Earlier today I posted the article on Pontiacs at the Scottsdale auctions this year. GTO’s naturally figured prominently there and it got me thinking: what was the last “real” GTO? I think different people have different opinions because there are a few years that could qualify.
You’d have to say that officially, it would be the 2006 model, the last car to be sold by Pontiac under that name. Many people consider that car to be a GTO in name only, though. It was an Australian import and pretty blandly styled. But it had a large, naturally aspirated V8, manual transmission available, decently quick with good handling. Thank you Bob Lutz for at least trying!
Prior to that modern car, the last one sold by Pontiac under the name was in 1974. It was a Ventura, which was a Chevy Nova with a different grille and taillights. It did have a Pontiac engine with a shaker hood scoop, 200hp 350cid V8, dual exhausts and 4 speed manual available. The X-body is considered a decent handling car for the times and the GTO got radial tires, so it was probably actually an improvement over its predecessors in handling. But did I mention it’s a Nova?
The last mid sized A-body GTO was the 1973, making a one-year-only appearance on the new Colonnade body. Pontiac seems to have given up on the GTO by this point. This image above is the only factory promotional image I could find on the internet, which is lifted from the corner of one page of the LeMans brochure. It didn’t even get a whole page.
There was also a series of black and white photos taken by GM, I believe for use by magazines. It has the same license plate number as the car below, which means it’s a very special car.
Cars magazine tested a preproduction 1973 GTO, and wrote a gushing article about it, declaring it the Top Performance Car of the year. It was so impressive, they said there wasn’t any other car even close to it. The only problem was the car had the new Super Duty 455, rated at 310 net hp in that GTO. As I mentioned in the Pontiac article, this was special engine that Pontiac used every trick it could throw at it to make a top performing drivetrain for the emissions era. Just before release, Pontiac decided to pull the engine from the GTO (and Grand Am) and only offer it in the Firebird.
Production GTO’s still had a 230hp 400 standard, with a 250hp 455 available, plus it had cool NACA air ducts in the hood. The dwindling muscle car market and Pontiac’s complete lack of promotion resulted in only 4,806 sales. In 1966 they sold almost 100k.
Purists may feel that 1972 was the last year the GTO was its glorious self, the last in a steady stream of flagship performance cars with unique looks and the most power Pontiac had to offer.
The GTO was available with the 455H.O. engine making 300 net hp. Despite making a great car, similar to the 1970 and ’71 models, and at least some promotion, Pontiac only managed to move 5,807 cars, a drop of almost 35k in two years. Contemporary road tests showed the ’71 (and very similar ’72) GTO’s to be the fastest of the line. They were also the last available as convertibles. As far as the collector car market goes, the 1972 is the last year GTO that commands serious money.
So what do you think? Which of these years do you consider to be the last real GTO? Or maybe you have another year or even non-GTO model you consider spiritually to be the last in the line. Let us know!
’72. Wish they’d put that ringer ’73 with the SD 455 into production though
GM put big engines in its smallest most cost saving platform to make GTO.. 2006 was the last year they did that
I think that the 1970 was. I did not care for the rubber nose on the 71 and 72
Agree with Shep.
1972 was the last year for a “real” GTO.
Later models were just trim and stripe packages.
I’ll take the Ferrari 288 GTO, of which 272 were built between 1983 and 1987 for $500, Alex. Hopefully it’s the daily double…
hehehe +1
Yep. The last and best gto!
….
I don’t know if I agree with the bashing of the Australian car that goes on by most enthusiasts. The 2006, being more modern then the classics, would be the best performing version of them all.
On a personal note however, I submit my first fall off of the Ford wagon in 2000, when my last T-Bird’s (literally the Last T-Bird, a 1997) transmission started slipping at 118K.
I found this slightly used 1997 Grand Prix GTP Coupe at the dealer where my then wife was a tech, and was smitten immediately. The deal was done 2 days later.
