GOAT
 

Anyone have the skinny on how the GTO got the Goat nickname?

"But, as told by Jim Wangers at a seminar at the GTOAA National Convention in 2008, he stated the name GOAT was conceived when the letter "A" was added to the letters G-T-O to form a word from the GTO abbreviation. The advertising gimmick was not well received by the GM brass as they didn't like the GTO name sake linked to an animal. Be that as it may, the name GOAT stuck. Despite how many versions there are of the way the name GOAT came to be, Jim Wangers version is the official one."

Believe that if you will because there are many others.

Goats vs Birds
 

Goats versus Birds, you choose.....

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...d69vo1_500.jpg

I know my vote........ :)

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...agle_adult.jpg

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee............................. .

Yet, they had no problem with putting a tiger in the tank???

Jim has always said that the enthusiasts originally coined the name.

I always thought they called it a goat because it was suppose to eat(beat)anything?

I always believed it was simply the letters GTO that people derived goat from. Never liked the term myself but the majority of the older gear heads refer to it as a goat.

I'll always believe that to be the case. Just kind of a phonetic, slang, pronunciation. Easier to say and tougher sounding that 'G-T-O'... Everyone called them that when I was coming up and it was not considered a derogatory term.

"the name goat was conceived " by who?
"The advertising gimmick"-was the name "goat" ever used in an adv.??
"didn't like the namesake linked to an animal" other than "tiger paws" and a tiger jumping out from under hood.
"Tiger in your tank" was an Esso/Exxon creation.

From 1965 => See Post # 8 image HERE

I like Frosted Flakes!

but who had the Tiger first ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWVB9IqnEmk

ESSO
 

1959 The Esso Tiger in your tank began...
;)

Dang, you're right on the slogan. I keep thinking about all the tiger tails hanging out the back of the cars today.

I would agree, probably the enthusiasts or general public.

Same with calling Pontiacs Ponchos?
(my wife hates that name)

:)

I refuse to refer to any GTO as a "Goat". Yeah a Goat is a junk eater, but it really is a stupid twist on the name. I had a friend of my son call my car a GTSlow but a quick ride around the block changed his tune.

Then again some people refer to Buicks as Bufords. No one refers to their Chevelle as anything but a "Chevelle" or "Bow Tie" or their Chrysler car as a "Mopar".

My short Tiger tail hangs from my mirror on the windshield.

German dyslexic... GTO=GOT (pronounced Goat)
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I dislike "Goat"as much as "six pack".

Back in 1965 we heard the term Goat, to reference the GTO, used all the time. And they did eat a lot of junk...... Mopars, Chevies, AMCs, Buicks, and more. :D I was a Pontiac guy back in the 50s when I was riding in the folks' 55 Pontiac Chieftain. I was 5 year old then, and up until my 79 Formula I stayed a Pontiac guy.

Goat, been hearing since I was a kid.
How is goat like six pack? Six pack term is just wrong for a Pontiac and GTO's have been revered to as goats for ever.
I've always liked it, it's part of the GTO history.

Gas tires and oil. I call my GTO my old goat.

It was a coined by a very prophetic person...

Greatest Of All Time :D

The "Born Great" 1969 Judge advertisement said "Now, if you want to think of the Judge as Billy's kid brother, OK. Just keep in mind that the family resemblance only goes so far."

Billy must refer to a goat.....................

I agree 100%. The name is not derogatory at all. I have always called my car my Goat and that was even my nickname for a while. I have no idea why this bothers some people.

Agree with champ.... Greatest Of All Time!

Agreed however, never herd that term when I was younger. I have herd of goat meaning greatest of all time but never referring to the GTO. Now Rickey Carmichael is the GOAT.

Goat or Tiger must have been confusing in the 60's. How about a Monkey?

Post #21 is clearly the 70's take as Gas Tires & Oil

And I think that has stuck beyond the 60' Marketing effort to associate an aminal to the car. It's not a Pony car now is it?

So I dunno the Goat origin, just bloviating & remain curious

I've owned my '65 since 1982 is the only thing I've heard it called in the San Francisco bay area. Never tiger.

Only heard it called a "goat" during my growing up years, as in "...yer dad still got that old goat?"

Yes. Yes he does.

K

I was at Norwalk last year checking out DCI's RA 5 heads and a gentleman named Dimitri Toth was there talking to Don. If I remember correct Mr Toth was a engineer at Pontiac and told a story of a factory worker there that coined the term .

John

What's In A Name, You Ask?

