Don Stellhorn’s 1964 Pontiac GTO could be called Beauty and the Beast. Though outside it’s all flashy paint with a show quality shine, inside it’s all business, and this car is made to go.
After buying the car for $1,100, Don and his dad set out to restore and build a car that Don could learn to drive in, but as Don’s interest in racing grew, he soon began to push the limits.
Unfortunately, the limits pushed back, and Don wrecked the car at nearly 80 mph after loosing the breaks going into a turn at Summit Point Motorsports Park in West Virginia.
Faced with the decision to scrap the car and call it a day or rebuild from the ground up, Don decided to build the car the way he had always dreamed, and ended up with the masterpiece you see before you.
Featuring three-piece one-off wheels from Complete Custom Wheel (the suspension what literally build around the wheel choice, instead of the other way around), a beefed up braking system to prevent repeat mishaps, a fully customized suspension system (Don took a job at SLP just so he could play with their metal working toys), a hand built body that Don himself created (everything but the roof and the quarter-panels is new), a full roll cage, 430 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque from the 455 cubic inch, and a custom Muncie M-22 transmission, this goat is made to race.
And race it he does, as Don himself says, “Some people are surprised that I race it because the car is so nice and would be hard to fix if it were wrecked. I may have a few moments in the pits or on the line where I worry about the car, but once I’m out on the track, my mind is on the race. If you took my pulse right now, it would probably be higher than when I’m racing.”
Well there’s no surprise here Don, because if I had a car like that, I don’t think you could drag me off of the track either.
