[BLUE TA]

Hi guys, back in the day, i mean way back in 1970 my best friends cousin had a 64 GTO. well my best friend is a mopar guy and he said lets go check out my cousins goat. goat? anyway we get there and its a 3x2 4 speed with as wide as tires in the front as in the back. boy that car turned corners really well, for 1970. and then there was a friend of my step brothers that had a 65 GTO 3x2 4 speed also!!! WOW I have allways liked pontiacs since. well i dont own a GTO ,BUT I do have a 74 trans am 455 th 400 soooooo, i think i still get the PONTIAC EXCITMENT thrill and will allways love pontiacs, BLUE TA

[Tenney]

Caught it around age 3.5-four. My Dad was a copywriter at McManus, John and Adams, the ad agency that handled the Pontiac account. I'd go to the office with Dad from time to time to stock up on promo models courtesy of his co-worker, Mr. Wangers, who also happened to have the real deal in steel. An angry red Goat. The Car & Driver one. The one that was already a local legend - at least to the big kids on my street who knew the Woodward score. Long story short - as they tended to be with that car - an impression was made. And no small one. Was already a car junkie, but this was my first visceral taste of what a hot car was. The sounds, the noise, the smell, the heat from the fender wells mixed w/the cooler ambient temperature - any time I caught a dose of any of it from then on, it always harkened back to that car.

[Mr_GTO]

I bought a '65 GTO model in K-Mart back in 1984 or so...then Ames had a trailer at a swap meet in my town the next year so I bought a T-shirt and catalog...all down hill from there.

[robz]

My brother-law bought his '69 4-speed (which is now mine) back in '76..I was 12..I bought mine (also '69, but Auto) in 1980..Driving it around our country place and feeling the rumble an power just got to me..I had to have one when I turned 16!!

[428ho4spd]

1979.....When I began driving in high school one of the older classmates that lived down the street from me had a beautiful white 1970 GTO 455. I thought that car was the coolest! I remember the "455 CID" decals most of all. Most of the high school "hot cars" were Camaro's, Firebird's, Duster's, Cuda's and Mustang's, but his car in my opinion was the best looking and sounding car of them all. I had to have a GTO someday! Just next door to my high school was the main school district offices and parked in the lot every day was a real nice 1969 GTO that an older lady drove. I left a few notes on the car asking if it might be for sale with never a reply. One day while driving down one of the main streets in the same area I saw the same GTO parked in the garage of a house facing the street. Now I knew where the car lived!!! I stopped one day to ask again if it might be for sale and the spoke to the original owners for a while. They weren't ready to sell it, but about three years later after several more attempts and them buying a brand new car, they finally gave in. I ended up painting the car black a year or so later, added some options and had a lot of fun with it! Many more GTO's were to follow after owning that one. I was hooked!

[Thumpin455_GTO]

About 1981 when I was 12 I was drawing cars, trucks, planes, anything that moved really. Carried a sketch book around school with me, always drawing something if I had free time. My cousin had a 69 Camaro that he drag raced, he started it up and let me rev it one night. I guess my reaction was enough to make sure I was a gear head. About a month later, my cousin stops by with a trunkload of car magazines. Mostly HotRod and Car Craft, but a few show car rags as well.

I knew nothing about GTOs at that point, my dad was into Mopar and Ford and hadnt had a hotrod since my older brother was born in 67. He sold his 426 wedge 64 Sport Fury that year. Anyway, while looking through one of those show car compilations, I spotted a dark blue custom 66 GTO. That right there was the start, just the way it looked with Cragar SS wheels and the blue metallic paint was enough to hook me.

A year later I had some money I made selling sweet corn in town, I was a farm kid, so with my $600 in had we went looking for a car. Some of the cars I found were laughable, and most of the GTOs were either way to expensive or seriously wrecked and used up. There was a 68 that backed hard into a pole, but was otherwise mint for $800! A 69 Judge RA IV 4 speed for $1200. A 70 455 Convertible for $1000 but it had a ton of bondo covered rust. If only I had the resources I have now. I saw hundreds of Camaros, Mustangs, and a few Mopars that my dad went nuts over.

