I drove a friend to pick up his 66 GTO at a dealer in Crestview, Florida.
He had ordered the version with the four barrel but they got in one with the 3 two barrels and asked him if he wanted it.
The salesman took us for a test drive, he wouldn’t let the kid drive it until it was paid for. It was the hottest car I had ever been in and probably the second hottest I still have ever ridden in.
The GTO was a great car. I raced one with my dad’s Ford Galaxies. My friend had the Judge version. To bad GM screwed up both the Olds and Pontiac brands. Ford screwed up with Mercury and now they are screwing up Lincoln.
Wish my first GTO had been a ‘64 Convertible. Was asleep at the switch and bought a ‘64 TR-4. Big Mistake!
A year later, I traded it in on a ‘65 4-speed GTO hardtop, and ran the wheels off of it for the next 10 years. Best 1/4 mile time, after spending a lot of money to make it faster and keep it looking like an “A” stocker, was 12.25. Got challenged (Pontiac 389s did not rev like mine did!), refused to tear it down, and lost the race on protest. No problem! Still have the time slip, some where!
Was forced to leave it in Texas in ‘75, and was without GTO wheels until 1983. Bought another ‘65 hardtop, used it for a daily driver for 10 years, semi-retired it and have recently mechanically restified it, stem to stern.
It is now a badass Sunday driver with a lot more motor than I planned on!
HST, you can never have too much motor!
Lesson learned — NEVER! NEVER! Give your hot rod buddy race car engine builder too much FReedom to perfect his craft on your street machine!
Will probably leave it to my son — maybe we’ll drive it FRom Flori-Duh to Kali-Fornia when the time comes.
These days, you're lucky if you can get a glorified golfcart for a similar (inflation-adjusted) cost today.
There's something to be said about pressing the pedal, getting a deep rumble out of the car, and paying something that wasn't a king's ransom for it. Unfortunately, environmental activists want to act against such until we're driving the 21st century version of the Trabant (while they're driving the "forbidden cars").
And now the current generations of Obunga voters put fart pipes and decals on Honda 4-door economy sedans and think they are fast. Buzzzzzz........
Perhaps a fit epitaph for gen-x/y/z and their cars: all cheezy sound and phony image, no performance.
I restored a 68 Lemans Convertible in the late 90s and a 69 Lemans Coupe in 2005. Best. Cars. Ever.
Please. The Volkswagen GTI and Honda Civic Si are not legacy cars of the GTO.
Chevy started putting the 348 truck block into 1958 models which later became the famous 409.
Ford also was also building the 390 long before the GTO came along.
Nothing against GTOs...I love them, but they were not the first muscle cars.
Feels like it anyways, reading articles like this one.
To be honest I let my passenger out and bozo in the GTO had two passengers, I got him off the line and he never caught up.
living in CT, I had 1967 goat, stock, except the rear-end was ordered with the high speed gear.
Working nights in Hartford and living in Colchester, I would make the run on RT2 in I don’t remember how many minutes.
During this period CTSP were driving some Ford product which was “sold” as fast, because it had solid lifters.
Twice I out ran the CTSPs. They had just started using K band radar, with horn hanging off the left rear window. The first time I saw him he had his reds on and was behind me.
I dumped the Goat into third, nailed the accelerator, dropped, into 4th. His reds were no longer in sight. The second time was similar.
I enjoyed reading what others shared about their experiences with the GTO. However, I was surprised that I didn't find direct references to the Royal Oak, Michigan Pontiac dealer.
Royal Oaks sold an aftermarket performance upgrade for Lemans with the GTO option. They called it the “Bobcat Kit”.
The Bobcat Kit for my 1965 GTO coat around $100. For $100 and my labor the horsepower increased by 64 Horses and the RPM increased by 1200. A bargain for $100.
The “Goat” has always been the Dodge, in all of American automotive history.
In NASCAR, and USAC racing, a Goat is a Dodge.
Why isn't the Pontiac Brand still around? I heard that the Feds demanded that the brand be retired in exchange for the GM Bailout, does anyone know what really happened?