Dan's car was joined by this pair...notice all these cars have the unique pinstriping, while the green car looks like it might have a hood-mounted tach, too. The red '74 was the only one at the convention in the Stock category.
(R) Nova fan Lucille ( bahnah@on.aibn.com ) has also developed a strong addiction to Venturas. In addition to picking up a lime green '74 GTO, she and her husband scooped up these two refugees. You may have seen pictures of these cars stashed in a barn when they first appeared in our classified ad section. I'll call the one with the skewed wheel 'Brownie' to help tell them apart.
" Here they are - the two GTOs I purchased off your website. Although we bought them in the winter, it was too difficult to get them out of the barns where they were parked until the snow/mud had ended.
"We brought them home to Toronto from Woodstock yesterday - the pics were taken when we picked them up. Yes - you were correct when you noticed that one of them had the turned aluminum dash inserts - yippeee!!!. One also has factory tinted windows. Both have original rims - only one has the centre caps....good thing I purchased another set off e-bay a couple of months ago.
"The GTO on the rear trailer has a broken tie rod - you can see the driver's side wheel in a painfully awkward position. They also threw in an additional rear bumper - rubber strip included - another much sought after part.
"And so the restoration continues, on and on, and on and on! Thanks to you for your efforts in keeping your website alive - it's great. p.s. - I bought a few tiger tails on e-bay a while ago - won't they look fun hanging out the trunk lids!!!"
With enthusiastic fans like this, the '74 GTO is in no danger of fading away!
You'll probably recognize this red GTO from our ad section. Details below...
"...it has a 455, 350 TH transmission w/floor shifter. I was rear-ended a few years ago and that's the reason for the primered back half. The original front end is from my first car. I had it only 1 month before a 17 year old kid hit me from behind; he was searching for his cell phone. I've thought about selling it, but looking on ebay and other places to sell the car, just makes me want to keep it and get it going again. There aren't many like this around my town, and I blend in with the crowd with my '71 Chevelle, and there is no way I would blend in with this car when it's finished." It'll be great to see another '74 restored to its former glory, best of luck to Wallace!
(R) Another page from the Canadian version of the 74 Ventura and GTO brochure.
Probably one of my favorite new shots this year. What a shocking comparison, huh? John Tribbitt ( jtribbett3@comcast.net ) is the proud owner of this car, which I believe was purchased from Greg Gatlin (top of page). And you can check out more shots of the other prized vehicle in our Wrecks & Relics section!
"Hi, we love your site, it has inspired us to invest in a '74 which we did recently... let people know Delaware likes GTOs too...Thanks, John and Donna Tribbitt"
Rumored to have been on the cover of either Hot Rod or Car Craft, I'm sure the publicity didn't hurt the sales price of this heavily-modified goat.
(R) A gent by the name of Bob has his GTO in the body shop for some major body work...these types of panel replacements are tricky and not for the faint of heart. "Here are some pictures of my 74 GTO at the body shop getting new GM quarters and tail light panel. This is the third one I've owned. You can put my e-mail address with the pictures, if anyone would like to contact me with any questions. I have a pretty good knowledge of these cars. Thanks, Bob ( Slickvillepanels@aol.com )" Thanks for the kind offer, Bob.
"Hi, just bought my car back after 3 years! It was originally Pinemist Green with (UGLY) lima bean green interior. Tach/gauges/formula wheel/rwd/am-fm/4 wheel drum brakes/4 speed. It's currently Blue Raspberry Metallic/gray recaro cloth. I owned the car for 7 years then sold it to finance a move but it's BACK! For the full story see MY PONTIAC STORY on Performance Years! Awesome site!!! Glad I found it!
PS....I have a friend with a 73 Sprint stick car, another with a GTO drag car, and a guy in a nearby town has 3 74 GTOs 2 Hatchback cars, plus another GTO with in 15 minutes of here that is for sale! Also I am a race director for the OUTLAW PONTIAC DRAG SERIES." (please see www.outlawpontiacdragseries.com for race dates)
(R) Mike Adair ( pontiacmike04@hotmail.com ) purchased one of 3 GTOs that a friend in Canada had in storage (you may remember those cars being sold on this site). He originally posted these shots of the retrieval of his project car on performanceyears.
(R) This beauty of a car is owned by Diz Dean, and I'm still kicking myself trying to remember who supplied the photo! He and his car are evidently pretty well-known.
"...The shop got the quarters lined up perfectly, the gaps on the trunk lid and doors are perfect... I'm getting ready to start on my engine (the original 350 with all the stock components) my engine rebuilder is pi--ed because were are rebuilding the engine to the stock 200HP. I'm trying to tell him this is a numbers-matching car, even all the date codes are correct. I'm hoping to have my car on the road by next spring for cruising. The color of my car is Gulfmist Aqua, white vinyl top with white interior and rare column shift...well, got to go work on my air cleaner today, hope to get it painted with the 30% black...Thanks, Bob"
"Good day Roland...I don't if you already knew, I already have a Ventura I'm cloning to a 74 GTO, thought I'd send some pics of it. The car was originally yellow with tan interior. I'm changing the color to Buccaneer Red with the red, white and blue stripe on it... I'm putting a stroker 455 in it (474 c.i.). I have a nice set of Prostar rims and tires to put on it. This is not the car that I had bought from the guy in Woodstock. I've had this car for about a year longer...
"I usually do all the work myself, but I bought a semi last year, and with a single car garage, there's not enough room to do anything! So I have to rely on good friends and their shops. Thought you would like to see some of the pics. I now have everything to put the car together, but I'm just waiting for the body to get done. Don't mind the date on the pictures...they're wrong!"
NOTE: I've seen discussion in the past about what the trans tunnel looks like for floor shift vehicles, so here's a nice look, thanks to Mike. Looks like this was an automatic.
"Yes
the progress is coming along fine, everyone loves the color of the car. The
green 73 Ventura 4 door was purchased from the original owner, the car only
has 57,000 miles on it... their grandson put the mag wheels on it. I paid
$200 for it.
"The green 74 GTO has extensive rear frame rot, if I can get it out of the
weather I may restore it later on. The green 74 came with original 350
engine, air, gauge package, 4 speed (someone put a M22 rock crusher
transmission in), bucket seats, clock, tilt wheel...the guy threw in a 1970
455 engine YH code 360 HP, not a bad deal for a $1000.
"With the green 74 that makes four74 GTOs I've owned. I have pictures of the ones I owned in the 1980's, if I dig them up I'll email them to you. Take it easy, Bob"
(R) I was so excited to see this e-mail titled "my '74GTO", thinking, "Wow, I didn't know Eli owned one!" New York City is a tough place to own a good car, so I totally understand the 'downsizing' concept :-)