the hood with the potent LS6 option producing 450 bhp. Oldsmobile had its W-30 package 442 with a 455-cubic-inch V-8 with 370 brake horsepower, and Pontiac had its 400-cubic-inch V-8 in Ram Air IV that put out 370 brake horsepower, as well as a 455 HO that produced 360 brake horsepower. Surprisingly, the overall winner was Buick, as it put the 455-cubic-inch V-8 under the hood. With the Stage 1 package, it supposedly only produced 360 brake horsepower, but made 510 lb-ft of torque and was giving the Hemis the best run for the money.

This Corvette is a mostly original 454 car that is being stored in the back of a converted church. The owner used to drive it everywhere, until something went wrong and put it in storage.

Little surprising to find right near the gate of a junkyard, but this is an original 1967 Camaro SS Convertible being used for siding storage. I walked right by it the first time I saw it.

Another poor Buick GN sits patiently in the junkyard atop its brethren, hoping one day to feel the road again.

The crown jewel of the junkyard owner’s collection was this nearly all original 1970 ½ Z/28 Camaro, with original LT-1 350 V-8 under the hood.

Tucked away in an old horse barn, this 1970 Camaro was quite the discovery along with a plethora of British vehicles and motorcycles.

By 1971, things had cooled down a bit, and the cars were relatively unchanged. Many of the really high-horsepower, special-option cars had been discontinued. All the big engines were still there, but with coming new emission laws and increasing insurance costs, it was the beginning of the end. By 1972, things were on the downswing, and in 1973, the GM A-body had another complete redesign, going bigger and in a more European luxury direction. All the big names still existed: Chevelle SS, GTO, Buick GS Stage 1, 442. But by 1974, they were all disappearing. Some lived on as versions of other models, such as the GTO, which was an option on the 1974 Pontiac Ventura. For the most part, the tire-squealing muscle cars were gone, but the Camaro and Firebird lived on, adapting to the times.

This is one of those mythical cars, an original 1970 Chevelle SS convertible with the 454, sitting in fairly rough shape.

A trio of C1 Corvettes keep each other company at a body shop.

Now here’s something truly rare—a Pontiac Skybird. Basically everything in the car was light blue, even the wheels, grille, bumper, and more. I had never heard of it before finding this one in a junkyard in Michigan!

While not technically a muscle car, this 1962 Pontiac Tempest Le Mans was the direct predecessor to the GTO.

The Bandit would be saddened to see a black, shaker Trans Am sitting with its giant Firebird decal slowly decaying.

Even sitting in a junkyard, this 1965 GTO looks mean.

Not something you come across very often—this 1967 GTO was a surprise to find, especially with a Chevrolet V-8 and dual four-barrel carburetors under the hood.

Just down the row from the last 1967 was this 1971 GTO that was in no better shape. It still had a Pontiac V-8 under the rusted hood.

Another poor 1967 GTO sits in the junkyard with a Chevrolet small-block under the hood.

I thought this might have been a rare 1971 GTO Judge, but it turned out to be a standard GTO with the stripes added on. It was still cool to find, though!

The 1980s saw a resurgence of the muscle car, and ironically enough, it was led again by Buick, which produced not only a V-8 tire pounder, but also a turbo V-6 called the GN and later GNX. To this day, these are legendary for being insane, all black, and a menace on the streets. That helped lead GM to where we are now, in the full rebirth of the muscle car world with the new Camaros and all the amazing engines and technology that come with it.

Not a GTO, but a 1972 Le Mans, this car looked pretty good. Underneath, however, it was pretty rusty. The cows had already knocked off the side view mirror.

Not something you expect to find in a cow pasture! This white 1969 GTO convertible was in decent condition despite sitting for a decade or two.

Rescued from the crusher, this Endura Bumper 1968 GTO wasn’t in terrible shape and the cows in the yard hadn’t bothered with the G.O.A.T. yet.

The beginning of the breed, this 1964 GTO looks rough, but wasn’t in terrible shape with the truck topper protecting the top of the car, and being off the ground helped the bottom!

