It was the summer of 1967. Fourteen-year-old Larry Porteous and his twin brother, Lee, along with the rest of their family, were towing the family boat from their home in Berkeley to Lake Berryessa in Northern California. Then he saw it roar by them on the highway: a Tyrol Blue 1967 GTO. It was raised up gasser-style, looking mean and ready to rumble. He decided then and there that he had to have a GTO like that one.

See all 23 photos At a teenager, Larry Porteous and his twin brother, Lee, spotted this gasser-style GTO while on a family vacation. Two years later they would buy the very same car. Larry drove it daily for years (minus the jacked up suspension) and then decided to return it to its day-two look on the eve of his 50th anniversary of ownership.

"1967 GTO, 4-speed, 8-track stereo, 17,000 miles, and many extras" is what the ad read in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle classified Hot Rods For Sale section. "It was November 9, 1969," remembers Larry. "My brother, my father, and I decided to take a look at the car in the ad. When we got there we were blown away! It was loaded with speed equipment!" Incredibly, it was the exact same car they had seen two summers before on the way to Lake Berryessa.

Tom Masini, the man selling the car, purchased the GTO new, optioning it with a four-speed, a console, reverb speakers, and the Rally gauge package, but without power steering or brakes. A regular customer of Al Arata from Arata Pontiac in South San Francisco, he had first bought a new red 1965 GTO with Tri-power, then the blue 1967 GTO. Masini got the itch for another new GTO, ordering a 1970 Pepper Green Judge with Ram Air IV. Arata offered Masini $2,100 trade-in value on his blue GTO. While waiting for the new car to be built and delivered, he thought he would try to get a little more money for it through a newspaper ad. He said he would sell it to the brothers for $2,200, a hundred bucks more than Arata would pay for it.

See all 23 photos Here's how Larry and the GTO looked back in the day. Other than a repaint and some interior work, it remains as it was in the 1960s.

The two brothers first had to figure out how to talk their father into buying it, and second, how to come up with some money. Larry and his brother prepared a detailed list of the speed equipment on the car, complete with the retail cost of each of those parts. They then pointed out to their father that the GTO had $1,200 worth of aftermarket speed equipment on it, making the sale price of $2,200 a really good deal.

As to paying for the GTO, Larry says, "My brother and I had been saving everything we could. We gathered up all our paper route money. Plus, I sold my trumpet and my bicycle. Together we came up with $600. Our mother took out a loan for $1,600 through her teacher's credit union for the rest of the money. Dad thought it would be a fun car for the twins to share."

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See all 23 photos Larry had put all the old suspension parts in storage, but reinstalling them "proved a more difficult task than I first imagined," he said. "It was critical for the rearend setup to be precise with the welded traction bars, Panhard bar, and lift tubes under the coil springs to raise the rearend and maintain correct driveline angles. The first shop to help with this got it wrong, but I was able to have a second shop get it right. The raised gasser look isn't something that's done much these days. Not a lot of people know how to do that kind of work now. I know a raised car fights gravity in many ways, but nothing is cooler than a 1960s day-two street machine!"

The GTO's gasser-style look had been done by Al's Automotive across the bay in South San Francisco. Al's lifted the rear and installed a set of massive traction bars, as well as a Panhard bar for stability. The front spindles were cut and reverse-welded to achieve the look of a straight-axle car, but with better drivability and giving it a level stance. Goodyear Blue Streak tires, thin in the front with super-wide cheater slicks in the back, were mounted on a set of 15-inch American Racing wheels.

Legendary Bay Area drag racing specialist Gotelli's Speed Shop in South San Francisco warmed up the engine with a hot Isky cam, a Mallory dual-point ignition system, and an Edelbrock dual-quad intake topped with a pair of Carter AFB carbs. Other mods included a Hayes 3,200-pound three-finger clutch and an exhaust system with cutouts.

See all 23 photos Tom Masini, the GTO's original owner, had the legendary Gotelli's Speed Shop in South San Francisco build up the GTO's 400-inch V-8. Back in the day, Larry chained the hood closed to make sure thieves couldn't get at it.

Upgraded interior items included a wood-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel, Stewart-Warner Motor Minder vacuum and temperature gauges, and an eight-track stereo tape player with Motorola Vibrasonic reverb and four speakers.

The brothers started having fun with the GTO as soon as they got it home, but the fun almost came to an abrupt end just a month later. Larry explains, "We were on our way to pick up my older brother at the San Francisco Airport. Just as we were merging onto Highway 80 near Berkeley, we hit a puddle. The 12-inch Goodyear cheater slicks hydroplaned, sending us into a violent spin in the middle of the four-lane highway. We finally came to a stop stalled perpendicular to traffic, pointing us towards the San Francisco Bay. I hit the key and it fired back up, and we continued to the airport. That was nearly the end of the car and me! I can't believe we didn't hit anyone, but the roads weren't as crowded back then as they are now."

