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You had to be there to remember – and to understand – so here’s a refresher. In 1964, group of young Pontiac engineers created the GTO by pairing an expensive big-car’s engine with an inexpensive medium-sized car – thereby creating the first mass-market muscle car. Which was mass-market because it wasn’t just about muscle. That had been done before, by Chrysler (letter series cars) and Oldsmobile, too. What made the GTO different – and dangerous, in the view of a certain kind of killjoy – was that it was cheap. Or at least, affordable. You didn’t have to be a...

The 3 cars that I believe exemplify the most dramatic swings are the Ford Mustang (1967 vs 1975), Pontiac GTO (1967 vs 2004) and the Dodge Challenger (1971 vs 1981). (same-year examples may not necassarily be the same car)

NameThe name, which was DeLorean's idea, was inspired by the Ferrari 250 GTO, the successful race car. It is an Italian abbreviation for Gran Turismo Omologato ("grand tourer homologated"), which means officially certified for racing in the grand tourer class. But in reality, the Pontiac GTO was never really a certified Grand Tourer race car. Internally, it was initially called the "Grand Tempest Option", one of many automobiles in the Pontiac line up with a 'Grand' in it. Despite these things, the GTO is one of the fastest cars ever manufactured by Pontiac. First generation: 1964-67 Second generation: 1968-72 Third...

President Vladimir Putin launched a program to improve the physical fitness of Russians on Monday, using funds from the Winter Olympics to revive a Soviet-era plan. Speaking at a meeting with officials in the Kremlin, Putin said that reinstating the plan, first introduced in the 1930s under Joseph Stalin and known in Russia by the acronym GTO, would “pay homage to our national historical traditions”. […] Putin frequently harks back to the Soviet era to appeal to nostalgic Russians. …

Happy 50th anniversary, Pontiac GTO! It’s too bad the Pontiac brand isn’t still around to celebrate, but there are legions of proud GTO owners and muscle car buffs who treasure the model that launched the muscle car genre. The GTO history has been told too many times to count, so this feature will not add to the pile. Rather, it’s worth looking back at the impact the GTO made, not only on car enthusiasts, but also on the auto industry. The GTO’s influence continues today in ways and on cars that you might not suspect. Let’s get a key issue...

PITTSBURGH - A Pittsburgh man spent $20,000 to surprise his father with a Pontiac GTO he sold nearly 20 years ago. Brian Laney said he wanted to purchase a GTO and was searching online five months ago when he spotted the vehicle his father purchased for $6,000 in 1970 and later sold, WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh, reported Tuesday. Laney bought the car, which was being sold in Marina Del Ray, Calif., for $20,000 and surprised his father, Walter, with the discovery. "I think it's great. It's just unbelievable after all these years, you know," said Walter Laney. Brian Laney said it was...

In the summer of 1980, I was looking forward to turning 16 and getting a driver’s license. All of my friends were looking forward to driving but none as much as me. My friends would be driving used Mazdas and Toyotas that got good gas mileage. But my dad bought me a 1970 GTO. He didn’t care that it got nine miles to the gallon. It looked like it was going thirty miles an hour when it was just sitting in the driveway. Even though that old GTO was fast it had worn hydraulic lifters that were sucking away horsepower...

LOS ANGELES – It could crash through burning buildings, make a fool of any number of small-town Southern sheriffs, help save the world from giant robots, even take criminals off to jail while engaging in witty repartee with its driver. In the end, about the only thing a Pontiac automobile couldn't do anymore was persuade enough people to keep buying it. So General Motors announced this past week that it is killing off the Pontiac brand, maker of muscular, noisy, gas-guzzling V-8-powered vehicles immortalized in song and movies for the way they seemed to shout to every other car on...