Mostly stripped of good bits, this 1965 GTO was in decent shape, for sitting in a junkyard in Michigan for a few decades.

Walked right past this one at first, a 1968 GTO, you can just make out the outline of the GTO badge in the patina on the trunk and quarters of the car.

I was surprised to find this Cutlass convertible tucked way back in a storage barn at a junkyard in Wisconsin.

Just a hulk of a car, this poor 1970 Chevelle SS was once a cool cruiser, but now it is used as a parts car for others in the owner’s collection.

Not one, but two L79 Hi-Po Nova SS cars sit in a horse pasture, where they were parked after being rescued from the crusher. They even come with spare front-end sheet metal.

This 1970 Camaro SS 350 joined the Novas in the horse pasture after being rescued like all the others.

A sharp fastback Oldsmobile Cutlass sits in a junkyard in Michigan, surrounded by other muscle cars of the same era.

The Oldsmobile 442 W-30.

Another Olds I had to a double take on, not believing what I was seeing. An original Hurst/Olds sitting in a junkyard, I almost couldn’t believe it.

I had heard Cosworth Vega models travel in packs, but I had never seen it in person, and I had never seen in person an orange Cosworth Vega before!

I saw this car for years sitting in this garage. The original owner still has it. It has the Rocket 350 instead of the big 455 because in that year the horsepower was so close, it wasn’t worth the extra cash he said!

This 1967 Chevelle SS 396 has been sitting for over a decade. Once a drag strip terror, it now sits idly while other cars get worked on.

It was a bit surprising to find a mid-’70s 442 just languishing in a guy’s front yard, but there it was!

In the late 1970s Hurst/Olds gave the muscle car market a shot in the arm with this car. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be for this one.

Keeping the cows company, this is another 442 front with Cutlass main body that was saved from getting crushed.

Nothing but 442 there, and 1970s style all the way around with sidepipes like that. Thankfully they can’t hurt any cows.

This triple green 442 keeps the others company in the cow pasture, I just don’t know how someone could get a triple green 442, just not my cup of tea.

Sitting for a while in the same spot, this Cutlass was stuck between a Jeep and a Tree, and neither was giving.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIGH (ON MUSCLE)

OVER THE YEARS, you hear stories of places like this, but they don’t sound real. After all, how could there be buildings full of vintage Chevrolet Corvettes and other highly prized vehicles? I found out while traveling through the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee. I took a small detour and was on the highway to this mystery stash I had heard of. All I had were some clues, not an actual location, about a place on a road and near a town.

Thankfully, it was easy to find with its rows of cars peeking through from behind the roadside hedges. I met up with Sam, the owner of the collection, and his friend, who needed some parts from an old car hanging from the back of a tow truck.

Sam pointed out that the cars in front of his shop were mostly first- and second-generation Corvettes. And parked next to him was one of his major project cars, a genuine 1969 Dodge A12 Super Bee 440-cubic-inch V-8 Six Pack car. Unless you saw the VIN number, nobody could tell what it was, as it was just in primer. But one look at the numbers showed it sure as heck was a legit M-Code, with M meaning the 440 Six Pack option on ’69 Super Bees!

And that was just the beginning. Inside a storage room were two 1930s Ford roadsters that weren’t in bad shape, but were long-term projects. Elsewhere in the room were some Fords, and then the real gold: mostly first-generation Corvettes.

This mid-1960s Corvette was without an engine or transmission, or really anything else that matters. But the passenger compartment was being protected by another truck bed liner just to cut down on issues that could occur.

In all my travels, I had never seen such a collection of really early Corvettes. It was incredible. They were three rows of them with three or four cars per row. There were several first-generation Corvettes—a 1954, a 1957 with fuel injection, and more. There was a 1967 Corvette L89 that is an extremely rare model with a unique engine with aluminum heads and a steel block, as well as the Tri-Power—three two-barrel carburetors—on top. There was also a partial 1969 Camaro Z/28, and something completely out of left field: a Hudson Terraplane convertible!