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See all 23 photos Among the speed parts Gotelli's put on the Pontiac mill was an Edelbrock dual-quad intake mounting two Carter AFBs and a Mallory dual-point ignition. An Isky cam keeps things lively.

Asked if he did much street racing, Larry replied, "I raced it just a few times, and I always won. I think most guys took one look at the car and how it was set up and didn't even try to go up against it. It looked pretty intimidating! One guy threatened to steal the engine, so I got a chain and padlocked the hood. I also installed a hidden kill switch. That was the best thing I ever did. They tried to steal the car five times, but they could never find the kill switch." The car never did get stolen, but Larry did lose three eight-track and two cassette stereos in the attempts.

A year later (and before the next California rainy season), all the race suspension and the huge Blue Streaks were removed and put into storage, returning the car to stock height. Although the GTO took on a slightly different personality with the stock suspension, the American Racing wheels were retained. Larry and his brother had some really good times with the GTO, driving it daily throughout high school and helping Larry get the prettiest girl at school. It also served as a tow vehicle from time to time for the family boat (a 1966 18-foot flat-bottom V-drive Hallet Hot Boat with a 392 Hemi that the family still owns). When the oil embargo hit in 1973, Larry's brother began to worry about fuel costs and wanted to sell the car. Larry still loved the GTO and bought out his brother.

See all 23 photos Other than new front-seat upholstery, the GTO's interior is exactly as it was when Larry drove the car daily.

Now with full ownership, Larry used the car every day. He drove it while in college and through dental school. He drove it to Los Angeles and commuted in it to his hospital residency program. He continued to use it daily back in the San Francisco Bay Area after he started his own dental practice. From 1969 to 1992, Larry racked up around 200,000 miles on his beloved GTO.

In 1995, he decided to repaint the car after what he said was "much mental anguish over the pros and cons of disturbing the original patina." Preservation of as much of the car as possible was the goal. Not happy with what PPG offered as Pontiac Tyrol Blue, he enlisted the services of master painter Bill Grey of Citrus Heights, California, to get the color right. Larry explains, "We were able to come up with a custom mixed Sikkens paint that was a fantastic match to the original. The underside of the trunk lid and the doorjambs still wear their original and non-faded paint that matches the new paint job."

See all 23 photos Thieves stole a total of five tape decks out of the GTO over the years, but it still has its Motorola Vibrasonic reverb.

Larry debuted the freshly painted GTO in 1996 at the Goodguys car show in Pleasanton, California. His son Lance, then 7 years of age, helped polish the American Racing wheels. The Blue Streak cheater slicks were remounted once again after being in storage since 1970. The car was a crowd favorite that day, and the local newspaper featured the GTO with a photo of Lance with the car.

Lance, now 30 and inspired by vintage photos of his dad's GTO, had been urging his dad to return the car to the gasser-style suspension it had in 1969. Since all the original performance suspension parts have been saved, and with the 50th anniversary of ownership approaching, it was refitted with the old suspension. In the spring of 2018 it was sitting high again, just as it was back in the late 1960s when Larry first saw it thundering down the highway as a kid.

See all 23 photos The Blue Streaks went into storage in 1970 when Larry removed the lifted suspension (after a scary freeway spinout). They rejoined the GTO when it was raised again.

At a Glance

1967 GTO

Owned by: Larry Porteous

Restored by: Owner; Bill Grey, Citrus Heights, CA (paint)

Engine: 400ci V-8

Transmission: Muncie M22 close-ratio 4-speed manual

Rearend: Chevrolet 12-bolt with 3.90 gears and Positraction

Interior: Black vinyl bucket seats with console

Wheels: 15-inch American Racing

Tires: P225/70R15 Goodyear front, 8.00/8.20-15 Goodyear Blue Steak cheater slicks rear

Special parts: Isky race camshaft, Edelbrock dual-quad aluminum intake manifold, twin Carter AFB carburetors, Mallory ignition, Hayes 3,200-pound three-finger clutch, Chevrolet 12-bolt rearend, rear traction bars with Panhard rod, cut and reverse welded front spindles

See all 23 photos Just before Larry turned 16, his father gave him this GTO's Unlimited patch, which he promptly sewed on his denim jacket. Given the careful way he's kept the GTO over the years, it's no surprise that he still has the jacket, too.

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