Tom, what the hell we got ourselves into this time? In this one I’m back on the barn find 1969 GTO Judge project, and yeah… it’s one of the most ambitious, tedious, probably-long builds we’ve ever filmed. We’ve got a real-deal Judge VIN/title/paperwork, but the shell and chassis are a hodgepodge (LeMans bones, Judge guts), so the plan is to build it into what it’s supposed to be: a tribute/clone using the original Judge drivetrain and all the legit bits we’ve got. The body is stripped down to basically a shell, Phoenix blasted the underside, and Tom’s shop is where the rust war is happening. We start getting serious with sheet metal from Ames Performance—inner wheelhouses, trunk floor, quarters, window channel, rocker—the whole “buy once, cry once” deal. I like that Ames is transparent about part quality and fitment, because nothing’s worse than brand-new panels showing up bent before you even open the box. From there it’s a lot of bracing, drilling spot welds, cutting quarters, and thinking ahead so we don’t cut too much and create ten more problems. On the mechanical side, I yank the Pontiac 400 (WT code) and start investigating why the clutch was seized (spoiler: mice, and ball bearings falling out doesn’t help). I scope the cylinders with a new articulating borescope and find pitting, plus we discover missing/floating frost plugs—so the “ran fine” engine is officially coming apart and going to the machine shop for real inspection. Yay… bummer… guess we have to build it into a big monster.