Tom got involved with cars when he was in high school where his dad took him to a dealership to pick out his first car. Right away, he had his eye on a 1967 Chevelle, but his dad decided it would not be a good idea for a young boy to get it as their first car. Instead of coming home with a Chevelle, he got a four-door 1965 Oldsmobile. Throughout the years, he made changes to it to make it his hot rod, but having an old American Muscle car was something he always wanted.
In 2016, that’s when his dream came true when Tom bought a 1970 Plymouth GTX at the Volo Museum Auto Sales. Everything looked great on the car, but later the motor said otherwise. The previous owner installed hydraulic lifters with the wrong cam and bored to 0.60 over making it chew itself up. That’s when he took it to Westech Automotive in Silver Lake, Wisconsin that specialized in Mopars. At this time, he picked out the motor and all the performance parts he wanted to put on it. From there, he chose a 1970’s block with wider webbing and completed it with a full mechanical restoration.
While he was changing out the motor, he decided to add AutoMeter’s aftermarket gauge kit to keep the old school look interior. With many to choose from, he chose the Sport-Comp Series. Not only does he love the look of the gauges but likes that he is buying from somewhere local.
This partial restoration did not stop there. The k-member was damaged along with having a twisted frame. That’s when Tom brought it to a body shop in Libertyville, Illinois. They had the specs from Dodge to be able to put the car back to where it is supposed to be. This process took three months. Later he corrected the paint and had it ceramic coated to protect it.
With less than 8,000 of these cars built it and despite all of the changes, this was the best opportunity for him to buy the car. Today, he is involved with his local car club and drives the GTX to car shows and cruises.
1970 Plymouth GTX
Engine: 440 based stroked- stroked at 540
Transmission: 4 speed rebuilt”A833″
Rear End: Dana 60 with a 355 gear
Gauges: Sport Comp
Other: Converted to 4-wheel disk brakes
