Deanz Rodz & Race Carz

Somethings are so cool, You have to keep them secret . This project is, without a doubt has to be the coolest thing we could ever be involved with. Take a car in a complete secrecy and rebuild it and then do it all in an insane amount of time . Sit back and enjoy this ride .You know its like reading a book . Because the ending will blow your mind  . Hmmm...

Gathering The Objective

Somewhere in the USA was this car that once belonged to ........ ....... ( Aint I a shit) . Guess what ? Your getting it back buddy .You deserve it  !!!!!

Vital Stats

1970 Pontiac GTO

400 ci /Turbo 400

12 bolt posi

Owner ... The luckiest man on the planet with the coolest business partner that you could dream of..

 Getting Totally Overhauled

Day 1. We started this with a frenzy after a 17 hour drive and about 100 gallons of fuel burnt. And what a frenzy by Day 3 we where here.

So now the cool part .

The GTO was delivered to Maas - Powdercoating Unlimited in Bloomington Illinois (1-309-820-1444 ask for Greg )   www.powdercoatingunlimited.com

They have a cool new system for blasting a body . They bake it like my kid bakes cookies .Burn the crap right out of it and then soda blast it.When done it looks like its 1970 all over and a brand new shell is rolling down the assembly line. Neat thing is they also are powder coating all the frame and suspension every bracket every thing that we could powder coat we did. I got a sneak peek today from the powder coaters of the body in between the bake oven and the soda blast and this process has surprised the hell out of me. It is amazing just how clean the process is the yellowish dust is all the undercoating, paint, body filler and plastic and its just dust one sweep with your hand and underneath is clean bare steel and just a light soda blast and its good to go. I was kinda leery about heating a body up like that but its done so gradual it doesn't warp at all. I'm definately doing it this way again. Its all very similar to a thermo-immersion circulator that they use in restaurants for cooking food for long periods . Anybody want some baked Goat ?

Back in Black

With all the pieces now back from powdercoat we are set to reassemble the GTO from the ground up . Nearly every part laid out for a photo op along with the first 37 boxes of parts delivered . The first day of turning bolts right instead of left is day number 19 and approximately 20 % of the deadline eaten away .However day 19 is also a day of some good eating too as for some mysterious reason a fed-ex truck delivered a heapin helpin of fine foods to feed the crew. I will explain later I cant give away the ending too soon

 Righty Tighty

Day 19 ( or so i'm loosing track ) was spent putting parts back on the GTO's frame .. Murphy's Law prevailed in the early hours of the day with parts not showing up on time and the like but about 10-11 hours later we had all the steering in and the passenger side front suspension in . Any part that had any sign of use was replaced . Ball joints , Tie rods ,Drag Link , Every bushing , Steering box , Brakes , Bearings and Lines .You name it , its new .
 Day 20 ( I Think )

We had another dent in the parts pile today by hanging the rear suspension and running brake and fuel lines today .. Here's a lesson for all you restoring a GTO ... Put the fuel lines in before you install the front suspension unless your hands are the size of a 6 year olds you cant get the lines in without losing a few ounces of flesh . I had someone comment about the shine of the black , Its not gloss it is the correct semi gloss semi flat that was factory but for some reason the cameras flash makes it appear to be glossier . So to all the perfectionists out there relax . This cars not out to a 100 % authentic restoration . Breathe deep the worlds not coming to an end ! P.S they are stainless lines and its powdercoated not paint. That will get me more emails .

41 Year old with a body to die for..

I wish my body was in this good of shape, when I was 41 . Actualy from the age 40-41. I was in the worst condition I could of ever been in. The GTO's body is all stripped down and ready for some TLC .There is so little rust its amazing . Dana and his cousin Jeremy are as I type driving back from Tulsa Ok, with a new 12 bolt posi ( real 12 bolt ) and a new tail panel . I need to throw a thank you, out to Steve Phillips at Phillips Muscle Car parts for saving our ass with those 2 parts ..  www.phillipsmusclecarparts.com  The tail panel and a 6x10 inches of pinholes in the floor are the only rust spots in the car ..most of the GTO's issue are K-Mart rash and a rough area where the passengers quarter panel had been replaced previously . I spent about 6 hours hammer and dollying last night to remove nearly all the creases and dents . Theres a few holes to fill in one fender and a few in the firewall to fill as some of the orginal relays and such are deleted thanks to the new wiring harness and the use of Fatmat instead of Jute .When all is done this GTO should be as quiet as a church mouse between Fatmat and a complete firewall to tail undersealing back thats not likely between the engines growl and our hard rocker reciepent's music blaring .This GTO's going offend some ears!
  Getting a little tail .....

Dana and his cousin Jay did a marathon trip from Central Illinois to Tulsa Oklahoma to get the replacement tail panel. Less than 7 hours later the panel was trimmed to size and welded in. Today the focus is a small group of pinholes in the passenger side floor which appear to be from condensation from the A/C leaking onto the carpet . Fix that and then the undersealing begins then off to finish body work and paint hopefully tomorrow .

