How to Restore Your GTO: 1964-1974 (NONE)
The thing I liked most was the information given about the product and the history. What was sad was reading how Pontiac almost died in , but the ending was sad too. I like the fact the author left no details out.
It gives a fresh perspective too. I did enjoy the spread of photographs too. I would like to see more books like this on other GM cars from the past that are legendary.
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Temple December 19, The photography is also great. Each model year is well detailed. Don Keefe even provided accounts of the Pontiac X show cars and answered questions I had regarding what became of them. This book should be in the personal library of any Pontiac enthusiast.
Great detail, a must have for any GP enthusiast. By ItsSupercharged on November 28, This book is a delight for any Grand Prix enthusiast. This makes a great coffee table book, and can also serve as a reference book to some extent. Pontiac Concept and Showcars Brief Description: Pontiac and the Motorama Cars Chapter 3: Dawn of the Muscle Car Chapter 5: Pinnacle of the Muscle Car Wars Chapter 6: An Automobile Industry Redefined Chapter 7: Pontiac Winds Down Reviews of Book: Selecting a Project Chapter 2: Body Assembly and Alignment Chapter Electrical Reviews of Book: Coming to Market Chapter 3: The Second Generation Chapter 4: Redefining the Luxury Performance Car Chapter 5: Setting Sales Records Chapter 6: GM redesigned its A-body line for , with more curvaceous, "fastback" styling.
Overall length was reduced 5.
The signature hood scoop was replaced by dual scoops on either side of a prominent hood bulge extending rearward from the protruding nose. A unique feature was the body-color Endura front bumper. It was designed to absorb impact without permanent deformation at low speeds. Pontiac touted this feature heavily in advertising, showing hammering at the bumper to no discernable effect. Though a rare option, a GTO could be ordered with "Endura Delete", in which case the Endura bumper would be replaced by a chrome front bumper and grille from the Pontiac Le Mans. This model year further emphasized the curvacious "coke bottle" styling, as viewed from the side.
It included freer-breathing cylinder heads, round port exhaust and the cam. Horsepower rating was not changed, although actual output was likely somewhat higher. Another carry-over from was the 4-piston caliper disc brake option. While most models had drum brakes all around, this rare option provided greater stopping power and could be found on other GM A-Body vehicles of the same period.
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Another feature was concealed windshield wipers, hidden below the rear edge of the hood. They presented a cleaner appearance and were another Pontiac first for the industry. Another popular option, actually introduced during the model year, was a hood-mounted tachometer, located in front of the windshield and lighted for visibility at night. An in-dash tachometer was also available, but the hood tachometer became something of a status symbol.
Redline bias-ply tires continued as standard equipment on the GTO, though they could be replaced by whitewall tires at no extra cost. A new option was radial tires for improved ride and handling. However, very few were delivered with the radial tires because of manufacturing problems encountered by supplier B. The radial tire option was discontinued after Pontiac did not offer radial tires as a factory option on the GTO again until the model.
Hot Rod tested a four-speed standard GTO and obtained a quarter mile reading of Motor Trend clocked a four-speed Ram Air with 4. Testers were split about handling, with Hot Rod calling it "the best-balanced car [Pontiac] ever built," but Car Life chiding its excessive nose heaviness, understeer, and inadequate damping. The model did not have the vent windows, had a slight grille and taillight revision, moved the ignition key from the dashboard to the steering column, and the gauge faces changed from steel blue to black.
In addition, the rear quarter-panel mounted side marker lamps changed from a red lens shaped like the Pontiac "V" crest to one shaped like the broad GTO badge. By this time, the gross power ratings of both Ram Air engines were highly suspect, bearing less relationship to developed horsepower and more to an internal GM policy limiting all cars except the Corvette to no more than one advertised horsepower per ten pounds of curb weight.
The Ram Air V was introduced in It was a special block with newly designed high compression tunnel port heads and a special high rise intake manifold. A prototype GTO so equipped could go mph in 5. Ram Air Vs were not installed in GTOs at the factory; it was available only as an aftermarket product. The significant event of was the launch of a new model called 'The Judge'.
During its development, however, it was decided to make it the ultimate in street performance and image. Pontiac claimed that the spoiler had some functional effect at higher speeds, producing a small but measurable down force, but it was of little value at legal speeds except for style.
The Judge was initially offered only in "Carousel Red," but late in the model year a variety of other colors became available. The Tempest line received another facelift for the model year. Hidden headlights were deleted in favor of four exposed round headlamps outboard of narrower grille openings. The nose retained the protruding vertical prow theme, although it was less prominent. The suspension was upgraded with the addition of a rear anti-roll bar, essentially the same bar as used on the Oldsmobile and Buick Gran Sport.
The front anti-roll bar was slightly stiffer. The result was a useful reduction in body lean in turns and a modest reduction of understeer. Another handling-related improvement was optional variable-ratio power steering.
Rather than a fixed ratio of Turning diameter was reduced from The base engine was unchanged for , but the low-compression economy engine was deleted and the Ram Air III and Ram Air IV remained available, although the latter was now a special-order option. A new option was Pontiac's engine, available now that GM had rescinded its earlier ban on intermediates with engines larger than The , a long-stroke engine taken from the full-size Pontiac Bonneville line, was only moderately stronger than the base and actually less powerful than the Ram Air III.
