What a year I've had.

[69*Goat]

If you would have told me last year at this time that 2013 would have ended up like it did, I would have laughed in your face. You see, last year at this time I was dealing (literally) with the loss of my Step-dad. This was after losing my Mom earlier in 2012 after a 12 year battle with breast cancer. I ended up being the Executor of the Estate, because my uncle (mothers brother) did not want to do it (now I know why). The Estate was settled April of this year. During the whole estate ordeal, I never once gave any thought to my GTO that had been sitting in the garage for over two years. When it was all said and done I did receive a small inheritance. After going over what we could do with the money, and realizing that I could now get my GTO upgraded to the way I had wanted it, I had a conversation with my wife. My wife had no problem with me re-doing my GTO, but asked that I keep it to some kind of budget. After a month of parts investigating, and Body shop searching, I started the transformation in May. Four months later, the Goat was done, for now. The agreed budget amount did not let me get the new 5/6 speed that I wanted, and it did not allow me to upgrade to EFI, or change the rear sway bar set-up. These will be done at a later date. I have met so many great people from here on P-T.com, and I have gotten so much inspiration from the great builds here. In November, I received a PM here from Stephen Kim stating that PHR wanted to shoot my GTO for a possible feature article. Wow talk about blown away!!! I don't think my GTO is "All that". At the end of November, I entered my GTO in Auto-rama. To my surprise, I placed in my class, against some cars that in my mind were way better than mine. This past weekend, Stephen Kim came and did the photo shoot. It was cold as heck, and I was miserable, and happy at the same time. I got a call from Mr. Kim yesterday, and he told me that my GTO will be in the May 2014 issue. Wow...Wow!!! I did 80% of this build by myself, in my garage. The paint and body work was done by a great shop, as I did not have that skill set.

Yes, what a year.

[andrewb70]

I am sorry for your loss, but it sounds like you had an amazing year!!!

Merry Christmas.

Andrew

[1965gp]

That's awesome man- I'll be looking for the spread on your car. Will he send you high res pics after the story runs?

[dragonfly jones]

How bout some more pics.

[69*Goat]

That's awesome man- I'll be looking for the spread on your car. Will he send you high res pics after the story runs?

Yes, I will be purchasing some high-res photos, but the rule is that they don't see the light of day(internet), until after the article is out.

The picture that I posted above was taken with my phone. You can see a reflection of Stephen adjusting one of his strobes in the 1/4 panel.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Awesome and congrats! You deserve it!!

[csouth]

Congrats!....I hope my Cutlass turns out have as good.