History
DICK & KATHY RANDALL'S 1966 GTO
Specifications: 1966 GTO Sport Coupe. Reef Turquoise with turquoise interior. Drivetrain: 400 c.i. engine with 1966 Tri-power, Turbo 400 transmission, heavy duty (4-pinion) Safe-T-Track rear differential with 3.55 gears. Factory options: protection group, console, power steering, power brakes, power bucket seat, Rally I wheels, red-line tires, rally gauge cluster, push button AM radio, rear speaker, Soft-Ray glass (windshield only), console, custom sports steering wheel, mirror group, exhaust extensions.
My first car was a 1966 Tempest Custom Sport Coupe, ordered early in 1966 and similar to this car. At that time, the choice was between the Pontiac, it's A-body counterparts (Cutlass, Skylark, Chevelle), or a Mustang. Since this was going to be a highway cruiser to get me back and forth to school, a 6 cylinder with stick was the plan, instead of one of the many hot V-8 muscle cars out in 1966. A quick look at specs showed that the GM cars all used Chevy six cylinder engines except the Pontiac. The Mustang was o.k., but sure looked the same as the '64 and '65, and they were everywhere. On the other hand, the Tempest had a new overhead cam 6, great looks and was in the same price range as the rest of the cars. My mind was made up.
With that out of the way, it came down to options and color. Gold, candlelight cream or silver with a black interior would look good. What was finally ordered was a Tempest Custom Coupe with decor group Reef Turquoise with vinyl matching interior (since black vinyl was not available for Tempest Customs in 1966), and set up as a highway cruiser with the base 165 horsepower OHC 6 cylinder, 3-speed manual transmission, no power assists and a 3.08 Safe-T-Track rear differential. I did order the car with Rally wheels for $40.02. The total cost was $2,369, delivered to our door. I think that the influence for the model, color and equipment came from the action picture of a similar car in the back of the 1966 Pontiac performance catalog.
The 1966 turned out to be a great car, which served me well for a number of years, including the time my wife, Kathy, and I were dating. The '66 was a bit slow off the line but could hit 80 in second gear due to the high revving OHC six and tall gears. In 1970, it finally was time to trade in on a Grand Prix, so I sold the car to a neighbor for his boys to use. Within about two weeks after they got the car it looked as if it had been in a demolition derby and probably lasted another month or two before it was junk. This was after four years of weekly washing and waxing...quite a disappointment. But the GTO-engined Grand Prix was solace.
Several Pontiacs and almost 20 years later, all I had left were some dealer brochures and a few pictures of the '66. After getting into the GTO end of the hobby and joining the Land of Lakes GTO club in the Twin Cities, our thoughts turned again to the '66 with the idea that we might be able to find another '66 coupe with a turquoise interior to "recreate" our first car.
In 1987 the quest began. I started running an ad in the Land of Lakes newsletter and also in The Legend. Issues of Auto Trader and Hemmings were carefully read and re-read. Some calls were made and received, but nothing turned up with the right interior color. Finding the "right" GTO is one thing, but the challenge increases when it gets down to the specifics of the scarce sport coupe model and unusual color combination. However, we were in no hurry, and I was planning on a search of several years to find just the car we wanted.
About two months later I received a phone call from a GTOAA member in Kentucky. He had the car we were looking for: a '66 Sport Coupe, with both the correct interior and exterior paint codes! The car was described as being in good condition, originally from North Carolina, with a later engine and a very rust-free body, repainted white sometime in the past. This sounded like a good prospect, as we wanted a running car that we could drive and enjoy until we got around to the restoration. The timing was right as we had just sold another project. We now had room in the garage, one less project in the way, and the right car spotted. After the usual negotiations, the car was purchased at a fair price. My son and I flew down to Kentucky and drove our GTO home.
Our 1966 GTO served us well for a number of years as a driver to club events, national shows, cruises, some drag racing, and an occasional autocross. During that time we gradually upgraded and restored as the opportunity occurred. All these activities have led to a second engine, second transmission and second rear end. But with all the fun we've had, who's complaining?
