Pontiac GTO – Pulpaddict

1964 GTO: MUSCLECAR OF THE YEAR

1964 was all about the birth of the big-engined midsize car with youth market appeal, showcased by the 1964 Pontiac GTO: MUSCLECAR OF THE YEAR.

Pontiac called it “A Device For Shrinking Time & Distance.” Enthusiast automotive writers and magazine editors called it a “Supercar”. The “Musclecar” descriptor came later. And, from coast to coast, enthusiasts flocked to Pontiac dealers to see the new GTO, an option that breathed life into a Tempest. Pontiac – not Ford, Chevy, or Plymouth – essentially created the option that ignited the Supercar Revolution and an almost cult-like movement. The Pontiac GTO’s extensive performance, comfort, and convenience “menu” was the envy of the industry. It was the Supercar for all seasons – and reasons.

Because the GTO became an overnight sensation, fiction often gets in the way of reality when discussing responsibility for its concept and creation. Pontiac’s primary players were Pete Estes, General Manager, and John DeLorean, Chief Engineer. DeLorean’s staff included several racing enthusiasts. The concept of installing a 389-inch engine from a full-size Pontiac into a Tempest evolved from meetings DeLorean had with two performance-savvy individuals – Bill Collins and Russ Gee, who headed the Experimental Engineering Department. One of the key meetings, however, was not about creating a high-performance street car. It dealt with building a slightly longer wheelbase Tempest to replace the NASCAR Super-Duty 421 stockers that had become history!

Gee revealed that since 326 and 389 engines shared the same motor mounts, a 389 could be shoehorned into a Tempest in about a half-hour. With NASCAR in mind, Russ Gee’s team built a ’63 Tempest 389 prototype with a three-inch longer wheelbase – 115 vs. 112 inches. It worked, and it was fast. But DeLorean couldn’t find any support for stock car racing at Pontiac. All efforts shifted to creating a product that would appeal to performance enthusiasts, preferably young ones. That proved to be a far better route, resulting in their effort becoming the 1964 GTO: MUSCLECAR OF THE YEAR.

During the discussion of a unique 389-engined Tempest, Jim Wangers, above, right, who was a successful Pontiac drag racer and account executive at Pontiac’s advertising agency, McManus, John & Adams, got involved. He also had a relationship with Ace Wilson, owner of Royal Pontiac. Wangers presented youth-market-targeted GTO concepts to Pete Estes. Estes passed them along to DeLorea,n and the 389 Tempest GTO program was greenlighted. Ferrari originally used the model designation GTO – Grand Turismo Omologato – for its 250 GTO. It means that the vehicle meets the standard specifications for racing in the Grand Touring category.

STREET MUSCLE Magazine’s Jim Campisano blogs about what really made the GTO so special and successful:

The story of how the 1964 Pontiac GTO came to be is well known, as is its impact on the performance car market. What is less discussed is what made the GTO so special. Why did teenagers, 20-somethings, and even 50-year-olds get weak in the knees for a midsize GM car?

Part of it was timing. People were ready for something different. Cars had been getting bigger and bigger, and not everyone wanted the hassle of a full-size automobile. Younger people, especially the first crop of baby boomers who were getting their licenses at the time, didn’t want the same old machines their parents drove. They wanted something smaller, faster, sportier. The 1964 Pontiac GTO filled that niche. Heck, it created it.

Continue reading 1964 GTO: MUSCLECAR OF THE YEAR @ https://www.streetmusclemag.com/features/car-features/1964-pontiac-gto-what-made-the-great-one-so-special/

’68 PONTIAC RAM AIR GTO: THE GREAT ONE

Coke-bottle-restyled ’68 PONTIAC RAM AIR GTO: THE GREAT ONE, plus Royal Pontiac Bobcat editions, enhanced the GTO’s youth-market performance appeal.

Pontiac’s GTO created and dominated the Supercar marketplace in 1964 and, in 1968, was downsized and restyled. GM’s successful Supercar formula that started it all showcased a 115-inch wheelbase, two-door coupes with large displacement engines, and unique trim and badging. Downsizing reduced the wheelbase to a sportier, more appealing 112 inches. With the reduction in wheelbase and overall length came all-new long-hood, short-deck, “Coke bottle” styling. Restyling set the Skylark GS-400, Chevelle SS396, Pontiac GTO, and Oldsmobile 4-4-2 apart from each other and from crosstown competition. Each nameplate carried distinctive styling cues and proprietary engines with price points related to the division’s status in the marketplace.

