Jim Wangers back in the business of selling the Pontiac GTO?
The Pontiac GTO is a muscle car legend. As the car that's most often credited with kicking off the trend of putting the biggest available engine in the smallest available body, the praise and adoration are well-deserved. Despite the reality that the Goat wasn't always the fastest ride available, Pontiac's performer was an instant hit and it carried that momentum through the early 1970s.
A good portion of Pontiac's success with the GTO can be attributed to Jim Wangers, who served as the brand's chief marketing manager when the GTO was first released in 1964. It comes as no surprise, then, that Wangers' name and endorsement was sought by Big 3 Performance, which is launching a new restomod based on the 1969 Pontiac GTO.
Changes to the original Goat's cosmetic appearance are minor, including wider hood scoops and a Trans Am-style ducktail spoiler. Inside, a custom dash and audio system join embroidered Recaro seats and GPS navigation. Holding it all up is a custom chassis fitted with Corvette bits up front and a tried-and-true Ford 9-inch rear end. Revised Pontiac Rally II wheels round out the visual package.
The car's powertrain gets a complete workover with a Butler Performance 505 cubic inch Pontiac V8 that's expected to put out around 700 horsepower. Shifting duties are handled by the same six-speed manual transmission used in the Dodge Viper. It's not yet clear when the Wangers GTO will be available and how much it'll cost, but early projections put the car at around $130,000 to $140,000.
[Source: Big 3 Performance via Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mitchttj 9:53AM (9/26/2009)
The new GTO is the best car never to be successful. It had a high class interior, a modern suspension setup with *gasp* IRS, and the famed LS# engines.
While the US version wasn't quite as pretty as the Monaro was, specify it with the 18" Holden style wheels, and it really was still a very nice car.
Really shame it was sold as a Pontiac, not a modern Chevrolet, but GM didn't exactly learn their lesson the first time over with that did they.
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Silly Pickle 10:02AM (9/26/2009)
Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! + a bajillion-zillion :-)
But alas...for that kind of money you could get a used Ford GT and then the love meter hits infinity and beyond...
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Avinash machado 10:20AM (9/26/2009)
The main problem with the 2004 GTO was its plain looks.
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MachinaDC5 11:28AM (9/26/2009)
I actually really liked the way it looked.
MachinaDC5 10:32AM (9/26/2009)
Heh, Wangers...
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TigerMil 1:56PM (9/26/2009)
Wanger's a wanker?
Avinash machado 10:36AM (9/26/2009)
Get lost Spammer.
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Undercover Soul Brother 11:29AM (9/26/2009)
Question for discussion: I love this car but what saddens me about it (and a majority of American designed cars these days) is what will we be drooling over in 30 years? A redo of this redo? Can someone point out something from the Detroit Big 3 that is not a redo that we will look back and say that, "That car was AWESOME! And hell yeah if I had the cash I would buy it! 7x10^26 Joule Flux Capacitor?! Hell yeah!!!"
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Edsel 12:06PM (9/26/2009)
Good question.
I often ponder the same, and usually conclude only the very wealthy and government party officials will own automobiles in thirty years. The rest of us will be consigned to long queues for public transit.
TigerMil 1:58PM (9/26/2009)
Nah. Maybe that will be true for gasoline, but electric will be available.
Edsel 4:31PM (9/26/2009)
Propulsion technology isn't the problem. It is the sheer number of people trying to squeeze onto highways, and those highways can't expand forever.
As to the question of which contemporary U.S. vehicles will attain collector "lust" status in 2039.... perhaps the Cadillac Escalade will. Representing the last gasp of independent transport extravagance for the masses, titanic SUV's are a symbol of a nation's wealth and power.
JLevy 6:22PM (9/26/2009)
1. Current Corvette
2. Current Camaro / Mustang / Challenger
3. Current CTS-V
And those are just SOME of the domestics.
miles 11:44AM (9/26/2009)
SVT Focus?
CTS-V?
Jeep Compass? HA!
good question.
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miles 11:45AM (9/26/2009)
That obviously should have been in answer to USB above...
!@#$%^&* comment system!
Undercover Soul Brother 2:59PM (9/26/2009)
I actually get abdominal pain every time I see a Jeep Compass! I actually can only think of the Dodge Viper being a purely new (not 60's/70's muscle car redo) design that we might redo in 30 years.
KIB2 12:22PM (9/26/2009)
Great, thats a slap in the face to GM!
http://fiestamovement.com/agents/view/58
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TigerMil 2:01PM (9/26/2009)
?? GM's existence is a slap in the face to all taxpayers.
Of course, in a socialist economy such as O envisions change to be, not so bad. The masses need transportation and as long as GM can crank out cars like the CTS-V (the new avant CTS-V is the only car that might get me back in a GM showroom in 30 years other than Corvette...LOL) and Corvette let them be.
tscurt 11:26AM (9/27/2009)
130-140 grand.......well, I'm out. Love the idea though.
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Ohso Clutch 2:40PM (9/26/2009)
I'm in love ..........but not at 130k.
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Rar 2:49PM (9/26/2009)
I like 1960s GTO commercials.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqJW7fv5rDE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKDhJL1BNdc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QmYgpqLlsk
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