Original price: $32,995
On loan from: Scott Sheldon, Kearney, NE
Number made: 13,948
Engine, etc.: 6 L; V-8; automatic transmission; built in Australia by Holen
The GTO was reborn in 2004 and made in Australia, repurposed for American tastes. It should have been a huge success but wasn’t.
The GTO was allowed to die out in 1974 as other American muscle cars were also fading. That was not the case in Australia. Cars in Australian movies helped spark interest in cars from that continent. American muscle cars were back in the early 2000’s but some well-known makes had stopped production including the Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Firebird in 2002. Pontiac was sadly out of the “performance business”.
GM President Bob Lutz decided to turn the Australian car maker Holden’s Monaro model into a new model of the GTO. The Monaro’s top model already had a Corvette LS1 engine, a six-speed transmission, independent rear suspension, a coupe body style, and was a little larger than the Camaro and Mustang.
Several problems had to be solved, however. The Monaro had to be converted to left-hand drive and it had to be brought up to U. S. safety standards including moving the fuel tank to above the trunk floor. It was introduced in 2003 but its appearance was called “dated” and “anonymous”. It didn’t fit the GTO heritage or the current car’s performance. Due to changes in the exchange rates of Australian dollars versus U. S. dollars, the planned cost of $25,000 grew to over $34,000.
The revised car came out in 2004 and still wasn’t as well received. Some of the design changes didn’t impress American muscle-car fans. A four-speed automatic was standard with a six-speed optional. The size of the engine lived up to expectations from previous years with a 0 – 60 run in 5.5 seconds and a 14-second quarter-mile at 105 mph. Handling and ride were praised because of the independent rear suspension.
The car’s performance compared favorably with BMW and Mercede-Benz models that cost almost double.
The last GTO was made on June 14, 2006.
After three years, Pontiac sold just 41,000 of what was the quickest, best handling GTO ever and sales ended. GM tried again in 2008 with the Pontiac G8 but it failed to sell.