 Red Heads have more fun.

Rod Stewart sang blondes have more fun but it seems to me that red heads do or at least did. The GTO's pathetic orginal 12 bolt O axle rear end,  had died a brutal death . Just a wild hunch here, But I think the GTO's early retirement came at the end of a monsterous burn-out. To ensure that the heavy right footed mullet headed previous owner can't do this again we gave the GTO some reinforcement in the from of a true 12 bolt from a 1970 Big Block Chevelle . To help increase the size of the hole in the Ozone layer and to aid in the destruction of tire rubber, It was fitting that it was packed full of 4:10 gears and a refreshened posi . This GTO's gonna pass everything but a gas station . And since we are on the red theme .

  Live to Spray another day.

Tom Saathoff, Dustin Devore and Nick Stamm of Saathoff Paint and Body got the dusty end of the GTO. Tom and his crew did the final body work and the paint. Dustin is a painter with some sick skills with air brush as well as a spray gun . Tom is a bodyman, who somehow knew a lot of GM's history, Without knowing the GTO's correct color myself, It didn't take long searches on the internet or VIN number verifications .Tom said right off,in 1970 GM used Cardinal red or Cranberry red . A VIN number search by New York's Keith Goggin nailed it as Cardinal red . Nick Stamm is the youngest of the Saathoff crew at 16 years old and works for them after school . For some reason this GTO is a magnet for 16 year old boys .

Hamster Wheel.

The GTO's power comes from a 409 cubic inch Pontiac, That is the work of circle track engine builder Terry Simmons, Terry owns Simmons Racing Engines of Flanagan Illinois 1-815-674-0344 will get you get you in touch with him .Terry was one of the big hour brigade spending hundreds of hours on the GTO. Terry usually builds high rpm 750 hp race engines. This time we had to tie his hands a bit, so with the demand the the GTO be able to produce vacuum but be enough to make you smile . We ended up with a nice 385 hp Ram Air 3 spec engine with 10.75: compression . Not overkill but healthy, couple that with a built turbo 400 and 4:10 gears, its sure to make our mystery man smile. Somehow Terry managed to hid from the cameras which amazes me considering how many were here and how long he was here at the same time.           
On again off again relationship

Now that's an ironical paragraph header, The GTO's body has been on and off its frame more times in its 41 years than Liz Taylor's been married. Once upon a time this GTO had her fair share of separation issues we added to the batch by reinstalling the body on the frame at Saathoff's , Bringing it back to our shop and going to town installing Fatmat sound deadener and as much of the light weight components as possible so that we could still lift the body off again to install the engine and transmission . This to many may sound crazy. But when you are working to this kind of deadline, it is actually quicker to simply remove a few body mount bolts and carry a 650 pound body shell 30 feet away.
Getting atop of things

The GTO's vinyl top was among some of the work of another area hot rod builder . John Wargo of The Custom Shop www.customshop.org was another one of the big hour brigade. Working here some nights to 1 am. John even brought some of his own guys over in the last few hours to ensure the GTO's completion in time between tweaking fenders and doors and bringing pizzas for all without Johns help we would been sunk.     

Mad house marathon . 

We are now at 7 days to the returning point . And this is where the days got longer and longer . The phone rang more and the heat got turned up . Depending on the time anywhere from 3 to 17 people were here working around the clock reassembling the GTO . Parts were being over-nighted in right and left some companies came through like heroes some wanted us to sweat it out and worry and one simple didn't care if we got the parts or not . When the deadline became increasingly scary. My go-to guy from New York came to work for us . So just how important is a car that a Wall Street Trader jumps on a plane flies in gets a rental car and drives to Tamraz Auto parts in Plainfield Illinois the drives another 100 miles here ? This build was so important that Keith Goggin did exactly that . Keith gets here throws on a sweat shirt and dives in with the rest of us . When people are going to this extreme there's a damn good reason why. To add fuel to the fire we also had cameras being pointed at us all questions being asked and friendships being made . You see , We all knew the secret and soon you shall too .

(D)elivery Day 

The last 48 hours became an insane amount of pressure and it showed more on me than anyone . The last thing I wanted was the GTO not to be in Chicago on Thursday March 3rd . 61 days from when we picked up the GTO to when we surprised her owner . And we almost didn't make it. Remember that company that didn't care . Well they were the only ones who of all the 3000 or so pieces needed to restore the GTO that didn't come through . In 61 days approximately 4000 man hours was put in by 12 or 13 unpaid working people with day jobs . So why did we do it Explanation Point !

