American Muscle Car 1964 Pontiac GTO part 1

The first muscle car!

[@caganb]

I had a 64 lemans 326 4 speed. I miss that car

[@petereuropa]

Now I have my own Pontiac GTO! It's a silver metallic PONTIAC GTO 1966 CONVERIBLE. I can, and will, look at it almost every day. I cannot drive it. It is made in Hong Kong and it's only about 14 cm long. But it is still one of the most beautiful cars ever build in the whole world! I love it.

[@deathkeeper5000]

long live muccle cars !!!

[@markschlotter1282]

At the end of the 60's I had a 64 tri-power 4 spd it had vacuum linkage and bought a kit to change that over. I also had a 68 in the 70's. I was dumb to sell them cheap later on. I just miss driving them

[@chargermaster586]

I have this on DVD but thanks for the uploading i could use this to watch while on the go.

[@CirocObama.94]

im gonna miss pontiac

[@allenjan36]

I loved the GTO, had a friend that had a '64 midnight blue one with 3 deuces, wow, fast car, no one could beat him. I also had a cousin that had a saddle tan '64 convertible with 389/3-2's on it and man, what a car, I drove that one, he had a 45 pound truck clutch in it with a Hurst Tower and Cragars, beauty of a car. He wishes he still had it. That was a "girl getter" for sure!!!

[@Dankcatvacs]

what a nice car

[@EliAngwin]

I can't believe Mickey Thompson , and his influence on pontiac wasn't even mentioned, oh yeah and pontiac ,olds,buick ,caddy,they all died along time ago , RIP

[@DevilDogGTO]

It was just the first car to see all of its predecessors in its rear view mirror.

[@WOV49]

The difference is that one car can actually turn at speed and the other corners like the Queen Mary on one rudder.

[@104jones]

Automakers were dropping big performance engines in cars years before the GTO came around - think Chevy 409s, Mopar 413 and 426 wedges and Pontiac 421s. The GTO, however, was the first mass produced, reasonably priced muscle car available to younger drivers and backed by an effective marketing campaign. Amazingly, the GM brass did everything they could to kill it, but it was still an overwhelming success and kicked off the biggest craze in American auto history, the muscle car era.

[@mcadarette]

I still hold out hope that GM will finally get a real CEO who will have the vision to bring back Pontiac, and make it a truly rear-wheel drive excitement division. Only needs to have one or two models. I have a 2007 Solstice, and I know it's not the greatest car in the world, but it puts a smile on my face every time I get behind the wheel.

[@MrGGPRI]

Research shows that the first factory muscle car may have been the 1938 Buick Century. The huge 141hp straight eight, 320ci OHV Buick Roadmaster engine and 3-sp trans was installed into the small Buick Special chassis and renamed the Century. Police got on to using the Century as there was nothing that could outrun it. Hot rodders of the 40’s also used this engine in coupes and roadsters. Buick claimed that its 1938 Century models were the fastest U.S. production-based cars on the road. In fact, at the GM Proving Grounds, one Century was clocked at a top speed of 103 mph. A 1938 Century sport coupe held the NHRA class record thru the 1950’s.

[@michellegrone7131]

gotta love a GM muscle car all of em from 64 to 72 i love em all, after 72, H.P went down the shitter

[@petereuropa]

Read the news today-the 1st Sept-10. GM will offer stocks to the public. GM has a new CEO. Great! Business as usual. The big three Detroiters are back. Yes! Please relaunch the Pontiac GTO with design of the -60, 70th! It is an Icon of American cars! It is an Icon among American cars. The GTO is like a Diamant! Is it because a Diamant is expensive? No, it is because a Diamant is brilliant and HARD!!! WROOOOOOOOM!

[@the70oojudge]

Pontiac was building them before mopar.. check out the Super Duty Cats and Lemans Race cars

[@jeremythompson9122]

No they werent. The original muscle car is the 1955 Chrysler 300...the first American car to make 300 horsepower since Duesenberg in 1928. Then the 56 Chrysler 300 had a 355hp 354ci Hemi. The first American car to break the 1 horsepower per cubic inch mark. Those Chrysler's absolutely dominated NASCAR in the 1955-56 seasons. The first Pontiac's that were fast were the 1957 models with the 347 Tri Power setup. In 1955-56, Pontiac's V8 was still a boat anchor

[@POLEMEX]

I feel like GM bosses had it in for pontiac. If you look at the history of pontiac they always wanted to go faster and look cooler than everybody else. They were so good at it that GM held them back and halted most of their endeavors. If pontiac were let loose from the beginning they could've done so many things, If pontiac had it their way they'd still be alive and probably a top seller in today's market.

