Welcome fellow WebRiders, this is Big_Blocker and I’d like to kick off the first installment of “Muscle Car of the Week” in which each week we take a trip to the past for a closer look at a historic piece of American Iron. Seeing as this is the first installment, what better car to highlight than the one that started it all, the 1964 Pontiac GTO.

Prior the introduction of the GTO, General Motors had expressly told all their subdivisions that production of high performance cars was not to be allowed, however sagging sales across called for drastic action. Under threats of being dropped from the GM lineup, Pontiac’s executives began to think beyond corporate mandates in hopes of finding a loophole that would give them a much needed boost in sales. That loophole came in the form of a January 1963 memo which stated that although new models must be approved by top GM brass, additional options on preexisting models needed only to be approved by division heads. With this break, leading engineer John Z. Delorean (you may know him as the man that created the Back to the Future car) began the process of cramming an engine from the full-size Catalina into the mid-size Tempest/Le Mans. The $300 option package was named “Gran Turismo Omologato” or GTO for short, directly copying the Ferrari GTO.The engine of choice was the naturally aspirated 389 cubic inch V8, rated at 325 horsepower with a single 4 barrel carburetor and if that wasn’t enough, a 348 horsepower version was available with three 2 barrel carbs known as the “Tri-Power” configuration.

Quarter mile times came in at 14.8 seconds for the 348 horse engine, not terrible for a 3,400 pound vehicle. Other upgrades on the base Tempest/Le Mans model included upgraded steering, beefier suspension, Hurst Shifter (for manual transmissions, a 3.23:1 rear end, bucket seats and a host of GTO emblems.

Using aggressive marketing utilizing a tiger in tv commercials Pontiac definitely penetrated the market and sold over 32,000 GTO’s in the first model year, a full 22,000 more than expected. The GTO quickly aqquired the nickname of “the goat” which stuck with it until today. Although other Detroit car makers quickly followed suit, nothing can be taken away from the first factory muscle car.