[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

im not sure how far back fred simmons was messing with the sheets (i didnt meet fred until after jim took it over), but back in the late 70's i just randomly called pontiac headquarters and asked about any info i might be able to get on my 70 trans am and they transferred me to a guy named carl klessic (cant remember now on the spelling). he was super nice and said he really didnt know but would see what he could find out. he called me back and said he found paperwork on my car and he and i became very friendly to the point thru the 80's i would call his office and his home phone with a vin and he would call me back and tell me if a car was a real one. he also introduced me to john sawruck. in the mid/late 80's i let tim dye know about this service and he posted it in the poci (if i remember correctly) magazine which then overwhelmed them and they shut it down. then came jim mattison who managed to work out a deal with them and it became PHS services. the rest is history.

Carl Klessic - I know that name, too.

K

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

How we got our First GTO

Ok, so its the fall of 1963 and Dad is now the proud owner of a brand new 1964 GTO.

Well....I use the term "proud" loosely. This car had the worst paint job of any production vehicle that he had ever seen in his life. It had little flecks of dirt in it and globs of some kind of black stuff that wouldn't wash off. It also had poor adhesion, and if tape was applied the paint would come right off when you attempted to remove the tape.

Although grateful to not be stuck with a total loss, Dad went back to see Dick Jesse to complain. "Dick" he said "I'd be embarrased to drive this car; it needs a total repaint".

Dick wasn't sure the factory would cover a totally new paint job but said he would make some calls. He contacted the factory rep, Carl Klessick*, and Carl agreed to paint only the problem areas. Dad was to take a small piece of masking tape and stick it over any spots needing repair.

Dad did as he was told and drove the car over to Carl's office. Carl came down to the street, only to find this '64 GTO COMPLETELY (!) covered with masking tape. I think Dad said he used a whole roll to cover the car. Carl approved a total repaint - at the factory and at their expense - right then and there.

After the car was painted it was taken back to Royal and one of the new car prep guys put a real nice "Blue Coral" wax job on it. When all was said and done it was a very respectible looking automobile.

After doing his own "Royal Bobcat supertune" job on the car (similar to post #61 of this thread: "The Gasket Story") Dad was having good success with this car as well. It was also never defeated in B/S class competition and, legend has it, the first GTO here locally to run in the twelves.




*I'm sorry, I can't remember the last name for sure and couldn't find it in my notes.