What crosses your mind when you see a muscle car sitting out rotting in the elements? If you’re like us you immediately think about all the wasted potential of the car, and how you would restore it if given the opportunity and monetary means. However, sometimes when you see a particularly rare and sought after model deteriorating away, it’s hard not to wonder what set of circumstances took the car off the road, and into the pasture to rust.

Take this ’66 Pontiac GTO we found during a recent search of CarsInBarns.com. Covered in surface rust and dings, there is no doubt that the Goat has seen better days. But when you take a closer look, you’ll see that it’s still fairly complete and absolutely restorable. Even though it’s a ’66, the car reportedly has a 400ci Pontiac and 4-speed transmission under the hood, and it’s even sitting on what appear to be set of vintage aftermarket wheels. It shows us that at least some point in this car’s long life it was really cared for it.

So what went wrong? Was it a blown engine that took out someone’s cool daily driver? Maybe it was a project car that never could quite get off the ground? You can almost be assured that it’s story has something to do with a sentimental attachment and lack of funding or motivation to bring it back to what it once was.

That’s one of the beautiful things about old muscle cars; every one of them has a story to tell. So, how would you start the next chapter in this GTO’s life if you had the chance?