[@68lincoln]

Thanks to the late John DeLorean for stuffing a 389 V8 into that little Tempest and coming up with the GTO badge. Great cars those early goats, my favorite being the 1965. The 1962-68 Grand Prix is a very special car too. They have not built anything that comes close to these great cars in a long time and never will again.

[@petereuropa]

@petereuropa Well, I now remember: you say Diamond in English American language - it doesn't matter. They say that a Diamond last for ever. The beauty of Diamond and a GTO from those days last for ever! That's right De Beers.

[@petereuropa]

Hey, Directors of GM. Why not pick up the drawings from the cellar and build a new P GTO with those drawings? Build it with that design you had at that time but put in a modern engine and other modern stuff in that car. Of course don't miss the sound and the power of the engine. Skip European or Japanese design. This is the retro right on Wrooom!

[@surfordie82]

Did anyone else notice that although the GTO sported a "6.5 Litre" emblem on the fenders, 389ci is actually 6.38 litres, barely 6.4 litres.

[@petereuropa]

Goodbye Porshe, Mercedes, BMW and other new cars. ...because....... ...This is the NEW RETRO PONTIAC GTO 2011 WITH DESIGN OF THE 60TH-70TH Wrooooooooooooom!

[@1RetroDrummer]

I prefer the pre muscle car era..pure power already at the hands..1961 409,413 wedge,426 wedge,427..they would put this GTO to shame!

[@petereuropa]

I am afraid that GM is under pressure from the new owners. Here they have an icon among all cars, and they skip the chance of a making a success. Like the Mustang is developing new cars with the Bullit design in mind, GM ignore the GTO. The design of the GTO of the 60th - 70th is one of the best seller GM have ever produced. I am sure that a lot of people miss the all American car design of that time. America need the retro Pontiac GTO in a new version. I'm sure of that!

[@petereuropa]

I read the news today thi morning. 1002 2010. Pontiac is no more, or? Why kill an American Icon? The Muscle Car among Muscle Cars. PLEASE GM- RECONSIDER YOUR DECISION! Why can you just continue with Pontiac GTO - inspired of the design of the 60th? And use different engines. Just like they do with the Mustang and the Camaro. That car , I´m sure of that will be a success! Let Chief Pontiac GTO live! Why not call the most brutal engine GTO The DeLorean? Wrooooom! Please Detroit!

[@petereuropa]

@elviscash56 I agree your comments with the doors, but... The Pontiac GTO must come back - make a COMEBACK, dammit!!! Anywayif the CEO of GM please, do rethink this bad decission, then I must say. Make a 2-door sedan AND A 4-DOOR SEDAN - AND FASTBACK 2-DOORS. All the other new muscle cars are 2-doors, I suppose? The new Mustang, Camaro, Charger, Challenger are all awesome. But it woluld be great with a 4-door too. A compact Muscle Family car. Wrooom! and then next step - a new Chevelle. Vroooom!

[@CaptainFALKEN]

No such thing as a 4 door GTO. Nobody wants a new GTO because they just can't do it right. oLD sKooL or no school. Real car guys don't give a crap about 4 door sedans anyway. You most likely prefer a prius.

[@hotrodray6802]

Wanger's ringer WAS a 421

[@hladydoug]

Hey GM. Bring back the muscle car division of your car company. Get rid of the bean counters. Let the engineers build them.

[@hotrodray6802]

Chrysler put the big luxury car engines into the midsized cars begining in 59. Look it up.

[@petereuropa]

...of course with a design inspired of the -60th - 70th.

[@ScrotieJohnson]

The gto was not the 1st muscle car it was the 1949 oldsmobile rocket 88

[@CaptainFALKEN]

Nope

[@petereuropa]

BORN TO BE BAD!

[@TheScream13th]

@racingchamp101 There still manny pff them in the market and btw the new pontiac these days is pretty cool though....am about to buy on soon

[@lilkittn1064]

Biggest mistake ever made in the car industry was to kill the Pontiac line!!! I have a 64 Pontiac GTO and I wish they had revived the GTO (any year) like the Camaro and Challenger have been. Pitiful decisions made by heads of GM and the bailout BS!!!

