posted at the Cohort by LeSabretoothTiger
The Pontiac’s GTO story is a rather compressed, as its glory years were not long-lived. It took everyone by surprise in 1964, and exploded during 1965, and peaked in sales in 1966, with 97k goats sold. Through 1970, sales stayed strong, but then totally collapsed in 1971, to a mere 10,532. All the usual factor that are attributed to the decline of the muscle cars (high insurance rates, changing priorities, etc.) apply to the GTO’s fall from grace, but the new front end that came with the ’71s, and was continued on the ’72s did it no favors either. At least, in my eyes. Or maybe we were all just jaded by 1971?
Due to the sales implosion, the 1972 GTO reverted back to being an optional package that was available on either the cheaper LeMans or the nice LeMans Sport. That made it more affordable, as the base LeMans came also in a post coupe and with very basic trim, including a bench seat.
Engines choices included the base 400, with 250 net hp, the 455 also with 250 hp but more torque, and the rare 455 SD with 300 net hp. Only 646 SD-equipped cars were sold.
Pontiac did offer the GTO package on the new 1973 Colonnade LeMans, but sales plummeted to 4806 cars.
In 1974, the name re-appeared on the Nova-based Ventura. Sales ticked up a wee bit to 7,058, but that was not enough to justify its existence. Given how poorly these two cars sold, the 1972 is commonly referred to as the last real GTO. Not counting the revival from 2004, of course, whose failure just adds to the status of the 1972, despite its uglier front end.
My next door neighbor’s mother picked out a new light green GTO in 1971, her third. She had finally tired of the stick shifts though, and chose an automatic. My feeling at the time was that times were moving on, and that the muscle car era was in the process of imploding. Luxury was becoming to the 70s what performance was to the 60s.
Most will point out that John DeLorean was gone from Pontiac by this time, having left for Chevrolet in 1969. However, John Z’s last blast at Pontiac was not a new GTO, but the Grand Prix. I think he understood the market well enough to see that what sold so well in 1965 was mostly played out by 1971.
JP you make two excellent not points. The market had changed, we were sweating over “high gasoline prices” or the perceived gas shortages. Insurance rates scared off many young men from muscle cars and the detuning of engines resulted in every car offering lame performance.
For those like me in 1973 who were young and ready for a new car purchase, muscle cars were “uncool.” You had to get something small because chicks dig small cars.
They sure didn’t around here! Most of them made fun of the few guys who drove VW’s, Vegas, Pintos, Mustang II’s, etc. A ’70 Roadrunner in 197 4 got a lot of attention, to put it mildly.
I don’t see why so many people trash on the ’74 X-body GTO. When you look at the concept of the original, it wasn’t far removed. Economy 2-door sedan with a few dress up items, and a hotter mill. The ’74 Ventura GTO’s 350 was rated at 200 HP SAE net, not so shabby, although not up to the 245 HP of the 360 Mopar A-bodies. Little known fact, the shaker hood scoop in those was actually functional, unlike the Trans-Am, whcih was sealed to comply with EPA noise regs. I have read a number of articles which imply that the GTO option was planned for ’75, but dropped at the last minute. I had a 1/25th scale model of a ’75 Ventura that came with the shaker and decals, which somewhat confirms that.
Re the featured car: Interestingly, any 71-72 model LeMans could be optioned with the GTO nose for a mere $41. While there were few takers, it has resulted in some interesting rare finds, like sedans and wagons so equipped. My theory is that due to low sales of the GTO, they had a stockpile of these parts that needed to be liquidated.
I saw a photo of the 1£25th scale model of a 1975 Ventura GTO at http://ultimategto.com/cgi-bin/showcar.cgi?type=lot&pic=/models/75sprin
And I scanned these photos from a recent issue of Collectible Automobile showing a proposed 1975 GTO with the help of Hurst then I also posted on GMInsidenews http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f77/another-1975-gto-proposal-never-168265/
One more photo.
