Photo: Hotrod
Not every old car gets the chance at new life and become a badass restomod. Most are bought with high hopes then real life sets in, and the the dream is shelved, often for decades. The owner of this dreamcar had to deal with “life” first but somehow managed to transform a hoopty-bondo baby into a restored work of art.
Photo: Hotrod
Russell Wells, the owner of this amazing car, scored one of the most coveted muscle cars of all time as his first car, but not everything goes as planned. “My first car was a ’69 Camaro, and I regret it to this day. When you’re 16 years old, you just don’t appreciate the things in life you worked very little to obtain,” he admits. “I wrecked that car three times in six months. My mom got fed up and sold it, so I went from driving a ’69 Camaro to a driving a Mazda RX-2. It was a huge blow to my ego.”
Rightfully so. I think we have all suffered from youthful idiocy.
Photo: Hotrod
Bowed but not broken, Wells wanted to get back into the old cars he so loved and soon his efforts materialized in the form of a home built, Pro Touring ’69 Pontiac GTO. With a little wisdom in his corner this time around, the journey was much more enjoyable.
Wells soon found a car online that he had been wanting for years. “I’ve always wanted a GTO, and I think that the rounded Coke-bottle styling of the ’68 and ’69 models are sexier than all get-out. Back in 2002, I found a nice ’69 GTO online at a used car dealer in Las Vegas. After talking on the phone with the dealer over the next several weeks, I did something I normally wouldn’t recommend and bought the car sight-unseen. The car had been in a hailstorm at some point, so just about every body panel had some kind of ding in it. That didn’t stop me from using it as a daily driver for the next five years.”
Daily driver..yikes?
Photo: Hotrod
Soon the GTO’s 400 old and tired motor was on its last legs. Realizing the engine was done and seeing other wear and tear on his prized ride, Russell knew a rebuild was rapidly approaching, so he picked up a more sensible daily driver and began to work on the GTO. “My intention was to restore the car to stock, and I found a frame off eBay to get the process started. Before swapping it out in my garage, my wife made sure I took my cell phone so I could call for help just in case the car fell on me,”
Photo: Hotrod
Soon the project took on a bigger role and thats when the frustration set in. “I gutted the car before I took it to my body guy, who blasted it down to bare metal. After he finished, the car looked good for a year and a half, but then the paint started bubbling,” he recalls. “I got curious one day and started grinding the problem spots down in my garage and found body filler everywhere. The body guy I hired got lazy and laid down filler everywhere instead of fixing the sheetmetal the right way. I was putting my son through college at the time, so the car sat for the next three years.”
Over that time period, Wells was driving a cushy Infiniti and loved the way it drove. It made him realize that he wanted to upgrade the old rig with some modern amenities. “I started driving an Infiniti G35 for daily transportation, and I fell in love with the handling, braking, and ride quality you get from a late-model,” Wells says. “I wanted to make my GTO drive like a newer car, and I thought it would be cool to have an aggressive stance, a modern suspension, disc brakes, and the comfort of a late-model in an older body style. I started hanging out on various Pro Touring websites to figure out exactly how I wanted to build the GTO. Since it’s not a numbers-matching car, I didn’t care about keeping it original.”
Photo: Hotrod
Years went by before the responsibilities of family began to lighten and he was able to jump head first into restoring his dream car.”We probably removed 200 pounds worth of body filler,” Wells jokes. After performing the appropriate sheetmetal repairs, the GTO was sprayed in a fresh coat of PPG orange paint. Then came time to replace the floppy stock underpinnings with some modern Pro Touring hardware. Russell fully revamped the stock suspension up front with SPC adjustable control arms, ATS spindles, VariShock shocks, and Global West springs and sway bars. After that and some serious suspension upgrades including Global West springs, VariShock shocks, Chassisworks sway bar and control arms, Kore3 twin-piston calipers squeezing 13-inch rotors up front, and single-piston clamps and 12-inch rotors, Wells was seeing the fruits of his labor come to blossom.
“The GTO actually handles and stops better than my G35. There is less body roll, and the brakes are more responsive. The suspension is firm, but doesn’t beat you to death. With the stock suspension, the car would float down the road, but now it’s much more connected to the road.”
Wells yanked it out the motor once again for an extra dose of cubic inches and power. The block was bored to 4.155 inches, then fitted with an Eagle forged steel 4.250-inch crankshaft to bring the displacement total to 461 ci. The crank swings a set of Eagle steel rods and Ross 10.0:1 pistons, while a Canton road race oil pan and a Melling pump provide an uninterrupted supply of oil under cornering loads. Airflow comes courtesy of ported factory iron cylinder heads fitted with 2.11/1.77-inch stainless steel valves, an Edelbrock intake manifold, and a Rochester Quadrajet carb modified to flow 850 cfm. Managing the valve events is a Crane 230/238-at-.050 hydraulic roller cam that provides a good balance of performance and streetability, but Russell credits the Q-jet for the engine’s pleasant street demeanor. “People give Quadrajets a bad rap, but once you learn how to tune them they drive great. Their small primaries give you great gas mileage and driveability, and their big secondaries give you a big kick in the pants,” Russell opines. Managing the big gobs of Pontiac torque are a Rutland TH400 transmission and an 8.5-inch GM 10-bolt rearend.
Photo: Hotrod
While the GTO isn’t entirely finished just yet (Wells wants to do a five-speed overdrive swap, aluminum heads, an EFI upgrade, and a ‘cage to stiffen up the chassis) Russell knows the GTO is far more than just another project car. The 11 years it took to finish the GTO represents just a fraction of the 30-plus years it took him to achieve his goal of owning his dream car.
Lets go a little deeper on the details of the GTO
Engine
Type: Pontiac 461
Block: factory 400 block bored to 4.155 inches
Oiling: Melling oil pump, Canton pan
Rotating assembly: Eagle 4.250-inch steel crank and rods; forged 10.0:1 Ross pistons
Cylinder heads: ported factory iron castings with 2.11/1.77-inch stainless steel valves
Camshaft: Crane 230/238-at-.050 hydraulic roller, .528/.548-inch lift, 114-degree LSA
Valvetrain: COMP Cams lifters, timing set, and 1.65:1 rocker arms
Induction: Edelbrock Performer RPM intake manifold, Rochester 850 cfm Quadrajet carb
Ignition: MSD billet distributor, coil, and plug wires
Fuel system: Carter pump and pressure regulator
Exhaust: Indian Adventures 1.75-inch long-tube headers, custom X-pipe, dual 2.5-inch Pypes mufflers
Cooling: stock water pump, radiator, and fan
Output: 342 rear-wheel horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 409 rear-wheel lb-ft at 3,900 rpm
Built by: Russell Wells
Drivetrain
Transmission: Rutland TH400 three-speed automatic trans, Hughes 2,500-stall converter
Rear axle: GM 8.5-inch 10-bolt rearend, 28-spline axles, 3.42:1 gears, and limited-slip differential
Chassis
Front suspension: Global West springs and sway bar; SPC adjustable control arms, ATS spindles, VariShock shocks
Rear suspension: Global West springs, VariShock shocks, Chassisworks control arms and sway bar
Brakes: Kore3 13-inch rotors and twin-piston calipers, front; 12-inch rotors and single-piston calipers, rear
Wheels & Tires
Wheels: Bonspeed GTB 18×8, front; 18×10, rear
Tires: BFGoodrich 245/40R18, front; 295/35R18, rear
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