Although the Pontiac GTO's existence was borne of original thinking, its name was not. The GTO moniker was "borrowed" from Ferrari, which had a short production run (40) of sports racing cars of the same name starting in 1962. GTO in that case stood for "Gran Turismo Omologato" the english translation of which is "Grand Touring Homologated", a fancy way of saying that it was approved for certain classes of international sports car racing. Controversy over the name theft continues today, with many insisting that the Pontiac owners deserved more original thinking. It was noted in a commercial advertising the 1965 GTO where girls were often seen driving the GTO, the announcer stated G-T-O wasn't meant to mean "Girls Take Over." Jokesters of the time also claimed that GTO stood for "Gas, Tires, Oil", all of which both the Pontiac and the Ferrari used in large quantities. Fans and owners of the Pontiac GTO proudly call their favorite car a "Goat" and label their meetings as a "Gathering of the Goats".

But, as told by Jim Wangers at a seminar at the GTOAA National Convention in 2008, he stated the name GOAT was conceived when the letter "A" was added to the letters G-T-O to form a word from the GTO abbreviation. The advertising gimmick was not well received by the GM brass as they didn't like the GTO name sake linked to an animal. Be that as it may, the name GOAT stuck. Despite how many versions there are of the way the name GOAT came to be, Jim Wangers version is the official one.

Source: http://www.gtoforum.com/f4/history-g...r-theme-16850/

.

I bought my first GTO in '73. I knew little to nothing about the GTO up to that point. Pretty sure everybody that knew of the GTO by then knew the Goat nickname. I'm sure it originated long before I became aware of the GTO.

My best guess is that LOTS of guys across the country saw the GTO initials and simultaneously thought of "Goat", in some cases derogatorily I'm sure. But it took hold. It was quicker to say than Gee Tee Oh.

I doubt it was a single guy who thought it up, more likely just a common reaction to seeing the nameplate when the car was new.

I was surprised I couldn't find a reference to Goat in the mags, not until David E. Davis used the term in his 1975 retrospective in Car & Driver when he wrote that they called it "Goat" among other things. Anybody else know of a reference to "Goat" in an early mag?

In the June '64 Car Life article, they mentioned that GTO was an easy identifier despite the ridicule it was getting from the Ferrari lovers, and then remarked that it had given rise to such terms as "Garbage Truck Option" and "Great To Operate". Pretty clear, out on the street they were already coining nicknames for the GTO about as soon as the '64 came out.

I don't ever remember much caring for the term and pretty sure I used it sparingly if at all.

But in college my buds made up a jersey to use for our intramural teams, circa 1974. I still have mine and while it is now a tad small, I put it on a few years ago to show it off during a sorta reunion by internet with guys I hadn't seen in decades, nobody else had kept theirs.

I guess I was okay with using the Goat nickname on that shirt. :)

I don't think anyone ever called them a tiger, it's just an animal they used in '65 to promote it. But, if you look at the end of the ad, it does say "Oh-you-kid!". Subliminal?

Goat was used in write-up for the '70 455 GTO (Motor Trend, Sept. '69).

I grew up around car, all my life . My mom was a bookkeeper for a Mopar dealer My sister married into the family, I worked in my 1st dealer in 1970, a chevy dealer, & when I got out of the Navy I went to work in an Olds /Datsun dealer ya it was called Datsun when I work there. But from the very first GTO I ever saw the name Goat was used from as long as I can remember. My 1st recall of the term Goat was back in 66 & it was about the 65 the guy next door was driving. I have never thought about the term Goat as being bad, just fast & eating up the other cars around.

Dimitri is a skilled tradesman.

His dad worked in the pattern shop and is the guy that cast all the experimental intake manifolds.

K

Oh-you-kid! is a slang expression that had been around decades before that '65 ad, usually used by a guy turned on by a hot lady. If it was subliminal at all, I think it was in reference to the young lady pawing the GTO and LeMans.

Good catch on the earlier mag article usage.

I'm wondering if guys writing letters to the editor were using the term Goat when referring to the GTO in the very early days?

IMO, there was no way the term Goat spread from one guy.

The term would have occurred to lots of guys in dozens of places.

Did the term 'Cuda start with one guy? How about 'Vette? Again, I doubt it.

'Cuda was a badge, I thought ('70/1)?

We always said the [animal] goats would eat anything, and they usually tried to do just that. For the GTOs being called Goats back then, that was because they usually ate up everything on the highways.

Guys on the street were already calling them 'Cudas and Plymouth followed their lead by badging the higher performance Barracuda models as 'Cuda starting in '69.

But as to the chicken or the egg, the term 'Cuda was originated on the street, Plymouth picked up on it and embraced it.

PMD never embraced the term Goat. But it also originated on the street, IMO.