Lasting Tribute:‘68 GTO Droptop

G8 GXP Production Breakdowns

Electric Blue Drag Star: 1962 LeMans

Norwalk Notables: Joe Morgan

Volume 5, Number 5 October 2019$9.99 US $11.99 Canada

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Ed Wolf’s ’68 GTO convertible is a

rolling tribute to the love of his life.

LastingTribute

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Back in 1977, Ed Wolf – likemost 17-year-old boys – basi-cally had just two things on his

mind: hot cars and pretty girls.Ed satisfied his craving for hot cars

by climbing behind the wheel of hisused-but-not-abused ’69 GTO hard-top that he had purchased for theprincely sum of $1,375. His GTOserved him well as both a daily driverand for the occasional extra-legal en-deavor while out cruising around hisusual stomping grounds in andaround The Bronx, New York. By allmeasures, Ed was quite happy with hisGTO … until the day that he learnedthat his cousin, Richie Stevens, wasplanning to get rid of his ’68 GTO con-vertible, after growing frustrated withlocal troublemakers who developed ahabit of slicing through the car’s softtop to gain easy access to whateverRichie had left inside. Being the prac-tical-minded guy that he was, Ed gotin touch with his cousin and pointedout how his own hardtop Goat was farbetter suited for life in Richie’s neigh-borhood, and just like that, the twodecided to straight-up swap GTO forGTO in autumn of 1977.

A few months later, in the spring of1978, when the weather started tomake itself far more compatible withthe GTO’s retractable top, Ed foundhimself working his usual shift oneevening at the local McDonald’s,when a young woman entered therestaurant to visit with his manager.Ed had never seen the young womanbefore, but he was instantly smitten.She was only there for a couple ofminutes, and Ed was tied up helpingcustomers so he missed his opportu-nity to introduce himself, but mo-ments after she left, he quizzed his

Family obligations and higher priorities kept Ed Wolfwaiting more than 30 years to restore the ’68 GTOconvertible that he got in 1977 when he traded a ’69GTO hardtop to his cousin.

By Jason Scott Photography by the author

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manager to learn all about her, partic-ularly her name – Barbara Perretti –and whether she was seeing anyone.As it turned out, she had just brokenup with her boyfriend. The next timeEd saw Barbara, he didn’t waste anytime: he introduced himself and asked

her out. And to his relief, she ac-cepted.

The two dated for the next severalyears until, in 1983, they married andshortly after bought a house. All thewhile, the GTO was right there withthem – as Ed’s daily driver, as their

designated date-night transportation,when getting married, and even whenhouse shopping. Then, one day, inlate-1983, the GTO suddenly devel-oped a low-oil pressure condition,and Ed was forced to park it in thegarage of their new home. And thereit sat, with the days turning intoweeks, weeks into months, monthsinto … well … you get the idea. In all,three decades passed with the GTOsitting in Ed and Barbara’s garage. De-spite a few moments of weakness, Edlearned from the mistakes of some ofhis electrician co-workers in the IBEWLocal Union #3 NYC who had long-ago sold vehicles that they laterwished they had held onto, so Ednever let his GTO go. While he andBarbara raised three kids – Ed Junior,Christina, and Nicholas – they oftenspoke of restoring the GTO one day,to drive and enjoy it again. But as sooften happens, time and money areoften in short supply, what with col-lege tuitions and weddings and what-not competing for their limited

This scan of an old photo gives you some idea of whatthe GTO looked like circa 1983, shortly after Ed andthe love of his life, Barbara (pictured) were married.Unfortunately, it wasn’t long after that that the en-gine lost oil pressure and Ed was forced to park it …for what turned out to be a very, very long time.

Fast forward several decades and the Wolfs’ GTO wassuffering a sad existence in the family garage, sportinga primer finish and heaps of who-knows-what on andin it. Ed and Barbara had always planned to restore thecar, but finances and timing had never allowed.

While the body was essentially restored to factory shape, the drivetrainreceived a significant power upgrade when Magro rebuilt the car’s orig-inal 400 to the specs of one of Nitemare’s 425-horse pump gas crate en-gines. A Vintage Air AC system was added at Ed’s request so he can cruisein comfort, even in the heat of New York City summers.

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resources. But still they held out hopeto restore the GTO … someday.

After their son, Ed Jr., got marriedin 2014, it looked as though Ed andBarbara would finally get the chanceto dust off the GTO and begin itsrestoration. They even began collect-ing parts and checking out restorationshops. During the summer of 2014, atthe Pontiacs With A Purpose show inRhode Island, they met Darrin Magro,of Nitemare Performance. Afterspeaking with Darrin on the phone,the Wolfs travelled the short distanceto Nitemare’s southern-Connecticutshop, where they viewed some of thecars that had gone through theNitemare restoration process. Theyeven traveled to visit with some ofNitemare’s customers, to get their im-pressions and see their Pontiacs. Thecouple quickly decided that Magrowas the man that they wanted to han-dle reviving their GTO. The clincher forBarbara was how meticulously organ-ized Magro kept the Nitemare shop.

