1974 Pontiac Ventura GTO        page 8

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		These shots were sent in by Brad Johnson from North Dakota. He writes: "Here are some pics of my GTO from North Dakota!!  Check out my website, if you like the pics than please use them on your website!!  Not many of these rare GTO's left, this one is not in original condition but oh well. ENGINE: 350ci. Pontiac, TRANS: TH350, COLOR: purple chromillusion   The motor is mostly a stock rebuild with exception of HOOKER HEADERS. Tranny also rebuilt, 3.08 gears, subframe connectors, traction bars, B&M shifter, alum. mags, adj. drag shocks and rebuilt front suspension. This car is a blast to drive!! And no matter where me and my family drive it to it always draws a crowd. Needs some refreshing to body (scratches, paint chips and rear quarters have been replaced few yrs. back but not done right. little spot of rust on pass. side front fender, and couple of small holes in floor boards and trunk pan). "  This car appears to have the turned-aluminum dash, too.
		(L) From Rochester, Washington.  What did they do, park the rear end in a pond?  The rest of the car isn't so bad!  The ad stated: "...acquired this 1974 GTO from the original owner. I have original order invoice and owners manuals. This car was ordered with a 350, 4 speed and posi rear end. It has 4 gauge, 4 speed console and leather door panels. The car has been parked for the last 10+ years under a tarp. ...This car is complete and original. There is a lot of rust damage in the back end of the car. The rear quarters and trunk tub have rusted through. The motor is seized but I was told it ran when it was parked. The original GTO stickers are still on the fenders." (R) Starting at lower left, moving clockwise: High Point, NC white goat with striping, red NY drag car, a blue Santa Rosa, CA car with a unique look, Derek's red car from www.ispmgto.com , Dwight's 427-powered blue machine from Deals on Wheels, and Frank Fichera's red beaut from www.classicalpontiac.com
		(L) A small collection of artwork featuring Pontiac's '74 star car... (R) The January 2004 issue of High Performance Pontiac has a nice GTO calendar, which features the beautiful Miss November with her smooth (Denver) Golden brown skin.  I hope they don't get mad that I post this shot, but if you pick up the magazine, maybe I'll be forgiven.  www.highperformancepontiac.com
		Someone by the name of MC Momma100 posted these car show shots of a very nice GTO on an automotive site.
		I've been asking Frank Fichera ( frank.fichera@lmco.com ) for new photos of his nice '74GTO, so (making the most of a difficult lighting situation) he forwarded these shots.  Good to see that his car is still alive and well.  It's equipped with a 350 4-barrel motor with 4-on-the-floor tranny.  His only alterations have been to install a 4-speaker stereo and to paint the Rally II rims in their original 2-tone grey.
		Mark Negrete ( marksracer@aol.com ) dropped these beautiful snapshots of his Denver Gold GTO in the mail.  As you can see, there were still some finishing touches to be applied when these photos were taken (emblem, fender wells).  Excerpt from his letter: "I restored this car the way I wanted.  It's stock-appearing except for the drive train.  It has a 462 cu in, 4-spd Borg-Warner Super T-10, subframe connectors, 3.73 posi.  The car runs great.  Since I took the pictures I have put the wheel wells back in and moved the battery back to the front stock location."
		Note: I believe this car has been sold.
		(L) Here's a really nice looking car from Suisun City, California.  It has a rebuilt 350 and brand new paint.  The interior looks completely intact as well. (R) One of two photos sent in by Cynthia Ryan; this looks like the car's first day at home after purchase, judging by the look of the woman standing behind the car.  The cat seems to be comfortable with the purchase, however.
		This goat was being sold by a 'not-too-friendly' guy in Greene, Iowa.  Looks like most of the pieces are there, but the chains in place of the door pull strap are not original.  It appears it came with the gauge-less console.  Do we have some overspray under the hood from a hasty paint job?
		Here's an engine swap by Dan Roy (circa May 2003) To have some fun with his car, Dan decided to pull the original 350 and replace it with a Pontiac 455.  That tire in the second photo is not a new, high-tech mini-spare, you're just looking through the empty fender well.  Nice illusion!  The driveway shot is the first picture I ever found of Dan's car; lucky he was a nice guy and answered his email...we've enjoyed numerous contributions of his throughout the site.

Later, at the Drag Strip...
  "Well this was my first time back to the track since I ran my 14.50 ET with my original 350 back in the fall of 2001.  I was hoping to be in the low 13s with the new 455.  After a very disappointing first run of 14.89 at 94 MPH, some adjustments needed to be made.  The car was losing all power at the top end and I spun badly at the line.  I decided to let the engine warm up more in staging and let the transmission shift itself in "auto".  The second run yielded a much more respectable 13.49 at 103 MPH.  The third run went about the same (13.59 at 101) but the car still seemed to be falling off a little at the top end.  In the pits, I decided to check the timing.  It was set at 12 degrees initial and getting as much as 44 degrees advance at 2500 rpm. We retarded it to 8 degrees and disconnected and plugged the vacuum advance. This yielded the quickest run of the day - 13.17 at 104 MPH (with a very lucky .503 reaction time).  I finished up red-lighting in the first round of eliminations with a tire-spinning 13.32 at 104. 

"All runs were in full street trim (minus my hood) with a full tank of gas on BFG Radial TA's though the mufflers and out the chrome splitters.  Uncapping the exhaust and trying some stickies would probably knock off another 3 to 4 tenths, but that will have to wait for the next "Day at the Races". Peace to all, Dan Roy" NOTE: The first photo clearly shows the in-dash tachometer that was an option for 1974.

"Down Under"      by Dan Roy  (Feb 2004)
"...I just decided to remove my fuel tank to fix a minor leak and replace the 3 small pieces of hose that connect the supply, return and vapor lines. While doing so, I thought I would clean up a little and make some good use of several cans of undercoating spray paint. A few hours of work that was well worth the time.  Thanks again for all your hard work on the site!!!!!" 

This is a nice before & after sequence from Dan, which I include here because I've never seen any shots of the GTO's rear swaybar setup.  Note the fresh poly bushings, which I believe are an Energy Suspensions product in this case.  In photo #3 you can also see his subframe connectors, traction bars, and the routing of the chrome splitter exhaust.  Look a bit further up the line and you can see the H-pipe, too.  Just great...thanks, Dan!

If you have some '74 GTO pictures you'd like to share, just drop me a line at pontiacv@pontiacventura.com ; this site is updated about every 4 weeks.  -Roland  (It's OK if you no longer own the car, too.)