Phildaupho Posted April 1 Posted April 1 Could it be a model of this Ferrari 250GTO? Or could it be model of this AAR Toyota IMSA GTO? Or may be a model of this 1964 Pontiac GTO? Close - it is a model of a Pontiac GTO – the last generation 2005 In 2006 on the weekend of the Long Beach Champ Car Grand Prix and Tamiya-Con I was fortunate to be invited along with a small group of other enthusiasts to the All-American Racers facility Santa Ana California and meet Dan Gurney. That Friday morning Dan and Phil Hill were being honoured as the first two inductees into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame. The ceremonies were longer than expected so Dan was running late getting back to All American Racers. Eventually as we waited anxiously in the parking lot, a new Pontiac GTO came to an abrupt stop in front of the building. A sharply dressed Dan Gurney jumped out to greet us. Dan later told us he enjoyed the GTO but had the rear wing removed to be less conspicuous. Polar Lights offered two snap kit releases of the last generation GTO. The first was the smooth hood, single exhaust version. The later had dual exhaust and twin hood scoops. Both releases came as unpainted or fully pre-decorated. One of the second versions was livered as Rod Millan’s drift car. 6 1
espo Posted April 1 Posted April 1 Beautiful looking GTO and the color does sort of make it blend in with traffic. You mention that he had the rear spoiler removed for the same reason. I bought a new GTO in '05 also and the reason behind removing the rear spoiler is twofold. First it restricted rear visibility in the rear-view mirror and the factory spoiler made the rear of the car heavy looking. I was told by a few at the time that at first glance they thought I had a Pontiac Grand Am. I'm 6'2'' and I used to bump my head getting in and out, I can't even imagine what Dan had to go thru doing the same. 1
Phildaupho Posted April 1 Author Posted April 1 4 hours ago, ncbuckeye67 said: Good looking build. I really love the color! 4 hours ago, ncbuckeye67 said: Good looking build. I really love the color! 4 hours ago, ChrisR said: Very nice. 3 hours ago, Belugawrx said: You got me...nice finish on that Phil! 3 hours ago, ea0863 said: Very lovely GTO Phil! 2 hours ago, Mattilacken said: Cool! 1 hour ago, happy grumpy said: Nice job on the build and a nice back story. 1 hour ago, espo said: Beautiful looking GTO and the color does sort of make it blend in with traffic. You mention that he had the rear spoiler removed for the same reason. I bought a new GTO in '05 also and the reason behind removing the rear spoiler is twofold. First it restricted rear visibility in the rear-view mirror and the factory spoiler made the rear of the car heavy looking. I was told by a few at the time that at first glance they thought I had a Pontiac Grand Am. I'm 6'2'' and I used to bump my head getting in and out, I can't even imagine what Dan had to go thru doing the same. Thanks everybody. This was my sixth annual attempt at an unusual April Fools Day post. Dan Gurney is my favourite racing driver of all time and I have built models of a number of his race cars. David - Your GTO looked great in black. Dan was experienced getting in and out off Ford GT40s back in the day but his wife bought him a second generation new Ford GT with a roof blister for headroom. The Australian Holden based last generation GTOs did not sell as well as Pontiac expected and were replaced with a four door called the G8 also Holden based. There were rumours that a Holden based El Camino might appear in North America but the Great Recession of 2008 put an end to it and the entire Pontiac name plate. Also in Australia domestic auto production has completely ceased so no more Holdens.
Misha Posted April 2 Posted April 2 Gosh, you had me there, almost… I thought you may have missed April 1 this year! Thanks for keeping the tradition up, Cheers Misha 1
espo Posted April 2 Posted April 2 On 4/1/2025 at 2:29 PM, Phildaupho said: Thanks everybody. This was my sixth annual attempt at an unusual April Fools Day post. Dan Gurney is my favourite racing driver of all time and I have built models of a number of his race cars. David - Your GTO looked great in black. Dan was experienced getting in and out off Ford GT40s back in the day but his wife bought him a second generation new Ford GT with a roof blister for headroom. The Australian Holden based last generation GTOs did not sell as well as Pontiac expected and were replaced with a four door called the G8 also Holden based. There were rumours that a Holden based El Camino might appear in North America but the Great Recession of 2008 put an end to it and the entire Pontiac name plate. Also in Australia domestic auto production has completely ceased so no more Holdens. As I recall Dan's Ford GT race car also had to have a roof blister for his head to clear with his helmet on. Your recollection of the information on the GTO is correct along with the unfortunate information on the Holden company in Australia. Part of the problem with the GTO that Pontiac brought to market, and this is only my opinion being an employee of a Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealership at the time. GM wanted to offer the car on the cheap and not spend anything to speak of on R & D and Holden had the Manero along with Ute in production and all they had to do was make it left hand drive, which they already offered in other world markets along with a different front and rear body trim. At the time GM had lost enough worldwide market share that they weren't investing in new product or promoting what they did have enough to change that. In the US Buick sales were way down to the point that internally GM was considering retiring the Buick line. Problem was that they were doing well with Buicks they were building in China, and the car was considered a statis symbol by many there. Had they killed the Buick in the US it was felt that they would "loose face" in China, so they killed the Pontiac line in the US instead. Your mention of the G8 Pontiacs from Holden was again an attempt by GM to bring product to market. A couple of problems with the pricing on the Holden vehicles, and they were all well worth the money, was the retail cost after the exchange rate between the US and Austria at the time, The cost of transportation from there to the US and the smog and safety certifications requirements made them more expensive than other competing vehicles from other manufacturers in the US. Remember after GM folded the Pontiac division, they offered the Holden sedan first as a law enforcement only Chevrolet labeled version that was later offered as an Impala SS for a short time. 1
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now