One of the best parts of being an automotive journalist is you get to attend car shows all over the country. Street Muscle was on the ground in Knoxville, Tennessee at a National Street Rod Association car meet and we laid eyes on a 1967 Pontiac GTO that was straight out of a tangerine dream.
NSRA has been around since 1970. Wherever they set up a show, they attract the best cars from the surrounding areas. This GTO stood out amongst the other cars, and that is a feat unto itself. We were keen on finding out more about this LBJ-era Pontiac.
We caught up with the owner and got the backstory on this Pro Street Poncho. Sal Murante Sr. is from Bayville, New Jersey, and owns and operates a fleet of 25 EMT vehicles. He’s married with four kids and has been a GTO guy his whole life. He’s owned five GTOs, including a 1966 in high school, a 1965, and three 1967 models.
A Brief Look Back
Let’s take a brief look back at GTO’s history. Pontiac’s midsize barnstormer is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the muscle car segment. The brains behind the GTO’s creation were John DeLorean and the Pontiac whiz kid management team. They transformed the Pontiac Tempest into a sporty cruiser that set the auto industry on its ear.
The GTO’s defining feature was its big block engine, borrowed from full-sized Pontiac sedans. By promoting this big-engine option as a unique high-performance variant, they captured the high-speed longings of an entire generation. Check out his old commercial from back in the day, if only to hear the old-school voiceover. Here’s another nugget, in 2027, Sal’s GTO will turn 60 years old.
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The 1967 Pontiac GTO marked the end of its first generation. There were two body styles, a coupe, and a convertible. A total of 65,176 hardtops were produced, and just 9,517 convertibles rolled off the line.
The 1967 GTO received an engine upgrade, featuring a bigger 335hp, 400cid powerplant. Unfortunately, it lost its iconic tri-power engine option. The styling was freshened up as well. The grille underwent revisions, tapering toward the center but retaining the stacked quad headlamps. The GTO emblems also moved from the rear fenders to the chrome rocker panels. Also introduced in 1967, the factory Rally II wheels became a Pontiac styling signature lasting well into the 1980s.
A New Beginning
Fast forward to 2018 in New Jersey, when Sal finds his current GTO. It was essentially a basketcase car. Sprayed out from the factory in sixties GM green, it was repainted in a tangerine hue dubbed Cry Baby Orange sometime before Sal’s ownership. It was in various states of disassembly, but it was complete and rust-free. The grille was attached with wire to the front end. Sal took the car home and shortly thereafter in 2019, he sent the car into a restoration shop called Wise Guys. Two years later, it was complete and Sal took delivery of the car as you see it today.
The car is running a stock frame with UMI suspension components. In the front are tubular A-arms, and out back is a 4-link coil-over setup. The car is running a Ford 9″ rearend with 3:55 gears. The GTO has four-piston Wilwood brakes all around. The torque arm, panhard rod, and frame connectors are also UMI. This old Goat rolls on lightweight Weld Wheels and Mickey Thompson tires.
Hard Body
The body was in pretty good shape for being an East Coast car. When it was stripped and straightened, they tubbed the rear wheel wells and installed a roll bar for safety. Other than that, Sal kept the body fairly stock-looking. When all was said and done, the wild shade of Cry Baby Orange was touched up to perfection.
From there, it was time to direct attention to the engine. Sal’s sent the old 400 to Bay Shore Motors where Doug Jensen tore down and rebuilt the engine. He stroked the block to 462 inches and added a laundry list of go-fast goodies. Edelbrock heads, Scorpion rocker arms, and a Howards camshaft were added to the engine. Crowning the mill is a Holley Sniper EFI system sitting on an Edelbrock intake manifold. For some extra bling, Sal added a front accessory drive by Billet Specialties and Edelbrock valve covers. This new breathed-on powerplant now exhales through Douglas headers and Magnaflow exhaust and produces 550hp and 500 lb-ft of torque. All this oomph is sent to the rear wheels via a 200R4 automatic transmission.
Command Center
Inside the cockpit, Sal stayed with a mostly stock feel that echoes the exterior. Of course, the rollbar isn’t stock but most other components are true to Pontiac stylists from back in the day. Sal went with Classic Instruments for a factory-correct look, and added a center console with cupholders, along with a custom Sparc steering wheel. The car sports a B&M shifter, a column-mounted tach, Vintage Air, auxiliary gauges, and a custom stereo system. The seats and door panels are original to the car sporting old-school die-electric detailing.
Epilogue
The car is done for now and Sal is enjoying the ride. He hasn’t raced or tracked the car, preferring to cruise the highways and byways of New Jersey and hitting car shows along the way. Everybody here at Street Muscle Mag wants to give a heartfelt shout-out to all the people involved with saving this GTO. Had the car fallen into the wrong hands, it could’ve ended up in a field or worse yet, the crusher. For all you readers in New Jersey, if you see a Cry Baby Orange blur accompanied by a baritone roar, chances are it’s Sal letting those Tin Indian horses run free.
