First-year 1964 GTO Convertible Steals Spotlight in SoCal

One of only around 6,400 convertible examples at ‘Rods, Rides & Relics,’ vintage GTO looks as if it just rolled out of the factory yesterday. 

A couple of weeks ago we brought to your attention the Rods, Rides & Relics car show at Southern California’s Redondo Pier. The turnout was great, and if you missed it, you missed some awesome cars! After all, it’s hard to beat a beautiful sunny day on the pier with some cool cars to turn your attention to.

For example, take a look at this 1966 Ford. No, that’s not right. 1964 Pontiac GTO!

All joking aside, auto enthusiast Dennis LeVine brought his beautiful 64 GTO out to the pier. This GTO is based on the Tempest platform but features the 389 cubic inch V8 rather than the 326. Additionally, General Motors enforced a rule stating that A-body cars could not have engines exceeding 330 cubic inches. However, the GTO was technically an option, so this allowed them to dance around the engine restriction.

Only 32,450 GTOs were produced in 1964, with only around 6,400 being convertible, making this car a pretty rare example! One can only imagine how few 64 convertibles remain in this condition.

Mated to the 389 cubic-inch V8 is a four-speed manual transmission. Cruising with the top down and rowing through gears on the Pacific Coast Highway is this car’s destiny, so it’s genuinely right at home in California.

A super-cool little attribute this particular GTO has is the original Pontiac dealer option sheet. Oddly, one of the listed options is the two-speed automatic transmission — though, that is clearly not present, as the two-speed is a column shift assembly. Additionally listed are the convertible top, power steering and of course, W62. The G.T.O Option. It’s pretty awesome to see the original order specs, even featuring the dealership it sold from.

The GTO is the first true muscle car. Regardless of brand biases and preferences, most people can’t help but be excited when they see a well-maintained classic GTO, especially with some awesome tropes and dealership paperwork on hand. It’s just hard to keep a smile off your face in the presence of one of these classics. Why not, right? They’re an important landmark of American automotive history.

Photos for LS1 Tech by Derin Richardson

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Braden Carlson

Braden Carlson is an automotive enthusiast from Boise, Idaho. At 19 he quit his day job to pursue a career in automotive journalism, launching his Youtube channel in his own name. Today you can still find him producing DIY video content, reviews and writing for an amassment of automotive websites. His work is most frequently found on Rennlist, The Mustang Source and Corvette Forum. When not writing or driving, he's likely to be found covered in grease and oil undoubtedly from one of his gratuitous collection of questionable project cars.