The Pontiac GTO Is Iconic for Many Reasons
The Pontiac GTO is one of those cars everyone knows, and for good reason. It helped kick off the muscle car craze in the ’60s, and its impact is still felt long after the original left the scene.
With a name like that, you just know someone had to give it the restomod treatment. Enter Ringbrothers and their latest wild idea: Billie. This one started out as a humble 1965 Pontiac Tempest Convertible before getting the full transformation.
Ringbrothers, based in Wisconsin, has a reputation for going all-out on their builds. These are the folks behind the 805-hp Aston Martin DBS-based Octavia, just to name one. Now they’ve set their sights on Pontiac muscle, and the result might just be the wildest GTO we’ve seen.
This project ate up more than 5,500 hours, packed with metalwork, fabrication, and some serious engineering wizardry.
Ringbrothers
A Wider Body and a Thoroughly Reworked Interior
The first thing you’ll notice is the bodywork. Ringbrothers stretched the car five inches wider, gave it reshaped front fenders, beefed-up rear quarters, and longer rocker panels. Carbon-fiber doors and a bunch of custom panels round out the look.
Jim Ring says the team obsessed over getting the lines just right, making sure the mods looked natural and not overdone. With a car like the GTO, keeping that classic shape is half the battle.
The whole thing is finished in a custom color called Billie Goat Blue, with shiny chrome and black accents. Custom bumpers, a billet aluminum taillight panel, and a carbon-fiber diffuser with built-in exhausts complete the package.
Inside, it’s just as wild. The dash is pushed four inches forward and dropped two inches for more space up front. You get new aluminum trim, a digital display, and even the original radio reworked with Bluetooth.
One quirky touch: the custom shifter is inspired by an olive wood espresso portafilter. It’s a weird choice, but somehow it works with the hand-built vibe.
Ringbrothers
Supercharged V8 Power and Modern Underpinnings
Under the hood, there’s a supercharged 6.2-liter LT4 V8 from Wegner Automotive, good for 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft. That’s a massive jump over anything the original GTO ever dreamed of. All that power goes through a Bowler 10-speed auto. Ringbrothers even built a custom exhaust with Flowmaster bits, so it sounds as mean as it looks.
Underneath, Billie sits on a Roadster Shop Fast Track Stage III chassis with FOX coilovers and six-piston Brembos. HRE G-Code wheels – 19s up front, 20s out back – are wrapped in sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s. All this should make Billie handle way better than any stock GTO, especially with all that LT4 muscle under the hood.
If you’re hoping to buy Billie, you’re out of luck – this one’s headed to a private owner after its 2026 SEMA Show debut in Las Vegas. No word on price, but with over 5,500 hours sunk into it, you can bet it wasn’t cheap.
Ringbrothers
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