Hi my name is Rex & I live in southwesteren Michigan. That in the lower part of MI. on the Indiana MI. line or on lake MI. I have a 73 GTO that i bought new, well it was a demo as I ordered a 455SD car which as we now know they didn't put the SD in the A-Body . I ended up with a left over but I love it just the same. It's nowa 4 spd. with a 462 but new it was a 400 auto car. It is florentine red met. with white interior. When I bought the car I had a hood tach put on it at the dealer & it has the little vent tube that goes into the heater core so it looks as if it came from the factory that way. The engine now is a 462 which is a 455 + .30 over & it has Edelbrock alum heads, with the Performer RPM intake, SRP forged light weight pistons, I run a RAIV cam (Crane Blueprint) Eagle H-beam rods & a tricked out Q-jet. The rear is a 3:73 rear gear, posi & an M22 (rockcrusher) Munci trans. For spark I use the Pertronix ign. 1 with taylor wires. The clutch & Pressure plate are Ram. So far the best time is 11:76 in the 1/4 miles at 121 mph. I even get 17 MPG's with it. When I figure out how to put a pic on here I'll post 1 so you can see it. I do have 1 body mod to the car that at 1 of the GTOOAA national meet was told by both John Sawruk & Jim Wagners tht it looked great & Pontiac should have put it on in 73. What is it , I put a 70-71 rear wing on my car back in 1980. I had to reangle it to make it sit correctly but it really does make the car look more complete. When i get a pic of it you will see & I think you'll agree with the way it looks is great. It's been at several shows (GTOAA) & so far I haven't had a bad report for it yet. I don't drive it in any bad weather, rain included. I have been caught in the rin a couple of times in it's life not not many. If you can go on the A-body site you can see a pic of my car. I'm listed under the same srceen name there to. When I talk to poeple about my toy it always seems to come out that I've had my 73 longer then both of my ex-wives & all 3 of my girls. I'm a great dad & have custody of my youngest daughter who just turned 17 , & shes the last one at home. Being diviorced twice I've been lucky & had custody of 2 of my girls. My middle one stays with her mom as ,,, well thats a long story about that one. That would make you laugh. I've had lots of GTO's & several Firebirds over the years & a few othr Pontiacs over the years but I still have my 73 GTO & always will. It will always be my favorite.
Welcome to CP, enjoyed reading your intro. I'm sure you'll be able to help us other newbie's out as I'm not all that educated on all these a,b,x....... bodies. Can't wait to see pics of your 73 GTO
Rex, a hardy welcome aboard from Milton, Ontario, Canada. You have to show the Pontiac brotherhood some photos of your 73 goat. To have a car that long is really something, i myself had a 57 Chev for 23 years and for me that is the longest. I hope you enjoy your journey on this wonderful site, that Todd our founder and God father made possible. Cheers. George.
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
Welcome Rex, believe I know you from either PY forum or A-Body forum, also saw your car drive by on Woodward a couple of cruises back if I'm not mistaken. We're pretty easy to get along with. Can we see a few phptos of your car?
Welcome to Canadianponcho, Rex! I enjoyed your story and look forward to seeing your 73. The 73 GTO was not common even back in 1973. To hear that yours has been protected from deterioration makes it all the more intriguing, especially since the trim parts that deteriorate are typically really hard to find replacements for.
Your ET & trap speed is very impressive, as these models are not exactly lightweight. 17 mpg is very impressive in light of the drivetrain you are running.
Are you from the Kalamazoo area, home of Checker Car Co? Battle Creek perhaps?
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
Welcome from the western part of Canada in the Okanagan valley. I am sure you will enjoy the site, heck some of the guys here can even give marriage counselling. It is all good.
73SC & 427carl. Thanks , & yes I believe I've talked to you on the A-body site a few times & on the PY site to. The car you posted is my car. The pic of the car in my garage was taken about 1 years ago when I was trying out a different front bumper set up. I had taken a 73 G/A front bumper & made it fit up close to the front to see if I could get a better looking front end on the 73 GTO. I did post some pics on the A-body site of it when I got it put on but the feeling of what it looked like were mixed between the folks on the site, but I was never able to get it completed , well to my likeing & put the factory bumper back on. THe way I had it set up it did IMO make the car look a little sliker but I didn't have a way to get the bumper close outs at the sides where the turn signals go mocked up completely. Some of the sites I visit have been a little slow ately so I found this site & hope that it becomes one of the site I come back to again & again. So far from what I've seen & read it looks to be a good site & with the response I've gotten it seems like a friendly site to. I've been a fan of the 73 GTO since like I said , I saw it on the cover of the Aug. issue of Cars mag. It had the 73 all twisted up with some big ladder bars on it & a guy that was all smiles behind the wheel & the front end up in the air a bit. Of coruse it was a kind of cartoon drawing but still When I saw a friend of mine the folling day I told him I was going to go over & order 1 . He ddin't care all that much for it at the time. He had a 69 RAIV GTO & a 71 T/A & a 65 GTO at the time. I was the poor one I only had my 69 Firebird 400. I was 17 & a senior in school , but I did go over & talk to a salesman about ordering 1 but he said I had to have a parent with me. I think he was totally floored when he got a call from another dealer in my town, I was in the town about 10 miles away , but they called & vouged for me to be able to order a car. My mother was the bookeeper for the Chyrsler/Plymoth dealer in my town. But before they would ordr it my mom did have to come over to sign the order form so they could order it. I originally ordered an SD 455 GTO & of course I didn't get the one I wanted but I was now in the Navy & had to deal with them over the mail service & some phone calls to try to get the car I wanted. But finally befor Christams it got canceled for the last time . By the time I got back in town to deal with them in preson it was past the time to try to order another one, so I ended up with a demo which was the owners sons car. It was just a 400 auto with P.S. P. B. AM radio. It was florintine red met. with a white vinyl top& Ralley II wheels. I did look araound in town & all around in the area for the time I was home & couldn't find anything else that even came close. Most of the cars around were the std. cars with the large side windows, & I wanted a Sport Coupe , the 1 with the louverd side windows. Plus because of all the problems I had had with them on the car I was given such a good deal on it that I really couldn't turn it down. I traded my 69 Bird in & $ 2500.00 out the door for it at the time. The car had a list of $ 5400.00 so I figured I was getting a good deal on it & it did run very good. The dealers sons car had been in the shop for some extra special treatment & ran better then any of the 5-6 cars that I had driven to date. I hope everyone gets a look at the car & again 427 thanks for getting my pic posted for me. I put that wing on the car back in 80 & I wouldn't take it off for anything. I think it looks great on there. It took me a long time to get it to sit on th car level & to make it look like it belongs there. Guys & Gals , let me know what you think. To me when I see a 73 without one on the car now I think it looks incomplete, only because I've had mine for so long. Well all for now as i don't want this to be so long you stop reading. But at the last if you guys are in need of any 73 GTO parts , I'm a little low right now but I can usually find or have a lot of items for the 73. I use t run the swap meet circuit & have made some very good friends over the years which makes getting & finding parts sometimes very easy for me. All for now, Thanks Rex.