Customer Showcase - 1970 GTO Windshield Channel Replacement

The year was 1972 and Jack Hudson was doing what every red-blooded American with a 1970 Chevelle SS did – he was lined up against a 1970 GTO at a drag strip. As it turns out, the driver of the GTO was to become his wife and over the years he has kept her, the GTO as well as his SS Chevelle!

The story continues to get better as this GTO was the first car he ever painted and was the beginning of a 42 year career as a professional body man and painter. While the car has remained in the family, life happened and the car got parked in April of 1982 and has been largely neglected for the past 36 years… until now.

Early on the original 400 engine was replaced under warranty, but the car retains its original Turbo 400 and 10 bolt rear. The 455 decals were applied when Jack painted the car a second time and the plans now are to return the car to its original color.

The condition of the body was quite good, with the exception of issues around the vinyl roof. With it stripped off Jack found rust in the top windshield channel as well as in the trunk filler panel, but all else was in surprisingly good shape.

Jack contacted Belden Speed & Engineering about our top windshield rust repair channels for the Pontiac A-Body and purchased the 6872-DSWLD & 6872-PSWLD channels to begin his repair. As you can see, the rust was extensive, but after cutting out the rusted channels and scribing in the new channels the repair became seamless. Jack’s skill is apparent here and is now ready to replace his trunk filler panel.

The future is bright for this 1970 GTO and it will get a bit faster. The plan is to install a worked 400 that was pulled from his Nephew’s 1971 GTO that ran 13.80’s with a 3.55 rear and also swap the 10 bolt for a 4.10-equipped 12 bolt.