1st Impression - GTO

[Grizzly]

Originally Posted by humara

Umm, isn't that exactly what the original GTO was? they took some already in production car (the tempest) and slapped a new grille and engine in it and called it a gto. the name gto isn't even original. the name was "inspired by" ferrari. and when they say "inspired by" they mean ripped off. that coke head john delorean probably didn't even know what gto stood for.

The difference is that when Gee, Delorean, Estes, Knudsen, Wangers and the others got together and built the first muscle-car, they were doing something totally new. They took a cheap, midsized car, stuffed it full of motor and went hunting a previously unfulfilled market.

The fact that they named the car GTO was no accident. They pilfered the name on purpose, as a tongue in cheek shot at Ferrari. The purists went nuts, which was exactly what marketing genius Jim Wangers was hoping. It caused a stir within the automotive community and attracted a lot of attention that the car may not have otherwise garnered. One of the car magazines at the time actually pitted the Ferrari GTO against the Pontiac GTO. Much to Ferrari's chagrin, the Pontiac handily outran the Ferrari in straight-line acceleration (the only thing Pontiac really cared about), further solidifying the Goat's street cred.

Those guys built an entire automotive movement by doing something that hadn't been seen before, and targeting a specific and under-served market segment. As a result, the Pontiac GTO name became automotive legend. Pontiac made a bad choice when they chose to revive the nameplate and stick it on a completely uninspiring vehicle, which doesn't give even the slightest nod to GTO's history.

Had Pontiac taken the performance of their current car and wrapped it in an attractive body, which was reminiscent of the GTO's storied past, the car could have been great, and Pontiac's sales numbers might have reflected their success. Instead, they dropped the ball, and the final chapter in GTO's history is one of dismal sales numbers for a fast Sunbird look-alike.