Customer Showcase - 1966 Pontiac GTO Rear Window Channel / Inner Sail Repair

35 Years ago Gene Chaplo purchased a dented and rusty 1966 Pontiac GTO with the goal of making it a nice driver – which he did. As a master technician for VW/Audi, Gene is currently on his 3rd restoration of this car which has been his daily driver and ultimately his strip car. This GTO has been caged with a 4 link and 9” rear end added. The Pontiac roller motor is filled with a Scat crank, GRP rods and Edelbrock heads – all serious enough to produce 1.287 sec 60’ foot times using a trans brake.

Why the third restoration? Well in 2013 on a hot lap after a wheel stand a tie rod end broke sending Gene and the GTO into the wall. Gene was OK and the car not terrible hurt, but it provided the motivation to take the car off the track and really “fix it right.” So after fixing the right fender, quarter and door Gene contacted Belden Speed & Engineering for our rear window repair channels to resolve the rust which had been patched, but not resolved over the years.

His quarter channels were the worst with the rust progressed outside of the channels and up into the inner sail panels. Rust had also moved into his roof channels, so he purchased the 4 piece rear window channels set (6667-DS & 6667-PS rear window quarter channels and 6667-RL & 6667-RR rear window roof channels) and began his installation.

The Belden Speed & Engineering channels come pre-punched for plug welding to the B-Pillar inner structure (quarter channels) and the roof brace (roof channels). They are also primed with etch-weld primer which saves prep time for your installation. And to aide your installation we provide step-by-step written installation instructions with pictures.

Gene’s workmanship is evident and with the metal finish and body work completed, the rear window area is good as need and ready for paint once all his other restoration work is complete – and then it’s time to get this GTO back on the track!