Barn find: Classic car fan gets his 'goat'

MINEVILLE | A wise man once bought his wife, who like himself was a classic car fan, a sapphire blue 1966 Ford Mustang which, at the time, was a trim and sporty diversion from 1950s-era automobiles with their sweeping fins and grinning grills with chrome piping stacked like cordwood. But Tony Salerno of Mineville was not being entirely altruistic, because he figured if his wife Juls had the car of her dreams she could hardly deny him his. "That was the psychology of it," Salerno said, raising the hood on a Vermont barn-find, a 1966 Pontiac GTO that had been parked since 1992 and came complete with a 389 big-block V8, a Hurst four on the floor and 28 years worth of dust. "I always wanted a muscle car," Salerno said, and the '66 "goat" is considered by many to be the first and best of the breed. In 1965, Pontiac had souped-up its Tempest to meet the growing demand of street racers, and in 1966 the GTO got its own badge. Still, company executives were dubious, and limited production to an initial run of 5,000. The GTO wound up selling six times that. Salerno, who is a fixture on the local racing circuit, said the car was in good shape and took surprisingly few repairs to get it running. The interior was a bit rough, but the body was good, with its taut, muscular curves, accented by stacked headlights and louvered tail lights. It had been in a barn in Woodstock, Vt., and had to be moved because the barn, which had a different owner, was being sold. "I'm not sure why they took it off the road, but they decided just to store it," Salerno said. "I made sure the engine turned over, but when you buy a car like this what you're getting is anybody's guess." On the windshield is a Vermont inspection sticker from 1992. It had 140,000 miles but the overall condition was impressive. In the glovebox was the original owner's manual, and when removing the rear seat Delarno found the vehicle's build order, which told assembly line workers in Baltimore which options to include. Salerno said he's made some modifications as he's restoring the car. The GTO had a good reputation for speed, but a bad reputation for slowing back down — so he replaced the drum brakes with discs. Then he ordered a special treat, a Tri-Power unit of three two-barrel carburetors, each with an individual air filter. The Tri-Power came stock on some Pontiacs in the '50s and '60s and was a popular aftermarket addition in the days before video games when young men always had their heads under the hood tweaking every last ounce of horsepower they could out of their machines. One carb could run the car, but the other two were called on when added performance was wanted. Salerno recalled a local story of more than a half century ago that endures today: A Ticonderoga car salesman was taking a young man for a test drive in a GTO up Chilson Hill. After the buyer expressed disappointment with the engine, which seemed a bit "flat," the salesman told him to pull over. He then popped the hood and activated the linkage to the other two carbs. After punching the gas under this new configuration, the kid bought the car on the spot. "These cars were made for speed," Salerno said. "And a lot of the fun is in learning the history behind them." He hopes to show the car when he's done with the restoration — instead of the reflected glory of his wife's Mustang, he'll have his own classic to show off.

Signup for our newsletter

Barn find: Classic car fan gets his 'goat'

COMPANY

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

SUBMISSION FORMS

BEYOND THE NEWS