New to this forum and this is my first post.  I have a 1968 Verduro Green GTO coming back from a body off restoration in the next couple of weeks.  I can hardly stand the wait.  Fifty years ago in high school, drawing pictures of the '68 Goat kept me awake in class for three years.  School was easy and boring but the GTO was interesting and gorgeous.  Although I have several interesting cars as well as a superb daily driver, the '68 Goat was always my favorite design of all time.  I bought a nice driver about 10 years ago, and when I started seeing some small rust bubbles appear under the paint soon afterwards, and since I had a tenant who was restoring  a car for my best friend's son, I decided to let him take apart my car to see what's what.  After the car was completely taken apart, the guy left and the car sat for several years, disassembled.  About a year and a half ago, I got a new body shop tenant who agreed to restore the car in exchange for rent.  The car was supposed to be done by the end of last year but there was more rust repair and metal replacement.  The car is in the paint booth now and should be out of paint by next week, afterwhich the interior goes back in and it gets test driven.  I pretty much left if stock as I always loved it as it first appeared, however, I did add 4 wheel disc brakes and 17" wheels and tires.  I'll post photos when it comes out of paint.  As stated I have a few interesting cars including my daily driver, a 600hp 2010 Jaguar XKR (just a beautiful, reliable, quick DB9 look alike with better performance), my weekend canyon carver, a restored/modified '72 De Tomaso Pantera (a 500+hp missile powered go cart that's Nascar loud), a 2002 Jaguar XKR convertible for open top cruising, a 1978 Datsun 280Z that I've owned from new and will undergo its 3rd restoration after the GTO is done, a '58 Corvette undergoing a restomod complete restoration now which will take a few more years.  Below are a few photos.

I'll report back after the GTO is available.

Quite an amazing collection of cars you got there! Look forward to seeing more on the goat!

Spoke to the shop owner today, and he told me that my Goat will be out of the paint booth by Tuesday afternoon, next week.  I told him "I hope so as I'd like to drive it before I'm dead from the virus or otherwise."  I'll be at the shop Tuesday afternoon with camera in hand, so hopefully that evening I'll have some new pictures of a completely painted GTO.  Heavy, heavy anticipation....

Took the first photos of my goat out of paint this afternoon.  Yesterday, I saw it before the clearcoat and the color while beautiful was lighter and more silvery than I expected.  But today, with the clearcoat on it darkened the color to a perfect shade and very, very close to its original Verduro Green.  Tomorrow the hood and hood mounted tach get painted and installed.  One unexpected hiccup was when I went to the 17" gold wheels and ordered the tires that the shop told me the size needed to be back in November of last year, well today when they were mounted,  they look incredible but they clip the rear of the front fender well.  In order to use these wheels, I'm going to have to purchase a lower profile tire to clear the fender, so it's back to the tire shop tomorrow.  Here are the first photos still in the paint shop so no bright sunshine shots yet.

Looks great!

Looks great. Take real good care of that paint.

Welcome!

Beautiful paint! 😃

Lookin good, like the rims too.

Thanks everyone.  I can barely wait to be driving it.  When we added disc brakes I had to upsize the wheels a bit.  I wanted something that still look classic and somewhat period correct but thought the gold would look good against the green paint.  I really like the way they look.  Next stop, a real test drive.

Stopped by the shop to take a picture of the VIN tag so I could add the car to my insurance policy, and snapped a couple new pictures.  Progress is being made (slowly) but the end is in sight.  Paint is in the buffing and wet sanding stage right now.  Hood was painted, and today, the hood tach gets painted.  Wheels and new tires installed, barely a half inch of clearance to rear of front wheel well when steering wheel is turned heavily in either direction.  Whew!

Thankz for the update, lookin good.

So what size tires and wheels did you end up with?

225 40 17 fronts

235 60 17 rears

Hood installed yesterday, so there is progress, but the shop also gave me 8 pages of parts that are missing that I have to order to get the car finished.  I'm not sure I'll ever drive this beast.

