Car of the Week: 1966 Pontiac GTO

id much rather see the tempest/lemans that it really is...theres what 4x as many gtos on the road now than were ever made
 
I never really was overly impressed with the Poncho's of that period, especially the engine design. Their engines were built using 1955 technology and became increasingly weaker as the bore & strokes increased. They were "acceptable" at best, in stock form. But as soon as you would start to buld it the bottom ends would fly apart. :dgt:

I do have to give credit to John DeLorean for starting the whole "muscle car" concept though. The GTO's started a trend that everyone got into.

Personally, I prefer the '64-'65's, and in any color that ISN'T green.:hurl:
 
Traded my hobbeled together 65 440 4 sp satilite for one of those, beat the crap out of it, 389 ,2 speed slip box, had some fun with that car, I like the 65's better myself, but my next car was my first NEW car, that year I ordered my 74 'Cuda!
 
The big problem with the Pontiac engines were the cast-iron connecting rods... RPM sensitive, rather than horsepower. You can push 700HP through one, as long as you keep the RPM low. They finally fixed it with the Super Duty 455 (and I think on the RA-IVs), with forged rods. I used to spin my RA-III to 6,300, in which I was lucky because the stock rods generally let go around 6,000.

I love the '65-'69 GTOs... but I can't decide which is my favorite.
 
Cast iron rods aside, the best non Mopar car I've ever owned was a Verdoro Green 68 GTO. I absolutely loved that car, and wish I hadn't let the wife talk me into selling it. Pontiac had neat styling in the 60's. I'd be hard pressed to pass up any 65-70 GTO, or 62-64 Catalina-Gran Prix, especially if the Cat or GP had 8 lugs and a 4 speed.
 
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