One thing that I’ve come to realize in my years as an active hobbyist is that each day comes with new adventures. I have been a member of the PY Online Forum since it was originally created by Performance Years in the ‘90s. And one evening in mid-July 2017 while making a routine forum visit, a surreal experience occurred. Let me provide a bit of backstory.
My grandfather, James V. Rotella standing in front of his new Rotella Texaco filling station on South 24th Street in Omaha, Nebraska in 1947.
My grandfather, James V. Rotella was a performance car enthusiast. Born in 1911, he had a natural inclination for all things mechanical. He once took apart the engine of his parents’ Model A Ford just to see how it worked. My grandfather raced cars, owned a number of gas stations, and became a professional mechanic. He was also known for his ability to super tune the vehicles that local bootleggers used to outpace the authorities during prohibition. He flew C-47s for the Civil Air Patrol during WWII and went on to sell new Buick’s during the mid-to-late ‘50s. He eventually retired as a Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy—a job he was recruited for after being hired on as a mechanic at the Douglas County garage.
At the beginning of nearly each new model year, my grandfather would order a new vehicle. He always considered resale value. He added the optional gauge package to monitor engine vitals, but by not over-equipping them with convenience options he kept initial purchase price low and that also allowed him to price it reasonably when selling to ensure it sold quickly. And he always tried selling them while still in their current model year to maximize value. Since his vehicles were immaculately kept and in perfect operating condition, many times he would have a buyer or two already lined up to purchase his vehicles when it was time to sell. Otherwise he’d advertise them in the classifieds section of the Omaha World Herald.
A lifelong performance car enthusiast, my grandfather was 68 years old when he ordered and took delivery of a new '79 Corvette.
Like most everyone else tuned into performance during the early-60s, my grandfather was aware of Pontiac’s resounding success on the circle tracks and drag strips. Pontiac became the marque to own for those with a youthful mindset. My grandfather was no exception. He was very interested in what Pontiac was doing. And further pushing him toward that was my father, James M. Rotella—a young teenager during the early-60s.
My family’s first Pontiac was a ’65 LeMans 2-door sedan (or post coupe). My grandfather ordered it through Stan Olsen Pontiac in Omaha and he took delivery in early November. It was Mayfair Maize with gold interior and had a basic 326 2-barrel and Hurst-shifted 3-speed manual transmission with center console. “I was 15 years old when he ordered the car,” my dad told me. “I tried pushing him toward the GTO, but he felt that the big V8 would burn too much gas. He chose the LeMans with the small V8 instead, and since the LeMans shared the front grilles and tail panel trim with the GTO that year, it looked so much like a ’65 GTO that many people believed it was.” My grandfather listed the LeMans in the classifieds section in July 1965 for $2,375 and ended up selling it to close friend.
The original ad my grandfather placed in the Omaha World Herald when selling his '65 LeMans in July 1965.
America’s love affair with the GTO was in full swing by 1966. It didn’t take too much effort for my dad to convince my grandfather that they needed a ’66 GTO. “The GTO was everywhere by that point,” my dad told me. “He knew how much my friends and I were talking about them. He recognized that the GTO had greater resale demand when compared to a LeMans, so he stepped up to the GTO for ’66. I was 16 years old at the time and having a new GTO was a really big thing.”
My grandfather ordered a 2-door sedan GTO from Stan Olsen Pontiac and it was delivered in October 1965. It was Burgundy with red interior and equipped with the standard 389 4-barrel and a Hurst-shifted 3-speed manual transmission with center console. My dad remembers that the GTO was fast, and he also told me about how he got the manual-transmission shifter linkage hung up between first and second gears and had to limp it home. My grandfather wasn’t happy about it, but he showed my dad how to quickly repair it. As much as my grandfather liked the GTO, he listed it in the newspaper for $2,595 in May 1966. It sold in a matter of weeks.
The original ad my grandfather placed in the Omaha World Herald when selling his '66 GTO in May 1966.
When my grandfather decided to sell the ’66 GTO, he told my dad that they’d order a ’67 GTO that fall. Another visit to Stan Olsen Pontiac produced another 2-door sedan in Signet Gold with black interior. It was equipped with the basic 400 4-barrel and a Hurst-shifted 3-speed manual transmission. This time he omitted the center console from the order to increase interior space and also because he believed the Hurst shifter poking through the transmission tunnel looked racy. To increase fuel economy, particularly since he and my grandmother frequently road-tripped, he opted for the economy rear axle ratio, which netted 3.08:1 gearing. Consequently, my grandfather later said that ratio also helped him edge out other cars, including other GTOs in top end contests on the highway.
