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The 1967 Pontiac GTO looked like just another midsize muscle car in Pontiac’s lineup, but tick the right option box and it hid one of the most underrated engines of the era. Only a fraction of the 81,722 GTOs built that year left the factory with the 360 horsepower Ram Air setup that made this car a genuine giant-killer. Today, those numbers-matching survivors are some of the most sought-after first-generation GTOs on the market. Here’s what made this particular Goat worth remembering.
SpeedKore’s carbon fiber beauties are making jaws drop at SEMA 2016! These aren’t your grandma’s muscle cars; think 2017 Dodge Challenger Hellcat, Ford Mustang GT Fastback, and the classic 1970 Plymouth Cuda and Dodge Charger, all wrapped in sleek carbon fiber. It’s like if Batman had a garage sale, and you’re invited! The craftsmanship is so stunning, even the other cars are jealous. SpeedKore isn’t just raising the bar; they’re launching it into orbit!
Pontiac’s 1970-71 GTO was like the rock star of muscle cars, strutting its stuff with flashy quad headlights and a bumper that laughed in the face of low-speed impacts. In 1970, the GTO said goodbye to its economy engine, opting for muscle-bound options like the new 455 HO. Meanwhile, handling got a boost with a rear sway bar and the rare VOE exhaust that cranked up the volume. By 1971, the GTO’s style had evolved with a tighter lamp arrangement, prepping for unleaded fuel and a farewell tour for “The Judge.”
At a glance, it looks like a converted Chevelle wagon from the mid-’60s. Look closer and you’re staring at something Pontiac never built in any year, any trim, any factory brochure: a genuine two-door version of its mid-size wagon. Here’s why a body style General Motors never tooled up is now a real, driveable “one of none.”
Both the Camaro ZL1 and the Challenger Hellcat cross the 700-horsepower neighborhood, just by very different paths – a supercharged LT4 for the ZL1, a bigger-blown Hemi for the Hellcat. The Hellcat edges the quarter mile by two-tenths, but the ZL1 gives up nearly 600 fewer pounds and closes the gap everywhere else. It’s one of the closest fights in modern muscle, and it still isn’t settled.
Bill Warzynski bought his 1965 Pontiac GTO new — and never sold it. Nearly fifty years later, Lou Costabile’s My Car Story catches up with him at the Cantigny Park Car Show for a conversation with the rarest kind of witness: an original owner of the car that’s widely credited with starting the muscle car era. No gaps, no guesswork, just five decades of direct history. Watch to hear it firsthand.
Muscle car or pony car — the two get treated as interchangeable, and most of the time nobody notices the difference. Car Throttle breaks down where the terms actually came from, why a mid-size Chevelle and a compact Mustang aren’t technically the same species, and how a handful of big-block pony cars blurred the line for good. It’s the kind of debate that gets people talking at every cruise night. Watch to see which side of the argument you land on.
Ronnie towed his own GTO to Richmond Dragway using this same Challenger back when he was newly married to its original owner. Decades and a divorce later, he finally got the chance to buy the Burnt Orange R/T back for himself. It’s a survivor story built on nearly fifty years of watching one car from a distance.
In 1967, Pontiac had about sixty seconds of television time to convince America that the GTO — a car born from a loophole in GM’s own engine-size rules — was still the muscle car to beat. This original commercial captures exactly how Detroit sold horsepower to a country just learning to want it: hidden headlamps, a bigger 400-cubic-inch V8, and marketing bravado that today’s car ads wouldn’t dare attempt. See how the pitch that built a legend actually sounded.
Ten years, four manufacturers, and a horsepower war Detroit never planned on fighting — MaccaIsntDead’s tribute to 1964-1974 muscle cars tries to compress the entire golden era into one sitting. From the loophole that created the Pontiac GTO to the emissions regulations that quietly ended everything, it’s a decade that burned hot and fast before insurance companies and oil embargoes shut it down. Watch to see which cars made the cut.
A 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge convertible resurfaced after decades in hiding, and it was not just any Judge — this one carries the rare Ram Air IV 400 and a four-speed manual, a combination Pontiac built only 17 times. Someone parked this car and either forgot what they had or knew exactly what they were sitting on. When it finally sold, the number was $350,000. Watch to see the barn find that rewrote the rules on what a survivor is worth.
GM spent decades quietly dropping Corvette-derived V8s into cars nobody expects, from a Buick Roadmaster wagon to a WS6 Firebird and a badge-shy Impala SS. Each one delivers genuine sports-car performance for a fraction of what the same engine costs wrapped in a Corvette body. The list is longer, and stranger, than most buyers realize. Watch to see which everyday-looking cars are hiding a Corvette heart under the hood.
From the mid-50s to the 70s, American street racers were the kings of cool, cruising boulevards and racing deserted runways. Muscle cars with sleek lines, custom paint jobs, and engines that left police cruisers in the dust were the emperors of the road—and their drivers raced for glory and the fastest girls. But crashes, the law, or love eventually sidelined most racers. Still, some of these legends have been passed down, with grandchildren now revving those engines at local dragstrips.
A dashcam rolling in Grand Prairie, Texas caught a Ford Mustang challenging a Pontiac GTO to an impromptu street race — and only one of them decided to go through with it. The GTO’s driver stayed put. The Mustang driver didn’t, and wet pavement made sure the decision came with consequences. The footage, picked up by Jukin Media and viewed well over half a million times, has become a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks a stoplight is the same thing as a dragstrip. Watch to see exactly how it played out.
The fourth-gen Pontiac GTO, an Aussie import dressed as a muscle car, was born from a mix of Bob Lutz’s road trip and nostalgia for ’60s exhaust notes. Despite its Corvette heart and speed worthy of a drag strip, it struggled stateside, overshadowed by flashier Mustangs and Magnums. Imagine paying over $34k for a car that looks like it should come with an ‘I wish I were a Mustang’ bumper sticker. Even with tweaks and a new engine in 2005, it was more misfit than muscle, selling fewer than expected.