I’ve always considered the GTP to be a spiritual successor to the GTO. It even makes sense alphabetically! And as far as performance goes, up to that point, it was the fastest car I’ve ever owned….
Good one, I never considered the GTP. It is kind of an 80s/90s GTO.
Likewise.
The GTP actually started with the 1991 model year Grand Prix (of the previous generation to my W-Body). So maybe a 90s thru early 00s spiritual successor to the GTO. And while it was not a V8, the 3800 Supercharged V6 was a blast to drive, and didn’t have a plastic intake manifold like the regular 3800, so it suffered from less of the 3800’s issues.
Here’s the front 3/4 view. I really liked that car….
I was thinking the Pontiac 6000 ste from the 80’s. Mid sized souped up car. Didn’t think about the last good Grand Prix Coupe
If Pontiac called it a GTO, then it’s a GTO.
I’ll give the marque credit, while the specs for a “GTO” changed during its existence based on what the automotive industry was doing at the time, it was always: performance oriented V-8, rear wheel drive (unlike what Ford tried to do with the Mustang, until the faithful learned of the plan), with good handling and performance, and two doors.
I’d say they pretty much kept on line when it came to intent. And I like the Ventura based GTO. So what if the Ventura was based on a Nova? The Tempest was the same car as the Chevelle when the GTO package came out.
Where I do get tired is the Pontiac emphasis at car shows and auctions anymore. If you knew nothing about vintage cars, you could easily leave a show believing that the Pontiac was invented in 1964, died in 2008, and produced two models: GTO and Firebird.
+1 Syke, I wholeheartedly agree with you on all counts.
If GM had wanted to do the 1974 GTO right, they’d have taken the “Pontiac” off the driver’s side above the grille and placed “GTO” on that side within the grille. How difficult would that have been?
Thirded. Maybe it’s just my logical engineer’s mind speaking, but to me since the 2006 GTO was the last car Pontiac called a GTO, therefore it was the last GTO.
Anyone trying to claim that the later GTOs weren’t “real” GTOs is essentially making a “No true Scotsman” argument. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
WildaBeast –
Let’s talk about the 1988 Pontiac LeMans and the “No True Scotsman” argument.
“…V-8, rear wheel drive…and two doors.”
And I’ll point out that the brilliance of this on Pontiac’s part was not that they didn’t do FWD sport sedans or hot hatchbacks – they did, and plenty – but they always *called them something else*. STE, GTE, plain ol’ GT, never GTO, letting those cars stand on their own merits.
That may be more of a reflection on the GTO’s very specific image and its death in the market than Pontiac’s respect for the brand. Both Grand Prix and Bonneville started as special two door bodies (exc the half year that Grand Prix was a buckets and console package before the special 63) and ended up as names on generic six cylinder sedans.
The Monaro might have made more sense in the market as a Firebird than a GTO.
Very interesting question. I think the disappointment with the most recent GTOs is that they simply weren’t special and distinctive enough to continue carrying the revered nameplate. But the ’74 and ’06 GTOs did actually offer strong performance (in the context of their times), so from that standpoint they could legitimately carry the title of being powerful Pontiacs. But the styling was considered too bland, based on the brash GTO imagery that had been established in the 1960s.
IIRC, the aggressively snouted Grand Am was originally envisioned as being the ’73 GTO, but at some point the model was repositioned and renamed, in an attempt to me more “European Touring” which it decidedly was not. Then the GTO name was then just haphazardly slapped onto a LeMans colonnade coupe, which seemed more like a last ditch Plymouth Road Runner competitor than a true higher-end GTO as had been the case before.
But, to be fair to Pontiac, the Muscle Car market had collapsed in the early 1970s, so the original GTO concept really was no longer viable. Had the Ventura been a better car and less like a nondescript Chevy Nova clone, that size package could have reinvented the concept for the mid-1970s. And if Pontiac hadn’t been so damaged as a brand by the 2000s, the Australian GTO could have been better received as a performance/luxury coupe.