It would have made more sense to move the GTO over to the X-body in ’75 as the ’75s got new suspension that was pretty much interchangeable with the F-body. Chevrolet took full advantage of that in ’76 with the 9C1 police Nova, which got rave reviews at the time from both the automotive press and law enforcement.
Then again, dropping in a 400 and giving it the Hurst treatment would have pushed the price into Trans Am territory. Why have a souped-up Ventura when you can get a T/A for the same money?
Maybe for the folks who still search for some performance who had become a family man with 1 or 2 kids.
The same way folks trash the 74-78 Mustang. The 74 Mustang matched the specs of the 1964 1/2 Mustang but times changed and what folks wanted in a car in 1964-1965 and what they wanted in a car in 1974 are two different things.
Now unlike the 74 GTO the Mustang of 74-78 sold very well but after it was rebranded as a economy car.
A personal-luxury economy car, at that. The Mustang II Ghia was as convincingly High Brougham as anything and had plenty of takers.
At least the GTO never just became a stripe package. The optimism and growth that lead to cars like this had by 1971 given way to self doubt and even embarrassment of the uniquely American excesses of the earlier era.
although the “74 gto may have been true to the concept of the original – ie more powerful engine in a smallish car for increased performance – to those of us who were too young to purchase a car but old enough to pay attention it was an abomination to what the gto stood for. we expected absolute mind bending horsepower and torque and could not understand wtf happened.
now that ’74 ventura-gto looks ok, it is still a gussied up nova but its looks have grown on me a little. but i still know it’s slower by half compared to what was a gto 6 years earlier. (ok maybe not half but you get the idea)
I kinda like that ’73. It’s so 70’s. And from what I can find, it was actually a better handler than any before it. And with a 455 it wasn’t a slouch either.
I suspect that with the introduction of the ’73 Grand Am that there wasn’t a lot of room in the lineup for the GTO. The trend towards “European sports sedans” was on, and the Grand Am was intended to capture some of that market. So that’s where the engineering efforts and marketing dollars went. But with a 455 under the hood, and a distinctive Endura nose, how much different was it in reality from the ’68-’72 GTO? Sure there was a 4-door companion, but most people bought the 2-door anyway.
Suppose Pontiac had chosen to focus its efforts on the GTO for ’73, rather than trying the Euro sedan Grand Am angle, wouldn’t they have ended up with pretty much the same car, mechanically? The Grand Am was largely misunderstood by most Pontiac customers who got so confused by it that they ended up buying a Grand Prix or a TransAm. If I want a smooth ride, I’ll get a Grand Prix. If I want to go fast and take corners, I’ll get a TransAm. But I can’t imagine why I’d want a balanced car that can perform competently on all fronts.
Or maybe they just didn’t like the Grand Am front end. Or maybe Pontiac dealers were unclear on how to sell it. When you know you’re going to sell a boat load of Grand Prixs, and by the mid-70s TransAms, you just order more those. The company responds, factories start cranking more of what people think they want, and perception becomes reality on the road.
My point is, if Pontiac hadn’t bothered with the new Grand Am Euro sedan angle, but instead made the best ’73 GTO they could, they might have sold more units overall. Rather than trying to bill themselves as the Euro version of GM, which no one was really ready for in 1973, they could have gone with “The GTO is back! New for ’73, take corners!” Because although the Colonnades were heavier and had more overhang, they did have the potential to handle better. And the ride was far superior.
Perhaps the early Firebird / TransAm sales were so disappointing that they didn’t see any demand for another big block gas guzzler. If only they knew what was coming, when Firebird sales would explode in just a few short years. But that was due to a dedicated bunch of gear heads deep in the company who knew that muscle cars were for the enthusiasts, who actually cared about performance. They managed to hang on long enough to prove that they would vote with their wallets. But in the end, the powers that be may have concluded that the same people who would have been GTO customers were just as happy to buy Firebirds. No point in cannibalizing sales.
I scanned some photos of mock-ups clays of the proposed 1973 (originally planned for 1972) mid-size Pontiac from a old issue of Collectible Automobile. Pontiac had toyed with some ideas.