I couldnt swing the GTOs even though that is what I wanted. So I went back and got the first car we had looked at, a 67 Cougar with a 289 2 barrel auto, at least it was red with a black interior and disc brakes. I still have this car, its in the shop right now getting a ground up rebuild, I almost have the paint rubbed out.

When I turned 17 I was driving past the tourist trap in town (junkyard) and saw a gold Pontiac that had hit a parked car. It had the bent 71-72 hood, one headlight bucket and no bumper on it. It didnt say LeMans on it, nor did it say Sport, but it had all the GTO stuff except for a 350 in it, no rear swaybar, and single exhaust. $175, so on my 17th birthday I went and bought it with more money I had made working for neighbors. Drove it home like that and waited ten years to find the front end parts I needed for it.

Still not a GTO. I enlisted in the USAF back in 88, went to Germany, then Charleston, got to play in the fun in the sun 90-91 liberating Kuwait. Got a piece of Berlin Wall about a month after it came down, and resolved to get a GTO when I got back to the states no matter what. I had bought a 79 Formula while I was over there, and had a bunch of other Pontiacs, but I NEEDED a GTO.

Working for Dana Corp making piston rings and doing cnc machine work put me in touch with a friend who has a 70 455 HO 4 speed GTO, numbers matching etc. He had a spare that he found in a barn in 93, and he would sell it to me for what he paid for it. $1000 later it was mine. Turns out it was a 400 3 speed standard 70 GTO with 6 options and Palomino Gold. The original drivetrain was long gone, so it got a 455, then the 4 speed broke and its been auto ever since. I finally got one, its real, and I dont care if its original, selling it would be like selling one of my kids.

It goes in the shop with the 65 GTO after the two Fords that are in there are done. I would drive it now, but I want it to be a bit more pleasant to cruise. There is a long list of Pontiacs, and a few Fords, that I am rebuilding, but the GTO and my 10th Anniversary TA are my favorite Pontiacs. They have the best memories in them.

[GT182]

Thumpin, you shoulda put in another 4speed. There's nothing quite like it IMO. But good to see you got a Goat. And that 79 Aniversary T/A sounds good too. I miss my 79 301Formula WS6 to no end, and think about it every now and then. It was the first and last brand new car I've ever bought. The AH(s) that stole the interior better hope I never find him/them.

[ITSBACK]

Back in 1984 I was in my senior year in high school. Every day at football practice a friend of mine would be leaving school in his 65 red gto. The street he would leave on ran along side the football field which had a stop sign right at the begining of the field. One of the guys on the team would hear him rev the engine and he would put both arms up and twirl his hands. I think we all know what would happen next, a lot of noise and smoke and a red gto would tare down the street. I really didnt care for the car much, even though he was known to eat corvettes on a regular basis.
One day during the winter after most of the snow melted this guy and I went out to lunch at Mickey D's. This was the first time I was in this car, and when he got onto what is called Sunrise Highway out in Bellmore Long Island and blasted through the gears my seat which was not bolted down as the interior was not done yet flipped back into the back of the interior. At that very moment I fell completely in love with the Pontiac GTO and HAD to have one.
My first car ended up being a Pontiac Catalina Safari station wagon my Dad gave me which he said I had to give him first crack at buying it when I sell it. Now that I had a car I saw more streets than before and to my surprise saw a 67 GTO about four blocks from my house that never moved. I stopped one day to see if the owner wanted to sell it and for $1500.00 it was mine on the same day I sold my station wagon for the same price.
So in June of 1986 at the age of 18 I got that GOAT. I beat on it for the summer and in September garaged it and did the motor, tranny and interior all over which was a three year on and off project.
At the end of the three years I sold it with just 12 miles on all the new stuff to buy an engagement ring.
Twenty years and three kids later I got another 67 GOAT a year ago and have started all over again. I never thought I would get another one, this one just fell in my lap. I tell people I was in a twenty year remission, but the disease is back.

