Coke-bottle-restyled ’68 PONTIAC RAM AIR GTO: THE GREAT ONE, plus Royal Pontiac Bobcat editions, enhanced the GTO’s youth-market performance appeal.
Pontiac’s GTO created and dominated the Supercar marketplace in 1964 and, in 1968, was downsized and restyled. GM’s successful Supercar formula that started it all showcased a 115-inch wheelbase, two-door coupes with large displacement engines, and unique trim and badging. Downsizing reduced the wheelbase to a sportier, more appealing 112 inches. With the reduction in wheelbase and overall length came all-new long-hood, short-deck, “Coke bottle” styling. Restyling set the Skylark GS-400, Chevelle SS396, Pontiac GTO, and Oldsmobile 4-4-2 apart from each other and from crosstown competition. Each nameplate carried distinctive styling cues and proprietary engines with price points related to the division’s status in the marketplace.
Midway through the model year, Pontiac released an optional 400-inch Ram Air II engine for GTO and Firebird applications. There were conflicting power ratings for this engine of 365, 366, and 370, depending on the release date and source. We covered the first 1968 ½ Ram-Air GTO Bobcat, undergoing testing at Miami Dragway. The story, written by Roger Huntington, appeared in the July 1968 issue of Hi-Performance CARS. Drag-prepped by Royal Pontiac and driven by Royal’s Milt Schornack at Miami Dragway, the ’68 PONTIAC RAM AIR GTO: THE GREAT ONE posted times in the high-12s at more than 110 mph on 7-inch cheater slicks.
We borrowed a Verdoro Green ‘68 GTO Bobcat powered by a Ram Air II engine from Royal Pontiac, from Pontiac Public Relations. It was one of the 47-built 1968 ½ Ram Air GTOs with TH400 automatic transmissions. We had it dyno-tuned by Joel Rosen at Motion Performance, Baldwin, NY, and ran it on the street and at Westhampton drag strip, top & photo below. The engine had the new, round-port heads with 65-cc chambers, special exhaust manifolds, and .475/.480-inch lift, 308/320-degree duration cam and valve train. It was very responsive at low and mid-range on the street, and we posted consistent mid-13-second times running in DS/A. Thanks to its GM corporate license plates, we got a call from a sharp-eyed lawyer at GM Legal after the story ran in Hi-Performance CARS. It wasn’t the first time this happened, nor the last!
For more information about the ’68 PONTIAC RAM AIR GTO: THE GREAT ONE, check out Jim Koscs’ original-owner feature @ https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/1968-pontiac-gto-cemented-father-son-bond/?hashed_email=e323c71347790f699ba35a9dc01d49ac3f938885a7df6321087c8c9b4c0dd333&dtm_em=e323c71347790f699ba35a9dc01d49ac3f938885a7df6321087c8c9b4c0dd333