The grounds were littered with cars, including the rusting wreck of a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS convertible, and a few more first-, second-, and third-generation Corvettes, all of them covered in some fashion.

1963 Split Window Corvette, one of the most desirable Corvettes ever, and it sits with its rear end hanging out from underneath what looks to be an old vinyl billboard sign. Thankfully though it protected the inside of the car from the ‘elements’.

A nice 1962 Corvette sits half in and half out behind a tarp in the warehouse, trying to keep things a bit more separated. This one was in good condition, and having been safely tucked away for so long, it really didn’t need that much. Just to be sorted out and put back together would do wonders for it.

Sitting out in the open for who knows how long, this C1 early Corvette is at least partially covered by the truck bed liner over the open passenger compartment. Thankfully, the owner had plenty of spare parts to put this one back together when needed.

This is one of the rarest cars in the whole place, a 1967 Corvette L89. This option gave the 427 engine aluminum heads. And that took about 75 pounds of weight off the front end of the car, and giving it a bit of a performance boost, up to 435 horsepower. This one has been stashed away for a long time, and getting it out would take a long time as well.

Sam also had a Hudson pickup truck, a really nice, bright yellow 1969 Camaro that he drives to cruise nights, and rows of cars enveloped by thorn bushes so thick you would need a chainsaw to reach the cars.

In a forest on the property were a few more Corvettes, and a few Mopars, including a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner and a 1968 Plymouth GTX.

A 1969 Hemi Road Runner, a few 1955-1957 Chevrolets, a few first-generation Corvettes, and other oddities were all tucked in a shed. But the top of the sundae for me was the 1970 Plymouth Superbird, which you can see that in the Aero Warriors section of this book.

As I was leaving, Sam said I hadn’t seen it all, that I would have to come back again to see some of the really good stuff, and someday I surely will!

Just about the earliest Corvette that he had in the warehouse was this 1954 model. He had been looking for a 1953 when this one popped up, so he rescued it. Missing some pieces here and there, but mostly complete.

Another very early Corvette right in the middle of the collection of cars. It was an earlier model, and looked to be around a 1954 Corvette. Thankfully, the car was in a nice, dry environment and not terribly hard to get to, so it was safe and sound.

Can’t get much more iconic then this 1957 Corvette. Black car with white side scoops and a red interior. This was just about the most complete car that was in the building. It looked as though you could just wash the car off and drive it to a car show if you needed to. Unfortunately, it was buried pretty good, along with the rest of them.

THE BUCKEYE STATE TIGER FINDER

IT IS REALLY GREAT TO HAVE FRIENDS who are as passionate as I am about neglected cars. In Ohio, my friend Jeff Makovich dropped me a line about a car I had to come and see: a genuine 1969 SCCA Trans Am Racer, and not just any racer, but a Camaro Z/28.

My schedule didn’t allow me to visit, until he dropped the bombshell on me: he had purchased the car and was moving it in a few weeks, so if I didn’t come then, it would be too late. With little lead time, I headed to Ohio to check out this miracle find.

I met up with Jeff and his crew and he led us to the car’s location. As we all pulled up to the site, I could tell that this was going to be fun because I saw cars and trucks scattered around the property.

Denny, the owner, was as excited as we were. He took us back to the metal barn where we saw the hulk of the Camaro. It was a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 that had been purchased new by Ken Stoddart and was raced for a few years. It was never a road car, and was always an SCCA racer. The car’s paperwork from the beginning was there, including the factory diagrams that Stoddart used to convert it to an SCCA-legal racer. Stoddart drove the car until around 1974, and then put it away. Denny became friends with Stoddart, they worked together on some projects over the years, and after some horse trading, Denny got the Camaro.

The first full view of the car, outside the barn. It looks rougher than the car really was. It needs some sheetmetal work, but the bones as they say are good. Frame is solid, the SCCA race parts are still there. This car is actually going to be full restored.

