Love these cool vintage photos! Thanks!

Plates
 

I count 4 different license plates in these photos….?

The throttle bracket is correct for the Vacuum linkage.

They probably did some improvising to by pass the vacuum system.
The vacuum switch is still present on the side of the center carb along with the thermo switch coming off the front of the intake manifold.

Most everyone was trying to eliminate the Vacuum linkage early on with these GTO’s.

This ‘64 has the second design LH valve cover with the rubber plug for the optional #614 application.

Cool OEM Battery.

Here's a picture of my car with original owners daughter, Nancy Vasquez, in her beautiful Easter outfit in 1964. Roger Vasquez was original owner. Here's a picture of how the car looks now. Still in Redwood City...

----WOW! 64's and 65's are my favorite GTO's and yours looks really tasty. Love the Hurst wheels, love the black and white, love the splitters. We need more pics.....Bill S

cool picture and really cool / beautiful car. at first i thought it was black and then looking at the current picture im thinking it might be blue. which is it?

Thanks guys, appreciate the kind words. My car is Black with Parchment interior. 389 Tri Power 4 speed 3:55 posi and original.

Pre GTO ‘62 Tempest on its tip-toes 8-)

John DeLorean

Yeow!

I needed to scoot my Lemans convertible over one day, so I decided to just stick the floor jack under the diff and jack it up enough to put the car skates under the rear wheels.

Holy cow! I kept lifting and lifting and the wheels never did come up off the ground.

Finally gave up with that idea and ended up lifting it at the knuckles to get this accomplished.

K

1964
 

Gentleman having a smoke next to a ‘64 GTO.

Custom wheel disc with 1’’ whites.
Looks like a nasty crease in the quarter panel.

1967
 

This GTO looks like Montreux Blue, or possibly Tyrol Blue with a Black Cordova top.
Parchment interior with optional headrest buckets.
Deluxe wheel disc with Redline tires.

Love those early, '67 MY only, Firestone F70's with the stripe out near the tread!

----Yup, so did I, but they were plagued with trouble. They used to crack all the way around the red or white stripe after far too few miles. Firestone had to change the placement of the stripe eventually. That's why they are so hard to find today....Bill S

F70-14
 

A couple NOS F70-14 in the rafters.
One shows a possible unused spare tire with the jack dents in the rubber.

Two different locations of the Red Line and different identification on the sidewall.

Original '66 GTO Spare
 

With its Marina Turquoise painted wheel.

Must be Jack’s ‘66.

Love those select few body colored wheels.

Yes, Sir!

Me too.

----Don't think I have ever seen one of those Trans Wide Oval Firestones. What did that one come in?....Bill S

Bill, I have no idea.
I do know that there were Many variations of all the tires used on the 60’s cars regardless of the brand.

The Anderson Pontiac drag fleet with '63 SD Tempests and what looks like a new '64 GTO.

1965
 

Looks like a GTO with RH drive.

A 1965 Lemans coupe (post) getting some love.

Looks like this guy may be using a chamois cloth.
The chamois is all we used back in the day when cleaning our cars.

Those are some Big W/W.

Interesting that its being towed by an Oldsmobile.

Another with rather wide white walls.

License plate bracket is positioned wrong on this ‘65 GTO.

Instructions? I know what I'm doing! 🙄

Striping

A few observations:

Someone from Florida gave me a beautiful clear hardcopy of that photo back in the pre-internet days. It might be ambitious for me to think all the internet versions floating around came from my first post of that photo, but...maybe.

A couple thoughts, I guess, while we are here:

a) Photo taken in the Pontiac Michigan facility, Plant 16. That's were the final prep/polish took place before shipment.

b) You can see he is using a Beugler paint tool and following along the top of a paint fixture attached by vacuum cups. In spite of that there was a lot of variation between assembly plants, in terms of where the stripes started and stopped, and in some facilities the ends of the stripe were "taped" to provide a terminus, whereas in other plants the stripe was left to trail off naturally.

c) You can also see the repair/inspection tickets laying on the top of the dash. Once the item is taken care of the repair person would punch the box with a little hole punch; the punch would have different symbols (hearts, moons, clovers, etc) so that it could be traced back to a specific operator. The location of the tickets is significant, too. They could be placed behind the windshield wipers, smashed in the A pillar vent, or rolled up in the door handle - each location flagging what what repair or prep step was next and where the vehicle should be shuttled.

d) Note that this operation takes place off line. Jobs that are not tied to the assembly line (heavy repair, drivers, material control, etc) are highly coveted in the assembly plant and - since every benefit and job assignment is based purely on seniority - are usually manned by the older personnel. I love the fact that this looks like somebody's grandpa doing this job. I don't love that I am probably older than him now than he was when this photo was taken.

K

I’m not sure where these old black & white photos originated from as I’ve had these three pics for decades.

Below is a senior employee applying the single stripe used on the GTO and two other photos showing the dual stripes used on the 2+2.

Note, obviously the outside rear view mirrors (if ordered in ‘65) would not have been installed yet.

Looks like a couple convertible GTO’s waiting their turn.

1967 Lemans convertible.

Looks like a Mike Salta plate frame.

Possible radio delete??
I doubt it ^^^^, but no see antenna front or back.

Sure does look like a Salta frame. I'm guessing the Long Beach location with the black background with white lettering. I played around with the photo to try and read it better.

I agree, likely no radio in this car.

Old 60’s dealership with GTO’s and a Firebird.

Cool signs.

That was in Roseville, I've seen a few of their plate frames over the years.

Yes Sir G,

Roseville, Ca. Here are a few of the earlier years.

Missing the B on the service center building.

Looks like Buick next door.

Brand spanking new heavy “High Quality Cars” back then.

Love all of those neon signs! The smaller ones in the windows are really cool, "Hydra-Matic Drive" & "Strato Streak V8".

'64 convertible sitting out front of a Rambler dealer. Check out those vintage aftermarket wheel covers!

Proud owner with his '68. That's a fancy looking front license plate frame.

----Used to cringe when I saw a set of those fakes, especially on a car worthy of some real wheels!....Bill S