Very cool. This is the original Funny car and hauler Don used. I got to see this car race once as a kid at the old Detroit Dragway. I like the orange "Hot Wheels" track the Cuda is sitting on. I had the Snake and Mongoose Hot Wheels track as a kid - complete with parachutes. In fact, I just watched the "Snake and Mongoose" movie on On Demand a week ago.

Yep, cool stuff...

Very cool. This is the original Funny car and hauler Don used. I got to see this car race once as a kid at the old Detroit Dragway. I like the orange "Hot Wheels" track the Cuda is sitting on. I had the Snake and Mongoose Hot Wheels track as a kid - complete with parachutes. In fact, I just watched the "Snake and Mongoose" movie on On Demand a week ago.

www.hr.com

www.hrmcr.com

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/featuredvehicles/2015_challenger_srt_hellcat_the_end_is_near/

Chrysler has folded the SRT brand into Dodge, and the Viper could get a Dodge badge again if the brand boss wants it. Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said: "Dodge is a performance brand; it needs to have SRT."

www.an.com

www.ccc.com

Chrysler has folded the SRT brand into Dodge, and the Viper could get a Dodge badge again if the brand boss wants it. Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said: "Dodge is a performance brand; it needs to have SRT."

www.an.com

Thank god. That was the stupidest thing ever to pull SRT into it's own "Brand"

www.chp.com

www.hpp.com

www.hpp.com

Amazing ad since 3 model years later, the GTO was gone for the next 30 years.

why did it go?

why did it go?

Ghosty - a lot of factors converged at the same time to help Pontiac determine to kill the GTO. They are (in no particular order of importance):

1. Wildly rising insurance rates for "muscle cars" like the GTO (while a sister A-body car like the Lemans or Tempest with most or all of the

same options would be half as much). Some stories say that the some rates were so punitive that the insurance cost more than the car

payment per month for some drivers.

2. Introduction of unleaded fuel (and eventually emission equipment like EGR valves and catalytic converters) required manufacturers to harden

valves and valve seats to handle the removal of the protective "lead" (tetraethylead) from gas, and this lead to reduced horsepower (due to

lower compression engines and lower available octane gasoline). Lead was not compatible with catalytic converters and would clog them. "Lead"

fuel was used to help high compression engines avoid knocking. So manufacturers had to lower compression ratios in order to prevent

knocking, thus reducing horsepower starting in 1971. After the mid-70s, you could no longer get 100 or near-100 octane fuel either.

3. GM switches from reporting gross to net SAE horsepower ratings, which combined with the unleaded fuel, had the perception of a significant

horsepower drop. In reality, gross meant the engine was run with no air cleaner or parasitic drag like an A/C compressor, alternator, and power

steering pump. Net meant all these were now in place when the engine was measured. Still the public perceived that this was the result of

switching to unleaded fuel.

4. Dropping demand for muscle cars in general and the GTO in particular. Pontiac built 87,684 GTOs in 1968, 72,287 in 1969, only 40,149 in

1970, 10,532 in 1971, a mere 5,807 in 1972, a scant 4,806 in 1973, and 7,058 in 1974. So in its final three years, it was just under 18,000 total

units. It is not that hard to see why Pontiac decided to kill the GTO from a production numbers perspective.

5. By the end of 1973, there is the famous Arab Oil Embargo which raised gas prices significantly (temporarily at least) and causes the public to

lose interest in muscle cars even more, and demand more fuel efficient cars from all of the Detroit automakers.

6. Pontiac introduced its new Euro-styled Grand Am, on the same A-body platform in 1973 which competed directly against the GTO, and stole

customers away from the GTO. The Grand Am was a marketing hit.

7. Pontiac switched the GTO to the Ventura - X-body platform in 1974 to compete with the Duster, Maverick Grabber, and Hornet X. This would

also avoid it from competing against the Grand Am - but it lacked appeal to customers who thought the GTO should be a full framed car, rather

than this newly "compact" muscle car segment it was now in. However, the 1974 GTO was the best power-to-weight ratio GTO ever built until the

2004-06 came along.

8. The GTO was hardly advertised between 1972 and 1974 in terms of TV ads, and it was short on print ads as well, as compared to previous

years. So it was not marketed as well as the new Grand Am, or the newly re-styled colonnade Lemans.

9. After the 1971 model year, the GTO ceased to be its own model. It became an option off the Lemans in 1972 and 1973 and the Ventura in 1974.

