My account of sourcing a correct-date-coded power steering pump for my 1970 GTO — a six-month search that illustrates both the difficulty and the reward of period-correct restoration.

The power steering pump on a 1970 GTO carries a date code that should be within 30 days before the car's assembly date. The component is a Saginaw pump, used across multiple GM vehicles, which means there's more supply — but also more demand and more people checking dates.

The network: a call to the Pontiac-Oakland Club International connected me with a member who had a box of Saginaw pumps he'd accumulated over thirty years. Third pump in the box was correct-date. Cost me $75 and six months of looking.

This is how concours restoration works. The cars aren't rare — the correct-date components are rare.