June 25, 2010
I had wanted a modern GTO ever since they were new. Since my budget just wouldn't allow it when they were new, I had to defer my dreams for a few years. I have always shopped GTOs for sale and when I saw this Brazen Orange GTO on Craiglist, I sent a link to my wife not really thinking anything would come of it. Her response was, "Are we going to drive up and get it this weekend?" I honestly was shocked! She expressed that I had been driving older cars for years and that we could afford to get a newer car for me to drive. I have the best wife ever!
The car was about four hours away so we planned a day to go look at the car. The plumbing in our house had other ideas with a clog in our sewer drain that day, so I had to cancel the trip. The idea of missing this car and a good price on a GTO drove me nuts. I arranged to actually take a check with me and scheduled to look at the car the following Friday, June 25, 2010.
The day finally came and we set off. When we exited I-29 at Dell Rapids, South Dakota I called the seller and he directed me to his family's home where he would meet me shortly with the car. While my friend Bob and myself were waiting for the seller to arrive with the car, we looked over the project cars sitting outside on the property. There was a '64 El Camino with an older flamed paint job about 100 feet away so I suggested we go look at it. As we approached the car, sitting in the bed of it was a Brazen Orange GTO front fender and it was mangled! I was furious and worried that the car for sale was a fixed wreck which was never brought up in our discussions about the car. Shortly thereafter, the car arrived and it was absolutely gorgeous!
After some quick introductions, my first direct question was about the fender we saw. He laughed and said that the fender belonged to the FIRST orange GTO he had owned which had been wrecked by his brother-in-law and that the car I was looking at had never been damaged. Whew!
Well, long story short and after a thorough inspection and test drive, we did a little paperwork, he got a check, I got a car payment and a new '06 GTO to drive home!
Rich's Torrid Red 2004 GTO page
Please e-mail me with any questions at