Denny was an engine builder and just-for-fun racer, so the car was put in the barn, where it sat until the day we arrived. The car didn’t look like much, and to anyone else who didn’t know the history of the car, they would have thought it was just another dirt-track Camaro someone had cut up and abandoned. Thankfully, Denny knew what he had, and was able to share that with Jeff and me.

To remove the car out of its tomb, we had to move all the junk that had built up on and around the car during decades of neglect. While some of Jeff’s crew dug into the cleanup work, Denny gave me a tour of the rest of the barn. There was an old Chevrolet pickup truck, a few more cars, and a few older motorcycles; nothing rare or overly desirable, but neat nonetheless.

What really blew me away were the engine and race car parts. There were shelves full of cylinder heads, mostly Chevrolet in origin, and on the floors were engines everywhere: small-block Chevys, a few big-blocks. Whatever Denny could get, he saved and raced, or fixed up and sold. There were also crankshafts, stacks of rims, old race tires, and a wall covered in old headers.

Of the engines, the coolest piece for me was an original Chevrolet W-head 348-cubic-inch V-8 with a triple carburetor setup. Denny said he used to run that engine in his 1957 Chevrolet two-door, which I did not doubt.

This is how we found the 1969 SCCA Z/28 Camaro, literally sinking into the dirt of this old metal storage barn. Piles of just junk around the car, in the car, and just about everywhere. They took bags of soda cans out of the engine compartment area. The wheels had been sitting so long that the rims, even on tires, had left imprints in the dirt where the car had sat for over 40 years.

When you say a car is stuck, you don’t usually mean a tree has grown up in front of it, and it is backed up against a fence! This 1957 Chevrolet two-door Bel Air was once the owner’s race car. He had a variety of different engines in it through the years, including a 348 W-Headed Tri-Power engine we found sitting in the dirt in the barn.

Outside the barn was a pretty sad 1969 Camaro RS/SS 396 car. It was a very sad sight, with just about every panel either dented, or rusted, or busted. If the owner hadn’t told us what it was, we would have not paid any attention to the car at all sadly. And without anything really of value, the car will probably continue to sit.

Outside the barn was a 1980s C4-style Corvette, nothing that is overly desirable today. But next to that was a different story: the rusting hulk of a 1969 Camaro. It was just a rusty body, but Denny told me it was originally an SS/RS 396-cubic-inch V-8 car, one of the rarest of all Camaros. Unfortunately, this one was beyond help. It was rusted and busted, and there wasn’t even a frame to the car, just the body—or what was left of it. Sad to see such a cool car relegated to such a sad future.

Also outside was a neat old Sunbeam Tiger that Denny used in SCCA racing, still in full race car trim. It looked like he had just parked it and walked away a few decades ago. There was another old, first-generation Camaro dirt-track car, again looking like he went racing Friday and parked it Saturday. One fender still had the hand-painted lettering of the pit crew members’ names.

But my favorite was his old 1957 Chevrolet two-door, the one that the 348 had come from. At one point, this had been a true hot rod at its finest. Now, its tail abutted a fence and the front end was blocked by a trees growing up in front of it—that’s how long the car had been sitting there.

Unburied, the Camaro racer’s front wheels would roll, but the rear end was locked up tight. After an hour of slowly pushing and pulling the car down the wet, slippery, and narrow driveway, the car was finally out in the open. It was the first time since the 1970s that it had been out of the barn. The rear end had sat so long, the rims left deep grooves in the dirt—through the tires! I had never seen anything like it. Upon closer look, it was bad, but not beyond saving, and all the important original SCCA bits and pieces were there.

We all looked at the car on the trailer for a while, then thanked Denny and headed home. This rescue was unlike anything I had been a part of, and I was glad I made the rushed decision to go do it.

Here’s the group helping the little Ford Ranger pull the Camaro from the barn, where it had sat for over 40 years. Definitely wasn’t easy with the rear end locked up and no way to easily steer the car. But slowly they were able to move the car out to the street.