Midway through the model year, Pontiac released an optional 400-inch Ram Air II engine for GTO and Firebird applications. There were conflicting power ratings for this engine of 365, 366, and 370, depending on the release date and source. We covered the first 1968 ½ Ram-Air GTO Bobcat, undergoing testing at Miami Dragway. The story, written by Roger Huntington, appeared in the July 1968 issue of Hi-Performance CARS. Drag-prepped by Royal Pontiac and driven by Royal’s Milt Schornack at Miami Dragway, the ’68 PONTIAC RAM AIR GTO: THE GREAT ONE posted times in the high-12s at more than 110 mph on 7-inch cheater slicks.

We borrowed a Verdoro Green ‘68 GTO Bobcat powered by a Ram Air II engine from Royal Pontiac, from Pontiac Public Relations. It was one of the 47-built 1968 ½ Ram Air GTOs with TH400 automatic transmissions. We had it dyno-tuned by Joel Rosen at Motion Performance, Baldwin, NY, and ran it on the street and at Westhampton drag strip, top & photo below. The engine had the new, round-port heads with 65-cc chambers, special exhaust manifolds, and .475/.480-inch lift, 308/320-degree duration cam and valve train. It was very responsive at low and mid-range on the street, and we posted consistent mid-13-second times running in DS/A. Thanks to its GM corporate license plates, we got a call from a sharp-eyed lawyer at GM Legal after the story ran in Hi-Performance CARS. It wasn’t the first time this happened, nor the last!

For more information about the ’68 PONTIAC RAM AIR GTO: THE GREAT ONE, check out Jim Koscs’ original-owner feature @ https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/1968-pontiac-gto-cemented-father-son-bond/?hashed_email=e323c71347790f699ba35a9dc01d49ac3f938885a7df6321087c8c9b4c0dd333&dtm_em=e323c71347790f699ba35a9dc01d49ac3f938885a7df6321087c8c9b4c0dd333

’64 PONTIAC GTO IGNITES THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION

There were bigger-engined and more powerful performance cars from the competition, but the ’64 PONTIAC GTO IGNITES THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION!

Pontiac called it “A device for shrinking time and distance.” Magazine writers and editors called it a “Supercar”. And, from coast to coast, enthusiasts flocked to Pontiac dealers to see the new GTO, an option that breathed life into a Tempest. Pontiac – not Ford, Chevy, or Plymouth – essentially created the option that ignited the Supercar Revolution, and an almost cult-like movement. The GTO’s extensive performance, comfort, and convenience “menu” was the envy of the industry. Enthusiasts would eventually nickname the GTO the GOAT. It was the Supercar for all seasons – and reasons.

Because the GTO became an overnight sensation, fiction often gets in the way of reality when discussing responsibility for its concept and creation. Pontiac’s primary players were Pete Estes, General Manager, and John DeLorean, Chief Engineer. DeLorean’s staff included several racing enthusiasts. The concept of putting a 389-inch engine from a full-size Pontiac into a Tempest evolved from meetings DeLorean had with two performance-savvy guys – Bill Collins and Russ Gee – who headed up Pontiac’s Experimental Engineering Department. One of the key meetings, however, was not about creating a high-performance street car. It dealt with building a slightly longer wheelbase Tempest to replace the NASCAR Super-Duty 421 stockers that had become a thing of the past.

During the discussion of a unique 389-engined Tempest, Jim Wangers, who was a successful Pontiac drag racer and account executive at Pontiac’s advertising agency, McManus, John & Adams, got involved. He also had a relationship with Ace Wilson, owner of Royal Pontiac. Wangers, above, right, presented youth-market-targeted GTO concepts to Pete Estes. Estes passed them along to DeLorean, and the 389 Tempest GTO program was greenlighted. Ferrari originally used the model designation GTO – Grand Turismo Omologato – for its 250 GTO. It means that the vehicle meets the standard specifications for racing in the Grand Touring category. Wangers was responsible for creating some of the legendary advertisements from the 1960s and 1970s, and the force behind Royal Pontiac’s ultra-performance Bobcat models, above.

