Jeff Rink’s Blown LS-powered GTO Convertible Proves Adversity Breeds Success
Enthusiasm for specific cars is often molded by experiences while young. That’s certainly the case for Michigan resident Jeff Rink. During his early teens, he regularly cleaned and waxed his brother-in-law’s 1965 GTO. He grew to love the car and planned to make it his.
“I made him promise to give me first crack at it whenever he decided to sell the GTO,” says Rink. “I ended up buying it from him as soon as I got my driver license in 1969.”
The love affair with the Goat was short-lived. Rink owned the car only six months before it was stolen. He was understandably crushed and tried to sooth the heartache with the purchase of a ’69 GTO.
Time marched on for Rink. Other cars came and went. He married, raised children and welcomed grandchildren. And not least of all was overseeing the family business, Prestige Stamping, which was established in 1967. His passion for cars – and GTOs, in particular – never waned, but he didn’t have the time to indulge it. That changed in 2000, when Rink spied a listing for a ’65 GTO convertible that was to be run through a local auction. After a brief inspection and a few bids, he bought it. Unfortunately, he should have spent more time peering beneath the deceptively shiny Goat.
“It looked good and sounded good, but after replacing the body mount and all the suspension parts, I realized the frame was toast,” says Rink. “It was pretty disheartening to realize I’d been taken – and worse, the car would need to be completely redone and refitted.”
With his still-hectic work schedule, Rink sought someone who could take on the job and that, too, turned out to be a bad investment.
“I found a restorer near my work, but it was a nightmare,” he says. “He destroyed the car, stole parts off it and left in a heap and was just about out business when Ric’s Restorations rescued me and the Goat.”
The “Ric” in Ric’s Restorations (www.ricsrestorations.com) was Ric Vanlerberghe, who was already renowned for his very authentic muscle car restos. He was at first reluctant to take on the heap of parts that made up the remnants of Rink’s GTO, but was persuaded by the creativity of doing the project as a resto-mod.
“I knew there was so much wrong with it and it was a non-numbers car anyway, that I decided a modified car would be fun,” says Rink. “Fortunately, Ric thought the same.”
After discussing a vision for the car, the crew at Ric’s dove into the project by straightening the sheet metal, replacing the frame and completely re-doing the interior. The body looks mostly stock, but with shaved door handles and a subtle yet effective smoothing of the front bumper to replace the license plate pocket. There are also custom GTO emblems, halogen headlamps and shaved bumper bolts.
When it came to painting the body, Vanlerberghe and Rink agreed on a two-tone scheme, but debated about whether the upper color would be silver or copper. Vanlerberghe advocated for copper, but the customer won out in the end – but not before Vanlerberghe insisted on incorporating his preferred hue someone in the car. So, a copper stripe separates the black and silver sections, and it looks absolutely terrific in our opinion. It should prove to stand the test of time for years to come.
The restored body was married to a replacement frame, with enhancements that include a modified cross member, an Air Ride suspension, four-wheel disc brakes and detailed hardware throughout. It’s one of those frames that could grab trophies without a body attached to it. A set of custom 17-inch Foose wheels, wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza run flat rubber, anchors the trick chassis to the Tarmac.
Complementing the capability of the GTO’s chassis is 6.0-liter LS2 engine from an ’06 GTO. It’s been fitted with a Magnacharger Roots-style supercharger system that pushes the engine’s output to about 540 horsepower. The engine is dressed to impress with tons of polish and great-looking valve covers from Katech. They move the ignition coil packs off the covers, allowing for a custom appearance – Vanlerberghe wasted no time in painting them copper. There’s also a custom split air intake system, with the filter-tipped ends attached to the radiator core support via hinged links. It’s a nice bit of engineering that enhances the car’s high-tech powertrain.
Backing the blown LS2 is a Hydra-Matic 4L65-E electronically controlled automatic transmission, which funnels torque to a beefy 9-inch rearend that’s fitted with 3.73-geared Posi.
More late-model influences are found in the GTO’s cabin, where the custom steering wheel features functional paddle shifters for the 4L65-E, along with a custom shifter in the scratch-built center console. In fact, the entire interior is awash in custom touches, from the door panels and handles to the dashboard and reupholstered and embroidered seats from a 2006 GTO.
The gauges are trick, too. They’re from Classic Instruments, in Boyne City, Mich., and feature custom GTO insignias, but with “6.0 LITRE” references instead of the ’65-standard “6.5 LITRE” legend. It’s the type of details that abounds on this car – like the custom controls for the Vintage Air system, the GPS-based audio system, subtle gray tinted glass and more.
There simply isn’t room here to list every custom touch and that’s what we love about this GTO. The more you look, the more you see, proving that even the most challenging projects can produce outstanding results.