OLDS GOLD

HANGING OUT AT MY CAR CLUB’S monthly meeting, my good friend Carl mentioned that his friend had just bought a car I might be interested in seeing, a 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire. The car had to be moved ASAP from the garage where it had sat since the 1970s, so I made arrangements to fully document the retrieval.

Their opening the door reminded me of a tomb opening, and as the door creaked open, you couldn’t miss the car sitting there in the nearly empty building.

There it sat, on four flat bias ply tires, a nearly all-original 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire! The car is not well known, and being a 1962 model, it might be a stretch to call it a “muscle car,” but I think it is, more than most cars from the era. In 1962, Oldsmobile gave its F-85, two-door A-body platform car an aluminum 215-cubic-inch V-8. This did not set the world on fire, but what made the Jetfire unique was that it was factory turbocharged. Coming out slightly before the Corvair Turbo from Chevrolet, the Jetfire was something else entirely.

Still on the F-85 two-door body, and still having the original aluminum 215 V-8 under the hood, Oldsmobile created a low-pressure turbo to hop up the horsepower. The high-horsepower base F-85 with the same V-8 made 185 horsepower, but with the Jetfire turbo setup, it made 210 horsepower. There were some drawbacks in the program, however. To deal with detonation, Oldsmobile made Jetfire owners pour “Turbo-Rocket” fluid into a container under the hood. It was made of distilled water, methanol, and a lubricant that would prevent detonation.

Walking into the garage, this is how we found the car. I know the owner had cleaned out the garage while preparing to sell the house, but the car was for the most part left alone. And there sat on four extremely old tires was one of the rarest and coolest Oldsmobiles around, a basically all original 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire.

Unfortunately, no other car on the road needed this, so people would forget to add it. While there was a safety system in place to prevent the turbo from destroying itself if it ran out of fluid, it wasn’t the best, and after 1963, Oldsmobile killed the Jetfire, replacing it with a four-barrel carburetor. A year later, the 1964 Pontiac GTO appeared on the new A-body platform, and changed everything.

This Jetfire in the garage looked to be completely stock, with bias ply tires on all four corners, original hubcaps, and the paint looking good. It was a good-looking car, with clean lines and a nice look to the way the front and back ends were shaped.

We popped the trunk open and gazed upon Oldsmobile gold. The trunk was nearly mint, and it didn’t look like there was any rust or fatigue. But what was in the trunk is what really stood out: two gallons of original Oldsmobile Turbo-Rocket Fluid with fluid still in the containers. In my research on the car, I had never seen large one-gallon bottles of the fluid. This was like a treasure hunt where we found gold!

Opening up the trunk to the car, we found the original spare tire for the car and a few other bits and pieces. Pulling up on the original trunk mat found a fairly solid trunk floor. But the real treasure was the two original gallons of Oldsmobile Turbo-Rocket fluid!

It wasn’t alone in the trunk, as there were two spare tires and rims in there, which might not seem surprising, but one tire and rim were original to the car—from 1962—and with some cleaning, it would look almost new, it was that nice. Surprisingly, the other one was a snow tire. There were no other snow tires on the car, nor in the garage or thrown away, and it was on the body color rim, so it was a bit of a mystery. But it was fortunate it was there, as it was a rare four-bolt rim, which is hard to come by nowadays.

The interior was just about perfect. We cracked the doors and it looked like it had never been sat in. Other than some fading, dirt, and dust, it was pretty much as it was back in 1962. Usually the cars I have uncovered since the 1970s are full of rodent poop and other debris, but this one had none of it. It was as if someone drove it for a few years and parked it. Another neat feature, which makes it one of two left, is that this car was a four-speed. That’s right, a turbo V-8 with a four-speed. I’d call that a muscle car.

The shifter came through the floor and had a small console and boot covering the hole in the floor. Plus, it had something I had never seen before: a Turbo Charger Fluid Injection gauge with two areas, Green/Economy and Red/Power. When you were on the gas, it would move into the Red/Power area, and vice versa for the green. I saw something similar on cars from the ’70s called “Economy Gauges,” which used vacuum as a reference, but this was unique unto itself.

