Page 1 - 2004 GTO <-- You are Here
Page 2 - GTO Promotional Pics
Page 3 - GMC Dually & Camper
Page 4 - Our New Toy

Thanks for visiting my page. I apologize as it continues to change on a daily basis, but I hope you keep coming back to see whats new. So far, its just the story of the Purchase, the Crash, Fixed, Another Crash and the Final Fix. I say final because I cant handle any more insurance claims! In the near future, I hope to get some family pictures on, a few pics of my kids 85 Fiero GT that we just bought and have began working on, our new GMC Dually and of course the most recent pictures of the GTO. All I need is for this lousy Ohio weather to break :) Thanks again, hope you enjoy and if you have a second, please sign the guest book.

Its September 29th 2004 and Im out driving around town wondering how I can get out from under our brand new Impala. It was only 6 months old, but had spent most of its life at the dealership being repaired while I drove some rental. The Impala is a good model, but as my luck (which you'll begin to understand) would have it, I bought the lemon of the bunch.

To make a long, long story short, I stopped at the Pontiac dealer to see what I could do. My first thoughts were to just trade it in on a new Grand Prix and at least have a running car when its paid off. However, it kept going through my head that nothing was going to be worth much in 5 years. As Im walking across the lot, I see the new GTO and walk over to take a look. I know its probably not what I need, but what can it hurt to look. Thats when Dave Gerber, a new young salesman walks out to greet me. We begin talking and he says that I need to hear the car. Keys in the ignition and a couple of 3k RPM revs and Im giddy! I tell him its a shame that the wheels just dont seem to match the "sport" of the car. He tells me to follow him and we walk in to the showroom. There sits a Phantom Black on Black with 18" aftermarket rims. Now just for everyones knowledge, I usually can spend up to 2 months shopping for just the right....say floor jack. This night however, I ask if I could look under the hood and Dave accomodates me. One look at the fuel rail covers, the memory of the bling and the residual excess blood flow from the throaty exhaust and "Get the paperwork ready" was all I said.

September 30 (we couldnt get the paperwork completed in time the night before) the wife and I drive the newest member of our family off of the hospita....uh, I mean, Dealer parking lot. We pull up to the house and I idle it back in to the drive. I shut it down and climb out standing in yard staring in awe. You would have thought that I gave birth to it myself :) I guess the wife picked up on this because she hit me just perfectly with "honey, can I drive it to work Monday?" I think that I just slirred something and handed her the keys. Over the next three week I think I got to drive it around the neighborhood a couple of times and somehow it had over 1400 miles on it. I ask her where she had been driving other than to work. The answer that I got was "well, a couple of people at work wanted a ride". It appears that most of the 250 employees at her office required individual trips around Cincinnati! Oh well, it didnt matter because that following Friday, I was getting to take it out on the highway for a couple hours. I was taking it out on the open road to let it spread its legs a little and show it off to my family.

Well, as you can see, we made it to mom and dads, but no in the car. About two hours into the trip, we had a close encounter with Bambi. We were driving between huge open fields and at one spot where a drain run under the road, the trees came out. Unbeknownst to me, this must be the notification of an animal crosswalk. Out of nowhere a deer head appeared in the headlights. Fortunately for us, I just clipped the front legs and chest. The head came back thru the window, but the body swung around to the side. No one was hurt, but the car didnt fair as well. The following day we had the car flatbedded home and dropped off at a local body shop. We had our concerns about part availability knowing that it was a new model, but most items began coming in immediately. Every single part to the smallest screw had to come from Australia where the car is built. That is where the problems began. The driver door was shipped 6 times. Yes 6 and every time with the front caved in or the bottom edge buckled under. They were placing the door in a box that was big enough to hold 2 doors. Oh, did I forget no packing! Anyway, we had to get on the phone with GM and Holden to get a door custom packed. They said they would take care of it immediately. We asked that they take care of TWO immediately. The fix was that they stuffed some couch cushion type material in the box and very lil of it. One door managed to make it.

The next problem was that the windshield and driver door glass were unavailable. 10 weeks later, they finally arrived. We got to bring the car home the first week of January still missing the windshield wiper plastic cover. When we checked on its status, they told us it was backordered. When we asked for an approximate deliver, they said, AUGUST OF 2005!! Back on the phone with GM and amazingly, it showed up 3 days later. Go figure! Well, while it was in the shop, it seemed like a good time to do some upgrades. I never did like the flat hood, but the one bent up thru the windshield wasnt the answer either.

I researched all the different types available and finally decided on the MPD hood. My father and I got up one morning and headed to Chicago to pick it up. Eric and his wife Melissa own MPD Inc and were just the greatest. The craftsmanship of their products are matched by none other in my opinion. Now dont get me wrong, its all personal preferrence and there were others that I liked, but this one seemed to have the most "factory" look and the quality was superb. Once we saw the hood in person, we knew we made the right choice. I packed up my new goody and was headed home. Again, my thanks to Eric and Melissa. My ride is finally done and back at home.

We have it back for about a week, maybe 5 days. Its Wednesday night we were down at an auction house we frequent and as the wife is leaving, some running dumb@ss backs into her with an Expedition. To top it all off, he jumps out blaming it on her and when we finally talk the law into showing up, we find out that he has state minimum insurance from some fly by night place. Fortunately it appears that they dont want to mess with State Farms law team, so they are paying. But what a hassle. The good news is that while it was in this time, I ordered the new autocross grilles. I'll try to get some good pics this weekend.

I owe my greatest thanks to Rich Anglin, the owner of Anglin Collision Repair. I asked for my car to be as good as it was from the factory and he made it better. His attention to detail was more than I could have asked for. I know the hours/dollars alotted to him by the insurance company by no means matched the long nights that he spent completing the job. My thanks to his wife and kids too for letting me take him away.

As for the other mods, the wheels are 18" Ions with ZFusions tires. By the way, if youre considering these Z's and there is the slightest chance of snow in your area....wait....if there is a chance of you driving by someone holding a picture of snow....yea, thats it, NEVERMIND! Choose a different tire or plan on walking in incliment weather. Ive been driving for 20 years. Ive driven everything from Chevettes to Corvettes and 2 cylinders to 440 6 packs. Id rate myself above average in experience. I spent 30 minutes trying to drive home from the bodyshop in 1" of snow. I live 4 miles from where I started! I also had the windows tinted at Tint Guy His prices were very reasonable and the quality, perfect. You wont be disappointed.

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Im pretty much satisfied with the car visually, just as it is. However, I have an insane desire to supercharge it. I dont run it hard at all and it probably will never see the track, but I was always the classic car show kind of guy. Nothing makes a jaw drop like opening the hood and seeing a polished supercharger. $6500 is just a lot for shock appeal. If I want to drop jaws, maybe I could just hit the person with a $12 bat and then zoom off with the 350 hp it comes with stock :) I just keep seeing the web page for Exotic Performance Plus that says 450rwhp and 449 rwtq.

Well, thats all that I can get done for one evening. I appreciate all the viewers and especially those that took time to write. I will make it to your pages real soon. Thanks again and hopefully I will have this much nicer by the weekend.

Bob

Page 1 - 2004 GTO <-- You are Here
Page 2 - GTO Promotional Pics
Page 3 - GMC Dually & Camper
Page 4 - Our New Toy