From to was the golden years of muscle cars. All American car makers - or virtually all of their divisions - rushed to produce multiple muscle models to satisfy the hot demand from car enthusiasts. Before the muscle car era, car makers applied big V8 engines only on their expensive full size cars.
However, in , Pontiac's chief engineer John Z. DeLorean decided to break the rule and put a cubic inch 6. This created an affordable performance car. With hp in standard form or hp in high performance form, the relatively lightweight Tempest GTO delivered stunning performance.
Car Life magazine found the high output model needed only 6. The GTO became an immediately success. Some 32, units were sold in the first year. Another , units followed in the next 3 years. DeLorean opened a new era - the muscle car era. Frankly, the Pontiac GTO was all about performance per dollar. Its talent was limited to stop watch and straight road. Chevrolet was able to keep the tri-power set up to help with their image, the GTO was really becoming a serious competition problem for them.
To compensate, the engine received a slightly wider cylinder bore 4. Testers found little performance difference, although the distinctive sound and fury of the Tri-Power was missed. Two new engines were offered. Offered only with an automatic, it was coolly received by GTO buyers. The package, which included a functional hood scoop much like the previous dealer-installed set-up , featured stiffer valve springs and a longer-duration camshaft.
Rated power and torque were unchanged, although the engine was certainly stronger than that of the standard hp kW GTO. It was available only with 3. Two more positive changes were in the area of transmission and brakes. The archaic two-speed automatic gave way to the three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic TH , available with any engine.
GM redesigned its A-body line for , with more curvaceous, "bustleback" fastback styling. The previous in mm wheelbase was shortened to in mm for all two-door models.
Overall length was reduced 5. The signature hood scoop was replaced by dual scoops on either side of a prominent hood bulge extending from the protruding nose. A unique feature was the body-color Endura front bumper. It was designed to absorb impact without permanent deformation at low speeds. Pontiac touted this feature heavily in advertising, showing hammering at the bumper to no discernable effect. This model year further emphasized the curvacious "coke bottle" styling, as viewed from the side.
Powertrain options remained substantially the same as in , but the standard GTO engine rose to hp kW rpm. At mid-year, a new Ram Air package became available with freer-breathing cylinder heads, round port exhaust and the cam and gear. Horsepower rating was not changed, although actual output was likely somewhat higher, especially with open exhausts.
Another carry-over from was the 4-piston caliper disc brake option. While most models had drum brakes all around, this rare option provided enormous stopping power and could be found on other GM A-Body vehicles of the same period. Aside from the grille and headlights, several other new gimmicks were offered. One feature was concealed windshield wipers, hidden below the rear edge of the hood. They presented a cleaner appearance and were another Pontiac first for the industry.
Another popular option, actually introduced during the model year, was a hood-mounted tachometer, located just ahead of the windshield and lighted for nighttime visibilty. Redline bias-ply tires continued as standard equipment on the GTO though they could be replaced by whitewalls at no extra cost, sourced by various manufacturers under contracts with General Motors such as Uniroyal, Firestone, Goodyear, B.
Goodrich and General. A new option this year was radial-ply tires for improved ride and handling. The radial tire option was quitely discontinued after this one year. Hot Rod tested a four-speed standard GTO and obtained a quarter mile reading of Motor Trend clocked a four-speed Ram Air with 4.
Testers were split about handling, Hot Rod calling it "the best-balanced car [ Pontiac ] ever built," but Car Life chiding its excessive nose heaviness, understeer, and inadequate damping. The new model did away with the vent windows, had a slight grille and taillight revision, moved the ignition key from the dashboard to the steering column, and the gauge faces changed from steel blue to black.
In addition, the rear quarter-panel mounted side marker lamps changed from a red lens shaped like the Pontiac "V" crest to one shaped like the broad GTO badge. By this time, the gross power ratings of both Ram Air engines were highly suspect, bearing less relationship to developed horsepower and more to an internal GM policy limiting all cars except the "all-mighty" Corvette to no more than one advertised horsepower per ten pounds of curb weight.