[Old Goat 67]

Started when I came home from the military in '64. Wanted one then, but went through a '64 Corvair Monza convertible, and a '66 Buick Special.

But, was solidified when I was watching TV one night in '67.

Watched a 30 second commercial with a GTO featured going through it's paces with only the sound of the car for 25 seconds. The last 5 seconds were of it coming up over a rise at speed and freezing the frame of it about a foot in the air.

Then the voice says "GTO, get one before you're too old to enjoy it!"

Found and bought the one I still have within the next week. Never regretted that decision. Sure wish I could find a copy of that commercial.........

[67WhiteGoat]

1964 small Arkansas town local man bought GTO. I was 15 thought about Girls, Cars, Girls, Cars fell in love with that sound coming from under the rearend of that GTO, don't be silly girls were not very vocal back then. Had to have one of those, the girls were easy, take your pick, but that GTO they took lots of money. My dad being a Pontiac man himself said work hard save your money and order one when you graduate from high school. Loved the look of the 1966 but wait, I was ordering a 1967. What would they look like, I worried the Pontiac dealer to death questions, questions, questions, my main concern was color white outside and in. Mr. Jordan finally gets all information on 67s color Cameo White Parchment OH NO, I want Snow White in and out. I am sick, I don't want Cameo Ivory/ Parchment. OK I'm young don't know and no one tells me you can pay extra ( about $ 75.00 ) to at least get the paint color you want, probably get the interior done about same, but I am green, not the man of the world I thought I was then. 1960 I see Cushman Eagle blinding WHITE and BLACK my dad lets me trade a 1947 International pickup we have, it was painted black bottom and white top with a paint brush, called it the SKUNK, for the EAGLE got a whopping 75.00 trade in, man of the world again. That was the start of the white thing. Money burning a hole in my pocket, about to go off to college, middle of August 1966 I find a 1966 SS 396 Chevelle SNOW WHITE in/out 4 speed, knee knocker tach, buckets, sitting in the show room, called my dad I found the car, he said GTO, I said no, he said you have wanted a GTO for years, I said this thing is BEAUTIFUL, he said wait don't do it, get the GTO. I throw my money at Bale Chevrolet in Little Rock drive home, 75 miles, in 100 degrees, Happy as a dead pig in the sunshine. Stop show Dad the car go home to change the oil in my hair, look out the back door, the neighbors have just brought in a 2door Malibu, YEP WHITE/WHITE, I'M SICK SICK SICK. Man of the world. Kept that car 6 years got a company car with new job, let my dad trade it off for a Grand Prix. When my 2 sons were driving age I said, lets find an old GTO and fix her up for you to drive, Oldest said, dad I want a truck, second son said, Dad I'm not into old cars I want a 300 ZX, didn't even ask the daughter. Five years ago kids grown, educated and 2/3 married and doing ok. I'm divorced start looking for a 1967 GTO, my how the prices escalated a rusted out non matching cost what they did in 1967. 2007 July driving a different road on a trip looking in everyone's backyard gawking into open barn doors, I see a few Mustangs, turn around go meet the guys knowing they are no competition for Pontiacs, state my purpose the say don't know of any we talk, leave my name, next week get a call there is one about a mile from where the guy lives. Go back, look, buy car it is completely apart, took 3 trucks and trailers to get it all home. Now the fun has begun and it will be the WHITEST INSIDE/OUT 1967 GTO I can build, not what Detroit wanted but what I wanted. Stay tunes pictures will be shown of the new girl in my life, she is 41 years old and a makeover is necessary. 67WHITEGOAT

[lust4speed]

Mine began in 1964 when going down La Brea to pick up the girlfriend in North Hollywood. White GTO pulls up along side my 63 Impala SS 327 and the four guys inside the GTO start egging me on. It sure wasn't a race - more like a massacre with the GTO gassing ahead and falling back to me over and over with the guys in the goat having a great old time. The fever had started and it took 3 years before I was able to factory order my 67 GTO. I will never forget pulling out of the dealership the night I took delivery and the glow of the dash lights as I headed out into the night. Since, I've had cars with LED displays, floating displays, and digital displays - and none of them compare to the feeling I still get driving at night in the goat.

