Pontiac GTO at 60: American hustle

By Colin Goodwin

| 17 Dec 2024

Classic & Sports Car – Pontiac GTO at 60: American hustle

Decades before he famously underwent much cosmetic surgery, dated famous actresses, started a sports-car company and twisted Margaret Thatcher’s arm for the UK government to bankroll a factory in Northern Ireland – and long before he was arrested for allegedly setting up a cocaine deal – John Zachary De Lorean was chief engineer of the Pontiac division at General Motors.

De Lorean, as well as being a talented engineer, understood car culture and, in particular, youth culture.

He’d seen the rise of hot-rodding and the birth of drag racing, and he realised that if a car was built to appeal to a youth audience and priced so those youngsters could buy it, he would be on to a winner.

Pontiac might’ve borrowed the GTO name from Ferrari, but this American muscle car was a very different proposition

In 1962, Pontiac had built for super-stock drag racing a small-volume run of Super Duty Catalinas that featured exotic aluminium front wings, bonnets and bumpers, plus body frames drilled for lightness.

They were expensive and not suited to street driving.

De Lorean had a better plan: take an intermediate-size car, in this case a Pontiac Tempest Le Mans, and drop in a large engine from the full-size models.

Specifically, the division’s 389cu in V8.

This Pontiac GTO Convertible’s V8 engine has the Tri-Power triple-carburettor option for 348bhp

It was an easy job because, unlike Chrysler, Ford and other GM-division V8 engines, Pontiac’s unit had the same external block dimensions whether its capacity was 326cu in or 421cu in, so it slotted into the Tempest’s engine bay with virtually no modifications.

The result was the Pontiac GTO.

According to De Lorean in an interview in 1994, the name wasn’t intended to ape the Ferrari 250GTO that had been launched in 1962; it was simply intended to give the car a strong whiff of sportiness and a European flavour.

The 1966 Pontiac GTO Hardtop Coupe lacks some precision and feel, but is great to drive

One slight hitch was that GM had an internal ban on engines above 330cu in being fitted to intermediate-sized models, but De Lorean and his team got around this problem by presenting the new, larger engine as an option on the Tempest.

On 3 September 1963, the first ’64 model-year Pontiac Tempest Le Mans with the optional GTO package rolled off the production line.

The sales department had reckoned that about 5000 first-year GTOs would be sold.

The Pontiac GTO Convertible’s subtle rear badge

They got that more than a little wrong, because Pontiac eventually shifted 32,450 GTOs in 1964, and it would have sold even more than that had there been extra production capacity.

Not surprisingly, rival manufacturers were stunned by the success of the GTO: the model that is credited with being the first ‘muscle car’ triggered a whole line of rivals, not only from Plymouth and Dodge, but also from other divisions within General Motors itself.

Two months after production started, ‘our’ red 1964 Convertible left the line.

The Pontiac GTO Convertible’s ‘mid-size’ Tempest body isn’t far off 17ft long

For this celebration of the GTO’s 60th birthday, the editor suggested it would be ideal if we could track down a first-year car.

Surely not a difficult task when so many GTOs were sold?

I’ve been a fan and occasional owner of muscle cars since I was a teenager, but I had never before seen a 1964 GTO in the metal in the UK.

Fortunately Robin Gray, who owns Autopontiac in West London and is a key player in the Pontiac Owners’ Club, has: customer Robert Green owns a 1964 Convertible.

Both of ‘our’ Pontiac GTOs have front disc brakes

We’ve met Robert before, because he provided his yellow ’89 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 for last year’s 70th-anniversary celebration. He has great taste.

Then the boss got picky. “I’ve always thought of muscle cars as coupes,” he said. “Perhaps we should have one of those, too.”

The GTO was available as a Sports Coupe, with fixed B-pillars, and also as a Hardtop Coupe, which had pillarless windows.

This Pontiac GTO Hardtop Coupe boasts a non-standard rear anti-roll bar

The latter was the most popular, with 18,422 of those ’64 GTOs sold as Hardtop Coupes.

Sports Coupes narrowly outsold Convertibles, at 7384 sales versus 6644.

So next to the 1964 GTO Convertible we have a superb ’66 Hardtop Coupe.

Robert’s car started its life in Jacksonville, Florida, where it was delivered new to the local Pontiac area office.

But within months the car was on a ship to England, where it was registered in April 1964, and it has been here ever since.

The Pontiac GTO’s sporty individual bucket seats replaced the Tempest’s front bench

Originally painted in off-white Cameo Ivory, it arrived on these shores with black bodywork.

Like an automotive chameleon, the car has also been green and sky blue before its current red.

Robert acquired the GTO around 10 years ago, and since then it has been undergoing a running restoration.

