How To: Build Your Own ’65 Pontiac GTO out of a Le Mans

July 2020 • By Tony Thacker with Jaydee Maness

Introduced in 1964, the Pontiac GTO is generally regarded as the first real American muscle car. Of, course, it was preceded by cars such as the ’49 Olds Rocket, the ’55 Chrysler Hemi 300, the ’56 Plymouth Fury, the ’61 Chevy Impala Super Sport and the ’63 427 ci Mercury Marauder but nevertheless, the GTO is generally accepted as the first big-engined, mid-size car aggressively marketed to the youth sector.

Production ’65 GTO. The license plates says GR RRR! Photo courtesy KingRoseArchives.com

The infamous John Z. DeLorean is credited with being the creator of the GTO, which in our book stands for Gran Turismo Omologato that would be Italian for grand tourer homologated. That said, the GTO was a Tempest Le Mans option, it didn’t become a stand-alone model until 1966.

At the time, GM had a corporate ban on engines larger than 330 ci in their mid-size cars, however, it was discovered that the ban could be conveniently circumvented by ordering the big-engine option. Hence a 389 where a 326 used to reside and with a standard 4bbl it produced 325 or with triple Rochesters 348 hp. By the time GM corporate realized what was going on they had sold 5,000 cars and there was no way to stop the train. Besides, it was money in the bank.

Fully loaded a GTO was about $3,800 while a Tempest Le Mans was about $2,500 (according to Car and Driver magazine). In fact, one of the funniest asides was the March ’64 cover of Car and Driver magazine that depicted a Ferrari GTO being chased by a Pontiac GTO—it was a spoof comparison test.

Enter Jay Dee Maness, owner of a nice, original ’65 GTO, who came home in 1987 and said to his 18-year-old son, Jaydee, “Hey, I found a nice Le Mans on the side of the road in the Valley.” (Jay Dee played at the San Fernando Valley’s legendary Palomino Club for many years). “It’s outside a market at Devonshire and Sepulveda. We should go look at it and build you a GTO.” For those who have not heard of him, Jay Dee senior is one of the most prolific steel guitar players in the world. He worked with many of the greats such as Eric Clapton and did the music for the Duke’s of Hazzard TV series among many other TV shows and movies. He’s also a car guy.

Well, father and son bought the ‘Valley doll’ and paid $1,500 for a ’65 Le Mans with a 2-bbl and an auto trans. “Dad already had a ton of parts that he’d stashed over the years, as if he knew this moment would come, and ever since we’ve been gathering parts to turn it into a GTO,” said Jaydee.

“We built the Tri-Powered 389 30 years ago and it’s been sitting patiently waiting to go in the car even though we moved house a few times. Of course, the car passed from garage to garage over the years. Dad and mom stored it for years and my sister Marji and her husband Dan had it for quite a few years while I started my business in the garage at my home. Also, my wife Denise put up with it and did laundry around it for years. I thank them all. 

“We pulled the body and stripped it down to a bare frame gradually working our way through the process. However, we did upgrade a few things to make it more driveable in modern traffic. For example the stock front drum brakes were upgraded with discs from Ames Performance Engineering (amesperf.com). The 15-inch Rallye 1 wheels also came from Ames although they are actually Vintique items and replace the 14x6-inch factory rims, as we wanted a wider tire look.

“Something not factory is the exhaust system that has an X-pipe section as we wanted to improve the flow by equalizing the pressure and thus improving performance. I made the flanges and gaskets and Aaron Cranford at Ace’d bent the stainless pipes and put it all together using stainless Flowmaster mufflers.

“Everything else on the car is OEM, NOS or was on the car from day one,” continued Jay Dee, “for example, all the glass is original that we had polished like new. The front and rear screens, however, are new—the originals were too far gone.”

When it came time for body and paint Jaydee turned to MicksPaint.com in Pomona, CA. “Body and paint is not our forte,” said Jaydee, “and we wanted the best and Mick and his team did a fantastic job.”

“Meanwhile, Kelly Cox at Steve Strope’s PureVisionDesign.com was a huge help. He detailed all of the trim after it was chrome plated; he painted all of the black on the taillight and headlight bezels, center console, grilles and also restored the original license plates. He did an amazing job and this car would not be what it is without his help. That said I did make the license plate frames. There was no Van Nuys Pontiac so I milled them in my shop and had Kelly paint them to look original.

“Building the car with my dad was a great experience,” said Jaydee, “we enjoy the time together and I feel very fortunate to have a dad who shares my passion. In fact, we both own ’32 Ford Deuces that we built side by side. He has a Tudor sedan while I have a hiboy Roadster. We count ourselves pretty lucky to share our passion.”  

Vehicle:  1965 Pontiac Le Mans/GTO
Owner: Jaydee Maness

Powertrain
Engine: 389 Pontiac
Intake: Rochester Tri-Power
Exhaust: Aaron Cranford IG @acedautoworx
Transmission: Muncie 4-speed
Shifter: Hurst

Interior
Upholstery: ThorsenCustom.com using PUI factory-correct covers
Carpets: Gabe’s Custom Interiors
Dash: JustDashes.com
Instruments: RedLineGaugeWorks.com
Plating: ShermsPlating.com
Trim detail: Kelly Cox
Paint: MicksPaint.com
Color: Custom mix by Jaydee

Wheels: Ames/Vintique15 x 7 front, Ames/Vintique15 x 8-inch rear
Tires: Diamond Back Redline (dbtires.com ) 225/60R15 front, 245/60R15 rear

Brakes: AmesPerf.com