So, this is a long winded way of saying that I think they are all fairly called GTOs–some were simply much better (or more timely) executions of the muscle car concept.
+2. Agree with Syke. The last GTO is the only one that was it’s own unique model in the US.
1972 obviously the last of the classic GTOs; I’ll let the ’73 squeak in because it’s at least still based on the standard Pontiac mid-sized body even though they obviously phoned it in and hoped the Grand Am would be better suited as a well-rounded ’70s driver’s car (it didn’t work for Pontiac any more than it did for Chevrolet (Laguna) or Olds (Cutlass Salon).
The ’74 is too small and too much like a Nova (or standard Ventura). The Holden GTO had the performance but not the looks, and unlike every previous GTO wasn’t a high-performance version of a standard Pontiac. So I’ll go with 1973.
Alternate reality: what if the ’74 Ventura-based GTO had been a big hit and thus continued in future model years? The Ventura became the Phoenix later in the decade, and the Phoenix then became a Citation-based downsized front-driver. Would Pontiac dared have built a FWD Phoenix-based GTO with Chevy V6 power?
Or Pontiac could bring back the GTO nameplate for the RWD G-body Grand Prix. We could imagine an aerodynamic nose as a nod to the Monte Carlo SS and the 1986½-1987 Grand Prix 2+2.
As for a FWD, I guess if it wasn’t in use for the X-body Phoenix, it could had been used for the N-body Grand Am or the J-body J2000/Sunbird/Sunfire. Some dealers in Canada applied a GTO stickers to the Sunfire around 1995-96. https://www.montrealracing.com/forums/showthread.php?573795-Pontiac-Sunfire-GTO-Maintenant-500
And one guy did a complete conversion of a J-body Sunfire into a GTO including converting it from FWD to RWD.
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hppp-1303-1995-pontiac-sunfire/
As an Aussie, naturally I was pumped when Bob Lutz pushed ahead with his plan to sell the Monaro in the US. Just knowing it was sold there makes me smile. But also, as you guys would see it as an import I can understand why some wouldn’t see it as a ‘true’ GTO, regardless of how good it was – ‘Not Invented Here’.
The colonnade ’73? Just too big, in my book. It’s hard to get my head around something that gratuitously big being a performance car, no matter what was under the hood. And speaking of under the hood, the previous year’s car would go so much harder, being smaller and lighter – isn’t that what a performance car is all about? And harder still to imagine why GM felt they needed anything bigger than the colonnade ‘intermediates’, but I digress.
The ’74? Better size and weight, true, but I feel that by now the name was debased by being batted all over the shop from one platform to another.
That leaves the ’72.
I agree with Syke that the 2004-2006 Holden & ‘74 Ventura models were GTOs as much as the ‘64-‘73 Tempest/LeMans based cars.
Having owned a beautiful ‘67 LeMans that likely had it’s interior installed in a “tribute” or genuine GTO, I too feel it a shame that nearly all A-body 2dr Pontiacs sold in the 1960’s & early 1970’s are now “GTOs”. I would rather now own a 1961-1963 Y-Body Tempest/LeMans for its engineering uniqueness and for lack of a GTO model.
In my opinion (having been very cognizant of each model year introduction in my early teens, and having a 1967 coupe in the family at the time as my mother’s car, with the THM400 and air conditioning), I would say the 1970 model year was the last proper GTO. After the ’70 – which was suddenly too cool for hidden headlamps – no one seemed to care about the ’71, which traded the elegance of the ’70 front end for one that was overdetailed and too aggressive. The ’72 was less special for the obvious reason that any LeMans could have the same front end optionally.
I am neglecting the Judge and other post-1969 455-equipped GTOs because GTOs needn’t ever have been ostentatious as Judges were, and the 455 was too damn heavy. I don’t know whether I would go so far as to disdain Judge fans, but I did see one opportunistic advertiser at the Hemmings site purporting to be selling a 1968 Judge! (For more than $50K: http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/pontiac/gto-judge/2131992.html)
I agree; that ’70 was peak GTO for styling.