It looks identical to the ’73 Grand Am. Then they gave up with the production model and let it look just like a regular LeMans.
According to Jim Wangers, the Grand Am front was supposed to be used for the 1973 GTO. Given that the 1968 GTO had pioneered the Endura front bumper, this would have made sense, as the deformable nose on the Grand Am was a logical next step for that feature.
But Pontiac management decided to use it for a new model – the Grand Am – and the GTO was left to languish. Perhaps Pontiac management felt that the GTO had too much of a “boy racer” image, and was out of synch with the changing tastes of the early 1970s.
That’s how I remember it too. They were ready to move on from the GTO era, and the Grand Am was to be the vehicle for doing it. Of course, it didn’t turn out to be very successful…
GTO’s simply went “out of style” to Boomers buying new cars. They were getting a Grand Prix instead.
But also, insurance costs went up. If one wanted to spend more, they went to Trans Ams.
I`m a long time fan of 73-77 Pontiac Colonnades, I currently own a 73 Grand Am and had a 73 GTO a few years ago. I remember reading years ago that the car that became the 73 Grand Am was originally designed to be the all new 73 GTO but Pontiac management was becoming concerned as production neared that the GTO name carried to many negative connotations and it would to too difficult to market the car as an alterative to the European sports sedan as they wanted to do. So the Grand Am name was quickly chosen for the new car and the 73 GTO was hastily switched to back to just a option package for the Lemans. I see somebody scanned the CA pictures of the prototype 73 GTO wearing a Grand Am style nose.
That all sounds highly plausible, Jeff.
It seems so obvious in retrospect – make the Grand Am sedan-only with any engine (“Euro” style but with a mandatory 455? Seriously?), with the GTO as a big-block-only coupe and a cheaper LeMans Sport coupe with the regular front.
The Grand Am could be had with a standard 2-bbl 400 cu in (6.6 L) V8 engine with single exhaust producing 170 hp (127 kW; 172 PS), an optional 4-bbl version of this engine with dual exhaust producing 230 hp (172 kW; 233 PS), or an optional 4-bbl 455 cu in (7.5 L) with dual exhaust 250 hp (186 kW; 253 PS). Availability of 310 hp (231 kW; 314 PS) Super Duty version of the 4-bbl 455 V8 did not materialize.[4]
The GTO was truly an iconic car, but by 1973 the ground had suddenly shifted, with crushing insurance rates, energy crises and engines detuned for emissions making muscle cars extinct. Kind of like the day after an asteroid hit the earth, making continued life for the dinosaurs a non-starter. Brilliant, aggressive marketing made the GTO (remember the Tiger and “Humbler” ads?) But this advertising was so effective that the GTO name just could never be used on anything less than a full-blown, powerful muscle car. Sort of like Tony Perkins, when after his masterpiece performance as Norman Bates in Psycho, had trouble landing other roles.
The GTO was done by 1973 and Pontiac should have just let it die a hero. Instead, they half-heartedly brought it back as that monstrous Colonnade in 1973 and even worse Ventura in 1974, an embarrassing end for a car hit songs were once wrote about.
The 1973 Grand Am was interesting, but suffered from another botched Pontiac marketing attempt, something becoming more frequent now that John Z., Jim Wangers, Bunkie and Estes had moved on. Neither Pontiac management, the dealers, the salesman and ultimately the public knew exactly what kind of car it was supposed to be. With few ads and a rarity in the showroom, I suspect most prospective buyers gravitated to the Grand Prix or LeMans.
Was this the beginning of the decline at Pontiac?For all his faults John DeLorean’s time at Pontiac coincided with their greatest cars. I liked the earlier GTOs with stacked headlights best but wouldn’t say no to a 72.
I think it was around the time where Oldsmobile beginned to rise with the Cutlass.
I doubt that DeLorean’s move away from Pontiac caused a decline. GM in general was declining by the early 70’s in my opinion. DeLorean left GM in the early 70’s to start his sports car company and show GM how to run a car company……….
