Bill Stasso of Leamington, Ontario, writes: “In 1983 I was looking for a nice second car. While at a summer car show in Ohio, I spotted a numbers-matching 1967 GTO sport coupe (pillared) with low miles and desirable options. My wife Marianne reminded me that the car we were looking for needed to be practical and driven 365 days a year. I assured her this would be perfect and a good investment as well.
“That fall, Marianne, her brother George and I ventured to Ohio to close the deal. Price was agreed upon, for which I brought cash, but the plates did not have a proper year sticker on them, having a blue colour instead of the current red. The dealer suggested we come back next week at which time the right sticker would be in place.
“Of course, having driven several hundred miles, I wanted to drive the car home right away. Some carefully applied lipstick from Marianne’s purse and voila! The blue sticker was now red! Solutions to problems seemed simpler back then.”
Bill reports that his ’67 GTO sailed right through Customs into Canada without any officers noticing the lipstick on his rear plate.
Bill continues: “True to the agreed terms, I drove that car every day to work, much to the horror of my co-workers. People still stop me to talk about seeing this classic being driven regularly through the snow. In all those years, I encountered only one unfortunate incident. In October 1993 the car was stolen – but quickly recovered with the help of some observant friends who knew me and the car (this is a story in itself). In total, I drove the car every day for 13 consecutive years before retiring it strictly for cruising.”
1967 Pontiac GTO
Bill’s ’67 GTO has a 400 cubic inch motor with the optional HO (high output) 360 hp engine, 4-speed with console, power steering and power brakes, tilt sport steering wheel, AM radio, power seat with front head rests, power trunk release, power rear antenna, rear window defogger, tinted windshield, tachometer mounted on the hood, in-dash clock, Rally 11 wheels, and limited slip differential. Pontiac had come a long way since first coming out in 1926!
Of the three GTO body styles for 1967, the pillared coupe is the rarest with only 8% of the total. Power front disc brakes were offered for the first time. A new hood mounted tachometer was optional. The first Pontiac GTO arrived in mid-year 1964 and was hailed as the first of the “muscle cars.” It was based on the mid-size Pontiac Tempest. A car magazine at that time compared the Pontiac GTO to Ferraris, saying that the GTO could beat a Ferrari on the straightaway but would lose on a race course.
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