My preference has always been for mid-1960s stacked headlight models. If the 2000s GTO had been made to evoke that look they really would have had something.
Stacked headlight model! Oh, you meant a real one? 🙂
The 455 pontiac was to heavy? You do know that all poantiac V8’s from the 326 to the 455 are the same block just the 421,428 and 455 have larger crank mains?
No, sorry, I actually did not know. Thanks for the correction.
70, I want to say 72 but the performance was dropping, the Judge was a bit of a cartoon, but held the image & concept.
Dave
I’d have to say the ’71 was the last of the true GTO’s-if I remember correctly, the 350 cid was the standard engine and the 400/455 was optional. By 1971 the supercar phenomenon was on its last legs.
The above arguments persuade me that 1970 is the correct answer. I always found The Judge to be a little too much over the top.
The 2006 really lacked the GTO “mystique” or whatever the intangible was but it was a hell of a car. It just needed a little more panache I guess.
1972 to me is the last year of the real GTO’s although performance did slowly start to decline starting with the 1971 models, then again I always considered 1972 to be the end of the muscle car era before heading into the Malaise era automobiles.
71 GTO with a 455 ho was Top Dogs of all engines in 72 they started putting emissions which downgraded the motor the 71 is the farbest GTO that I’ve ever in been in
It’s funny that some criticize the 74 GTO for offering a hatchback, but 5 years later on the next restyle, Ford had one on the Mustang.
1968 was the last of the breed as far as I’m concerned I have a 1966 convertible love it
06.
Yes the styling was dated, yes it was imported, but the styling in and of itself wasn’t what I consider bad, and it was imported from a country that hadn’t all but abandoned the idea of a largeish muscle car like the US had. That car was more American in spirit than any of the US created garbage GM was hocking circa 04-06. Oh yeah, and they are legitimately fast, the 05-06 6.0s are formidable competition for even the current crop of modern muscle cars.
Having said that, if I did exclude the Monaco based ones I would pick 1973. A GTO doesn’t need an Endura bumper to be a GTO, ask the 1967s the 1973 only bodystyle was sleek and aggressive, and in my opinion better looking than the 71-72s by a fair margin.
The 74s, no. It’s a Nova. Yes, it could be considered an evolution of the original GTO formula, big engine being based on an ever smaller car, but it wasn’t exactly leading the charge in any respect, a used 396 Nova SS in the exact same bodyshell from 5 years prior would stomp the thing, and at best it was a way too late response to the Duster/Demon 340. Now If they put a 400 or 455 in, that would be a different story, but it’s clear by 1974 the Firebird was Pontiacs flagship, and they weren’t going to cannibalize sales of it with a lazy continuation car. If Pontiac didn’t respect the GTO badge enough to do it right, I don’t respect the car as a GTO.
Yes, the styling is bland. But I thinks it’s quite the elegant car, and it’s one of my favorite vehicles of the 2000’s
I always find it funny that the Duster 360 is so beloved (and in some quarters considered the ultimate muscle car), while the Ventura base GTO gets nowhere near the love. Other than pollution controls, they’re the same damned car, only made by different manufacturers!
Oops, 340.
You’re not too far off, in 1974 due to emissions standards, the 340 was dropped and the Duster used the 360.;-)
Once again, four years too late, and late to its own game at that…
Hi I have a 06 goat and get complement all the when go out I can’t count how many people come up to me and if I wanna sell it and I give them a big,fat NO. The interior is really nice and comfy I think,about buying a 69 judge to go with my 06
The last of the Classic GTOs was definitely the 1972 model, but the 2006 was indeed the last GTO for many reasons. I will admit to being slightly biased because I had a 2006 that was pretty much identical to the one in the top photo.
First off, it used the exact same formula that created the 1964 original, which was to stuff a big engine (the LS1/2) into an existing mid-sized platform. The original’s appearance was practically identical to the 1964 LeMans, which was a fairly ordinary appearing mid-size, just like the Monaro.
