Car and Driver: GTO vs. GTO

Pontiac GTO

Pontiac GTO, Year by Year

1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 2004 2005

Pontiac GTO sales brochure

Pontiac 10/1/63 GTO press release

Pontiac GTO engine

Pontiac GTO Trivia

GTO Books

March 1964 Car and Driver

GTO vs. GTO: Car and Driver, March 1964

The March 1964 issue of Car and Driver featured a very promising cover. Artist Tom Quinn's watercolor featured a Ferrari GTO leading a Pontiac GTO and both appeared to be on a road course, driven all out.

Anyone expecting a direct head-to-head performance comparison between the two cars was disappointed. Inside was an extensive article on the Pontiac Tempest GTO and an apology. They tried mightily to arrange for a Ferrari, contacting "all the GTO owners in this country and simply could not get one of those lucky gentlemen and the weather to cooperate simultaneously. As a result, we drove two Ferrari GTO's, but we were never able actually to run the Tempest against one of them".

They did feel free to offer an opinion: "the Pontiac will beat the Ferrari in a drag race, and the Ferrari will go around any American road circuit faster than the stock GTO". They also said that "our test car, with stock suspension, metallic brakes and as-tested 348 bhp engine will lap any U.S. road course faster than any Ferrari street machine, including the 400 Superamerica". The subtitle contained a small dig: "Ferrari never built enough GTOs to earn the name anyway-just to be on the safe side though, Pontiac built a faster one". They did warn their readers however, that only a carefully optioned GTO qualified for the praise.

The article was overwhealming in its praise for the Pontiac, and contained the tough in-yer-face writing style that car enthusiasts love and which has made Car and Driver the great magazine that it is. Keep in mind that the Pontiac GTO was the start of a long list of affordable performance cars; in 1964 if you wanted to go fast on a low budget you did not have a vast array of options. The handling was lauded, as was the Hurst shifter, styling and value; they pointed out that the best optioned GTO was available for under $3,800. Today, just the taxes for a performance car can easily be more. Criticized items include the tachometer and seats. The handling praise was reserved for GTOs equipped with the $26.82 heavy duty suspension option; those without were total slushboxes, not unlike most other American cars of the time.

The Car and Driver staff may not have succeeded in their quest to match up the two legendary cars, but they did manage to put the magazine on the map. The issue was controversial and sales skyrocketed. The April 1984 "GTO vs. GTO" article paid homage to it's 20 year old predecessor, calling it "The hook on which we hung a magazine".