GM Design created a dynamite follow-up for the 1964 auto show circuit – the tri-power GTO Flamme. Fitted with Cibie rectangular headlamps and under-fender exhaust cutouts and, of course, painted Flame Red, it debuted at the 1964 Chicago Auto Show. It was first shown with a white interior and wire wheel hubcaps. By the time I saw it at the 1964 New York Auto Show, lead photo, its custom interior was also red, and trendy chrome-reverse wheels had been installed.

Eric J. Savitz, Editor-in-Chief, GM News pays tribute to the ’64 PONTIAC GTO IGNITES THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION @ https://news.gm.com/home.detail.html/Pages/topic/us/en/2025/sep/0917-Retro-Rides-Muscling-future-1964-Pontiac-GTO.html

For more information about the ’64 PONTIAC GTO IGNITES THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION and the complete 1964 Pontiac mid-size model lineup, please visit OVER-DRIVE magazine @ https://over-drive-magazine.com/2022/12/28/1964-pontiac-mid-size-cars-fact-sheet/

The history of Pontiac’s performance years is covered in DAY ONE, https://www.amazon.com/Day-One-Automotive-Journalists-Muscle-Car/dp/0760352364/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493561421&sr=1-1&keywords=Day One by Martyn L. Schorr

1970 PONTIAC GTO – MUSCLECAR MAGIC FROM MOTOWN!

The new year ushered in bigger, more powerful engines, and a slicker, more sophisticated 1970 PONTIAC GTO – MUSCLECAR MAGIC FROM MOTOWN!

1970 PONTIAC GTO – MUSCLECAR MAGIC FROM MOTOWN!

In many ways, 1970 was the storm before the calm. The war in Southeast Asia continued casting a pall over a much-divided country and thinning the ranks of young enthusiasts. Carmakers’ racing budgets were being drastically cut and engineering resources were reassigned to prepare for restrictive emissions and safety legislation. Ponycar sales had been plummeting and would register new lows at the end of the model year.

Pontiac started it the Musclecar Revolution with the GTO in 1964 and it was still an image leader, thanks to a winged Judge and 400 and 455-inch engines. The hottest engine option was the 400-inch Ram Air IV rated at 370 horsepower at 5,500 rpm in the GTO.

We tested two GTOs, a Ram Air 400/366 Judge for the July 1970 issue of Hi-Performance CARS, and a 455/360 for SUPERCARS ’70 ½, both with Hurst-shifted four-speeds and 3.90 rears. Pontiac supplied both GTOs and we suspected that the 455/360 had been “massaged”.

Our best time with the 400/366 Judge was 100 mph in 14.45 seconds and 0 to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds. The 455/360 GTO was a GM Milford Proving Ground vehicle and ran 103 mph in 13.90 seconds. It was quicker to 60 mph, taking just 6.1 seconds. I wanted to buy that one!

1970 PONTIAC GTO – MUSCLECAR MAGIC FROM MOTOWN! A new option was the 455 HO, a 10.75-to-1 compression, long-stroke engine rated by Pontiac at 360 horsepower at 4,600 rpm and 500 pound-feet torque at 3,100 rpm. The camshaft used in the Ram Air 400 and the GTO 455 HO were the same, but the 455 HO had the torque advantage.

For encyclopedic coverage of the 1970 PONTIAC GTO – MUSCLECAR MAGIC FROM MOTOWN! Please visit https://over-drive-magazine.com/2023/03/14/1970-pontiac-mid-size-cars-fact-sheet/

’64 PONTIAC GTO & THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION

An option turns a midsize Tempest into the ’64 PONTIAC GTO & THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION, and a decade of GTO-badged high-performance Pontiacs.

