You need to find a guy who's willing to do the paint work in his garage. Guys who are painters will usually do it much cheaper. find someone who will do it on the side, or just get a mako paint job for the time being. As for the engine, all you need is 12 volts going to a coil and then you can jump the starter. start going to car shows and talking to people who have already got it done. You need to get out on the streets and find someone with the knowledge and ability to do this. Network!!!
I don't know what you have invested in the car but it really doesn't look like it needs a lot to me. Panel alignment is just a little time-consuming but you can easily handle it. I would definitely take the mako out the first thing you need to do is get that engine running. Cuz if it doesn't run then that determines how much time and effort you should put into the body
I completely rebuilt two cars on my back in a driveway in New Jersey. Sometimes it was only 20°. If this car is as important to you as you're making it sound, this is easily doable. For a few hundred bucks you could order up the wire harnesses and with the knowledge on this forum you could install the stuff yourself and an afternoon
Look for a local GTO club. These guys are all over the place and they literally live for showing people their cars. You're just not looking in the right places
I'm all over this forum everyday telling people that if it was easy everybody would be doing this. There's a good reason why you don't see 71 GTOs on the road all day everyday. You can invest yourself in the car and get it done rather quickly, but first you need to decide whether you want to be one of the few and the proud. Otherwise you might as well just go buy a 2022 Challenger with a hemi in it and just be like everybody else. There isn't the single part of that engine wiring harness that you couldn't get resolved on this forum in under 24 hours
Yeah @Baaad65 can literally send you thousands of GTO picturesWell, if you don't get what you want, just stick around here and there are many who can help/coach you through it and get the car back on the road.
From what I have read the production numbers on a 71 are extremely low. It's certainly not the most desirable year but it's also a lot rarer than many of the other cars
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Spot on, Jim!You would be selling yourself short by not getting the engine running. Any machine/engine shop can put the engine on a run stand and fire it up. Houston also has a number of trade/tech schools and some of them will take on projects to aide students in automotive repairs - to include the older cars.
Why does the car have to be restored? You don't think you, or anyone seeing your car, wouldn't enjoy the car unrestored and simply cruising down the avenue or set in a car show lot? The prices you have been given are stupid TV prices - nut & bolt rotisserie prices. You already have much of the car done and it would not take 50K to bring it back. A 20K paint job? - ABSURD! With the right equipment, you can do most of your own work UNLESS you just prefer not too. You can easily sand the primer with an electric flat sander or step up to air tools and use a DA. Paint? Go fast & dirty with a Rustoleum semi-gloss black paint for a hot-rod look that many will be turning heads to see - you may even get a good resale price with it like that.
If it is a car your really love and want to keep, then make it work for you and forget about the stupid priced restoration route and get it on the road and running/driving. If you can read, the Shop/chassis & Body manual will be a great guide to start with.
It is your choice.
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Yes, and I think my friend John may actually join the forum and share lots of photos of his well done numbers matching 72
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crawling around taking pictures for people on eBay made me really admire how nice this thing is, and I didn’t even realize it was the matching number transmission until this evening. Someone told me only 4 speeds had vin numbers stamped and that Automatics didn’t. Wow.
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Yup. About 10,500 and only 780ish Aztec gold models, of those I’d like to know how many automatic with a/c were made
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8 million to be exact 😉
they made 80,000 of mine
I don't know what you have into the car, but a buyer is going to put another $15,000 in for paint and mechanicals, and have a reliable, daily driver, finished car, worth at least the investment. I would get it running and driving, then hit Maaco for a cheap temp paint job. Drive it, finish it, and wait for this covid shit to pass, then get the Aztec Gold you want.
When it comes time to paint there is a small shop in the country that paints. I will do most of the body work taking the panels have him grade them show me where it needs work. This kind of setup work in the past. OKC had a big hail storm in late 80s so the shops were backed up. My Chevelle was not in for hail. On one a check of the progress. One man shop no one in the office I walked back to where he was working. He needed an extra set of hands when I walked in. So I helped him out and kept going back helping in my free time. I ended up with one of the best paint jobs I have ever had. It should have cost more. So that is kind of the model I have kept through the years. I dont think I could just drop one of my classics off and trust they would do it right.
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You are definitely right, I have been watching Youtube and getting this engine running won't be that difficult. I think I am going to get it running with a temporary gas tank and then worry about the gas tank once its running well.
I am on year two of the temporary gas tank. I didnt want my engine sitting around doing nothing as I address other issues. Its good enough to putt around the farm or go to town a few times.
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