| A royal blue 1967 GTO with 325 hp, 3 deuces and 4 | | | | you imagine owning one today and driving it like a |
| on the floor, one of the most famous muscle car | | | | teenage of the 1960's? |
| during the high-performance automobile history. Guys | | | | What Made The GTO So Coveted? Some things you |
| love the looks and the speed while the girls loved the | | | | never forget such as my 1967 GTO with 3 deuces. It |
| guys who own the GTO. Just say GTO, people knew | | | | was a good thing it had a windshield because I would |
| it was from Pontiac. It was also known as "The Goat", | | | | have had bugs stuck to my teeth from grinning so |
| "The Legend" and "The Great One". There was a | | | | much. The thrill of standing still, shifting into first gear, |
| even a song called Little GTO that summed up what | | | | revving up that sweet engine and letting out the clutch |
| the GTO was all about. Prior to 1964, high speed | | | | and being plastered to the back of the seat was pure |
| performance cars were full-size hardtops and sedans | | | | adrenaline pumping. That was my first experience of |
| that had the weight of a Sherman tank but had the | | | | "pulling G's". Last time I felt that type of adrenaline rush |
| largest displacement engines available. They were a | | | | was during chopper auto-rotations in Nam. That was |
| little slow off the line, but once you got that tank rolling, | | | | 40 years ago and I still love my GTO. Maybe it is the |
| they were like a runaway freight train. | | | | legend. Maybe we have gotten the legend mixed up |
| Factory Hot Rods became real. In October of 1963, | | | | with reality. All I know is I can't help but smile when I |
| the GTO was born. Pontiac offered the GTO option | | | | remember my little GTO. |
| for only $295. They quietly added to the option list of | | | | It is hard to explain to my children why it was so |
| the 1964 Pontiac Tempest/LeMans. The GTO option | | | | special. I owned a 1955 Ford though it was pretty it just |
| package included a 325-horsepower 389-cubic-inch | | | | didn't have the appeal of the GTO. The royal blue was |
| V8 with dual exhausts, a Carter AFB four-barrel | | | | my favorite. I have a friend whose color was plum. |
| carburetor, a mild hydraulic camshaft, and the kind of | | | | Can you remember vinyl seats? I can! They were cool |
| whip lashing neck pain street-grabbing torque that left | | | | looking and very hot functionally. I remember leaving |
| a smile on your face. Other standard features included | | | | my skin on the seat many times getting out that car. |
| a manual three-speed transmission with a Hurst shifter | | | | Getting in the summer meant either cooking your legs |
| (in those days the Hurst shifter was not only very | | | | or trying to keep a towel in the car to sit on. Once you |
| good but also very cool), a heavy-duty clutch (very | | | | started up that 389, you were transported to another |
| much needed), heavy-duty suspension, US Royal | | | | world. The purr of that engine, the feel of the Hurst |
| red-line tires, a 3.23:1 rear axle ratio, twin hood scoops, | | | | shifter and watching the gas needle drop was worth |
| and an assortment of GTO emblems. The GTO | | | | all the pain of sitting on a hot seat. What hot seat? |
| emblem itself was just as famous as the car itself. | | | | How Do You Get A Piece of History Today? There |
| Body Styles were important. Pontiac provided the | | | | are many GTO's still available that are being offered |
| GTO option on three LeMans bodies, the two-door | | | | by GTO lovers who have been taken care of by their |
| coupe, hardtop, and convertible. More hardtops were | | | | lovers. You can find them on the web. |
| produced and shown to be the most popular than the | | | | Pontiac also has brought back the name of the GTO. |
| combined total of the coupes and convertibles. Engines | | | | They are still pretty fast. In the long run against the |
| with the single four-barrel carburetor outsold the | | | | 1964 GTO, they can outrun them for the distance but |
| Tri-Power models by a margin of three to one. I still | | | | put the two together on a quarter mile strip and the |
| remember the sound of my three deuces sucking air | | | | early muscle car is still king. There is just something |
| when the gas pedal was on the floor. Needless to say, | | | | about the Goat. Once you drive one, old or new, you |
| you could also see the gas gauge move down toward | | | | just have to own one. |
| empty. Fortunately, gas was only $0.20 a gallon. Can | | | | |