photos by: Zach Doell/BoldRide
It’s likely that at this point, you’ve seen a vehicle or two returning to the earth. As hard as it is to see, we usually just accept the vehicle’s fate, and move on. For one 1969 Pontiac GTO, that wouldn’t be the case. One gearhead wasn’t going to let Mother Nature reclaim this super rare muscle car.
Alan F., a BarnFinds.com member, was on the hunt for a new project. He thought of his friends from high school who had owned a Pontiac GTO Judge for a long time. It turns out that the friend did still own the GTO, but it had a tree growing up through the engine bay.
The owner had bought it back in the late 1970s, and when a pushrod broke, the engine and transmission were removed from the car for repair. That repair never came, and the Judge became a giant planting pot over the years.
Alan didn’t see this as much of a problem. He verified the credentials of the GTO Judge, and bought the car from his old high school buddy. After chainsawing the tree out of the engine bay, a tractor rescued it from the woods, where it would travel over 2,000 miles to reach its new home for restoration.
Amazingly, the structure of the car was in good shape, despite the tree trunks trapping it all those years. The interior was fair, and only the trunk pan needed to be replaced. It’s almost ironic that the trunk pan, which had nothing to do with the tree, was the part of the body in need of replacement.
The original powertrain was even recovered for the purchase. This included the numbers matching engine block, cylinder heads, carb, transmission, bellhousing, Ram Air components, and some other goodies. They even managed to recover the original hood. It doesn’t look as rough as you’d imagine after all this time as a tree ornament. We’re very anxious to hear updates from Alan, and we’ll pass those along as we get them.
Elizabeth is hardcore horsepower enthusiast with unmatched intensity for making things faster and louder. She wakes up for power and performance and only sleeps to charge up for the next project that’s heading to the track. From autocross to drag racing, Elizabeth is there with you, so stay tuned for her unique perspective on horsepower news, builds, tech info, and installs — with her, it’ll never be boring!