Second, it had all of the muscle car specs. The 400 net HP LS2 GTOs were the fastest production GTOs (just topping the Judge) and were just about the fastest cars to EVER wear the Pontiac dagger. Top speed was around 173 MPH. And unlike most of the classic Goats, it had handling and brakes to handle the power. I took mine to a track day mostly populated by Corvettes and I figure that the GTO’s performance was at least 90~93% of the Vette.
Third, GM pretty much had to import the Monaro from Holden because there was nobody left at the RenCen who knew how to built a proper RWD performance car. That would have to wait until the Zeta platform, which would have made for a great next-gen GTO if Pontiac had the will.
I blame purists who turned up their nose at the new GTO for its early demise. It was a relative performance bargain (mid $30s) and the quality was a few notches higher than the rest of the Pontiac line. We can thank them for the fact that we will never see another GTO.
As for my car, we had 10 glorious trouble-free years, but when GM parts-orphaned the car in 2016, it was over and I sold it to a guy who just happened to own a 1964 and wanted a final-year model to go with his first-year. I feel for you Chevy SS owners out there, because you will have the same fate befall you. This is one (but not the only one) of the reasons why I will not be buying GM products in the future.
77 can am Was last GTO
I loved the GTO’s styling from the first and up to the beautiful new 1969 owned by a best friend. Never liked the 1970 re-style though the drivetrain was still decent through 1972. The Holden-based GTO was so rare in SoCal – I can’t remember seeing more than a handful in all of the years since it was introduced.
I’m OK with any of the cars Pontiac sold in the US as a GTO. I’m not OK with the Daewoo LeMans, but AFAIK there was never a GTO version of that car, unless it was some opportunistic dealer with a decal kit.
’74 was the last year for the GTO in Canada – the Aussie GTO’s were never sold north of the border.
Formula for the 1964 GTO…..
Take an intermediate coupe body, add a hi performance v-8 and standard tranny, beef up the suspension and go.
Formula for the 2006 GTO…..
Take an intermediate coupe body, add a hi performance v-8
and standard tranny, beef up the suspension and go.
Am I missing something??
74. It was true to the original GTO formula, and a significant performance upgrade, in power and more so in handling, over its base model. The ‘it’s a Nova’ argument doesn’t hold for me as it had a true Pontiac drivetrain and bespoke styling. The 64 was as much a Chevelle as the 74 was a Nova.
The lack of recognition of the ’04-06 by some enthusiasts, pardon my Australian, shits me to tears. It all seems to hinge on the car’s inoffensive styling… never mind the fact it was relatively affordable, incredibly powerful and rear-wheel-drive.
It’s a GTO, plain and simple. The styling criticisms are valid but they don’t detract from the car’s actual purpose and talent.
The Holden GTOs are legit. Got to drive my friends once or twice. The modern GTOs are more so than the colonnade or Ventura versions.
I have a 74 ventura gto with a 72 350 h.o bored 30 over an after market intake an 455 heads an more its the last real body style of the gto an it runs like a mother fucker
I owned a 70 hardtop in 1986. Arguably, the best looking GTO. In 1997, I bought a running and driving but rusty and slightly crunched 69 hardtop. Like an idiot, I sold both. I say 06. Great engine. brakes. But a Cavalier on steroids in the styling department.
Since I posed the question, I’ll go ahead and give my opinion.
Short answer: 1972
Long answer: Every GTO sold were good cars and well worthy of consideration to buy when new relative to what else was available. 65-70 were the peak GTO years and if I could hAve any one, my 1st choice would be 1966 and 2nd choice 1970. Everything after 1970 were just not quite as good, so I can see how a couple people said 70. I think the 71-72 was almost as good as the 70, and still very much Pontiac’s premier performance flagship following the original formula, so 1972 was the last “true” GTO.
