Saturday, July 18, 2009

General Motors GTO

The GTO was the brainchild of Pontiac engineer Russell Gee, an engine specialist, Bill Collins, a chassis engineer, and Pontiac chief engineer John De Lorean. In early 1963, General Motors management issued an edict banning divisions from involvement in auto racing. At the time, Pontiac's advertising and marketing approach was heavily based on performance, and racing was an important component of that strategy. Pontiac chief marketing manager Jim Wangers did not propose a way to retain the performance image that the division had cultivated with a new focus on street performance. In his autobiography "Glory Days" he writes he had very little to do with the development of the GTO and states John DeLorean, Bill Collins and Russ Gee were responsible for its creation. It involved transforming the upcoming redesigned Tempest (which was set to revert to a conventional front-engine, front transmission, rear-wheel drive configuration) into a "Super Tempest" with the larger 389 CID (6.5 L) Pontiac V8 engine from the full-sized Pontiac Catalina and Bonneville in place of the standard 326CID (5.3 L) Tempest V8. By promoting the big-engine Tempest as a special high-performance model, they could appeal to the speed-minded youth market (which had also been recognized by Ford Motor Company's Lee Iacocca, who was at that time preparing the Ford Mustang).