Once we finally got the hood open, we were greeted again with a time capsule: the aluminum V-8 with a turbo sitting right where it was supposed to be. And from factory pictures I saw online, other than a replacement battery (still from the early 1970s) and a missing “emergency” Turbo-Rocket fluid bottle, it looked completely stock! It was dirty and crusty from age, but everything was there. You could still make out “Rocket Power” on the engine’s air intake.

We got the ancient tires to hold air and get the car onto a tow truck. Carl’s friend sold it to a gentleman who is THE guy for Jetfires. He had another 1962 Jetfire in the same color combo and everything, except with an automatic. He went through the car and got it running, just in time for the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in 2016. It was a huge hit, and now rests comfortably with its twin in Indiana. While I was not able to save the car myself, it makes me happy when a car goes to the right people who will appreciate them.

That is the nearly completely original Jetfire engine. A few small things were changed from stock, like the battery is a newer style, like 1970 instead of 1962. And the one thing that was completely missing is the emergency bottle of Turbo-Rocket fluid that is usually tucked into the driver side fender support, for those times when you run out!

You open the door and you are looking at the completely original interior for the car. For sitting in a dry and clean environment, with the doors closed and no real sunlight reaching it. The interior is pretty mint. And even rarer, it is a four-speed model, of which only two are known to exist anymore.

One of the gallon jugs of Turbo-Rocket fluid that was in the trunk. It still had fluid in it, that we could assume was the original water, methanol, and turbo lubricant combo. We were just shocked that the container hadn’t deteriorated away, or spilled or such. But there it was!

LOSE YOUR MIND IN DETROIT GTO CITY

IT ALL STARTED with a 1970 Chevelle SS 454 that is in the Chevrolet section of this book. I know it’s funny for a Pontiac story to start that way, but the majority of what happened on this adventure was Pontiac-related. I was contacted by a gentleman who said he had a cool car that was worth a look, and we connected as I drove home after the Woodward Dream Cruise in 2016.

Technically I ended up being there twice. My original plan was for us to meet on my way to the Woodward Dream Cruise, but I got a message that Dodge was unveiling new models and I needed to get to Detroit ASAP. So I rescheduled to meet the owner on my return trip.

And it was absolutely worth it since the day I arrived it was sunny and warm. The Chevelle’s owner, who worked for General Motors at the plant where midsized SUVs are produced, led me to the car.

The Chevelle you see in the Chevrolet section is a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454. It could be an LS5 or LS6 car, but unfortunately, with no engine or transmission, there isn’t a definitive way to determine which. This one had a few signs that indicated it was an original LS6 car, such as an L on the data plate and the larger fuel line, but who knows for sure? After all, it had been rescued from a guy’s yard to save it being crushed, and they had to cut down three trees to get it out!

An old 1969 Firebird that used to run at the drag strip. It was set up with a hot Pontiac engine under the hood, and big tires out back. This car had not been sitting that long, but was neglected, thus the tires go flat and the dust starts to settle on the car.

After we admired his awesome Chevelle, he opened the nearby storage barn, and there were four Pontiacs and a custom car. They weren’t your everyday, run of the mill Pontiacs, but were instead high-performance cars. Two were GTOs, and two were Firebirds of different generations.

The one that drew me to it like a moth to a flame was a Matador Red 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge. It was just about the most awesome GTO you could have, and here was one sitting in a barn in Michigan! I could not believe my eyes. It was everything a Judge is supposed to be, with its big, bright red engine, and cool “The Judge” stripe package, a nod to its Laugh-In TV show origins, where a character would announce, “Here comes The Judge!”

Starting in 1969 in response to the overwhelming 1968 sales success of the “cheap” muscle car, the Road Runner, Pontiac devised its “The Judge” package. It featured a standard Ram Air III 400-cubic-inch V-8 with some cool graphics and a neat name—and not much else. It sold fairly well, continuing as an option on the GTO until 1971.

