It all depends on what you start with. His car was all original, even had goofy factory hub caps. Also, he lucked out because his brother owns a body shop in Yreka (where he now resides - his home town). So cosmetics were very reasonable.

I had two '70 Judges. The first one I bought from this very same buddy (before he got the '69). It was near perfect, and I paid $3,250 for it in 1976. I picked up another one - all original except it needed paint - for $1,400 in 1977. Sold the first one to still another close friend for about what I paid for it (though a few years later). The second one, which I had done very little to beyond maintenance, I sold for $5,700 in 1987. Wish I had both of them now! They only made 3,720 Judges in '70, versus 9,600 in '69, so those '70s would be worth a bunch more than a '69 (both were "Orbit Orange" as in "Two Lane Blacktop" and the intro to "Berretta").

Now days, it's a bold move to do a restore on any old musclecar. Base cars to restore are ridiculously over-priced IMO, and parts are insane. And people forget that those cars (most of them) were pretty trouble-prone even when they were new, and maintenance labor-intensive. Not so much the GTO Judge, but highly sought-after cars like the '69 Z/28 - solid lifters, so you got to mess up your engine compartment every 1,000 miles or so to adjust the valves (I owned several "back in the day").

Anyway, you can end up dumping tens of thousands into a restore, even if you do most of it yourself. I don't intend to get back into it since I sold the Pantera a few years back. I'll be looking at these new retro Mustangs, Camaros and Challengers (the latter two supposedly coming next year, and the Challeger looks nearly identical to the original - with a Hemi!).

My only problem with my current mindset is that I've retained all this knowledge about the old cars, along with mass quantities of tools that rarely get used anymore. I'm sure I still could rebuild an old Holley 780 Model 3310 in about half an hour! (standard carb on most Chevy and Ford musclecars, like the Z/28, Boss 302/351, 428/429 CJs, 427s - Ford and Chevy, etc.). What a waste! LOL

IMO, best take your soon-to-come PTSC riches and buy what you want already done. Shop a lot. Verify it's the real deal (there are a lot of fakes out there, and liars asking top dollar). Try to find someone that owned the real thing and drag him along. Emblems are cheap! I once encountered a guy trying to sell a '69 Camaro with Z/28 emblems on it. It had so many things wrong it was pathetic. Wrong engine, auto trans (not available in '69), no gauges, 10-bolt rear end - not 12-bolt, mono-leaf springs, no disc brakes, etc. I confronted the guy with facts and he wouldn't back down - still demanding way too much and insisting it was a Z. I felt sorry for any ignorant sucker that came along.... Your '69 GTO could turn out to be a Tempest with a 350 and a powerslide!

Hope this helps!

SGE