A few years ago we heard reports that this car was still in existence, in the Chicago area; when pressed for details the owner went back into hiding and we were not able to confirm.

K

https://i.postimg.cc/vZZ4QqR7/Palooza-01.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/NM6s8mqf/Palooza-02.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/8cXqLz5z/AAC0GTO.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/2jHps2wN/AAC1iuI.jpg

New TWA Hotel at JFK Airport. $300 a night.

Love the Connie outside the waiting area/lounge!

We had a ’68 painted like that, up around the rear window and decklid (not the hood, and did not include the extra stripe). Ours was Springmist Green with black.

My understanding is that they were experimenting with the package and trying to determine if they preferred paint or a large decal. I was told they did a red car as well, and ran into a racing buddy years later that was familiar with the red car.

Another story, regarding those “GTO” stickers on the quarter panels: ours came off the first time we ran it through an automatic car wash.

It was one of those where you get out and the worker runs the car through. After our car popped off the end of the line the worker drove it way off in the corner of the lot, where the owner of the car wash and a couple other workers congregated around it.

Dad wandered over to see what in the heck was going on.

“Van, I’ve got some bad news” the owner said, nervously. “Those little decals came right off”.

Dad paused for a minute, looking at the car, and finally said “well – I guess that means I won’t have to pull ‘em off”.

(Whew!)

One more – we took our ’68, which was our family/tow car, to a local petting zoo when I was a kid.

When we came out afterwards we noticed a bunch of people gathered around looking at something. There was an animal up on the hood of one of the cars in the parking lot.

As we got closer we realized it was OUR car: there was a goat on the hood of our new GTO.

We thought it was hilariously funny: a goat on the hood of our “goat”.

Dad did not think it was hilariously funny.*

K

*As an aside, I was probably 45 years old before I realized you could touch the painted surface of a car and not have something terrible happen.

I teased the guys in the shop when they would make me wear anti-mutilation protection (ring guards, belt protectors, etc) around the build vehicles.

"Are you kidding me?" I'd say. "I used to have a car worth more than my house!"

"Used to?" they'd ask. "What happened?".

My reply: "I got a bigger house."

;)

Road Runners were supposed to be inexpensive cars, right?


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Verne