Teh Hound's Goat

[Huckleberry]

I figured I would create a thread for my GTO. I'll update this once I get the pictures off my old Photobucket account, since Photobucket has spent the last few years threatening to shut my account down unless I give them mah monies, which I'm not keen on doing. Basically, this is the first build I did, which took place back in 2012-2013.

The car when I started:


The car from a show I attended a couple weeks ago:




I'll fill in the gaps shortly.

And I'm still working on the 944. Routing the AC lines has been a bit tricky.

[MexicanYarisTK]

Looks dat looks clean with

Needs 944 pics

[MrH42]

[Tar]

LS in a sedan is my favorite shit. If gas were cheaper here I'd have a keen eye out for an SS in a cool color.

[Huckleberry]

LS in a sedan is my favorite shit. If gas were cheaper here I'd have a keen eye out for an SS in a cool color.

I wanted an SS when they were out, but they really weren't in my price range until GM threw the 20% discount on them. It was then that I couldn't get one with a since they flew off the lots in record time. The used prices are in the stratosphere now, so I'll probably never own one. It's just as well since it would have to be my daily, which would require driving it during the salty winter months. Plus, averaging 27-28 a tank in the GTI is rather . The 6/72 warranty is pretty , too.

[Melon]

GTO was originally the target, but I got the C5 instead.

[wap]

[Tar]

LS in a sedan is my favorite shit. If gas were cheaper here I'd have a keen eye out for an SS in a cool color.

I wanted an SS when they were out, but they really weren't in my price range until GM threw the 20% discount on them. It was then that I couldn't get one with a since they flew off the lots in record time. The used prices are in the stratosphere now, so I'll probably never own one. It's just as well since it would have to be my daily, which would require driving it during the salty winter months. Plus, averaging 27-28 a tank in the GTI is rather . The 6/72 warranty is pretty , too.

My R is a bit of a pig already, i need to consider moving towards something more efficient next round. The SS would need to be a bargain for it to work. I love the package, would even consider an automatic so the wife can get around in it, which basically makes it similar to a Charger/300 without the stigma you guys speak of.

[D Griff]

GTO was originally the target, but I got the C5 instead.

Same. Back in 2014 everyone said GTOs were $10K all day long. It turned out that was and at $15K it wasn't much of a stretch to just go for a Corvette.

Always loved GTOs

And agreed that SS is epic, but too rich for me

[Huckleberry]

I wanted an SS when they were out, but they really weren't in my price range until GM threw the 20% discount on them. It was then that I couldn't get one with a since they flew off the lots in record time. The used prices are in the stratosphere now, so I'll probably never own one. It's just as well since it would have to be my daily, which would require driving it during the salty winter months. Plus, averaging 27-28 a tank in the GTI is rather . The 6/72 warranty is pretty , too.

My R is a bit of a pig already, i need to consider moving towards something more efficient next round. The SS would need to be a bargain for it to work. I love the package, would even consider an automatic so the wife can get around in it, which basically makes it similar to a Charger/300 without the stigma you guys speak of.

For me, the SS is only intriguing due to the . Otherwise, I would 100% pick a Charger over an auto SS simply because the Charger comes with the fantastic ZF 8 speed.

[Huckleberry]

GTO was originally the target, but I got the C5 instead.

Same. Back in 2014 everyone said GTOs were $10K all day long. It turned out that was and at $15K it wasn't much of a stretch to just go for a Corvette.

Always loved GTOs

And agreed that SS is epic, but too rich for me

The people saying that were also buying GTOs that came with dead heroin addicts that needed to be swept out of the back.

I do find it interesting how the GTO has not held its value like the other V8 Holden vehicles have. Even the G8 GT prices are dumb for what they are.

[MrH42]

I've had quite a bit of seat time in a manual SS. Honestly, I wasn't a huge fan. It's a GIANT car. Clutch was really non-linear. It had one of those funky assist springs that made it feel like garbage. For a car that big and heavy, I think I'd actually prefer an auto. Especially since I didn't think it was a particularly good manual. Maybe I'm spoiled by S2000/BRZ/Miata, but it's heavy, inaccurate, feels like a tractor.