I believe spiritually the 77 Can Am is the last GTO. Except for the name, it followed the original formula exactly. Made on the midsize platform, with the most potent V8 available, with an upscale interior, having more of a grand touring vibe than an all out racer. They should have called it a GTO.
Conversely, the 2004-06 was a great car, especially 05-06. Really good performer, while being more of a grand tourer, with a nice luxurious interior. I always thought, though, they should have called it something besides GTO. The GTO is such an American icon, it was just not a name that should be put on a non-American car, even a good one that fits well in the American tradition. It’s like putting Foster’s in a Budweiser can. It may be a fine beer, but it can never be a Bud.
Good point about the 2004-06 – it should never have had the burden of trying to fit in line with an American legend. Even if, as Paul pointed out earlier, that legend was largely based on marketing, the original GTO was a dream car for that specific point in American history. Were people buying that many performance based coupes in 2004-06? Trying to recreate a market that existed 30 years before also seemed doomed to failure.
Also, I hate to say it but a lot of the legendary GTOs, as products of that time, were not terribly well built. I remember several examples from back in the day to support that argument. My friend’s 69 exhibited many problems when bought new, requiring many trips to the dealership for correction, and within a few short years was a rusty rattletrap – I’m using his own words here. To a certain extent, the gorgeous restorations we see today are different products.
The only reason someone would buy a Ventura GTO instead of a 74 Firebird is the back seat or optional hatchback.
Ferrari, Mitsubishi or Pontiac? for the latter the last model built with an actual Pontiac engine is the last true GTO.
For me its the G8, I had purchased an 02′ WS6, ,then seriously considered a G8, i was impressed with that test drive, I OWN a 68′ conv. 400 firebird RAIV, oh, the gto,,,,i had a 70 gto, BUT, 69, RAIV GTO hands down #1
anything prior to 74 that crap they called a GTO in 74 was a wreck….spanish for no go. yup a nova. and that australia car has a cool name. may be a sweet ride.
but its no GTO. just my opinion.
1971/2, although not a fan of these compared to ’60s cars
All subsequent offerings were badge-engineered and/or just shit.
I have no problem with the 2000s GTO being the last one. It was a legit performance four-seater, especially with the later, hotter engine. I also have no issue with the looks. It might not have had the most “exciting” (i.e. overdone like the current Civic Type R) look, but it looked good and sometimes you wanted to fly underneath the radar. Has everyone forgotten that the original GTO was stylistically a slight variation of the workaday Pontiac Tempest two-door? The Tempest might be lauded for its styling 50+ years on, but back then it was pretty much just another intermediate.
In spirit definitely the 2006, but the last real GTO would be the 1974.
That there has always been so much resistance to calling the 2000s version a “real” GTO lends support to the idea that the GTO was never really about mere performance. It was about some alchemy that involved style and image and hipness with some performance thrown in.
The 2000s version was more like a Mopar-style performance car – one that brought the goods without being especially great looking. Chrysler people would have accepted it had Dodge brought it from Australia. Pontiac people did not.
Exactly, and I believe that the last Thunderbird suffered from similar fate. The 2002-2005 versions were just not what TBird enthusiasts thought it should be, and it failed. The platform mates Jag and Lincoln did relatively better, sales wise, but what Ford must have thought to be a slam dunk missed the rim completely. It just did not have the “magic” that a Thunderbird was supposed to have. A different name may have well worked, but it did not help the GTO version. As a G8, albeit with 4 doors, it just languished on lots. Same with the Holden version Impala SS, which should have worked, but was ignored. I guess we really are very biased against foreign cars badged as famous US models. They can be the best, but we pass them up.
1970 GTO JUDGE 382
Google it !
I’d posit that spiritually the GTO was wrung out by ’72 in spite of the later iterations bearing the name. By ’74, and certainly in full effect by ’77 the “spirit” of the GTO had migrated to the Firebird body and continued the basic tradition in Trans Am, Formula and SD guise. I realize of course that puritanically speaking the Firebird was a “Pony Car” as opposed to the traditional “Muscle Car”, but from the standpoint of who the target customer was, the Firebird was carrying the torch.
