’64 PONTIAC GTO & THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION

Posted on October 22, 2024October 22, 2024 by MartynL

An option turns a midsize Tempest into the ’64 PONTIAC GTO & THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION, and a decade of GTO-badged high-performance Pontiacs. Pontiac called it “A Device For Shrinking Time & Distance.” Magazine editors called it a “Supercar”. And, from coast to coast, enthusiasts flocked to Pontiac dealers see the new GTO, an option that breathed life into a Tempest. Pontiac - not Ford, Chevy or Plymouth - essentially created the option that ignited the Supercar Revolution and an ...

’70 CAMARO: COMING LATE TO THE PARTY

Posted on July 4, 2024July 4, 2024 by MartynL

1970 was the storm before the calm. The war in Vietnam, racing budgets cut and diverted to safety & emissions engineering, Ponycar sales plummeting, plus parts delays and production glitches, resulted in the ’70 CAMARO: COMING LATE TO THE PARTY. Eagerly awaited, the all-new ’70 Camaro (and Firebird) had been hyped by auto writers because of anticipated new platform, and engineering and styling changes. They did not disappoint. But there were production problems. When we evaluated 19...

’64 PONTIAC GTO IGNITES THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION

Posted on March 12, 2023 by MartynL

1964 was all about the birth of big-engined, muscular midsize models, and the ’64 PONTIAC GTO IGNITES THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION! Pontiac called it “A Device For Shrinking Time & Distance.” Magazine editors called it a “Supercar”. And enthusiasts flocked to Pontiac dealers from coast to coast to see the new GTO, an option that breathed life into a Tempest. Pontiac, not Ford, Chevy or Plymouth, essentially created an option that ignited the Supercar Revolution and an almost cult-like m...

PONTIAC GTO: AMERICA’S ORIGINAL MUSCLE CAR

Posted on August 1, 2021 by MartynL

Musclecar Maven and Hagerty contributor Scott Oldham blogs about 15 facts you might not know about PONTIAC GTO: AMERICA’S ORIGINAL MUSCLE CAR. In the early spring of 1963, during a “what if” session at GM’s Milford, Michigan, Proving Grounds, a small team of Pontiac engineers led by John Z. DeLorean realized the 389-cubic-inch V-8 from the full-size Bonneville would fit easily in the new midsize Tempest. A week later, they were doing burnouts in the first prototype, and the car widely acc...

PROTOYPE: PONTIAC XP-833 BANSHEE

Posted on April 21, 2020 by MartynL

It could’ve been a contender and given the Corvette a run for the money. But, PROTOYPE: PONTIAC XP-833 BANSHEE remained John DeLorean’s dream. Hagerty magazine’s Jonathan A. Stein takes us along to ride shotgun! Cruising along Chicago streets in this stunning Pontiac sports car and looking over a front-end landscape so curvaceous it could wear a Prancing Horse badge, I find it impossible to imagine that any automotive executive would think this prototype was a bad idea. But that’s just what hap...

LT2 454: LIGHTWEIGHT CORVETTE

Posted on January 26, 2020January 27, 2020 by MartynL

We take a ‘deep dive’ into the original ZL1 & LT2 and recreated Long Lead Corvettes, Long Lead Press Previews, and reveal why proposed ZL1, LT2, LS6 and tri-power LJ2 super-high-performance big-block options for the ’70 Corvette never happened! Back in the day – the pre-historic, pre-Internet 1960s and 1970s – there were no bloggers, video influencers or e-zines. Enthusiasts relied on magazine editors and automotive journalists writing for print publications for the latest news from Motown. ...

ZORA DUNTOV & MID-ENGINE CORVETTE MYSTIQUE!

Posted on June 25, 2019June 25, 2019 by MartynL

Ken Kayser’s latest tome - Corvette Legend Or Myth & Zora’s Marque of Excellence, Volume II, Zora’s Fabulous Mid-Ship Corvette History - is actually a 750-page, portable Corvette research library. If you consider yourself a Corvette aficionado and/or a student of American automotive history, your bookshelf should have Corvette-centric published works penned by Kenneth W. Kayser. A retired GM engineer, Kayser spent years at the Tonawanda Engine Plant (think big-blocks, L88, ZL1, etc) and la...