The one we were observing was fully loaded, and even had the neat hood tach that they were famous for. The car had been sitting in the barn for so long that the tires had gone flat and started to crumble. The car was mostly intact with all the pieces there except the engine, which had been removed. The interior was there, so it seemed like you could bolt on a single wheel and some new tires and this beautiful car could easily be pounding the streets again!

Nearby was another 1969 GTO, this one was a nicely restored example that looked to have been Verdoro Green. Unfortunately, it hadn’t run in two years. There was a really nice 1969 Firebird that the son and father had drag raced for a time. It was a complete car that didn’t need much to be running again. The same went for the silver second-generation Firebird we saw. It was also a nice car that didn’t need much work to be running again.

We were far from done. We walked next door to the neighbor’s storage barn, watched over by the resident guard chicken. Inside the barn was another second-generation Firebird that was by no means perfect, but looked like it was a driver. There was a bit of rust and rot, but it was a white car with tan interior and a black-and-blue Firebird sticker on the hood, and it was still cool.

The nicest car in the barn was a really clean 1969 GTO. This one had been sitting for just over two years. The car just needed some minor work to get back on the road.

There was also a 1957 Chevrolet “Shoebox” and a second-generation Camaro. The Shoebox was going to be a serious drag racer as its front end would tilt forward, and it had small wheels up front, large ones in back—the usual drag racing style. It was another one that would be stashed until the time came to work on it.

Heading outside, and past the chicken, we made our to his father’s house, where a large sign on the barn read “THE JUDGE” in the original GTO style.

The father had lots of Pontiac cars and memorabilia, and he was into some serious horsepower. There was a 1965 GTO with a blown Pontiac engine that was totally in keeping with the Pro Street look of the ’80s and early ’90s. If I saw this thing coming at me, I would move over—and quick. Next to the scary GTO were two more second-generation Firebirds, neither of which looked like they had been sitting much.

With this assortment of Pontiac vehicles to play with, it was no wonder the projects cars needing work were sidelined. I thanked my friend for showing me everything, and I was on my way. It’s funny to think that what started with a message about a Chevelle led to one of the best Pontiac finds I had seen.

The GTO Judge is an original Ram Air engine car, which is the upgraded 400. In Matador Red, this car definitely stands out in a crowd. This one had been sitting so long that the tires have actually started to come apart. Thankfully, the car is in a nice dry storage barn, and being away from direct sunlight helps preserve this cool car.

Not something you see very often, an original 1969 GTO Judge sitting neglected in a barn. This one had been owned by the same gentleman for a while. The car needed some serious work, so he tucked it away for a rainy day. It didn’t help the fact that the engine was out of it, and he had plenty of other Pontiacs with healthy engines in them.

ROYAL PONTIAC HOT ROD

I’M NOT ALONE IN MY PASSION for finding cool old cars in less-than-perfect condition. The current group of such hunters are good friends with whom we can share a unique passion. The guys from the YouTube show Hot Rod Hunt travel mostly in the plains west of the Mississippi. Our paths had never crossed in the real world, but we chatted online, helping each other with information on cars we knew about; they specialized in GM products, and it was Mopars for me.

In the summer of 2016, the show’s Chris and Rick notified me they were heading to Chicago to pick up a car, and they invited me to come and see the car at that time. I was curious why they were coming all the way from Wyoming to pick up a car, and how did they know about it? It’s funny how the universe works sometimes.

At the local car cruise, I learned of a guy named Joe who had once owned a new 1965 Pontiac GTO. In 1968, he sold the car to a neighbor and moved on, but never forgot about that car. A few years ago, Joe chased the car down and was able to purchase it back. He took inventory of the car and realized it was not in the greatest shape, so Rick and Chris snapped it up before Joe could change his mind. And that’s what brought them to Chicago!

The original 1965 GTO grille emblem went missing somewhere in the multi-decade slumber, but there is no mistaking that front end. With the bulge hood and stacked headlights. It is a one year only style.

It was great meeting them face to face. I’m normally a crew of one—just me, myself, and I. To have a large group of guys along on an adventure was definitely something different.