So, the two were all set to pull thetrigger on the restoration, when, inOctober of 2014, came devastating

news: Barbara was diagnosed withlate-stage pancreatic cancer. Thoughshe kept insisting that Ed restore theGTO, he couldn’t focus on that whilethe love of his life was getting sickerby the day. In May of 2015 – barely sixmonths after her diagnosis – Barbarapassed away, but not before makingEd promise to have Magro restore theGTO, and getting the kids to pledge

to make sure Ed honored that prom-ise.

Understandably, after Barbara’sdeath, Ed wasn’t terribly interested inthinking much about the GTO, but thekids kept prodding him and remind-ing him of the promise he’d made toBarbara, so in August, Ed deliveredthe car to Nitemare Performance fora full, frame-off restoration.

As with the drivetrain, the Wolfs’ GTO received a fewstealthy upgrades in the chassis department, the mostnoticeable of which are the slightly-upgraded 15-inchRally II wheels wearing BFG Silvertown redline radials.Between the wheels are a host of Hotchkis Suspensionsprings, shocks, swaybars, and bushings to improvethe Goat’s handling.

Like the body, the interior was essentially returned to factory condition,with the addition of some aftermarket gauges to keep Ed better in-formed about the engine’s vital signs.

All the bright trim like marker light bezels and the rearbumper were either restored or replaced, along withdecals, emblems, and other bits to bring the body backto factory-type condition. Any of the modificationschosen – like the blacked out grilles and wheels – canbe easily returned to stock, if Ed ever gets the urge inthe future.

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As the car neared completion atNitemare Performance’s shop, theGTO was shaping up to look and per-form better than Ed could have everhoped … and yet, as nice as the carwas, Ed just couldn’t shake the feelingthat something was missing. A few

days later, it dawned on him: heneeded to find a way to make the cara rolling memorial to Barbara, who –like the GTO – had been right therewith him, his entire adult life. After afew more days of thinking, an ideacame to him: he’d have a mural of

Barbara and some of their favoritememories painted on the car. As luckwould have it, Ed was surfing the in-ternet a couple nights later when hestumbled across the site of local artistAlan Pastrana. When Ed contactedhim the next day, Pastrana was sotouched by Barbara and Ed’s storythat he agreed in a heartbeat to helpEd add the finishing touch to theirGTO.

The resulting artwork that Pastranacreated consists of a portrait of Bar-bara set amongst her favorite places– like Disney World and Hawaiianbeaches – and a reproduction of anote that she wrote for Ed, on her finaltrip to the hospital.

Fittingly, the GTO was completedjust in time for its grand unveilingafter the restoration and with the por-trait of Barbara gracing its decklidwhen Ed drove their daughterChristina to her wedding, on August6th of 2016. PP

While Ed was thrilled with the restoration work that Magro performed, he couldn’t get over the feeling thatthe completed car was missing something: a tribute to the love of his life, Barbara, who had passed away justprior to the car being restored. A local artist, Alan Pastrana, air brushed the mural that depicts Barbara setamongst some of her favorite places and things.

Restoration of the Wolfs’ GTO was completed just days before theirdaughter, Christina, was married in the summer of 2016, and it trans-ported the bride to the ceremony and served as a wonderful way to en-sure Barbara was a part of the occasion.

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The Restoration

For Ed, restoring his and Barbara’s GTO was a highly emotional experience, because the car meant so much tohim and Barbara for so much of their lives. The couple chose Nitemare Performance to perform the restoration,largely because they were both highly impressed with Darrin Magro’s meticulous work and exhausting attention

to detail after they visited not only the Nitemare shop but also inspected several cars previously restored by Magro.Ed’s directions to Magro were simple: He didn’t want to lose the essence of what the car was when he and Barbara

used to cruise around in it, but he’d always wanted some upgrades in the horsepower and suspension departments,too. So, Magro set about restoring the body and interior, and injecting the drivetrain and chassis with some much-deserved upgrades.

According to Ed, “the engine, transmission, rearend, doors, fenders, and hood are original but obviously rebuilt orrestored.” The quarter panels were replaced and the entire body was sanded to perfection before being coated in itsoriginal Cameo Ivory color though with an updated black-out treatment for the grilles, wheels, and some trim items.The interior was redone in basic black, just as it left the factory. The retractable top required extra effort: “The hy-draulics for the top – I wanted those to work properly – so they’re all new, too, along with the top material, of course,”Ed explained.

Ed had Magro add another modern convenience that he and Barbara had yearned for: “Our GTO didn’t have airconditioning,” he explained, “but we saw Darrin’s and it had air, so while ours was all apart, I said ‘let’s put in air.’”