[@CaptainFALKEN]

Gran Turismo Omologato Gran Turismo Approved The 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO And the 1964 Pontiac GTO Arguebly, the Corvette or Cobra 289

[@Chieftec160]

@gtarz40ful Love those early 60's mopars, there so ugly that they are beautiful! Some people think that a 57 chevy is a muscle car,hell some fuckers even think that a corvette is a muscle car, go figure?

[@elviscash56]

Goddamn, I was born in the wrong generation, two doors back then were bigger than four doors now! What the fuck happened to cars? I don't want a fucking corolla or a chevy cruze, i want a gas guzzling, V8, hunk of noisy ass steel!!!

[@chargermaster586]

elviscash56 Safety laws EPA laws Fuel Economy makes the manufactures down size in response to these new laws.

[@chargermaster586]

elviscash56 lol buy a Hellcat that's the closet thing you will get to a modern car from the 60s that is a gas guzzler its heavy and its 2 doors are big the Design is the same old retro design.

[@APA2Channel]

lol. nice toupee Jim Wagner

[@werachai2537]

Cool

[@brooklyntheredone]

Even though i have my El Camino and i love it with all my heart i no longer have faith in GM after what they did to Pontiac

[@ransferd]

after pontiac went away I feel like every car is startin to look like a carola or a 2010 malibu :/

[@Chieftec160]

@combine68 Amen !

[@darkoneforce2]

Pontiac was full of names that made absolutely no sense like GTO, Le Mans, Grand Prix, Bonneville, Grand Am. But I still like them especially the 65 GTO.

[@CaptainFALKEN]

Those names had to do with circuit racing. They made complete sense. Gran Turismo Omologato meant Gran Turismo approved. Le Mans [Lay-MAW] was the biggest racing segment of all time and still is. The best of the best and Carroll Shelby is the king of it.

[@FATMIKED518]

oldswas first to stuff an engine from a full size car into a mid size car,even ford did it a year before the gto with the thunderbolt(which made at least 200 more horsepower than the gto's engine)and a chrysler was the first to be called a muscle car in the late 50s.the max wedge,hemi,409,z11,ford 427,& the 421 superduty were already out first as well.

[@MrSladeTheBlade]

I'm a novist, but I understand Muscle Car represents more of an era where the major manufacturers were in heavy competition to gain advantage in High Performance, Style & Price. Can an agument be made for the 1961 Impala w/409? Wasn't the '61 model the springboard from which heavy manufacturer focus on performance and specific performance models sprang?

[@RollingArtDesigns]

+MrSladeTheBlade I totally agree! In 1961 Chevrolet had the Impala 409 and Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth had the big block 413 Wedge in the Belvedere, Polara, Dart, and Savoy bodies and these Mopars were beating the '61 409 Impalas at the drag strips, and by 1964 Mopar had turned their might Wedge into a 426 Wedge which was dominating drag strips and even beating Ford's '64 Fairlane 427 "Thunderbolt"! People were flocking to dealerships to get their hands on the Wedges on Monday after seeing them win races on Sunday! Now if you ask me I don't think the Muscle Car Era found it's beginning in 1964 with the Pontiac GTO, I believe it started around 1961 with GM and their 409 and also Mopar with their 413 Wedge! You could almost argue that it goes back even further because in 1958 Chevrolet unveiled their first Big Block which was the "W-Engine" 348 which was a smaller version of the "W-Engine" 409! Even Dodge made their first Early Hemi in 1954, the 331 Hemi Firedome which was then followed by a 354 Hemi version then a 392 Hemi version which was used for many years in drag racing and even was used in many Dragster "Rails" all the way up into the '60s! In my honest opinion Muscle Cars were around for almost a decade before before Pontiac and their GTO coined the phrase "Muscle Car"!

[@danielkeener5140]

Numbers, sells, and looks guys... there are a lot of early cars with large bore spacing big torque motors like the gtos but the gto had the looks and the power and with large production numbers combined with great sells success with their legendary marketing. All this COMBINED is why the GTO was the spark of the muscle car era. ;) it just was awesome all at once...other cars just didn't make the cut to being too ugly or low production (low production numbers met to meet with nascar requirements to allow them to race) and some like the bel-air considered part of the hotrod generation with their styling. Gto had it all.

[@EXTREME4YEARSTOCOME]

DELOREAN

[@mikecio1]

The Hemis was there first I agree, But those cars were butt ugly...

[@POLEMEX]

but alas history cannot be changed I guess, It's just too bad that GM prized chevy for some unidentified reason and look where they're at now... pathetic...