Check out my other posts about the Monaro history. Yes, your name says it all: you know not what a Monaro is or was. In fact, if the GTO had to be built outside the US, the ONLY choice based on history was Holden!
You may look at the GTO and say: "Nah, that's not right." However, if you had really driven one, particularly the 6-speed, you'd say: "HELL YEAH!".
The simple fact is this: It FEELS like a GTO and PERFORMS, not like a performance sedan but like a MUSCLE car. That is the essence of what the "GTO" badge means.
Are you really so dumb as to think that the first young kid looking for something sporty, sexy and fast walked onto a pontiac lot in 1964, saw the Tempest with a GTO badge and said "YES! That's as sexy as my neighbor's Vette!"? Rather, that young kid was talked into a test drive by the dealer, or his mother looking for something practical, or his father looking for something affordable. After the test drive the young kid (who had really wanted one of the new stangs or maybe a used Vette) said, regarding the little Tempest with the big engine: "HELL YEAH!".
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