[tkinion]

My grandfather has a green 1970 GTO convertible (Judge?) with a white top. The car is in great shape, although it has some minor rust around the fenders/wheel welds (he already has replacements but has not applied them). It needs a new ram air cable and the clock does not work. It has a 400 Ram Air III (unsure of exact numbers but it is not the original) Automatic tranny. He said he will sell it to me for 10,000 because I am family. It sounds like a good deal assuming it is not a Judge. The car has all the Judge accessories but he has not sent me the VIN yet to verify through PHS. Worst case scenerio, I buy the car, have the new quarters put on and repaint and it is not a Judge but a clone. Am I putting too much into the car? Please help? I do have one picture of me standing with the car if that helps. I would love to restore the car, but would have to learn from ground zero. The car has been in his storage building for about 15 years.
Thanks

 

[SANDU002]

If it is a Judge, there were only 129 built that year. There where 360 of the regular gto convertibles built.

Either way, it is a steal which is better than a good deal. Make sure you give grandpa a big kiss!!

 

[tkinion]

this might be a stupid question, but could the car be a lemans in gto skin? I guess I simply need the VIN to answer all my questions.

 

[SANDU002]

That is correct. The Vin should start with 24 not 23.

 

[tkinion]

Well, here is the update on the car... I finally received the VIN from my grandfather, sent it to PHS and here are the results:
First, the bad news..... it is not a Judge (bummer)
Now the good news... the car is still its factory Pepper Green color with black interior with a white convertible top. It originally had the 400 4bbl w/tubro hydra-matic auto tranny. So the ram air was added later. The dealer sheet has some good info., but I am unsure of one of the option codes:
description Code Price
G70X14 WW FG TPR 30.54

Anyway, I am kind of torn about the Judge Clone thing.... It is completely decked out like a judge (spoiler, markings, glove box logo etc.) however, should I have the car converted to non-judge state? Or is the car worth more as a clone? I somewhat hate the idea of having a fake car. The way I figure, I will put the new fenders on and have the car repainted anyway. Maybe in the GTO world a clone is cool, if so, I will leave as be.

 

[bucksnort]

There are plenty of Judge clones out there but if it was me and I was restoring it I would remove the judge badging. All the rest, RAIII, spoiler, and even the eyebrow striping could be ordered as options on a standard GTO - so that is all cool (though I would likely not redo the stipes either). As soon as you put the Judge badges on you will always be in the position of explaining its not a real judge. Particularly given how rare one really is. Everyone will ask. A 70 non judge convert is a great car and stands on its own merits. Also, If the glovebox door is an original one (not a stick on emblem) it would be worth some pretty good $$. A regular replacement should be pretty easy to find. Restore it to what it is, a great 1970 GTO convert.

 

[geeteoh]

I know some of the "G70X14 WW FG TPR 30.54" code. G70x14 is the old code for tire size. WW is White Wall. FG is Fiberglass. The rest I don't know.

I would leave it a Judge cloan. It was built by some owner that way. So why not. My 69 GTO has Rally IIs, a old Judge Spoiler, and a hood tach that didn't come from the factory. I added the tach. But the rest was added long before I owned it. A spoiler and stripes could be installed by the dealer back in 1970. Not the Judge stickers or glove box emblem. I'd probably not put those on. Most people don't mind adding options so long as they were available for that model year. Otherwise, we'd have a lot of boring looking classic GTOs out there with hub caps and white wall tires.

$10,000 is a great deal.