DeLorean’s time at Pontiac coincided with the time when his cars were in demand (muscle cars (GTO), and sporty cars (Firebird)). While I think DeLorean’s ideas at Pontiac were his, I also suspect that the final products were improved by others who did not get as much credit as they probably should have.
I suspect that a lot of GTO sales went to the Firebird in the early 70’s. I think that the second generation Firebird was better designed for handling than the GTO’s.
Agreed, with that strong Firebird below it, and the 69 & on GrandPrix the upper end the GTO got squeezed out.
I don’t think the 71 nose is ugly, at least it retained quad headlights, unlike the Chevelle that year, and I think the scooped hood and lowered grille is pretty cool in that wild early 70s way.
The GTO had a much better fate than the other A-Body- the 442. The X body GTO was the nameplate’s biggest indignity, but I think enthusiasts opinions at large have softened quite a bit on that, and quite frankly it made the Nova pretty good looking. The 442 on the other hand had a 231 V6 as it’s base engine in the Colonnade years and then suffered the truly grand embarrisment of having it’s badge(stickers) affixed to the Aeroback 78s. The GTO got off lucky
Hmm, do I smell a “Transition Mobile” in the ’71-’72 GTO? 🙂
The only thing truly different between the 70-71 is the nose, that seems pretty minor for transition status. If anything transition should be the Collonade 73, with the 74 being malaise(same qualifier as the 71-73 Mustang and Mustang II). The GTOs end came so quick though it’s hard for me to attach any of those labels.
Sales decline aside Peak GTO as a car lasted through 71, and debatably 72 regardless of it becoming part of a Lemans package(which big whoop, it pretty much always was in essence).
“The GTOs end came so quick though it’s hard for me to attach any of those labels.”
That was my conclusion as well.
I love the 71/72 front end as much as the 70.
Interesting fact, you could order the Endura GTO front clip on a LeMans Sport. It just did not say GTO on it, not 100% if the R/A was functional on the Lemans, and the grilles may have been slightly different.
I have a 71 Sport with the Endura package, although right before I got it the PO sold the front clip off it for as much as the car costed and threw a 70 LeMans/Tempest front clip on her, they also thought they threw a 350 in it but after running the codes and having a life long Pontiac expert run them it turned out to be a 455.
And IMO, all the GTOs you have listed are gorgeous.
A friend of my father’s (who was a few years older than him) would tell a story about ordering a GTO late in the 1970 model year. They informed him that due to production schedules etc. it would be a 71 model that was delivered. He hadn’t seen any previews of the styling changes and he told them it would be fine.
After he saw it, he did take delivery, but he didn’t own it long – claimed he couldn’t stand to look at it.
Personally I never thought there was anything wrong with it, unless you just really, really, love chrome. The “endura” front end deprived you of chrome and made the rear much “brighter” than the front.
“… unless you just really, really, love chrome.”
Guilty as charged.
I’m a bit confused by that, since the Endura bumper came out in ’68.
My apologize, I had the years wrong. I hadn’t even realized the “endura” had lasted long enough to actually undergo a styling revision.
As an aside with “blasts from the muscle car past” Ford is saying they’re going to offer hood scoop mounted turn signals again on the Mustang GT.
The original ’68-’69 front end looked a lot better to me than this “ant eater” re-design.
You see the 68-69 endura completely disappeared down the memory hole.
Now the question comes to mind, if you are going to de-chrome or European-ize the front end of the car, why not do the same to the back? At least then the color scheme would match! Now you’ve got a bling-y behind and a subdued front.
I love the ’68-’69 front end, but I really love the ’66-’67 front end.
Am I alone in preferring the 70?
Nah, the 1970 GTO (or ‘The Humbler’, as the short-lived Pontiac ads called it) was okay. Frankly, all of the ’64-’72 Goats were okay and I personally like them all about the same. But, as most here can attest, the sixties’ cars are preferred, than onto the early seventies, followed by the ’73/’74 cars, and, finally, the Holden Monaro-based cars of the 2000s.