The ’67 GTO was delivered in late-October 1966 and family photos indicate that my grandparents were in Southern California with it by November. In fact, he used that trip to break it in. My dad was a senior in high school at the time and he would occasionally let my dad take the GTO out on weekends. My dad shared many stories about that car. One of those was when a friend rear ended him while they trolled through a popular drive-in restaurant hangout one evening. The impact left a small dimple in the GTO’s rear bumper. My grandfather wasn’t happy about it, but the blemish wasn’t large enough to warrant replacing the rear bumper. By that fall, my grandfather had a buyer waiting for the GTO and he sold it. His consecutive string of new Pontiacs ended there (temporarily!), however, as the newly-restyled ’68 GTO was a bit too wild for his taste. A ’68 Ford Torino GT replaced it.
The only image that exists of my grandfather's '67 GTO was this photo of him, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother on their trip to Southern California. The handwritten note on the back states that it was taken November 1, 1966.
Like any nostalgic hobbyist, I often wonder what became of all the vehicles that my grandfather, my dad, and I have owned. Sentimentality can force some to seek out a former car, and they go to great lengths to locate it. In most instances I am more interested in quelling my curiosity of their whereabouts as opposed to actually hunting them down to own them again. I hoped that someday I would come across my grandfather's LeMans and/or one or both of his GTOs. I had no way of identifying them beyond knowing how they were equipped. My only hope was that one would pop up at a local car show. Nothing ever panned out though.
Then one evening while reviewing new posts on the PY Online Forum, a private message notification popped up on my screen. The note was from another forum member who had saw on my bio that I lived in Omaha, Nebraska. He was originally from the area but had moved south long ago. He casually mentioned that he had a ’67 GTO sedan, which he bought in Omaha in 1980. Wait, a ’67 GTO sedan from Omaha?! I couldn’t type my reply fast enough!
In July 2017 I received this private message from another member of the PY Online Forum. He had a '67 GTO 2-door sedan that he purchased in Omaha.
I asked if his GTO was originally Signet Gold and if it had any of the specific equipment my grandfather had ordered. Sure enough, he came back explaining that it was indeed gold with black interior and had been equipped with the base 400 and 3-speed manual trans—both were missing. It was still equipped with a 3.08:1 axle, however. When he bought the GTO in 1980, it was well used. The body had been repainted over the years and remained in decent shape for its age, but it needed to be completely gone through, and he intended to do exactly that.
The current owner supplied this photo of his Signet Gold '67 GTO, which together we determined to be the same car that my grandfather originally ordered.
I responded that I was in awe of the similarities and was reasonably sure that it was my grandfather’s original ’67 GTO. He agreed, but we both remained skeptical simply because neither of had definitive proof. I looped my dad into the conversation and the pieces started falling together as he recalled the convenience options that my grandfather ordered. The owner obtained a copy of the GTO’s original billing history card from PHS Automotive Services and he shared it with us. It confirmed all of its original equipment, its late-October build-date, and that it was originally delivered to Stan Olsen Pontiac in Omaha, Nebraska. We were convinced that this had to be my grandfather’s GTO!
PHS Automotive Services supplied the current owner with a copy of the GTO's original Billing History card. Once we learned that it was produced on October 20, 1966 and sold through Stan Olsen Pontiac in Omaha, we we’re almost certain this was my grandfather’s GTO.
Then came the final piece of the puzzle. My dad described to the owner the small dent on the rear bumper that occurred some 50 years ago. The owner sent back a picture of the GTO’s bumper, and low and behold, there was that dimple, exactly where my dad recalled it!
The red arrow that I added to the photo that the current owner sent me points to the rear bumper dimple that occurred when my dad was driving the GTO in 1967.
Of all the Pontiacs that my grandfather, my dad, and/or I have owned over the years, I never would have expected that the ’67 GTO that hadn’t been in our family for more than a half century would resurface in a happenstance manner like this! The current owner purchased the car in 1980 while in his teens and because of his long history with it, he doesn’t expect to sell it. And I honestly have no qualms with that. To me, just knowing that one of my grandfather’s original Pontiacs still exists today is equally as fulfilling because it gives me hope that others may be out there, too!
Have you ever found a Pontiac that you or a member of your family once owned? Please share your story with us!