Deep in the heartland of west central Illinois this 1970 Pontiac can be found in ragtop configuration. While these rolling shell-type project cars don’t appeal to everybody, this one has several things going for it. The first is that according to the VIN, it’s a real GTO, and the second is that the car appears to be a little more solid than your average garden variety mid-western project car. Thankfully, the seller is smart enough to show us this in his many good photos, only a few of which are posted here.

Who would be interested in starting with a car in this stage of disassembly? A bargain hunter, for one. With finished examples of this car selling in the neighborhood of thirty to fifty grand, this one is worth investing some time and some money in to, if you’re not able to write the big check for a nice one up front.

But there’s at least one more advantage. For the man who might have a taste for a high-performance drivetrain and a particular color, and doesn’t want to “ruin” or otherwise alter a nice original car, well, here you go.

But if numbers-matching correctness is what you’re after, this car comes with it’s original build sheet. Even “nice” cars with far higher price tags often don’t come with this! It’s also my understanding that Pontiac Historical Services preserves much better records and is considerably more accommodating to the needs of the restorer than other branches of GM are.

The parts reproducers have been very kind to the General Motors A body, and lots of stuff is available for this one. The convertible-only parts also interchange with all other 1968-1972 A body cars, although the seller of this one says the top mechanism and other parts are included, even though they aren’t shown in the photos.

This photo shows how solid the top of the cowl is, which can be a real problem for GM cars of this era. This and the other photos suggest the interior color was originally blue.

The cowl tag tells us the exterior color was originally “Palladium Silver”, which would have looked great with the blue interior. I think the “B” might mean the car was originally fitted with a black top, but I’m looking forward to reading the comments from our knowledgeable readers on that one.

Another problem with convertibles, not just GM’s, but everybody’s, is floor rust. The seller says this car has some, but these shots of them don’t look bad at all.

This is the view that will greet you as this project car is rolled in to your garage for the first time. I see power steering, but no factory air.

It appears for sale here on St. Louis Craigslist. The asking price is $3,500. Now that this case has been presented to you, what would you do with it? What do you think of the price? What else can you decipher from the VIN and cowl tag? What do you think of this car? Great potential for a numbers-matching dream car, or a restomod? Or is it worthless junk because it’s incomplete? Let us know what you think.