If I had to put them in order, it would probably go like this:
1. Odd-numbered sixties’ cars (’65, ’67, 69).
2. ’70 – ’72
3. Even-numbered sixties’ cars (’64, ’66, 68).
4. ’73 – ’74
5. Holden Monaro GTO
Its fascinating to realize how little the GTO affected real world sales . . . . . . yet nowadays you are led to believe that GTO’s constituted 40% of all Pontiac sales. And, of course, stompin’ V-8 Firebirds covered 59%, leaving 1% for all those four door sedans, six cylinder cars, etc.
Never underestimate the power of a boomer lying to himself, as he finally owns the car he really believes he had in high school.
GTO sales hit a peak of over 96,000 units for 1966, and still managed to sell 81,000 units for 1967 and 87,000 units for 1968. Sales started falling in 1969, and then collapsed rapidly during 1970-72.
At its peak, the GTO did have a significant impact on Pontiac sales. The GTO just fizzled out fairly quickly.
FWIW, at the peak of the other big musclecar success of the sixties, one out of every four intermediates coming down the Plymouth assembly line in 1969 was a Road Runner.
It’s really quite startling how quickly the musclecar fad came and went.
It’s interesting how the collector car market has influenced our view of various eras.
The muscle car era, just like the fin-fad era, didn’t last very long, and many “respectable” people were actually embarrassed to drive those cars after they were only a few years old. People did not take pride in driving a 1959 Cadillac, or 1957-59 Mopar, in 1964 or 1965. (That’s assuming that the Mopars hadn’t rusted away or fallen apart by 1965.)
Based on what you see at car shows, however, you’d think that those cars were popular for a long time.
Meanwhile, the entire Brougham era, which did last for over a decade, is either ignored, or actively ridiculed, today.
I’d argue the main reasons for the demise of the muscle cars were emissions and safety regulations along with steeply rising gas and insurance costs, the 1973 oil embargo being the final nail in the coffin.
The Catalina defined Pontiac’s success in the 60’s and early 70’s. Import driving “boomers” (over the hill yuppies) have their own “feel good” version of history 🙂
My only real exposure to this generation of GTO is from Two Lane Blacktop. A favorite line from that movie is:
G.T.O.: I don’t like being crowded by a couple of punk road hogs clear across two states, I don’t.
The Driver: I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you. Course there’s lots of cars on the road like yours. They all get to look the same. They perform about the same.
I agree with redwagon 100%.
Had a ’72 Lemans with the optional front clip, in triple white. Beautiful car.
Also had a ’68 Lemans and, my favorite, a ’64 GTO among the many Pontiacs I’ve owned.
It’s depressing what they did to Pontiac- they were my favorite cars.
I was a loyal GM guy for about 40 years, despite all of their long term fu#%ery, but killing Pontiac was the last straw. I’ll never own another GM product, and have switched to the German version of Pontiac: BMW!
The 1972 mid-sizers were the last “real” cars for several reasons. Need I name (to me) the main reason?
Nope. Skye may take me to task, ha ha!
I think the orange GTO is HOT. I love the Endura front end. For $41 bucks I would have ordered it for a base car and loaded it with all the high performance options. What a sleeper!
The first thing I thought of when I saw one of these cars new was the Packardbaker coupe – not good.
I don’t think a Super Duty was ever installed in a GTO. http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/2011/10/01/hmn_opinion2.html I believe they were listed in the brochures but only installed in Firebirds. The ’73 with a 455 was not a bad car either.
The GTOs from 1971-72 were hurt by the collapse of the muscle-car market, but also by the general decline in the Pontiac intermediates.
The GTO was hurt by competition from the intermediate-size Grand Prix, which upstaged the GTO and its more mundane Pontiac brethren.