Its advantage was torque: Car and Driver tested a heavily optioned , with a four-speed transmission and 3. Car Life' s Turbo-Hydramatic , with a 3. The smaller displacement engine recorded less than 9 miles per gallon of gasoline The Judge remained available as an option on GTOs. Striping was relocated to the upper wheelwell brows.
The new styling did little to help declining sales, which were now being hit by sagging buyer interest in all musclecars and by the punitive surcharges levied by automobile insurance companies, which sometimes resulted in insurance payments higher than car payments for some drivers.
Sales were down to 40,, of which 3, were The Judge. The GTO had another modest facelift, this time with wire-mesh grilles, horizontal bumper bars on either side of the grille opening, more closely spaced headlamps, and a new hood with the dual scoops relocated to the leading edge, not far above the grille.
Overall length grew slightly to A new corporate edict, aimed at preparing GM for no-lead gasoline, forced a cross-the-board reduction in compression ratios. The Ram Air engines did not return for Motor Trend tested a GTO with the , four-speed transmission, and 3. The Judge returned for a final year, now with the HO as standard equipment. Only were sold before The Judge was discontinued in February , including 17 convertibles—today the rarest of all GTOs. On the base LeMans line, the GTO package could be had with either the low-priced pillared coupe or hardtop coupe.
Both models came standard with cloth and vinyl or all-vinyl bench seats and rubber floor mats on the pillared coupe and carpeting on the hardtop, creating a lower-priced GTO. The LeMans Sport, offered only as a hardtop coupe, came with Strato bucket seats upholstered in vinyl, along with carpeting on floor and lower door panels, vinyl door-pull straps, custom pedal trim and cushioned steering wheel, much like GTOs of previous years.
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Other optional equipment was similar to and earlier models. Planned for as a GTO option was the ducktail rear spoiler from the Pontiac Firebird, but after a few cars were built with that option, it was cancelled. Most of the drop was attributable to the new rating system which now reflected an engine in as-installed condition with mufflers, accessories, and standard intake.
The engines were relatively little changed from A very rare option was the HO engine, essentially similar to that used in the Trans Am. Despite its modest 8. Only cars with this engine were sold. Some sources discount the single convertible and the three anomalous wagons, listing the total as 5, Once again an option package for the LeMans, the GTO shared the reskinned A-body with its "Colonnade" hardtop styling, which eliminated true hardtop design because of the addition of a roof pillar but retention of frameless doorwork.
Rear side windows were now of a fixed design that could not be opened and in a trianglar shape.
First generation (1964-1967) GTO
The result was the use of prominent and heavy chrome bumpers front and rear. In contrast, the Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which were also derived from the intermediate A-body, were much better received because of their squared-off styling and formal rooflines with vertical windows. Pontiac's sister division, Oldsmobile, received better reviews from the automotive press and the car-buying public with the similar-bodied Cutlass.
The base LeMans coupe featured a cloth-and-vinyl or all-vinyl bench seat while the more lavish LeMans Sport Coupe had all-vinyl interiors with Strato bucket seats or a notchback bench seat with folding armrest. The engine was available with any of the three transmissions including the standard three-speed manual, or optional four-speed or Turbo Hydra-Matic.
The HO engine did not reappear, but GM initially announced the availability of a Super Duty engine shared with the contemporary Pontiac Trans Am SD , and several such cars were made available for testing, impressing reviewers with their power and flexibility. Sales dropped to 4,, thanks in part to competition from the new Grand Am and the lack of promotion for the GTO.
By the end of the model year an emerging energy crisis quashed consumer interest in muscle cars. Critics dubbed it "a Chevy Nova in drag. Optional transmissions included a wide-ratio four-speed with Hurst shifter or the three-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic. The GTO option was available in both the base Ventura and Ventura Custom lines as either a two-door sedan or hatchback coupe.
The Collector's Guide to GTO
The base Ventura interior consisted of bench seats and rubber floor mats, while the Ventura Custom had upgraded bench seats or optional Strato bucket seats along with carpeting, cushioned steering wheel, and custom pedal trim. Bias-belted tires were standard equipment, but a radial tuned suspension option added radial tires along with upgraded suspension tuning for improved ride and handling.
The Ventura and other GM compacts underwent substantial styling and engineering changes, the latter including front and rear suspensions similar to the sporty Firebird. In the end, however, the GTO was discontinued following a corporate decision to switch to Buick V8 engines on the Ventura line, though Pontiac V8s were continued in all other division models. Sensing that the GTO should have continued on the intermediate LeMans platform rather than downsized to the Ventura line, this dealer advertised and sold an undetermined number of Pontiac GTOs.
However, division officials turned down the idea of an intermediate-sized GTO, but the concept was considered and approved for production; not as a GTO revival, but as the Pontiac Can Am. During the subsequent 30 years, Pontiac considered several plans to revive the GTO nameplate, but none came to fruition.
The revived , introduced for the model year, proved to be a low seller, leading Pontiac to quietly cancel the GTO revival. Fans of the original GTO considered the appropriation of a famous muscle car by a Japanese automaker to be sacrilegious, much as sports car fans of the s had been infuriated by Pontiac borrowing the name of the Ferrari racer. During the Detroit Auto Show, a GTO concept car with a heritage-inspired Coke-bottle shape, grille, and hood scoop, was introduced to the world.
It was only a design experiment and had no engine. The concept never made it into production.