[Valsmere]

I honestly can't remember, for reasons that are really not normal, see the explaination is like this: I was brought back from the hospital when I was born in my Dads 1969 green GTO. That as my Father says "set the seed in his little head!" Then I can remember him actually selling the car when I was around 5 or 6 years old, my Mom actually cried. I promised myself then taht I would some day find one. Being a little kid phases come and go, but that seed was always in the back of my head. Especially since my Dad would recall racing stories of his green 69 GTO running around North Jersey between Bergan County where he worked, and Sussex County where we lived. Then as I got into high school and old enough to drive, the first thing my Dad said as I starrted loking for my GTO was "No way, not until you get some real expierence driving, will I let you get into a car like that. You will kill yourself." Mad, yeah was I but I never forgot. Then a few years passes, my Dad notices that I haven't really mentioned anything about it he starts talking to me about it. What happened was that my Mom showed him a story I wrote and was actually published in a book my old high school put out for students works called the "Back Porch Review." The story was entitled "My Dream Car". In short it was about a red on white 1967 4 speed GTO. Please remember that at this time, late 80's into the early 90's the Porsche, Ferraris and Lambo's were the favorite of a lot of kids, few in my area were into the "muscle cars".
Well he walks into my room one night with the story and there I was marking adds in that months edition of Hemmings Motor News, with a ton of High Performance Pontiac mags cast about the room. Looks at the walls and really sees that there wasn't all that many posters of women but almost entirely of GTOs and a few Chevys mixed in for good measure.
Shortly after I placed some mail orders for the GTO only books, like the book of information breaking down vin codes and what not. It turns out that one day he calls home from work, odd as it was because he never really did that, to tell me tha the found to GTO's that I should look at. Alright I said kind of disbelieving, where are they? Turns out there were sitting at a used car dealership in Mahwaha NJ a town right next to Ramsey. I went down that next day and sitting there was my '67, not in real bad shape but it needed some help. Now today I still have that old GTO. Every one that asks that it has survived college, 3 cranky girlfriends, one almsot marriage, 3 house moves, and a lasting marriage with a Son whos 5 years old. My wife calls it the other woman.

[uforacing]

In my case (as others) It was not the GTO that started it. Even though I liked them it was not until the 73 Grand Am came out that Pontiac's grabbed my eye. It was not until 76 that I was able to buy my first one.

Fast forward to 1984 and I was back in the states and had some money. There was an ad and I bought my first GTO. An original red on white 72 with the stripe. Many came after that so when I had the chance to buy another 72 I did. I am a fan of the 65,70 and 72's.

[marauder]

Was in high school. I inherited a '77 LeMans Sport Coupe from the parents which was not exactly what I wanted but it was a decent car.

I helped my best friend find his first car which was a '70 GTO. It was painted black with orange lettering on the C pillar "Last Chance" and "Life's a Drag" on the truck lid. Shag carpeting and a huge cam.

[Keith Tedford]

Back in the fall of '65 I had just started an apprenticeship in GM Oshawa. Obviously the bank account was near zero and buying a new car was totally out of the question. One day in down town Oshawa there was a red with black interior '66 GTO sitting by the curb. It was absolutely the most beautiful car that this farm kid had ever seen. To this day I've never owned a '66 GTO. Came close once but never did. They are still my favourite car. A friend has a nice gold '67 4 speed car that I would take in a second but the '66 is still my favourite.

