Muscle Car Review – September 2019

RIDING A TIGER

16 SEPTEMBER 2019

25 -Year

The Results Speak for

Themselves

Editor’s note: Michael Mancini is the

driving force behind two restoration busi-

nesses, American Muscle Car Restorations

and Instrument Specialties, both based in

Rhode Island. The notes he wrote to ac-

company John Machaqueiro’s photos of

his GTO were so complete, we turned them

into this story.

A

s early as I can remember, I

was exposed to the car culture.

My father, Lee, and my Uncle

Jack would take me and my

cousin to swap meets, car shows, and

junkyards on a regular basis. They always

had an interesting project going on, and

that started my love affair with muscle cars

and hot rods.

In 1993, when I was 12 years old, I found

the car of my dreams, a 1967 Pontiac GTO

that belonged to a friend of my father’s.

Little did I know at the time, but it would

take nearly my entire life to this point to

By Michael Mancini

Photography: John Machaqueiro

fully restore it to perfection.

I remember vividly the evening I tagged

along with my dad to go help his friend get

his old car running. The storage garage

where the GTO was kept was small, dark,

and very cramped. I remember sitting in it

while the work was being done, just in awe

of the GTO.

I knew I had to have the car someday,

or one like it. I begged my father over the

next year to buy the car so that we could

restore it together. When his friend had to

move and could no longer store the GTO,

my dad made a deal to purchase it.

With little room at home, we continued

to store the car for a year or two until we

built a new garage at home and the resto-

ration could finally begin.