All of the mechanical work has been carried out by Robin, and the next part of the plan is to return the Pontiac to its original colour and replace all of the worn trim.

This ’66 Pontiac GTO Hardtop Coupe was restored by a US TV show

‘Our’ 1966 Hardtop Coupe is a more recent immigrant, having come to the UK 12 years ago.

In immaculate and original condition, it was restored in the USA by American Chopper television show presenter Paul Teutul Snr.

One of the fascinations of American cars in general, and muscle cars in particular, is the incredible array of options that could be ordered.

Robert’s ’64 boasts a long list of extras that includes air conditioning, electric windows, a tilting steering wheel and a power-operated driver’s seat.

Early Pontiac GTOs got side-by-side headlights

The hottest option of all is the triple Rochester two-barrel carburettor system, marketed as Tri-Power.

With this set-up, instead of the regular Carter four-barrel carb, the 389cu in motor produces 348bhp (against 325bhp).

Transmissions ranged from a standard Muncie three-speed with a floor shifter to a Muncie M20 four-speed.

There was an automatic option, too, which used a two-speed Super Turbine 300 transmission, and that is the unit fitted to Robert’s GTO.

This Pontiac GTO Convertible has a two-speed automatic gearbox

The ’66 Coupe, brought along by custodian Nick Trott, sports the same 389cu in engine but drives through a Muncie four-speed ’box to a shorter rear axle ratio.

It also has the Tri-Power carburettor option, the last year that it would be offered in the GTO.

One key change for ’66 was that the GTO was now a standalone model and not an option on the Tempest Le Mans.

The car also received a new body: in place of the 1964 and 1965 cars’ side-by-side headlights is a pair of stacked lamps; the ‘Coke-bottle’ profile is more pronounced; and the semi-fastback styling includes a recessed rear window.

In 1966, the Pontiac GTO got a new, highly styled body

To my eyes this is not only the most beautiful of the GTOs, but also one of the most stylish muscle cars of all.

This one looks all the better for its optional Cordova black vinyl roof.

But enough history and spec for the moment: what are these cars like to drive?

Can we expect the usual American-car cliché of an abundance of performance over dynamic ability?

Dummy bonnet scoop on the Pontiac GTO Hardtop Coupe

A feature that both of these cars share is front disc brakes, which neither of them had from new.

Discs only arrived on the 1967 model-year GTO, but had been sorely needed from day one.

With a couple of prods on the accelerator the ’64 car’s 389cu in fires easily into life and immediately settles to a smooth idle.

Unlike those super-stock specials, which featured solid lifters, large-overlap camshafts and high compression ratios, the GTO’s engine is extremely tractable.

The Pontiac GTO Convertible steers better, thanks to its tweaked set-up

Incidentally, on the subject of engine size, it’s interesting to note that the capacity badging on both cars is in litres – ‘6.5’ – and spelled the European way, not the US ‘liters’.

I haven’t read any quotes from either De Lorean or any of the GTO’s other personalities, such as ad man Jim Wangers, that this was done to reinforce the European flavour of the car – but I suspect that it was.

First impression is that Robert’s Convertible steers remarkably well for an American car: no 1920s Hollywood twirling of the wheel to keep the GTO in a straight line.

Proud ‘6.5 Litre’ badge on the Pontiac GTO Hardtop Coupe

It turns out that the steering box isn’t standard and has a quicker ratio than normal, and Robin has worked some magic on the front-end geometry, too.

This combination of accurate steering and reliable brakes turns the GTO into a wonderfully relaxing car to drive, even at speed.

It’s a big car, but good sight lines thanks to prominent front wings, and the improved steering, make it no harder to place accurately on the road than a modern large SUV.

It’s lighter than many modern 4x4s, too, weighing in at 1860kg.

This Pontiac GTO Convertible’s red finish will soon be replaced by its original Cameo Ivory shade

The 6.4-litre V8 has so much torque you barely notice that the transmission has only two ratios.

At light throttle openings only the centre two-barrel carburettor is active.

From the factory the two outer carbs are controlled by a vacuum linkage, but Robin has replaced this with a mechanical set-up.

When the Tri-Power-equipped GTOs were road tested in the ’60s (including by Autocar in the UK), there was a lot of fear about the outer two barrels coming into play unexpectedly and the resulting burst of power sending the car (and tester) off into a field – particularly if the road was wet.

The Pontiac GTO Convertible’s simple dials

With modern tyres this is less of an issue, but Robin has adapted the carburettors because he reckons you get a smoother power delivery.

Certainly the engine now pulls very cleanly, with no stuttering or hesitation.