During its development, however, it was decided to make it instead the ultimate in street performance and image. Pontiac claimed that the latter had some functional effect at higher speeds, producing a small but measurable down force, but it was of little value at legal speeds except for style. The Judge was initially offered only in very loud "Carousel Red," but late in the model year a variety of other colors became available. This is also the year that the legendary Ram Air V was introduced, it was a special block with newly designed high compression tunnel port heads, special high rise intaked , and for the first time on a Pontiac a Holley carb.
The engine would have killed the overrated Big Block Chevy and all of the professional drag racers today would be praising Pontiac insted of Chevy. The Tempest line got another facelift for the model year. Hidden headlights were deleted in favor of four exposed, round headlamps outboard of narrower grille openings.
The nose retained the protruding vertical prow theme, although it was less prominent. The result was a useful reduction in body lean in turns and a modest reduction of understeer. Another handling-related improvement was optional variable-ratio power steering. Rather than a fixed ratio of Turning diameter was reduced from The base engine was unchanged for , but the low-compression economy engine was gone and The Ram Air III and Ram Air IV remained available, although the latter was now a special-order option.
Curiously, the , a long-stroke engine taken from the full-size Pontiac Bonneville line, was only moderately stronger than the base , and actually less powerful than the Ram Air III, both in advertised and developed power. The was rated hp rpm. Car and Driver tested a heavily optioned , with a four-speed transmission and 3.
The smaller displacement engine recorded less than 9 mpg In that commercial entitled "The Humbler," which was broadcast only that one time, a young man pulled up in a new GTO to a drive-in restaurant with dramatic music and exhaust noise in the background, pulling the "EXHAUST" button to activate the VOE and then left the drive-in to do some street racing. That particular commercial was also cancelled by order of GM management.
The Judge remained available as a separate model, against the advice of Jim Wangers, who felt it should have been a one year-only promotion. Striping was relocated to the upper wheelwell brows. The new styling did little to help declining sales, which were now being hit by sagging buyer interest in all musclecars and by the punitive surcharges levied by automobile insurance companies, which could result in insurance payments higher than car payments for some drivers.
Sales were down to 40,, of which 3, were The Judge. The GTO had another modest facelift, this time with wire-mesh griles, horizontal bumper bars on either side of the grille opening, more closely spaced headlamps, and a new hood with the dual scoops relocated to the leading edge, not far above the grille.
Overall length grew slightly to If the skyrocketing insurance rates were not enough, a new corporate edict, aimed at preparing the GM fleet for no-lead gasoline, forced a cross-the-board reduction in compression ratios.
The Ram Air engines did not return for Motor Trend tested a GTO with the , four-speed transmission, and 3. Only were sold before The Judge was discontinued in February, , including 17 convertibles — today the rarest of all GTOs. On the base LeMans line the GTO package could be had with either the low-priced pillared coupe or hardtop coupe. Both models came standard with cloth and vinyl or all-vinyl bench seats and rubber floor mats on the pillared coupe and carpeting on the hardtop, creating a lower-priced GTO for which some within Pontiac had been lobbying since the debut of the Plymouth Road Runner.
The LeMans Sport , offered only as a hardtop coupe, came with Strato bucket seats upholstered in vinyl, along with carpeting on floor and lower door panels, vinyl door-pull straps, custom pedal trim and cushioned steering wheel, much like GTOs of previous years.
Other optional equipment was similar to and earlier models. Planned for as a GTO option was the ducktail rear spoiler from the Firebird Trans Am, but after a few cars were built with that option, it was cancelled.
The optional had the same rated horsepower although at a peak of rpm , but substantially more torque. Most of the drop was attributable to the new rating system which now reflected an engine in as-installed condition with mufflers, accessories, and standard intake : in real terms, the engines were relatively little changed from A very rare option was the HO engine , essentially similar to that used in the Trans Am.
Despite its modest 8. Only of these engines were sold.
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