’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...

TOP TEN: DEALER-BUILT MUSCLECARS

Posted on October 1, 2020October 1, 2020 by MartynL

Scott Oldham, who grew up with a ’69 Baldwin-Motion 427 Camaro in the family garage, blogs about the TOP TEN: DEALER-BUILT MUSCLECARS in the 1960s-1970s. 1967 Royal Pontiac Bobcat GTO During the horsepower wars of the original muscle car era, it wasn’t just the car companies duking it out for supremacy on the street and strip: Many dealers also got into the ring, adding cubic inches and horsepower over and above what the factory was offering. They were building some of the quickest muscl...

RAM AIR V GTO – THE MYTH & THE MAGIC!

Posted on February 21, 2019 by MartynL

Like Chevrolet’s ZL1 Corvette and Buick’s Stage II Gran Sports, Pontiac’s Tunnel Port Ram Air V has been the subject of urban legends for decades. It’s all about myth & magic. According to Tom Nell, a Special Projects Engineer at Pontiac in 1971, “Pontiac’s Ram Air V or Mark V was the first Pontiac engine since the 1963 Super-Duty 421 to be developed around the concept of performance and durability, outside the realm of normal usage.” Many of the same high-performance engineers responsib...

’63 PONTIAC SD-421: SWISS CHEESE LITE!

Posted on June 27, 2017 by MartynL

Production of lightweight ’63 Super-Duty Pontiacs was extremely limited, but high-profile racer Mickey Thompson got the first two. One of those featured here is in the Factory Lightweight Collection. Roger Huntington writing in Hi-Performance CARS is often credited with first using “Swiss Cheese” to describe lightened Super-Duty Pontiacs. It came to him after he counted 120 holes drilled in the perimeter frame of Royal Pontiac’s Catalina, driven by Jim Wangers. A total of 18 aluminum body parts...