We headed to where the GTO was stashed and saw it had been sitting in a garage since 1978. Joe had been pursuing the car for a few years, but the owner didn’t want to sell it until she cleaned the garage where it sat. But when her house had to be sold for tax purposes, she sold the car back to Joe.

It took him a day to get the car rolling and over to his garage. When he purchased it, the wheels were flat, the tires ruined, and it didn’t help that the brakes were locked up. But by the end of the day, it was safely tucked away in his garage.

He opened his garage door and unveiled the GTO. For sitting in a Chicago garage, it was not in bad shape. The car looked pretty straight, and while there were definitely signs it had been driven, the body was not completely rotted out like so many cars from that era. There was a bit of rust, dents, scratches, etc., but to me, the car had a great patina to it. I personally would just get it running and leave it as is.

Popping the hood, it was all there—well, everything that made this car so special: the 389-cubic-inch V-8 and three two-barrel carburetors. The interior was in really nice shape, so with a little cleaning, it would be perfect; it didn’t look as though anything had been eaten by mice or such. The carpet was still nice, but everything was a bit dirty. I wouldn’t doubt that all it would need is a good cleaning to be perfect. And it didn’t hurt that sticking through the floor was the four-speed manual transmission!

After going around the car and fully documenting it in as-found condition, Joe had another surprise for us: a bunch of original documents from the car. He had everything all the way back to the original warranty book, which was in his dad’s name because at the time you had to be 21 years old to sign for it. That wasn’t the best part, though. In the piles of paperwork were original documents from Royal Pontiac in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Unsure of the date, but it is the original owner with the GTO not long after getting the car. These sort of time capsules really allow an individual to look at the history of the car and see that this car was well loved.

Paperwork is what really makes the story, and it does not get any better then this. Original invoice for parts and services from the most famous Pontiac dealership in the country. Royal Pontiac in Royal Oaks, Michigan. And time slips from one of the oldest drag strips in the nation, Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, Wisconsin. Which is still there to this day.

That name might not ring a bell to some, but back in the day, Royal Pontiac was the place to go to make your Pontiac fast. They were the Yenko, Nickey, Mr. Norm’s of the Pontiac world. Most Pontiac press fleet cars went through Royal Pontiac to be prepped into better-than-perfect condition. They even produced a special GTO called the Royal Bobcat GTO, which was outfitted with all the goodies. The dealership was located right on the epicenter of the street racing scene in Detroit—Woodward Avenue. It was the place to be for the kids and their cars.

This GTO came not from Royal Pontiac, but from Borg Pontiac in Downers Grove, Illinois. But Joe had the car given the Bobcat kit from Royal Pontiac, and even joined their “racing team.” He still had the original “Royal Racing Team” sticker and membership card (for his membership that expired 5-1-66). He had time slips from racing at Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, Wisconsin, and “World Famous” U.S. 30 Drag Strip. This car had every piece of paperwork anyone could imagine, and muscle car people will tell you the more paperwork and history with a car, the more valuable it is.

For sitting in a garage for decades, the 1965 GTO was in remarkably good shape. Very little rust, which is extremely surprising that the car was a Chicago car all its life. It was by no means a perfect car, but the look and patina that the car had, you couldn’t duplicate.

The 389 with Tri-Power setup still sits atop the engine, right where it belongs. This one wasn’t stock by any means. The owner had hopped up the engine for more power back in the 1960s. One of the popular bolt-on accessories to dress up the engine, still to this day, is a set of M/T (Mickey Thompson) valve covers.

Joe even had a picture of himself with the car back in the day. It was an amazing experience with an incredible car, and it wasn’t the only one in the garage. Joe also had a 1930 Model A tucked away in the garage for a rainy day!

I had to leave before they got the car out of the garage and onto the trailer, but with a crew like Chris’s, that would be a piece of cake since the car had been moved recently. I thanked Rick, Chris, and the crew for the opportunity to see such a cool car before it left the area forever. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I’ll never forget!