10. The UAW went on a corporate-wide 67-day strike in September 1970, impacting the start of production of all the 1971 model cars and trucks.

11. In 1970, Pontiac introduced the GT-37, based on the ET concept, as a cheap muscle car since the GTO (and Judge in particular) was getting

quite expensive. It was available with all the GTO engine packages as options on a Tempest/T-37 hardtop coupe. It was Pontiac's attempt to

compete against the inexpensive Roadrunner. Only 1,419 GT-37s were built in 1970 1/2. In 1971, 8,800 were built, but only 641 had the GTO

engine packages (400-4bl, 455 4bl, or 455 HO). Pontiac even created a TV ad where the GTO and GT-37 were pitched together. The GT-37

took some sales away from the GTO based on its much lower price tag. Not smart advertising if you ask me either.

"There's a little GTO in every GT-37..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD8yxqO-Pag

oh wow. thats quite a list. if that made it go away, what kept it away for so long? was there ever a chance for a limited edition run?

GM made a few attempts to bring back the GTO prior to 2004. The most visible was the 1999 Concept GTO that was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It was a modern look at the classic Coke bottle shape. Sadly, this was not even a working car. It had no interior or working engine. It won rave reviews and people like me demanded GM make it right after the show closed. Alas, GM missed the mark (and the point) and didn't produce the car. The 2004 GTO was based on the established Holden Monaro platform instead.

Now if you look closely, you can see that 1999 Concept GTO did do a lot to inspire the 5th gen Camaro styling.

Another concept car that many thought would the next GTO was the Grand Am SC/T concept.

GM even built a concept car they called GTO that never saw the light of day (or press) back in the 1980s that was based on a lot of 3rd gen Firebird technology.

There were enough people in Pontiac that felt that any car that wore the letters GTO had to meet some rather simply yet turned out to be rather high water mark criteria.

1. It had to be rear wheel drive (RWD) - so no FWD!

2. It had to have the highest performing V8 engine that could fit under the hood - no V6s or turbo 4 cylinders would do!

3. It had to be a 2-door coupe, no 4-doors allowed!

4. It had to be affordable

Still it took someone like Bob Lutz to make the call and the business case to bring back the GTO name. A lot of car buyers by 2004 weren't even born when the GTO went out of production. So they had no idea what it meant to drive or own a GTO. Pontiac wanted to car to be a BWM / Lexus fighter - it didn't work.

Another factor working against the GTO and RWD in general was the lack of public interest in RWD cars. The auto industry was forced into converting to FWD by fuel efficiency and emission mandates by the federal government starting in early 1980s. Once fuel injection and emissions technology matured, RWD cars could become just as efficient as FWD but by then, nearly a generation of car buying consumers had become accustomed to FWD and saw not real advantage to RWD. So sales (and availability) of RWD vehicles plummeted and were left to specialty pony/muscle/halo cars (Mustangs/Camaros/Firebirds), Vettes, Vipers, police & luxury cars (Roadmaster/Caprice/Mark VIII/Crown Vic), and trucks & SUVs. Essentially RWD vehicles, except for trucks & SUVs, were poor volume sellers by the early 2000s, and hard for manufacturers to justify building and selling them.

I think the lose of the Camaro and Firebird hurt RWD in general in 2002. I believe that RWD is making a comeback with the strength of the resurgence of the Mustang, Challenger, Charger, Chrysler 300, Cadillac CTS, ATS, Camaro and Chevy SS. The Solstice/Sky, GTO, and Pontiac G8 did well to advance RWD back into the public eye too. I think we will see more RWD offerings from car companies in the future. GM is going to bring back the Grand National and GNX for Buick starting in 2015 or 2016 off the ATS platform. I think this is going to be a good thing for all of us. I think there needs to be a balance between FWD, RWD, and AWD from the manufactuers as a whole. Give people affordable choices and alternatives.

Flat bimmer. I mean I do love my G8's im just happy this is a rendering...it is right?

Obvious photoshop is obvious.

www.gmht.com

ya i remember that '99 GTO concept. nice looking. captured that hood well imo. not to keep rambling on and taking away from this thread but as the GTO went and the muscle car era die out and the lack of RWD recently, Chevys golden child never lost its pace? and the direction Buick id going, i too would like to their hat in the muscle car (name) game.