Nomenclature aside, I just feel that the “GTO Mystique” was picked up and carried forward in new packaging and with new parameters and more realistic (for the times) expectations. I’m not sure that really counts as an answer to the query, but the name seems to mean less than the “representation of the genre” in my mind. If that makes sense.
I remember some scans then Collectible Automobile posted around 2014 about a 1975 GTO that might have been, showing a prototype made with the assistance of Hurst using the 400 ci engine for the Ventura.
http://i61.tinypic.com/11t7gg9.jpg
http://archive.is/qfJqI
Had Pontiac made that GTO, it would had been a good alternative to the Dodge Aspen R/T and Plymouth Volare Road Runner.
Not the ’06.
A perfectly fine, not to say fast, car. I know, I’ve driven one, hard, and it had limits well beyond any sensible road use. (They finally snap oversteer when you drive stupidly on a road that you hope you know is deserted. Apparently).
But as has been pointed out here before, it arrived to the party nearly ten years late and wearing a dress that was of no great originality when it was a debutante.
I speculate that Bob Lutz saw the Holden Monaro, thought “Damn, a fine basic design GM US isn’t apparently able to make, let’s shove it out there as a banner car and stir up some shit amongst our complacent. Shift some inertia”. I speculate such on no provable basis whatsoever, other than that Lutz was a car guy and cage-rattler.
Ofcourse, the car was a wrong choice – if the only GM one available for such a venture – because it really did look boring, and anyway, you really can’t make the icon of one country in another and expect excited loyalty sales.
For mine, ’72. Still looked great, went hard, the two of which combined is surely the point of such a car.
Leave dull (or strange-looking) cars that are really, really good at what they do, to the French.
The ’73 GTO did get a full-page billing in that year’s Canadian Pontiac intermediate brochure which included the LeMans, LeMans Sport Coupe, Luxury LeMans, Grand Am ….. and GTO.
Interesting! It’s pretty bogus that U.S. Pontiac would offer a model and not even give it a page. Zero advertising, too.
“You’d have to say that officially, it would be the 2006 model, the last car to be sold by Pontiac under that name. Many people consider that car to be a GTO in name only, though. It was an Australian import and pretty blandly styled.”
this argument is silly. The GTO was always a big engine stuffed in an otherwise mundane car. The original was a Tempest/LeMans with a big engine and some farkle. The 2006 GTO- despite being derided by old guys as looking like “just a Grand Prix with a big engine.” Which fits perfectly within what the original GTO was. Maybe they expected it to have throwback/retro styling or something. I don’t know what it is with this crowd of aging Boomers which expects any car with an old name to be retro styled, or any car with retro styling must also be really powerful. Like the people griping about the 2002 Thunderbird being “slow.” Er, the TBird was never really a performance car, especially not in the 1950s.
The last GTO in my opinion was the ’74, since it was manufactured by Pontiac. 2004 to 2006 GTO’s were derived from the Holden Monaro. Bob Lutz and Pontiac were working on plans to build a facility specifically for the GTO in Michigan, with development of a more genuine GTO than what was being imported at the time. But we all know what happened shortly after.
The last GTO was offered in 2006. The classic GTOs lost their way in ’68 with the ugly bumpers and fat ass rear end.
I consider the 2004-2006 GTO to be the last GTO made by Pontiac.
It met the all the GTO criteria
1. Big high horse power engine (6.0l 400hp) (05-06)
2. RWD
3. Coupe
4. Fun to drive
Despite the pundits slamming this car and stating that it is not a true GTO, it is. I think it was the fact it was not made in the USA and the image of the GTO is of an American made muscle car.
1972, that was the last real performance engine. The 2006 was a piece of Holden Garbage!
I’m comfortable with the 2006 model being “the last GTO” – the styling is just… unfortunate.