[Tar]

I've had quite a bit of seat time in a manual SS. Honestly, I wasn't a huge fan. It's a GIANT car. Clutch was really non-linear. It had one of those funky assist springs that made it feel like garbage. For a car that big and heavy, I think I'd actually prefer an auto. Especially since I didn't think it was a particularly good manual. Maybe I'm spoiled by S2000/BRZ/Miata, but it's heavy, inaccurate, feels like a tractor.

That's not the experience that I imagined I would have drivingan SS for the first time, but agree that a car like that might as well be an auto. Sounds kind of meh now.

[CaleDeRoo]

I've had quite a bit of seat time in a manual SS. Honestly, I wasn't a huge fan. It's a GIANT car. Clutch was really non-linear. It had one of those funky assist springs that made it feel like garbage. For a car that big and heavy, I think I'd actually prefer an auto. Especially since I didn't think it was a particularly good manual. Maybe I'm spoiled by S2000/BRZ/Miata, but it's heavy, inaccurate, feels like a tractor.

That's not the experience that I imagined I would have drivingan SS for the first time, but agree that a car like that might as well be an auto. Sounds kind of meh now.

Consider the cars he's comparing it to, and the fact he doesn't need a daddy mobile. His shifter issues (my friends who owned them didn't express them the same way) are likely fixable for under $500 on the aftermarket. Get the 3 pedals my dude.

[CaleDeRoo]

Huck probably drove 3rdgenfans

[Huckleberry]

Huck probably drove 3rdgenfans

I actually didn't. I did take one out on an extended test drive when they were new, though. The stock SS shifter is lightyears ahead of the stock GTO shifter. That pile of garbage was like churning butter with a rope. Replacing that shifter was basically the first mod everyone did.

[Melon]

My R is a bit of a pig already, i need to consider moving towards something more efficient next round. The SS would need to be a bargain for it to work. I love the package, would even consider an automatic so the wife can get around in it, which basically makes it similar to a Charger/300 without the stigma you guys speak of.

For me, the SS is only intriguing due to the . Otherwise, I would 100% pick a Charger over an auto SS simply because the Charger comes with the fantastic ZF 8 speed.

I like the SS for it's sleeper ability, to most it's an Impala or Malibu.

[D Griff]

That's not the experience that I imagined I would have drivingan SS for the first time, but agree that a car like that might as well be an auto. Sounds kind of meh now.

Consider the cars he's comparing it to, and the fact he doesn't need a daddy mobile. His shifter issues (my friends who owned them didn't express them the same way) are likely fixable for under $500 on the aftermarket. Get the 3 pedals my dude.

Yeah they are cool. I mean, it is not going to come close to an S2000 or even a Corvette, it is a huge pig, but it is a pretty damn sweet huge pig if you need space and comfort for whatever reason.

That said, I've never driven one... so

[Huckleberry]

I guess I should start with a little background before delving into the project. I suppose I am a bit of a late bloomer when comes to the car hobby. Most guys boast about how they grew up with cars or they always had some infatuation with them. That wasn't really the case for me. It wasn't until my later high school years when I started to garner an appreciation for things with four wheels and an engine. Growing up, my parents never had any cool vehicles. The driveway was always filled with one Dodge Caravan, and next to it was a Neon for a few years before getting exchanged for a Stratus. At one point, my dad wanted to get an Impala SS when they were brought back in 1994, but somehow decided that a full-size sedan wasn't practical enough for a family of five, and subsequently came home with a shiny new Caravan. These were dark times.

As a result, I was later to the party than most. Sure, my dad would randomly show up in his grandfather's old 63 Plymouth Fury sedan with a beat exterior and a musty interior, but I have no idea where he would go to conjure it up because it did not reside at the house, and before I even got to the age of even knowing what it was, the car was put to pasture. Quite literally, as it was left to rot in a field for twenty-odd years until I was randomly asked if I wanted it one day. My response was, "No." But, in high school, that question was far away. Instead, I was more concerned with learning to drive stick. So, after graduation, and a wreck on my way to a friend's graduation party, I bought a used 2002 Stratus coupe with a 5 speed. Could I drive stick at the time? Nope, but no one I knew had a stick and was willing to teach me, so I settled for the option of "learn it or bust."



