The GTO returns

The history of the Pontiac GTO (or Gran Turismo Omologato, a name borrowed from Ferrari) is intertwined with the complex story of John Z. DeLorean, the GM golden boy who fell very far (and in Northern Ireland no less) when he decided he was too good for Detroit.

After a short career selling insurance, DeLorean took a job at Packard, where he helped develop the aluminum-bodied Ultramatic transmission. He was then recruited to be Pontiac’s chief engineer by division chief Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen, who shared DeLorean’s view that the brand needed youth appeal.

Without going through the proper GM channels, Knudsen and DeLorean dropped a 389-cubic-inch engine into a Pontiac Tempest to create an early "muscle car" option. For $300 extra, you got the 389, quick ratio steering, dual exhaust and premium tires.

Although it debuted quietly as a mere option package, the GTO caught on quickly, no doubt aided by Ronnie and the Daytonas’ hit GTO, which sold a million copies. Sample lyric: "Little GTO, you’re really lookin’ fine/Three deuces, a four-speed and a 389." Sales of 5,000 were projected, 32,000 achieved. When I was 12, the neighbor girls tore up the high-school parking lot with one.

The GTO (fondly nicknamed "The Goat") soon became its own model line. It achieved glorious heights in 1969, when the "Judge" package (an additional $332) offered a 370-horsepower, 400-cubic-inch Ram Air V-8 and spoilers, decals and wacky paint jobs. The GTO thing was all over by 1974, when the GTO was a miserable option package for the compact Ventura — with the sole engine on offer a 200-horsepower V-8. A mere 7,000 were sold. By this time, more than half a million GTOs had been produced.

Thirty years later, the GTO is back as an import from GM’s Holden division. Where’s that, you ask? Australia, where muscle cars have a long tradition. The ’69 Holden Monaro HT 350 GTS, for instance, was a multiple race winner. In 1972, you could order your Valiant as a Charger with a 265-cubic-inch hemi six.

Today’s GTO is also a Holden Monaro, albeit one with the Corvette’s 350-horsepower, 5.7-liter LS1 V-8 under the hood.

GM’s Bob Lutz is a DeLorean type, so it’s not surprising he was behind the GTO’s return. The Monaro offered the necessary front-engine, rear-drive scenario, plus it had such modern engineering features as independent steering, traction control and ABS brakes.

The GTO may end up as little more than an image builder for Pontiac, since production is limited to 18,000 a year through 2006. As Norman Mayersohn pointed out in the New York Times, the GTO is a gas guzzler (incurring a $1,000 burden on its sticker price) in automatic form. Although GM has pledged not to produce gas guzzlers, this one qualifies, as the automatic delivers a rather pathetic 16 mpg in town, 21 on the highway. With the six-speed manual that half of the GTO’s customers will choose, the car gets a much better 17 mpg around town, and a solid 29 on the highway.

Just like those GTOs of old, this Australian version is a blast to drive in a straight line. The big V-8 has plenty of enthusiasm for fast acceleration, and the LT1 is a very smooth power plant.

In some ways, the $31,795 GTO is reminiscent of the Firebirds and Camaros that GM recently put out to pasture. Fans of those Dairy Queen cruisers will recognize the poor back-seat access and lack of rear legroom. But the good-looking GTO is classier, with better materials all around and even a Blaupunkt stereo. For nostalgic muscle, it will do just fine.