Pontiac called it “A Device For Shrinking Time & Distance.” Magazine editors called it a “Supercar”. And, from coast to coast, enthusiasts flocked to Pontiac dealers see the new GTO, an option that breathed life into a Tempest. Pontiac – not Ford, Chevy or Plymouth – essentially created the option that ignited the Supercar Revolution and an almost cult-like movement. The GTO’s extensive performance, comfort and convenience “menu” was the envy of the industry. It was the Supercar for all seasons – and reasons.

GM Design created a dynamite follow-up GTO for the 1964 auto show circuit -the tri-power Flamme. Fitted with Cibie rectangular headlamps, below, and under-fender exhaust cutouts and, of course, painted Flame Red, it debuted at the 1964 Chicago Auto Show. It was first shown with a white interior and wire wheel hubcaps. By the time I saw it at the New York show, top, its interior was also red, and trendy chrome-reverse wheels had been installed.Because the GTO became an overnight sensation, fiction often gets in the way of reality when discussing responsibility for its concept and creation. Pontiac’s primary players were Pete Estes, General Manager and John DeLorean, Chief Engineer. DeLorean’s staff included a number of racing enthusiasts. The concept of putting a 389-inch engine from a full-size Pontiac into a Tempest evolved from meetings DeLorean had with two performance-savvy guys – Bill Collins and Russ Gee who headed up the Experimental Engineering Department. One of the key meetings was not, however, about creating a high-performance street car. It dealt with building a slightly longer wheelbase Tempest to replace the NASCAR Super-Duty 421 stockers that had become history!Gee revealed that since 326 and 389 engines shared the same motor mounts, a 389 could be shoehorned into a Tempest in about a half-hour. With NASCAR in mind, Russ Gee’s team built a ’63 Tempest 389 prototype with a three-inch longer wheelbase – 115 vs. 112 inches. It worked and it was fast. But DeLorean couldn’t find any support for stock car racing at Pontiac. All efforts shifted to creating a product that would appeal to performance enthusiasts, preferably young ones. That proved to be a far better route.

During the discussion of a unique 389-engined Tempest, Jim Wangers, right, who was a successful Pontiac drag racer and account executive at Pontiac’s advertising agency, McManus, John & Adams, got involved. He also had a relationship with Ace Wilson, owner of Royal Pontiac. Wangers presented youth-market-targeted GTO concepts to Pete Estes. Estes passed them along to DeLorean and the 389 Tempest GTO program was greenlighted. Ferrari originally used the model designation GTO – Grand Turismo Omologato – for its 250 GTO. It means that the vehicle meets the standard specifications for racing in the Grand Touring category.

Prior to the GTO option, the most powerful engine you could get in a Tempest was a 326-inch V-8 rated at 280 horsepower. A GTO optioned Tempest could be equipped with a standard four-barrel 389 rated 325 horsepower at 4,800 rpm or the optional tri-power 389 rated at 348 horsepower at 4,900 rpm. Both engines generated 428 pound-feet of torque. Buyers could choose from three or four-speed manuals with Hurst shifters or a two-speed automatic and limited-slip rears with 3.08 to 3.90 gearing.

Since no GM division had done this before, Pete Estes was apprehensive about how the marketplace would receive the new car. While he did sign off on producing 5,000 units, Estes voiced concern: “If Pontiac doesn’t meet its GTO sales target, it will not be around in 1965.”

Jim Wangers did not share Este’s concerns. McManus, John & Adams came up with advertising for the GTO’s launch. It was the first of many years of GTO campaigns that set the standard for high-performance car advertising. The ads spoke to young enthusiasts – and they responded. By January 1964, dealers had already taken orders for more than 10,000 GTOs, securing the model’s future. Waiting lists were growing longer each day. The GTO emerged as a huge success, with total 1964 GTO production of 25,806 hardtops and 6,644 convertibles.

Check out OVER-DRIVE magazine’s’64 PONTIAC GTO & THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION fact sheets @ https://over-drive-magazine.com/2022/12/28/1964-pontiac-mid-size-cars-fact-sheet/

To track the ’64 PONTIAC GTO & THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION, and a decade of GTO-badged high-performance “muscle”, DAY ONE has the story @ https://www.amazon.com/Day-One-Automotive-Journalists-Muscle-Car/dp/0760352364/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493561421&sr=1-1&keywords=Day One by Martyn L. Schorr