Pontiac’s intermediates also didn’t fare too well when all of GM’s intermediates received the expected facelift for 1970. The 1968-69 GTOs had been the slickest and best-looking GM intermediates during those years, with their ground-breaking Endura noses and hidden headlights. The 1970 facelift seemed like a step backwards for all of the Pontiac intermediates, in my opinion, but the GTO was hurt the most. As noted in the article, the 1971 and 1972 models certainly weren’t an improvement.
It didn’t help that Oldsmobile did a much better job in restyling its intermediates for 1970. Oldsmobile also offered a more “formal” version of its intermediates for 1970. But unlike Chevrolet and Pontiac, Oldsmobile offered a version of its standard intermediate with a more formal roofline and called it Cutlass Supreme, thus keeping it in the Cutlass family. That boosted overall Cutlass sales, and kept the nameplate in the forefront as the 1970s progressed.
I suspect that one of the things that hurt the GTO (and all musclecars, for that matter) in the end was simply the reputation they had garnered over the years. Like minivans would later become known as boring vehicles for ‘soccer moms’, musclecars became seen as cars for pathetic, older, single guys who never grew up, with Warren Oates in ‘Two Lane Blacktop’ being a prime example. In a supreme irony, that movie might have actually ‘hurt’ GTO sales.
Then, as mentioned, the GTO got ‘muscled-out’ by both the Grand Prix and, later, the Grand Am. While Oldsmobile had no such intermediate luxury car, the situation was still similar as the Cutlass (particularly the formal roof one) flourished while the 442 floundered.
That’s true. Also remember that a lot of well-used muscle cars ended up in high-school parking lots by the early 1970s. That also didn’t help their image.
The movie “Dazed and Confused” captured that 70s high school parking lot scene perfectly. Wooderson, played by Matthew McConaughey was so proud of his ’70 Chevelle SS. Owning Melba Toast was about his greatest accomplishment in life so far, even though he had graduated from high school a few years ago.
And this continued on through the 1980s when I was in high school.
I remember several highly desirable muscle cars (RS/SS Camaros, for example) that were hooned and thrashed beyond belief by my classmates (who apparently had parents who kept them in fresh rear tires, and engines, and so on).
While I was driving around in a $125 1968 Plymouth Fury III Sedan (that could barely chirp the tires, only on the first day after it received a fresh set of points).
Or it was the 1973 oil embargo, combined with skyrocketing insurance premiums and underwhelming performance due to safety and emissions regulations.
That’s what I’ve always believed. But I wasn’t there.
Having the fastest car made loses its glow when the fastest cars made become so fast that they are impractical. Its kinda like home computers 15 years ago. They got to the point where they were so fast, the marginal utility realized by upgrading from the second-best, to the best, was small and not worth the extra bucks.
I was there. Muscle cars were everywhere when I was a little kid, but so were news stories of young men being killed in them, in droves. The cars really didn’t have the handling for the power they generated, and especially not the brakes. Lots of claims means high insurance rates. That’s what killed muscle cars more than anything. The end of cheap gas was just the final nail in the coffin.
Markets change over time.
You know, that’s one of the reasons I like modest restomods. Makes those cars a lot more usable, which to me is the whole point of owning one. Modest being the key word there.
Agreed. Really it’s so easy and cheap to convert one of those cars to 4 wheel disc brakes with the aftermarket these days, and keep the stock “numbers matching” parts boxed up. A safer drivable classic can be had by that that alone and it could always be reversed. Same with sway bars.
And tires. A little more width and less sidewall can do wonders. I do prefer the look of the originals by far, but I’d rather have it work better. Some are more tasteful than others.
The top 455 option in 1972 was the 455 HO not the Super Duty. The 455 SD was the 1973 engine originally announced on the GTO, but was actually only sold in the Firebird. The 1972 455 HO used a slightly hotter cam, more compression (8.4 vs 8.2) and an aluminum intake. Although only 645 455 HO’s were produced, only 240 were made with the L75 250 hp 455. The vast majority were the base L78 400 engine.
Although they don’t have the “in your face” look of the old ones, the ones that were built by Holden are pretty damn quick from the showroom.