After four years of driving the car and completing the mechanical upgrades, engine detailing and chassis cleanup, we finally got around to the body and paint work. In 1991 we decided to take the plunge. In Fall the process of dismantling the GTO began. The interior was removed and stored in the basement. All trim was removed. The front fenders and hood went to the stripper to get down to the bare metal. While the front clip was off, I rebuilt the front end. I also started the process of using chemical stripper to get the rest of the body down to clean steel. What I did find when I got to the bare metal was a nice, generally good North Carolina body, with the usual rust problems around the rear window. After a coat of Metal Prep in the garage, the car was ready for bodywork.
After the holidays our running but bare GTO finally went off to Elk River Collision Center for some dent removal and lots of paint. The usual next step of diving into the catalogs (and the checkbook) soon led to our home being added to the UPS man's regular stops. There were many parts filling up storage space in the house. I buffed all the stainless and started detailing, repackaging and organizing all the parts that came off during the past months. Parts for each section of the car went to envelopes or plastic bags, then to separate boxes. While this helps to keep track of things and determining what's needed, it would really pay off later.
Finally, all the parts were ready to go back on the car. The car was progressing nicely at the body shop, but the date of the 1992 GTOAA International Meet in the Chicago area was drawing closer. Since we knew we'd be keeping this car for a long time, we were not in any hurry to rush the process. While I was waiting, a list was started on everything that still needed to be done and the sequence for doing it. This was the next best thing to actually working on the car and I could visualize the steps of the reassembly process without even getting dirty. The list also was revised as possible problems and additional steps were anticipated and added to the sequence. This method is really recommended to make life easier later.
Finally, the much-anticipated call came: the car was ready at the body shop. So, here we were. The car was home and in the garage, all the parts were on hand and ready (I hoped), and we had a whole nine days before we had to leave for Chicago. Finishing the car could be a bit tight, but we thought it could be done.
Time to start reassembly. Kathy pitched in to help for the whole process. We probably stepped back to look at our work after each part went on the car the first day. It was so good to see things back together. Our son and numerous friends from the Land of Lakes club also helped with the reassembly. After three days, we had a lot done and the car was looking fairly complete, but there sure were a lot of parts left in boxes.
The first days of the second week were spent on more assembly. By mid-week we had a GTO, although it lacked many of the small items needed for completion. That puttering around took the rest of the week. Thanks to our friends, we put in 95 hours in nine days to get the car on the road. Of course, we finished about midnight on the evening before we were ready to leave for Chicago. Like everyone else who finishes a car right before a show, some odds and ends went to the show along with tools.
We drove the car 400 miles to Chicago for the concours show. Once again, our LOL friends came through to help with clean up, changing tires, loaning parts, and doing all the other little things needed to get the car ready to show. We sweated a lot during the judging, but took Second Place in the 1966 Restored Hardtop class of the concours. What a lot of fun, and it made the hard work worth it.
Since we drive our car a lot, we've made some modifications to enhance the performance or "restify" it. Along with new and stiffer springs, gas shocks were added. A rear sway bar was installed along with a heavier front bar in polyurethane mounts. To complete the suspension, a later variable-ratio steering box was added. The engine is currently a 1973 400 cubic inch version, although a correct 389 will eventually be there. The engine has a 1966 tri-power set up with K&N air filters and 068 (Tri-power) cam. The transmission is a Turbo 400 with a shift kit and 2,200 rpm stall converter, which works well with our tire size and the 3.55 gears.
A drive to St. Louis in June for the 1994 GTOAA Meet was relatively smooth and we were delighted to win First Place in the 1966 Hardtop class of the Popular Vote show. We strongly believe in driving our car and keeping it well detailed. It seems to be a lot easier to keep up with the cleaning rather than to fully re-detail every season. The fun of driving makes the extra cleaning to get the dirt and bugs off worthwhile. By the end of June, we put over 2,000 miles on the car this season, followed by a First Place in the 1964-1966 Hardtop class at the 1994 Land of Lakes Muscle Car Classic. Other than the trip to the body shop and to a winter show, we have never trailered this car, and we intend to keep driving it.