With new rules and revised CAFE standards, the days of powerful, fuel-thirsty cars may soon be long gone There's only one thing to say about a Corvette that can top 200 mph, or a Cadillac sedan that makes the muscle cars of the '60s seem like a bunch of wimps: Enjoy it while it lasts. This golden age of horsepower may be coming to an end, at least in the gas-guzzling manner to which we've become accustomed. -snip- New rules will force the car kings to shift their focus. Revised CAFE standards require automakers to raise the average mileage of...

MEMPHIS, July 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last week, the Fox News' O'Reilly Factor exposed the increasing trend of lesbian gang violence terrorizing neighbourhoods and schools, especially in large cities across the United States. According to FOX News crime analyst Rod Wheeler there are some 150 such gangs in the DC area alone, including Washington, Maryland, and Virginia. The gangs, known as Dykes Taking Over (DTO) or Gays Taking Over, are forcing children into homosexuality. Wheeler told host Bill O'Reilly: "there is this national underground network, if you will, Bill, of women that's lesbians and also some men groups that's actually...

MEMPHIS, July 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last week, the Fox News' O'Reilly Factor exposed the increasing trend of lesbian gang violence terrorizing neighbourhoods and schools, especially in large cities across the United States.  According to FOX News crime analyst Rod Wheeler there are some 150 such gangs in the DC area alone, including Washington, Maryland, and Virginia. The gangs, known as Dykes Taking Over (DTO) or Gays Taking Over, are forcing children into homosexuality. Wheeler told host Bill O'Reilly: "there is this national underground network, if you will, Bill, of women that's lesbians and also some men groups that's actually...

  Pontiac GTO History1964-1974 Introduction: The Pontiac GTO is considered by many the first true muscle car. Whereas other manufacturers were concentrating on their fullsize lines, Pontiac saw the potential for dropping a big block engine into an intermediate frame and marketing it at a budget price. Pontiac sneaked past the GM restriction on this combination by making the GTO an option on the Tempest model, creating the hottest performance machine yet. The GTO sold in great numbers and would fuel the competition between GM, Ford, and Chrysler that would keep the muscle car industry thriving for years to...

General Motors has told Pontiac dealers that it will discontinue the GTO coupe at the end of this model year. GM will make the last deliveries of the vehicle to dealers by the end of September, sources close to Pontiac say. GM will produce 10,000 to 12,000 more GTOs before dropping the nameplate, one source close to the situation says. Last year, Pontiac sold 11,590 GTOs compared to 2004 when it sold 13,569. That's a 14.6 percent drop. When Pontiac launched the GTO in 2003, it projected 18,000 annual sales. The vehicle was criticized for bland styling, and some fans...

For years when Pontiac unveiled new models to the media, the general manager would go into minute detail about how each and every nuance on the cars played into the "excitement" theme for General Motors' performance division. And as soon as the speech was over and the media rushed the podium, the first question would be: "When it comes to excitement, when are you bringing back the GTO?" The response: "Someday." After decades of promising the muscle-car nameplate last offered in 1974 would return, Pontiac unveiled a concept GTO in 1999 and a production model for the 2004 model year....

Critics of last year's reborn Pontiac GTO coupe disliked the car because it didn't look rakish, as did most versions of the iconic 1960s GTO muscle car. But the 2005 GTO looks sportier, with such things as new hood scoops, and its more potent 400-horsepower V-8 makes it the fastest GTO ever. No wonder GTO sales in the first quarter of this year were up 81 percent over the same year-ago period, with 3,261 units sold. Pontiac spokesman Jim Hopson said the GTO is "red hot in Southern California, which isn't exactly one of our biggest markets. Los Angeles is...

The iconic Pontiac GTO muscle car has waited a long time to make a comeback. It's been 40 years since the first GTO was introduced and 30 years since the last one was made -- after more than half a million were sold. "I agree with car magazines, which say the new GTO is a worthy successor to the old GTO,'' said auto analyst Jim Wangers. He was presented with the first GTO off the line in a recent Pontiac ceremony near Detroit on Woodward Avenue -- the 1960s' street racing capital of America, where GTOs trounced rivals. "Chicago was...