An
Overview of the Pontiac GTO
For many
fans of muscle cars, the Pontiac GTO is special because to them it has the
distinction of being the first real muscle car produced. Because of the car’s
immense popularity, it has continued to pop up periodically in the market since
its initial launch in 1964. Below is some basic information about the
background and most recent developments involving the Pontiac GTO.
History
of the Pontiac GTO
As is appropriate
for muscle cars, the Pontiac GTO was created as a subtle form of rebellion by
the General Motors’ staff. The management at GM banned any auto racing
involvement for all of their automotive divisions starting in 1963. The problem
was that Pontiac’s image was very much tied up in performance and in racing. As
a way to get around the ban, the Pontiac team decided to find a new way of
focusing more on street performance.
Around
the same time, Pontiac was getting ready to redesign their Tempest with a
larger engine and some other features. By focusing on the larger engine of what
was supposed to be called the Super Tempest, Pontiac believed they could tap
into a growing marketing of young men wanting sleek and powerful vehicles. To
achieve that goal, they settled on the name for the vehicle (the name was
inspired by the Ferrari 250 GTO).
Initially,
the GTO was only an options package and not a full model of its own which was a
good thing because it violated some of the policies in terms of the engine that
GM had established. Instead of sending the design team back to the drawing
board, however, the car was given the green light but was limited to only a
5,000 production run. The limit was required because it wasn’t considered to
likely for success.
The First
Release
As
mentioned above, the Pontiac GTO didn’t begin as a separate model. Instead, it
was considered an options package for another car: the LeMans. By the end of
the release year of 1964, more than 10,000 of the packages had been sold which
proved it was an extremely popular choice and had definitely secured an
audience.
The car
continued to be successful for another decade. Between 1975 and 1999, the
Pontiac GTO was developed and sold in a number of different forms from time to
time. However, none of the models could reclaim the initial success of these
muscle cars models.
The
Pontiac GTO Today
Although
a 1999 concept version of a brand new Pontiac GTO had been released and seemed
greatly anticipated, the car was never put into production. Between 2004 and 2006, a new Pontiac GTO was sold. More than 40,000 of the cars were sold during this production run.
Despite
the reduced enthusiasm for the newer models, the older GTO’s have popped up in
popular culture frequently. From video games like Need for Speed Underground
and movies like xXx, the Pontiac GTO still has plenty of appeal and is expected
to remain one of the most popular muscle cars of all time.
