Nothing makes Fred Romero happier than cruisin’ the open road, with the top down, sunglasses on, in the driver’s seat of his 1965 Pontiac GTO. This is where Romero can relieve his youth.
"Back in high school you couldn’t afford it," says Romero of his dream car. "You say, ‘when I can I will get one,’ and this is what I wanted. I told my wife that when I can afford it I was buying a car and she told me to dream on."
And Fred did dream on until he finally found his beauty all the way in Pennsylvania. Even that distance wasn’t enough to stop him from owning a piece of nostalgia.
"my buddy and I went and got it."
A collector of classic cars, Romero has nine in total. And while they are beautiful now, they don’t always start off that way. Romero shares that it takes time and money to keep his beauties on the road. Restoring the GTO was a process.
"We got back here and tore it all the way down and rebuilt it again."
Romero says that It took three years from start to finish to complete the car.
"It was a piece at a time. You piece it together, this piece doesn’t fit and you have to order another piece. You have to find a place that’ll give you a part…especially if you want it original."
No matter the time or the money, however, Fred says he’s going to keep on restoring and collecting for as long as he can.