When planning the powertrain rebuild, Magro recommended a number of upgrades to improve performance andreliability. The original engine was rebuilt to the blueprinted specs of one of Nitemare’s bulletproof 425-horsepowerpump-gas crate motors. The car’s numbers-matching block is fitted with a factory crank, but it swings lighter, strongeraftermarket connecting rods that push and pull forged pistons, and the entire assembly is precision balanced forsmooth operation. The 400-inch mill ingests fuel from the Holley electric fuel pump through a QuickFuel carb atopan Edelbrock Performer RPM intake while a custom Nitemare hydraulic camshaft controls the stainless valves in theoriginal heads that were treated to Nitemare’s Stage 1 porting treatment. An MSD ignition system with Taylor wireslights the fires using AC plugs, and Nitemare’s signature oil system upgrades – a billet, collared driveshaft turning ahigh-volume oil pump with Nitemare’s extra-thick cover plate and a custom pickup that draws oil from the Nitemarebaffled road-racing oil pan – keep the engine well lubricated, while Nitemare’s remote oil filter system both cleansand helps cools the oil before sending it back through the engine. Exhaust gases are handled by a set of restoredfactory manifolds that dump into a custom, free-flowing dual exhaust system.

Magro rebuilt the car’s original Turbo Hydramatic 400 automatic to replace worn-out parts, firm-up the shifts, andimprove overall durability so that it would survive behind the upgraded engine. Likewise, Magro went through thecar’s original Safe-T-Track limited-slip 10-bolt rear to ensure that it would withstand the engine’s monster torquecurve.

Everything attaches to a fully-restored frame to which Magro added upgraded suspension bits from Hotchkis –including front and rear stabilizer bars, shocks, springs, and bushings, to improve the car’s handling, along with rebuiltand upgraded brakes to safely bring the fun to a stop, when the time comes. The car rolls on 15-inch Pontiac RallyIIs wrapped in red-stripe BFGoodrich Silvertown radials for a classic look but mildly-upgraded ride and handlingcharacteristics.

The restoration was capped off with the custom mural that pays tribute to Barbara every time Ed goes cruising intheir finally-restored GTO.

-JASON SCOTT PP

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Volume 5, Number 4October 2019

Poncho Perfection is a monthly publication of Car Life Publishing, a Division of Keefe Media International. Articles, letters and editorial comments represent the views and opinions of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of Car LifePublishing, Keefe Media International or any of its officers. All Pontiac/General Motors Trademark(s) are used purely for illustrative purposes and no claim of ownership is expressed or implied. All information provided herein is intended only forgeneral knowledge and is not a substitute for professional advice for specific situations or specific conditions of your vehicle. Poncho Perfection, Car Life Publishing and Keefe Media International do not give mechanical advice. The authors and staffcan answer your general questions about Pontiac vehicles. You should seek professional mechanical advice for any specific mechanical condition(s) of your vehicle. The information contained herein is presented in summary form only and is intendedto provide only a broad consumer understanding of each particular set of facts. The information provided should not be considered complete and should not be used in place of consultation with a professional mechanic.

IN THIS ISSUE

DEPARTMENTS

Page 06

Stewardship and mentoring young people is an often-overlookedbut vital portion of the automotive hobby. “Gasser Brother” DarrenBrandow has been guiding this young man on a path of automotiveexcellence. Meet Evan Angle, the youngest “Gasser Brother.” TimSickle’s story and Darren Brandow’s photos begin on page 06.

Over a decade of research and personal experience with the PontiacG8 GXP has made Joe Morgan, Jr. the “go-to guy” with regard to thelast Pontiac musclecar. His story, production breakdowns and photosfrom GM Media Archive begin on page 34.

Rocky Rotella checks in this month with an informative look at the reproductionGoodyear GR70-15 tires now available from Kelsey Tire and the original GeneralMotors “coporate tire program” that the tires were originally designed under. Healso goes in-depth with John Kelsey, President of Kelsey Tire. Rocky’s story andphotos start on page 48.

On the Cover: Father and son racing teams are certainly nothing new but forShawn and Kienan Knisely, their Cloisonné Blue, tube-framed 1962 LeMans is astory of family bonding spanning three generations. Rocky Rotella’s story andphotography starts on page 24.

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Little did Ed Wolf know that the 1968 GTO convertible that hetraded another GTO for back in 1977, the same one that he courtedhis wife Barbara with, would eventually be restored by Nitemare Per-formance as a rolling tribute to her memory. Jason Scott’s text andphotos covering this poignant story start on Page 40.

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Page 34Off the Reservation•

Stan Rarden•

Pint-Sized Ponchos•

New Products•

Poncho Perfection Update•

Norwalk Notables•

Classified Ads•

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Blacktop Bonding•

A Short But Legendary Run•

Lasting Tribute•

Repro Radial Reveille•