1964 Pontiac GTO

No  photo gallery yet, i'm working on it.

GTO...Today, it is almost an acronym for muscle car.  In early 1963, Pete Estes, general manager of the Pontiac division, and John Delorean, the chief engineer, decided that Pontiac should make a factory hot rod.  This was still a time when car people--people who truly got a thrill from biulding and driveing a car--worked in the auto industry, before the 'marketing people' came to power.  The car that Pete and John wanted should also be priced under $3,000, so young people could enjoy it and afford it.
     However, some moron up in the chain of command at General Moters had issued a new company policy in 1963 banning all divisions from racing activities.   Pete Estes got around this by making the GTO an option package, not a model line.  The first year, 32,450 GTOs were built and sold...six times the projected number!
     The car was offered as a two-door sedan, a two-door hard top and a convertable.  The 389 cid V-8 was offered with a single 4 barrel carb, as was the standered setup.  Tri-power was an option.
     This was the car that put the word 'muscle' in muscle car.  It could do 0-60 in 5.7 seconds, had a top speed of 145+, and yet when riding on the highway was as mild as a kittin...untill you jammed the petal to the floor.  With it's special heavy-duty suspention, this car could hold it's own against anything on the road.  As a comarison, a 1963 Porche 356A/1600GS sold for $4,400, did 0-60 in 11.5 seconds, and could only do 124 miles an hour.  It held two people and a pastrami sandwich, had terrible vetilation-hot in summer, cold in winter-and was dangerouse on anything but a dry, strait road.
     The GTO was the basic pontiac Temptest, with a monster engine and slightly different trim (Note the blacked-out grill, GTO leters, and air scoops on the hood).
     The term GTO (more often known as goat) really stood for Gran Turismo Omolato.  What this means, I have no clue, but many Europen auto makers put this sort of name on their high-preformance, high-priced cars.  The GTO was high-proformance, but not high-priced.

1964 Pontiac GTO

Price:  $3,500 (two door convertable)
          $3,200 (two door hardtop)
Overall Lenght:  203"
Wheelbase:  115"
Width:  73.3"
Hight:  53.6" (Convertable)
           53" (Two door hardtop)
Weight:  3,422 lbs (Converrtable)
             3,200 lbs (hardtop)
Engine:  OHV V-8 389 cid (6.3 liter)
Carburetor:  4 barrel (standered)
                  three two barrels (optional)
Horsepower:   348@ 4,000 rpm, with tri-power
                    325@ 4,800 rpm, with 4 barrel
Bore x Stroke:  4.06" x 3.75"
compression:  10.75:1
Tranmission:  3-speed manual floor shift (standered)
                    4-speed wide ratio floor shift (optional)
                    Automatic (optional)