The reason for the insane build (61 Days) breaks down to one nasty brutal disease and one man who took it like a champ and kicked its ass up and down the street and showed it who's the boss , Cancer . The man who this car for is none other than Americas number 1 Chef Grant Achatz . On March 3rd 2011 Grant's book " Life, On the line" was being released . The book details Grant Achatz's battle with Stage 4b Squamous Cell Carcinoma , His life in Michigan and his rise to the top and becoming the very best but the books continuous reference to the 1970 GTO that Grant restored with his father Grant Sr, starting when Grant was 14 years old and being completed when he was 16 . The GTO was a father son bonding that all kids should get to experience . Grant's business partner and co-author Nick Kokonas was the secret instigator of this surprise . Nick and my friend Keith Goggin are partners in the legendary Alinea restaurant . www.alinea-restaurant.com The number 1 restaurant in the USA . Hence how the job of rebuilding the GTO came to me . The whole surprise was revealed at a fund raising book release party with the proceeds going to University of Chicago's Cancer Research Center . The videos and still photos of the GTO's rebuild were spliced to together along with orginals  in this video           www.vimeo.com/20607378     As Grant and a couple hundred of others stood inside watching the video being played on the wall of the gallery we madly polished the GTO outside on the street a block away . As we pull up the video ends we are quickly over-run by a couple hundred people as the exit the gallery with Grant . After almost 20 years Grant is re-united with his prize GTO . The event was filmed and photographed by numerous media outlets and by every person with a camera or cell phone .. The look on Grant's face made the whole totally insane over the top build the single most satisfying car I have ever built . Without the help of the people listed below I would of never been able to pull this off . So to these people to follow . Thank you for all your help, your sweat and your patience . Grant thanks you for helping bring his car back to him but I am also very thankful for all your help through everything that went right and what went wrong at the same time. Thank you all. Dean
 Grant Achatz

Grant Sr (L) Nick, Grant Jr (R)

Grant Achatz on his 16th birthday     now do you get the red head pun ?

Grant's Book Release Party Pictures

Grant Achatz (L) Nick Kakonas (R)

Dana all dressed up .Tyler just over his shoulder
  Tom Saathoff (center) Barbara Achatz Grant's Mom ( right)

Dustin Devore (left) Nick Stamm (center) Julie Saathoff (right)

Keith Goggin

Who's who

There's no order here in who ends up in here . Its simply who is here at the right time .

Dave Friedman. Transmission Guru

I have known Dave for many years and he has built several transmissions for me and I consider him to be Central Illinois's answer to Art Carr.     Dave owns Friedman Automotive in Gridley Illinois . Dave's the king of bad ass transmissions.  1-309-747-2087 will get you his ear. Dave built the Turbo 400 for the GTO in his off hours , if there is such a thing . Add a few tweaks here and there a shift kit for good measure . Stir in some bad ass clutches blend well and serve in an amazingly detailed case and this neck snapping tounge biter is going to roast some tires. Sounds like a reciepe for good times. And Dave even delivers . Well for me he does.
James Stewart . Wrench Turner

James is another of my long time buddies . James and I spent about 15 years working together at Caterpillar. James is a veteran of the first Gulf war and is an Army trained mechanic and is one of them guys that you can set your watch by. He's a rare breed of guys that shows up reguardless of the project wether its pouring concrete , trimming trees or rebuilding a GTO. This is one guy I could never say a bad thing about. Okay just one. He's a lousy welder and he knows it but thats okay because he has me weld everything for him anyway. Ahh just teasing .

 Dana Alwes . Wrench Turner #2

Dana is another person that used to work with me at Caterpillar . But nowdays Dana and I spend our days building monster trucks, GTO's and driving from one side of the USA to the other picking up cars on new years eve .Dana was the king of the big hour brigade and was right there when my phone rang asking me if I would do the build . My cheap shot at James welding skills was all in fun. But when it comes to Danas welding skills, Heres where I will take off my hat, Well my baseball cap ( Trust me I am never capless) Dana is the only person I have ever met who's welding skills are equal to or exceed mine. Dana jumped into the GTO project with no hesitation at all and when we couldn't get the GTO delivered in time. Him and I went and got it.  Now that was  one marathon road trip!
Tyler. Apprentise Picker Upper.

I have gotta throw Tyler in here for being such a good sport . Tyler is Danas illegitimate grandson . (he's not its an inside joke) Tyler tagged along with Dana on the weekend and we put him to work. Every snotty job we could think of we gave him and at the end of the day he asked if he could come back again the next day and do it again . Tyler stripped seats swept floors and scrubbed parts down. How cool could it be, To be a 16 year old gearhead and spending your free time rebuilding a 1970 GTO ? And why does that comment seem to be relevant ?Randy Schwatz . Captin Electron

Randy is another one of my longest friends and like many others date back to my days at Caterpillar. Randy's background is in avionics and was a electrician on flight simulators for the US Air Force . Camera shy as hell he dodged the camera so well the only pics we got were of the back of his head but somewhere i will find one of him . Randy is the god father to my daughter and is my personal fixer of all things that spark and arc.

Keith Goggin

The primary instigater of this whole ordeal was this man .A New York trader by day and 24/7 total gearhead .Anytime I had a GTO question Keith was the man to ask . If he didn't know he knew who to ask .Keith had a blast getting dirty rolling around under the GTO and playing gopher . Not too many people would go as far as he did . Keith flew in from New York to spend the last couple of days helping with what ever needed done . Now as the smoke starts to clear I'll be turning my focus back on his OldsKool project