The R/T coupe was cool. It was a coupe. It was a stick. It was red. It also handled like dogshit, ate front rotors, and had wheels that would bend if you said "uneven surface" too loudly. So, after a year or so, I started looking at replacing it with something that was a little sportier, but I wasn't quite sure what to go with. I looked at the all-new 2005 Mustang GT, and that didn't do it for me. I looked at the Chrysler Crossfire, and that didn't do the trick, either. I went to the Subaru dealer to look at the WRX and was told to come back with "mommy or daddy" and they would let me drive one around the parking lot. I told that guy to go fuck himself. And, finally, I came across the Pontiac GTO. Being a late teen and getting behind the driver's seat was no easy task, but once I took one out, I was hooked. I had to have one. The problem was that I was a college student with a student's income. Well, a slightly above-average income, which allowed me to spring for Yuengling instead of Milwaukee's Best. But still, there was no way for me to afford one of these brand new. The stroke of luck came in that sales were abysmal, so the discounts were steep. As a result, these things depreciated like a BMW in the used market, knocking one year-old cars with mileage in the teens down from the mid-30s to the low-20s. So, in 2006, I had enough money saved for a down payment and was able to purchase a used 2005 GTO with 16,000 miles on the clock.






This car was my leap into being a gearhead. It was the first vehicle I had extensively modified, it was my introduction to the car community, and it was the basis for some friendships that have continued to this day. For a few years, I attended and hosted numerous GTO gatherings. I would travel places to assist with modifying other people's GTOs. Much like how I learned to drive stick, I learned how to wrench by turning bolts on my own car. If I wasn't driving it, I online reading, and if I wasn't online, I was at a gathering. And during all of that, the car slowly became uniquely mine.












The meets were a blast, with some shenanigans even making waves across the internet. If anyone remembers streetfire.net and the video of the black C6 spinning out on the highway that lived on the site's front page for weeks, that was at a GTO meet. And as I said, some lasting friendships resulted from these gatherings. Most notably, this GTO was how I met Geoff (3rdGenFan), as he also took advantage of the undesirability of the GTO and picked one up at a young age. Here's him and I claiming the highways for ourselves:



I even managed to sneak this bad bitch onto the boardwalk car show at Wildwood. I probably shouldn't have been able to do so considering that I simply just drove onto the boardwalk and idled along the crowd until I found an open spot. No one stopped me either day, so I would simply park and continue to nurse my hangover. Wildwood held their Irish weekend at the same time they held their car cruise. So, it was cars in the day and drinking in the evening.


But one fateful night in October of 2011, the car gods looked upon me and said:

[wap]

[D Griff]

5/7 story so far man! It is always fun to hear about journeys to becoming car people. My parents had lame ass cars as well (including a Caravan and Grand Voyager), I think more due to financial restraints than anything else. I was the youngest kid and when I left the house, my dad bought a Citroen DS out of the blue. He claimed that he had wanted one since being stationed in Germany in his twenties in the 1970s but was never able due to . Funny, he must've buried that deep down, never even mentioned it.

Anyway, if you have lasting friendships in the GTO/car world, try to get them on DFD! And get Geoff back.. I feel like this place is slowly dying.

In4more Goat shit

[D Griff]

I also bought a red coupe (1997 Civic) to learn manual at age 17. My dad drove it home for me, rode with me for like 10 minutes, determined that I "got it" and then sent me on my way, claiming the only way to learn was to just go drive.

[wap]

I also bought a red coupe (1997 Civic) to learn manual at age 17. My dad drove it home for me, rode with me for like 10 minutes, determined that I "got it" and then sent me on my way, claiming the only way to learn was to just go drive.

I learned on my mom's 1979 Chevette. God, what a piece of that car was.

[Desertbreh]

I also bought a red coupe (1997 Civic) to learn manual at age 17. My dad drove it home for me, rode with me for like 10 minutes, determined that I "got it" and then sent me on my way, claiming the only way to learn was to just go drive.

I learned on my mom's 1979 Chevette. God, what a piece of that car was.

Not too many stories about Dad's Miura on this forum.

[wap]

I learned on my mom's 1979 Chevette. God, what a piece of that car was.

Not too many stories about Dad's Miura on this forum.

Nope. Closest I've got to that is the second car I drove, around the same time that I learned on the Shitvette, was my brother's X1/9. Dat mini non-exotic exotic.