Very true, if you don’t value aesthetics and won’t fill up the teeny trunk they’re probably the biggest performance bargain on the used car market, namely the 05-06 6.0s.
As Geeber said, there were a lot of used 60’s cars for sale at low prices, and then one could spend for Hot Rod parts. Why buy a brand new 71-72 when there were cheaper used 64-69’s for sale? But just one of many reasons for change in market.
One other is dealers and GM HQ were over the cars, and wanted to kill them off.
One thing to add, the Colonnade 442’s sold fairly well considering, and the ’77 was famous for being used in NASCAR. The 76-77 versions were the best of them, I think.
They were road cruisers, not 1/4 mile dragsters. The ’77 Can Am was meant to join in but GP sales took priority, so only a few were built.
Main issue also, is net HP ratings went down but these were mainly bragging rights.
I read somewhere that the tooling for the CanAm spoiler broke before they even finished the run. I doubt it would have been a big sales success anyway, but it was an interesting Colonnade sub-species.
72’s are the only year with the air extractor behind the front wheels–and most of you know the story that the 73’s were supposed to debut in 72, its nice Pontiac didn’t just clone the 71 cars. I wish I’d been old enough to buy a 73 GTO new, I think they look great.
Yes it is a “real” GTO, but the writing was on the wall. Muscle cars pretty much had their day by `73,but that heralded the rise of the “Malaise Brougham” epoch where brute horsepower took a back seat to luxury. Luxury did not have to be powerful, if just had to look good. The manufactures knew it, so new models were catered to the emerging Brougham market. How about that so-called “GTO” that was based on the Ventura? Muscle car fans just laughed at it after they asked why Pontiac would waste a such a great name on such folly.
I don’t get why people trash the 73 and 74 GTO. I would love to have a 74 personally. The 73 doesn’t really do much for me but it’s still a GTO.
And IMO the new GTO “failed” because it looked like a giant Cavalier. Very generic looking car, especially for a performance model.
I never “got” the attraction of the 70-72 LeMans or for that matter GM intermediates…I thought the Colonnades were a stylistic step up. By far my favorite was the ’75 Grand Am coupe.
Trivia – Our neighbor across the street was prone to trade his Pontiacs in every 5 years. His ’68 Catalina had the first Endura nose I recall. The neighbor to the left of us was on the Olin chemist team that developed Endura.
I felt the exact opposite way. I really liked the GM mid sizes, all of them, until the model year ’73, when the hideously ugly Colonnade cars appeared. At that point, the only decent looking new American cars were Mopars (Ford had totally lost it about 1970, and wouldn’t make anything decent looking, with a couple of rare exceptions, for 35 years). Mopar too, would ugly it up in ’75, but in ’73 and ’74, they made decent looking cars. If they hadn’t uglied up the Chevelle, I might have bought one for my first new car, but I bought a ’74 Roadrunner, one of the very last ones made instead. I wanted a ‘Cuda, but couldn’t find a 360 engined one in a decent color, or equipped correctly, so a Roadrunner was it. It was so late production, a ’75, in the same color, with the same options, was on the truck with my car. If my car had been built as a ’75 only, I would have walked to the Pontiac dealer and bought a T/A. one of the few decent looking GM cars left.
Wow…I owned a 74 GTO (350) White on White, as well as a 67 (400) and loved both of them.
The 74 shared Trams Am handling goodies on the suspension; front and rear stabilizer bars. Also weird about the 74; engine coding seemed to match 400 cid production from 73, car came out of Califonia Plant, which also built TA, Firebirds.
Living in Colorado, the 74 was a better “canyon carver”, I worked at Pontiac deaership and added newer style TA bushings to the suspension which realy tightened it up.
The 67 was great straight line and fun to drive but the 74 just seemed to be closer to the 65 in concept; friend had one so lots of bench talk.
Street raced a bit, mostly Autocross, no longer own either car…but of all the cars I’ve
had – it is the one I wish I stll had.
Sold the car in Boulder Colorado 1984(?) so any info?