Good afternoon Web Riders, Big_Blocker here and ready to deliver a dose of muscle car history for you all. This week’s car has perhaps one of the most famous and outrageous option ever to be checked on the dealer’s order form, the Judge package. That’s right, this week we are going to take a look at the 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge, and not just any Judge, but a Judge with the Ram Air III/IV V8’s. Hit the jump for the rest of the story on this historic beast.

As per the first installment of Muscle Car of the week, we all know how successful the GTO was at its inception and following years. However, with rumors of the introduction of the Plymouth Roadrunner in 1968, the guys at Pontiac knew that the GTO may begin to lose its hold atop the muscle car mountain and Pontiac needed to accordingly. The result was a redesigned A-Bodied GTO for the 1968 model year that was powered by several new 400 cubic inch V8’s (the 389 tri-power had been dropped in 1967). One thing that set the new GTO’s apart from their GM brethren and rivals over at Chrysler was the absence of a front bumper thanks to a new rubber Endura bumper that enabled the deletion of a standard chrome bumper found on the rest of the cars of the era. The bumper was so durable that John Delorean, father of the first GTO, took a sledgehammer to one in a commercial with no damage to the bumper. The name for the newest option for the GTO came from a phrase from the hit TV show “Laugh In” and was dubbed the “Judge” package. The new Judge option added a total $332 dollars but included the Ram Air V8, outrageous paint schemes (such as the one found in the Judge gallery), a handling package, Rally wheels, decals and a rear spoiler.

Now let’s get back to those 400 cubic inch V8’s…The available Ram Air Package was subdivided by two numbers, the Ram Air III and Ram Air IV. Both mills made excellent power, with the Ram Air IV making 5 more horses than the Ram Air III. The only difference between the two was that the Ram Air III used a Carter four barrel carburetor while the Ram Air IV used a Rochester setup. Both engines were seriously underrated due to insurance rates, with the Ram AIr III and IV coming in at 365 and 370 horses respectively. Torque numbers were big as well as the Ram Air III and IV and a stump pulling 445 pound feet at 3600 rpm. These Judge’s were pretty fast as well with zero to sixty times in the mid to low 6’s and quarter mile times coming in in the low 14’s to high 13’s with some tuning. The Ram Air feature of these engines was a forced air induction system that used dual hood scoops and a sealed off air cleaner to force feed cold air down into the intake to increase power. In case you were going too fast to check your rpm’s, the Judge option features a hood mounted tachometer to keep all eyes on the road while smashing through the gears of the 4 speed transmission.

Hope you all enjoyed the Muscle Car of the Week for this week, next week will bring a new muscle car with big power. Big_Blocker out.