[69 DAYTONA]

...saw my first GTO at the local dealer when they were first introduced, a dark blue 64...as a 12 year old kid, I wasn't impressed... a couple of years later a friend of mine bought a used 65 GTO, white/red interior, 389 3x2, 4-spd, it was a beauty and the first GTO I lusted after....in the summer of 67 a neighbor bought a new 67 GTO, white/blue interior 400 4-spd...it was a really nice car, but kinda tame compared to the wild 65 my buddy owned....I started driving in 1967 and in the spring of 1968 I purchased my first new car, a 68 GTO cv

[silvergoat67]

I had a Friend who got a 1964 GTO from his Father in 1965 as a graduation present. I used to drool over that car. I really started looking into getting one in 1966. But my Dad said no! And I was still not old enough to buy my own. As soon as I turned 18 and could to buy one. I was at the dealership! I bought my first New one 1967 and I have been hooked ever since. I went for about 15 years without one. I finally bought one for my Son and I to restore. He soon lost interest and went into the Service I was stuck with the car and I made the most of it! I now have 2 and I hope to have the 2nd on the road in a couple of years.

[6 Grrrs]

I was 12 when my dad brought this '66 home in 1982. My mother, 2 sisters, grandfather & I went on a trip to the Worlds Fair in 1982 in Knoxville, TN (dad owned his own business & had a big project to finish, so he couldn't go). When we got home, we were unloading the luggage out of my grandfather's Caddy, I hear this hot rod coming up the street. As it get closer, I see it's a red '66 GTO (it had glass packs on it). Then it pulls up in front of the house & my father is driving it. I asked if it was a customer's car. He said no - he just bought it the day before. I fell in love with it right then & there. I knew it was the car I had to have. It just took me another 24 years to talk him out of it.

After that, he had bought & sold several '64-'67 LeMans, Tempests, & GTOs, as well as several restorations at his shop & his own '64 GTO & '64 Tempest. His '64 GTO was a recreation of his original '64 GTO that he bought new in 1964 (his 1st new car).

I also bought a new GTO in 2004 (my 1st 'new' car). A Quicksilver/RedHot 6 speed car that I have since sold. Kinda wish I still had it.

[Swervedriver]

It had to be around 1975. I was ten years old and my best friends older brother had a blue '65 GTO with a 4-speed and Tri-power. After he totaled that, he got a '71 in Lucerne blue with a black int., 455 H.O. with a turbo 400, 4:11 posi and a set of Cragars.
Sometimes (if we bugged him enough) he would take us out and do burnouts. For a ten year old, this was the s#!%.
One night after a party, he fell asleep at the wheel and went through a telephone pole and was killed. He was 19. After that he was kind of a ledgend to me and my friends.

Fast forward years later. My friend and I had long since lost touch. While in college, I worked part time at a cemetary not far from where I grew up. One day, I just happened to look down and see the bronze marker that was my friends brothers grave. I told my co-worker how I knew him and the stories of the GTO's and so on.

A few years later, I was watching the movie Dazed and Confused with some friends. When I saw that Orbit Orange Judge. I think it sparked that old GTO flame that was still in me.

A few years ago, I finally found a good project, '70 (the one in my avatar) outside of Baltimore. I went to look at it on a Wednesday night and came back with a trailer that Saturday. The resto is still underway.

Mike.

[PonchoV8]

They just grew on me. Before it was GTOs, it was convertible LeMans'es'es. Before it was convertible LeMans'es'es, it was convertible Firebirds'es'es.

I was about 6 when we moved into a neighborhood across from a green 67 or 68 convert bird--white interior with a white top and chrome luggage rack. I remember a white stripe on the car and somethings saying HO or similar. That was the beginning.
Then my dad had a roommate (divorce, not gay-as far as I know) with a 65ish Catalina that still had the plastic bumpy seat cover in it. The three of us kids would go sliding across the back seat everytime dad took a corner.
It was a decade after buying my '69 convertible LeMans that I let the pressure get to me from the people looking down their nose a lowly LeMans. So I bought several crappy GTOs and am presently letting them rot.