The Pontiac GTO was the first true muscle car, a gas-guzzling, tire-smoking beast built when oil was cheap, the roads were open and no one gave a damn about fuel economy or emissions. Such a car is an anachronism these days. Unless, of course, you convert it to run on natural gas. That’s just what a pair of Alabama gearheads have done with a ‘66 GTO, and they’re taking it on a road trip along historic Route 66.
A lot of people would consider messing around with a cherry GTO blasphemy, if not punishable by death. But Mark McConville and Keith Barfield said it makes perfect sense. “There’s a perfect storm brewing out here in our country with concerns about the environment and dependency on foreign oil. It’s a perfect time for our country to reevaluate our fuel sources,” McConville told Wired.com.
The only part of the car that isn’t original is the engine. It’s a 1973 455 cubic-inch block punched out to 469. Of course it’s got the works: Nunzi four-bolt main caps, forged dished pistons, ported and polished big-valve heads and a reworked ’66 Tri-Power carburetor system. Even if you have no idea what any of that means, you can look at the car and know one thing.
It’s awesome.
Yeah, but why natural gas?
McConville was driving a gasoline/CNG hybrid from California to Alabama, where he planned to add it to the growing CNG fleet at his company, Airport Express, when he came upon a handful of bikers at the Wigwam motel on Route 66. They were from Spain. He realized people from around the world were enjoying a piece of Americana more than he was. With a love for the historic highway and a 1966 Pontiac GTO sitting at home, McConville had an idea, but with a twist: converting the Goat to natural gas. McConville, 50, called his longtime friend Barfield, 52, to share the idea. Barfield, as the logical thinker of the pair, wanted to check for parachutes before allowing his friend to jump.
“I wondered if it were even possible with the GTO’s tri-carb setup,” he said of the CNG conversion.
It is. And with some help from from Dave Leivestad, founder of Carburetion & Turbo Systems, McConville and Barfield made the conversion in two weeks using a handful of Impco parts. Impco says it’s the only tri-carb CNG vehicle on the road. The trickiest part of the job was reducing the tank pressure from 3,500 psi to 2 psi. They tackled that with a three-stage phase regulation system.
So how does she run? She purrs. In fact, she’s got a meaner exhaust note. The engine took a 20 percent hit on power, but we’re guessing there’s plenty to spare. “I want it to run on the center carb alone for the trip. Its more efficient,” McConville told us. That’s when Barfield chimed in, “the outer two carbs are for when you smoke the tires.”
When all was said and done the conversion cost around $4,000. The big-money items in a CNG conversion are the gas delivery unit — in this case, the carburetors — and the storage tank. If you’re skeptical about natural gas stored at 3,500 psi turning your car into a new-age Ford Pinto, don’t be. CNG tanks are tested and rated to exceedingly high standards.
The guys plan to hit the road in June and arrive in Los Angeles on July 4. The one sticking point in the trip will finding natural gas pumps. Of course they could tap into residential natural gas service but that calls for a compressor. Residential service comes in at 50 psi versus the required 3,500. And with a range of 300 miles, there are some holes in the route between Detroit and Los Angeles. The only options they have as far as transportable compressors would require an overnight stay, killing their schedule. They’re open to suggestions.
No matter what happens, the trip is on and the car will keep rolling. It’s their call for independence from foreign oil, the creation of new jobs and the reduction of our carbon footprint.
“The solution is not going to come from above,” McConville told us. “It’s going to come from the people down below that say, ‘Hey, that makes sense to me. Why aren’t we doing that? Can I do this to my car?’”
It may not be the answer, but it’s an answer, and a cool one at that.