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In September of 1971, my Father ordered a new GTO from the Pontiac dealer
in Sedalia, Missouri. He took delivery of this car in December of 1971. All
was well with the new goat until it was involved in an accident in October of
1973. My father settled with the insurance company and walked away with a
check for the car's value and the spare tire for a souvenir. This Goat was
gone but not forgotten.
In 1989, my Father purchased a 1969 Judge and the love affair with GTO's
began again. I was 13 at the time and I too became interested in these
musclecar things from the "past". I read everything I could get my hands on
about the GTO's and after considerable study, I adopted the 72 Goats as my
favorites. One evening, somewhere about 1993 while having one of those
father and son moments, I confided to my dad that although I thought his 69
Judge was a fine car, I really liked the 72 Goats best. He hesitated for a
moment and then instructed me to follow him to the attic. He shuffled boxes
around and located one that was labeled "misc. auto books and papers". In
this box we found a file folder filled with every conceivable piece of
paperwork and documentation you could think of for that 72 Goat he had owned
20 some years earlier. There were even polaroid pictures of it when it was
brand new.
This was the point in time where I began my mission. I dreamed of finding
that car. We spent several days on vacation trying to find some trail of
what had happened with it. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
We tried locating it through the V.I.N. but could not get anyone willing to
bother with it. Finally, after several earlier failed attempts, some
understanding person in the Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles was willing
to take a minute and check the V.I.N. for any information that might exist.
We were able to locate the current owner and eventually purchased the car.
It was in a very sad condition. It was suffering from severe rust and had
definitely had the guts wrenched out of it over the years. We took the car
back home (a 1200 mile trip) and spent the next two years completely
restoring the car. It now exist in it's original glory as a beautiful Shadow
Gold, 455 H.O. GTO. It has been restored just like it was purchased, right
down to the Firestone Wide Oval 60's.
Now comes the best part. Remember that spare tire souvenir I mentioned
earlier. Well, it's back in the trunk of that GTO after 20 plus years and
it's never been on the ground. It's still mounted on the original Honeycomb
wheel. We located it still in the garage of the person my Father had given
it to years ago. Needless to say, this Goat has found it's home forever. I
can't imagine ever parting with this baby for any reason. |
