Vintage Cars: 1965 GTO, old pontiacs, old cars

Question
How do I know I am buying a real GTO and not a lemans made up to be a GTO?

Answer
The GTO was an option package and you can't tell it from the Vin.  

The best way is to get the Pontiac Historical Services documentation on the car.

What is PHS?  Some years ago, Pontiac, unlike a lot of companies, saved their old documentation and let a few enthusiasts in the company use it to verify some old Pontiacs, mostly from the 60's, but they do newer and older Pontiacs.

http://www.phs-online.com

At some point Pontiac realized this could be a real business, and they let these enthusiasts start one using their documentation.

When you send in your money, they will send back a print-out of your actual build sheet (NOT your window sticker) from the microfilm files.  You also get a printout of what the numbers on the sheet mean, and they also highlight important options (like the GTO option and tri-power or a four-speed) to make it easy to see what you need up front.  They also usually include a new Pontiac brochure, and a black and white press photo from the past of your model of car or one similar to it.

If you are considering spending good money on an old Pontiac, and the owner doesn't have this documentation already, that is a good clue of one or both of two things:

1.  The owner is clueless and doesn't care much about old cars.

2.  The owner has a clue but doesn't have a "real" car and can't or won't produce the documentation.

Buy the documentation yourself and give the owner a copy if you don't buy the car, it is worth the money to KNOW if what you are buying is real.

Don