More of my opinions:
3. I believe Wangers contends he and DeLorean came up with the original idea as the '64 Model Year approached (August '63?). IMO, the idea was germinating well before that, perhaps in the late winter of '63. The Pontiac 326 V8 had already been fitted into the '63 Tempest chassis as an option. The 421SD Tempests had actually been produced. One had to be brain dead not to recognize the 389 could be readily adapted to the planned '64 A body Model which would have been all but ready for production by late winter '63. If there was any "trick" to it, it would have been how to gain Corp. approval for it. I think the naming was pure DeLorean. Whether Wangers would have had any understanding that an option package needed no Corp. blessing, I do not know. I'm guessing the DeLorean and the Marketing people had knowledge of that. And as they say, the rest is history.
4. The GTO may have come about even if GM hadn't invoked the "racing ban". PMD wasn't in business to win races, it was in business to sell cars. The GTO may have come about in any event to capitalize on PMD's racing success. I do not recall who ordered PMD out of racing. Possibly it was then Chevy GM & GM Corp. Semon E. (Bunkie) Knudsen who was tasked to lay the law down and get DeLorean in line.
5. I believe this question is pointing to the same Bunkie Knudsen. He came in in '56, then hired "Pete" Estes as his Chief Engineer. Estes brought in DeLorean and the 3 in succession served as PMD General Managers, each contributing to the turn around at PMD. As far as the Engine Option, I think that would be the mid year '57 introduction of the Tri-Power that had been developed under the guidance of Estes.
7. Depends on what the definition of RPO is. I have not seen a '63 Order Form but my suspicion is that the 421SD was a Special Equipment Option and this option most likely would have been listed on the All Series Special Equipment Order Form, if such a Form existed in '63 and I think it probably did. ASSE Order Form options weren't all exotic. Trailering Packages, Police & Taxi Options, Heavy Duty Frame, and the like were some of the things found on the Special Equipment Order Form. Whether the 421SD was given a Sales Code as a specific Special Equipment Option or was ordered by written instruction on the Special Equipment Order Form, most of us might consider it a "limited" production option as opposed to a RPO.
8. I agree with OMT on this one, DeLorean would not become PMD GM until '65. But I have always wondered how involved Estes was as PMD GM at the time. Estes was an Engineer, DeLorean was his hand picked protege. I'm pretty sure they were always close. Seems to me DeLorean would have kept Estes well inside the loop and it may have even been Estes that had a hand in figuring out how to circumvent the Policy Committee to bring the GTO option to reality. Another little known factoid. DeLorean must have had a high regard for Bill Collins, about a decade later he lured Collins away from GM to join him at DMC for that ill-fated venture.
10. The name may actually have been the "Engineering Policy Group", this group was involved in the development of new models. Alfred P. Sloan referred to it as the Engineering Policy Group and it was still being referred to as the Engineering Policy Group well into the '70s.
12. According to what I have surmised about the no. of Pontiac Dealers, there were 27 Zone Sales Offices. Within each Zone, it appears that there may have been 500 or so Sales Outlets (Dealers) that were authorized to sell Pontiacs. An estimate would place the total at about 10,000. I think it is very unlikely that any records exist indicating the no. of GTOs initially ordered by each of these sales outlets. Obviously, not every Dealer ordered one. In fact, I would guess that many of the early production units, were shipped to Zone Stock, not Dealer Ordered vehicles at all, and sat in Zone Inventory storage until Dealers purchased them for their own inventory. It is believed that many, or all, Zones received a GTO intended to be used to generate publicity. One such car was given to a journalist with the Dallas Morning News and he wrote an article that appeared in Oct. '63. I believe I have estimated that about 500 to 1000 GTOs were likely produced in Sept. '63 in advance of the first day '64s could be retailed. How many were actually on Dealer lots on Oct. 3rd, I have no clue.
14. I don't know how many cars PMD Sales Manager Frank Bridge thought could be sold. I believe it is Wangers who has claimed Bridge did not think there was a market for the car. Presumably he would have argued against producing any. On this count, Wangers gets credit for being tuned into the emerging youth market and his crystal ball proved prophetic. If they had only sold 500 with the GTO option in '64, Frank Bridge could have said, "I told you so."
17. Perhaps it would have been Bunkie Knudsen? He had been promoted from PMD to Chevy GM.
19. thru 23. I have commented in other threads here about what I know of and my opinions about the Car & Driver test cars. No need to add to that here.
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