Update:  Engine installation was finally completed today which just leaves some cosmetic work left like exterior door handles installation of the hood tachometer, etc., and a test drive.  So, hopefully I'll have it home next weekend and will take a bunch of photos.  Can't wait!  I did participate in a Father's Day Car event last Sunday.  A group called Malibu Autobah organized a drive from Dodger Stadium near downtown Los Angeles to Malibu.  It wasn't the usual car show, 90 minute canyon run to the ocean, but was nice to do anyway on an early Sunday morning.  Limited to 100 cars with Covid 19 social distancing and masks required, there were mostly exotics, Lambos, McLarens, one Ferrari, my Pantera, lots of Porsches, etc.  I was parked next to a modern Ferrari, and you can see just how diminutive the Pantera looks in comparison as well as much lower.  My favortie picture was taken by their mobile camera crew on the 101 Freeway on the way to Malibu.  The link is below.

Father's Day 2020 Photo Album | Malibu Autobahn

The link doesn't appear to be working, so here is the photo.Father's Day Malibu Autobahn 2020.webp

Edited July 30, 20205 yr by tberg

Cant wait to see it finished! Looks great

Today might be the day.  Stay tuned!

Well, we are finally getting close.  Car is coming back from muffler shop tomorrow and then unfortunately someone at the shop heavily scratched the nose of the Endura bumper, so it has to be heavily sanded and repainted and clearcoated.  But other than a test drive and a little clean up, I hope it's coming home this weekend.  It's driving me crazy...

Well I've been threatening to bring this car home for months now, but it hasn't happened yet.  And after a couple of weeks of setbacks (broken fuel pump, mysterious crack and scratch on the Endura nose, leaking rear brake lines), I finally put my foot down and told them I am picking the car up on Monday afternoon and they agreed it will be ready!  And since the owner of the shop is attempting to buy the property he leases from me, I told the shop foreman that if the car wasn't ready, I'd back out of the sale and charge him for the 18 months of rent that we applied to the restoration.  I do think I'll have the car Monday.  Pictures coming Monday evening.

After a frustrating past Friday when I was supposed to bring home my Goat, in the text drive the car overheated, and the shop sent the car over to another shop to diagnose the problem.  The car supposedly has been fixed and was returned to the shop this afternoon.  I am bringin' that baby home tomorrow morning and will snap some photos out in the sun and post tomorrow, so long as it makes it home with no issues.  I am still taking it to another body shop that does work for me because I want the rear bumper brackets shaved a bit to pull the bumper in closer to the body as it sticks away about an inch more than it should.  But there will be joy tomorrow and pictures in the afternoon.

Look forward to seeing you baby tberg 👍

Another frustrating attempt to pick up the GTO.  I got there and buffing powder in every nook and cranny, hood doesn't close properly and needs adjustment, hidden headlights don't work, hood tachometer isn't functioning (even though I asked them if it had been tested and they said it was working), started the car and the oil pressure gauge read zero and did not move, shifter plate was missing (although we found it in the car afterwards), rear trunk GTO emblem missing.  I called the owner of the shop (who is attempting to buy the property he leases from me) and told him I was highly disappointed and that this was very unprofessional and that other car projects I had would not be coming his way.  So, another day without my goat.  Maybe tomorrow.....

Keep at him Tberg👍 you will get it sorted, OR

 take her home and fix her your self.... we can help you 

64 kiwi boni,

I had certainly wanted to, and if there had been oil pressure showing, I would have.  But I was on a tight schedule yesterday, and in fact, all of this week, and I didn't have time to wait around for a tow truck  At that point I reached out to the owner of the shop who just had open heart surgery last Monday, just to tell him how disappointed and unprofessional I thought his manager was in giving me back the car in this condition.  He insisted he wanted to take care of it, so I left the car.  My reunion will just have to be postponed a few more days.

 

Damn T, hate to hear about all the problems your having. Hopefully the owner can get all this straightened out and get you fixed up sooner then later bro!