The body has been removed from the rafters and placed onto a cart.

Body Tag

• 03A                – 1^st Week of Mar.
• 66-24207        – 1966 2-Door Sport Coupe
• PON-25          – Pontiac, MI
• 223-3              – Trim : GTO Black Interior
• Y-Y                 – Paint : Candlelight Cream Upper / Lower
• W                    – Soft Ray Tinted Glass
• 2K                   – Air Conditioning
• W                    – 2-Speed Automatic
• G                     – Console

VIN#242076P2…

• 2          – Pontiac
• 42        – GTO
• 07        – 2-Door Post
• 6          – 1966
• P          – Pontiac, MI
• 2          – 8 cylinder                  #52188

The trunk pan required replacement, as did the gas tank straps, rear body mounts, and rear wheel tub lips.

Although difficult to discern, patch panels were riveted over the body mounts and in several other areas around the floor. These patches were then coated with trunk paint. Unfortunately, these patches trapped water, accelerating the process of rust formation.

A three-panel trunk was purchased before my involvement with the car and will be installed. The panels are currently loose on top of the old floor.

Here are some close-up shots of the riveted patch panels before the floor was cut out. Interestingly, I didn’t have to remove the driver’s side mount; it came out with the floor.

The inner and outer rear tub lip were repaired, and a new panel was fabricated to replace the lower splash. The tank straps were positioned, and the body mount was set in place and welded. At this stage, I’m still awaiting the trunk splash panels, so I couldn’t complete all the welding just yet.

The passenger side was marginally better, suggesting that the car may have leaned towards the driver’s rear over the years. The rear passenger tub was repaired, the tank straps were positioned, and the body mount was set and welded into place.

There were numerous patches, and it seemed like the tunnel had been worked on with a can opener at some point. Given the extent of damage, it would have required considerably more effort to repair than to replace the main floor. After straightening the floor pan somewhat, it was mounted to the frame. Now, it’s prepared for the body to be lowered with the hoist.

After addressing the body mounts, the next task was to deal with the surrounding trunk metal. It seems the driver’s rear corner had been sitting low, resulting in some corrosion in that area.

The splash panel was extracted, the corner was excised, and the splash was fitted, drilled, punched, and welded into place. Subsequently, the rear valance piece was custom-fabricated to match the cut-out area.

Bent using a brake, shrunk to fit the arch, punched, and then welded.

The passenger side splash panel was also replaced.

The floor pans were marked, drilled, and punched accordingly. The surrounding area appears significantly improved.

Both sides required some attention to the front corners of the trunk pan above the axles.

On the passenger side, a piece of galvanized metal was siliconed and riveted over the body nut.

The nut had become dislodged, likely during disassembly, judging by its appearance. After cleaning and painting the area, a new nut was welded in place. Additionally, a new front floor corner and lip along the inner tub were fabricated.

A cover plate was custom-fabricated to fill the hole and address the rust damage.

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