R&T SORTA CARPS ABOUT THE MUSCLE CAR ERA PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, R&T WAXED ELOQUENT about muscle cars countering a U.S. automaker racing ban and swiping car names from good, honest foreigners. Today it continues in its road test of the 1964 Pontiac GTO: “It’s far from good; but it isn’t all bad either.”

The Standard GTO. “In standard trim,” R&T wrote, “the GTO coupe (there’s also a pillarless hardtop and convertible) retails for $2775.90. For this you get bucket-type seats and full carpeting; a 3-speed transmission with Hurst shift (on the floor); 7:50 x 14 premium-grade tires designed specially for the GTO and mounted on extra-wide 6-in. rims; a declutching fan; and a 325-bhp hydraulic-lifter V-8 with single 4-barrel carburetor, dual exhaust, and a whopping 428 lb-ft of torque at 3200 rpm.”

This and other images from R&T, March 1964.

R&T complimented Pontiac: “Except for a pair of distinguishing emblems—one of which affects a foreign accent and says ‘GTO 6.5-litre’—on each side, the flanks of the GTO are bare of any glitter. “

R&T’s Two Test Cars: “On the West Coast we tried the standard GTO as described above, but with the addition of the optional 4-speed, close-ratio all synchromesh transmission, and in Michigan we drove the hotter 348-bhp (three 2-barrel carburetors and exhaust splitters) model, also with 4-speed, and limited slip differential with no-extra-cost 3.9:1 rear end ratio.”

“The latter car,” acknowledged R&T, “was through the help of Jim Wangers, a gentleman drag racer who is one of Pontiac’s most vociferous boosters and who pried a sports coupe out of Royal Pontiac, Inc., a dealership in Royal Oak, Mich.” 

A muscle car equation: 3 x 2 > 4. At left, three two-barrels and 348 bhp; at right, a single quad with 325 bhp. 

Torque and Horsepower A’Plenty. R&T reported, “The GTO’s superabundance of torque and horsepower—and not enough weight percentage on the rear wheels—calls for a special knack in getting off the line in any sort of decent fashion; a technique we never completely mastered. The right combination of throttle and clutch application are absolutely essential and wheelspin has to be kept down until the car is well under way or it will never have a chance.” 

The standard car’s figures are shown in the data panel; the 348-bhp version’s are shown here:

R&T continued, “Switching to a gargantuan set of Goodyear’s new cheater slicks and removing the air cleaners, Wangers chopped the 1/4 mile down to 13.63 sec at 105.50 mph.” 

What About Handling? “Pontiac,” R&T reported, “has built a real driving machine. It’s the suspension, mainly, which is tuned to provide a firmly snubbed ride by using heavy-duty springs, shocks, and stabilizer bar as standard equipment, with an even firmer set of shocks available for masochists and the competition-minded.” 

And Steering? However, R&T recounted, “It is unfortunate that after designing, building and installing a suspension that will do the job, the steering is so low in its standard form (24.5 to 1 ratio or 6 turns lock to lock) that trying to use the suspension on a winding road is not only dangerous but almost impossible.”

“Two optional ratios,” R&T said, “are available: 20:1, which is a great deal better (and comes without power assist) and 17.5 to 1. The latter comes only with power and, although we’re not exactly keen about power steering normally, the GTO would be a better car for it because of the better ratio.” 

The magazine complained, “The extra-cost, looks-like-wood-but-isn’t steering wheel might be all right with power assist, but with heavy steering the rim is too slippery and the seemingly blunt-edged stainless steel spokes become too sharp for comfort if you hook your thumbs over them for purchase. We prefer the standard plastic-rimmed wheel.” 

Pedals Need Realigning: “Another thing we’d like to see Pontiac do is rearrange the relationship of high brake and low throttle pedals.” This discrepancy in height make heel-and-toe during deceleration an impossible task. “Even if it were possible,” R&T carped, “the chrome edging on the pedals could make such footwork dangerously slippery. Oh well, General Motors isn’t interesting in racing anyway, so why worry?” 

Overall. R&T concluded, “After putting as many miles as possible (including freeway, traffic, mountains and drag strip) on the two cars in the limited time available, we came to the conclusion that the GTO Pontiac is undoubtedly one of the best road cars produced in America today…. Quiet, smooth, docile, relatively inexpensive and definitely a touring car, not a racing car…. But a real GTO? Not in our humble opinion.”

At least it wasn’t a real Dictator either. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024