It was sizzle from the start. The Pontiac brand has been
gone for several years now but the first true muscle car it created remains
firmly entrenched in the minds of car enthusiasts. It was the 1964 Pontiac GTO.
The car was a groundbreaker and it soon spawned other cars of this new niche
from its competitors.
GM’s ban on factory sponsored racing put a damper on
Pontiac’s ability to promote its performance image. In order to sustain this
image without factory racing, chief engineer John Delorean, general manager
Elliot ‘Pete’ Estes and engineers Russ Gee and Bill Collins came up with a plan
to promote this image with a factory model.
With limited resources to design an all-new hot car, they
hatched a brilliant plan to produce such a hot car. They would put a big V8
into an intermediate body. The engine was a 389 cubic inch V8 straight off the
inventory shelf. The body was the redesigned intermediate Tempest, with a
115-inch wheelbase and a maximum weight of 3360 lbs.
Married together this combination would be a Lemans Tempest
option available for the coupe, hardtop and convertible models. As an option it
could get around the 300 cubic inch limit GM had imposed on standard factory
production cars. Unlike other maker’s V8’s which were big physically, GM’s 389
was trim enough that it did not have to be shoe horned into the intermediate
Tempest body.
This factory hot rod was named GTO, standing for an Italian
term, Gran Turismo Omologoto, meaning a car was certified for
Gran Touring class racing—which it definitely was not—but it was good for the
image of the car, although some enthusiasts complained.
This GTO option came with a stabilizer bar, red-line tires,
choices of a 3 or 4 speed Hurst Shifter manual transmission, or the Hydramatic
version. With the standard 4 barrel configuration it generated 325 HP but with
the tri-carb setup it reached 348 HP. Seven gear ratios were available to pick
from. With the proper combination of options, the car could go from 0-60 in 5.7
seconds.
Make no mistake about it, the GTO was a street rod. It had a
firm suspension, it was fast, and its dual exhausts made themselves heard and
firmly announced the presence of the GTO. It was meant for the enthusiasts, the
young at heart and would-be hot-rodder.
The base price of around $3,200 made the car affordable.
Buyers had their choice of 15 exterior colors, six interior colors, and seven
convertible top colors to create a car to their personal tastes. Total
production for 1964 was 32,450 units. The two-door hardtop was the most popular,
followed by the two-door coup (fixed ‘B’ pillar, and then the convertible.
Pontiac underestimated the popularity of this new hot rod and could have sold
more if they had been available.
The GTO continued as a Tempest option until 1968 when it became
a separate model. By that time many competitors had put out their own factory
hot rods, but the GTO was the trailblazer.