The editor has a point. Although the GTO Convertible is certainly by definition a muscle car, it feels better suited to fast cruising up the Pacific Coast Highway with the roof down, easily overtaking any sluggish RVs in the way.

The GTO Coupe, with its Hurst shifter sticking out from the optional centre console, is more likely to be heading for the Pomona dragstrip.

Pontiac’s flexible 389cu in (6.4-litre) V8 drives through a four-speed manual in this Hardtop Coupe

Nick had reported a hesitation from the 389 when the throttles were opened fully, but it appears that, shamed by its Convertible sibling’s perfect manners, the Coupe’s carbs have started to behave themselves.

This car has a much shorter rear axle, which I suspect must be fitted due to the M21 close-ratio four-speed.

If you wanted an automatic GTO in 1966 you still got the two-speed unit; a year later Pontiac fitted the three-speed Turbo Hydramatic 400.

Interestingly, in 1966 manual-transmission GTOs outsold automatics by almost two-to-one, but in 1967 it was nearer to 50:50. Clearly the two-speed transmission put off many buyers.

This Pontiac GTO Hardtop Coupe has four speeds, but only two are used much of the time

The eagle-eyed might have spotted from the photographs that the 1966 car wears a rear anti-roll bar.

The factory didn’t fit one of these to GTOs until the 1970 model-year, and the result was said to be the best-handling version yet.

Word is that a rear anti-roll bar was tried on the earlier GTOs, but it made the steering twitchy at speed and hurt the ride.

I wouldn’t call this car’s steering nervous, but it certainly lacks feel and precision, and isn’t anywhere like as accurate as the helm on Robert’s earlier Convertible.

The definitive Pontiac GTO profile

Fitting the quicker-ratio steering box, along with a visit to Autopontiac to have the geometry checked and set up, would dramatically improve this car.

That said, the Coupe is still wonderful to drive.

The gearbox has a slow but sure action, and you can save yourself some work by pulling away in second and then shifting straight into fourth, in which you can leave it until you get to a traffic jam or a tight roundabout.

Rich chrome adorns the Pontiac GTO Hardtop Coupe’s bodywork

GTOs came with bucket seats, so there’s no canoodling on the front bench at a drive-in movie – as no doubt many young owners did in the 1960s.

There’s stacks of room in the back for any monkey business, though. De Lorean’s plan worked, and plenty of GTOs were bought by youngsters – even high-school kids.

Many buyers would have no doubt read the March 1964 issue of Car and Driver magazine, in which the team pitched the Pontiac GTO against a Ferrari 250GTO.

The homespun machine had terrific performance that was not unrelated to the fact that Pontiac had allegedly sneaked a 421cu in engine under its hood.

Sleek stalk behind the Pontiac GTO Hardtop Coupe’s steering wheel

Less well known is the performance of a Tempest fitted with a Super Duty engine from a Catalina super-stocker that took part in the 1963 ‘Daytona Continental’ three-hour grand-touring road race known as the American Challenge Cup.

Two Ferrari GTOs were in the race: one a NART car piloted by Glenn ‘Fireball’ Roberts, the other a private entry driven by David Piper.

The Ferraris finished the race in fourth and fifth spots respectively, but top of the podium was Paul Goldsmith in his Pontiac Tempest.

John De Lorean would have been aware of this remarkable victory and known his plan to drop a big motor into a Tempest was a good one.

The Pontiac GTO is easy to place on the road, despite its size

Both of these Pontiac GTOs we’ve been driving are spectacular.

Which one would I choose? Because of its styling I’d go for the 1966 Hardtop Coupe, but with the steering and suspension modifications of Robert’s ’64 Convertible and a more modern four-speed automatic gearbox in place of the Muncie manual.

That, I think, would be just about the perfect GTO.

Or Gran Turismo Omologato, as John ‘Zee’ De Lorean would probably prefer you said it.

Images: Jack Harrison

Factfiles

1964 Pontiac GTO Convertible

Sold/number built 1964/6644
Construction steel chassis, steel body
Engine all-iron, ohv 6375cc V8, three twin-choke carburettors
Max power 348bhp @ 4900rpm
Max torque 431lb ft @ 3600rpm
Transmission three/four-speed manual or two-speed automatic, RWD
Suspension: front independent, by wishbones, anti-roll bar rear live axle, four links; coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering power-assisted steering box
Brakes drums, optional servo
Length 16ft 9in (5156mm)
Width 5ft 1in (1861mm)
Height 4ft 5in (1333mm)
Wheelbase 9ft 6in (2921mm)
Weight 3720lb (1860kg)
Mpg 16-18
0-60mph 6.6 secs
Top speed 115mph (varies with gearbox/final-drive options)
Price new £1100 (1964)
Price now £25-60,000*