[77 Canamman]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

Just curious about something on the 73 GTO's....when was the hood scoop area blacked out, and when was it body color? Seems like all the factory literature I've seen shows the scoop area body colored, with the vertical part of the scoops (or where they would be opened if they had Ram Air) being blacked out, but I keep seeing examples where the entire scoop area is blacked out, or even painted red like on the photo shown above?

I have seen both on original, unrestored cars. I parted a Florentine red 4 speed that had black scoops. My current 56k mile original paint Florentine red 4 speed has body colored scoops. Both were made at the Pontiac, MI plant. I know the build date of my current car according to the build sheet was 1/8/73.

[67bonnie455]

The 74 for sure. The 73 Lemans has an strange grill, but the body lines are great with louverd rewindows and it is a real full frame car. The 74 Ventura GTO was a joke with a 350 and unibody. The 04 is the next ugliest.

I am alway considered the 75 455 Can AM (Lemans) as the last GTO. The 04-06 would have been a great car if it had a HOOD TACH and functional air ducts and wing spoiler off the 70 Judge. A hood tach would have been so cool. Of course the Z05 motor to push it. Why don't they ask me???

[77 Canamman]

Originally Posted by 67bonnie455

I am alway considered the 75 455 Can AM (Lemans) as the last GTOs.

The Can Am was made in '77 only and was powered by either a 403 Olds small block, or a W72 400.

[hpp]

I like the 64-74 GTO's but dont care to much for the 04 and up. My favorite is the '66.

[ramairthreegto]

Its all subjective.
My personal favorites are the 68 and 69.
Then the 70.

I find the early generation muscle cars like the 64 and 65 too boxy for my tastes.
The 66 and 67 are a little sleeker, but not the short deck, long hood and curvy design that screams my favorite cars of the muscle car era.

I can also live with the 71 and 72. And the 74, although in general, no matter how light and fast they were, never really warmed up to "mini muscle" like Novas, Venturas, Mavericks, Demons, and Dusters.

But the 73, ouch.
I have a personal prejudice against the switch to colonnade style then, which I think happend to all GM A bodies, G-bodies, full size, etc. that year.

The end of the muscle car era comes at different times for different people.
Some say the end of the Hemi offering,
others the lower compression detuning of 71, 72, etc.
Some say 1974 was the last year, because after that came catalytic converters.

For me, the colonnade styling of 73 marked the end of the GM muscle car era.

[77 Canamman]

Originally Posted by 455Grandville

x 2

What if the SD455 had been available ?

It impessed Cars magazine back in the day enough to win their Supercar of the Year award. It still is the best handling, best riding of the real GTO's, and would have been one of the quickest GTO's. Even still, the radical appearance would still turn off those who prefer vanilla styling.

[b-man]

Okay, so it ain't all that pretty.

But at least it runs.

[3 Deuce 64]

Of the Original Pontiac GTOs 73s are at the bottom of the list for me from top to bottom 65 67 66 64 68 69 70 71 72 74 73

[67bonnie455]

Sorry about my error. The Can Am was a 77, but I never saw a 403 in a Pontiac until 79. The Can AM we sold was a 400. My humble opinion is that the Lemans sport most carried on the GTO legacy. In the early to mid 70s, the performance across all manufacturers was gone and the biggest motors were usually a 350. Pontiac still had decent 400s and the 455 available in everything but the Ventura. The Leman Sport was a good seller and attracted buyers looking for some performance in a decent sized car.

The 73 GTO and the subsequent LeMans sports would have been sweet with the 455 Super Duty. The 73 and 74 literature listed the SD motor for the GP and the Lemans sport but it was not released. Oh, what would have been if I were in charge..

[Racer81x]

04 looks like a ricer
for a older gto it would be a 68, i'd take a 73 over a 68 all day

[cuz68]

Originally Posted by 77 Canamman

It impessed Cars magazine back in the day enough to win their Supercar of the Year award. It still is the best handling, best riding of the real GTO's, and would have been one of the quickest GTO's. Even still, the radical appearance would still turn off those who prefer vanilla styling.

Take that bareny fife car to mayberry. The 1968 GTO was the Motor Trend car of that year Remember it was before the 69s BTY thanks for all of your replys To each his own i guess.

[cuz68]

Mt 68 was painted poursh SP red in 1986, I only needs some LTC.

[Jeff R]

Originally Posted by 69GTO

Mythbusters also proved that you can actually polish a turd....

lol

[goatman65]

04-06.But as someone said those weren't real GTO's so I'll say the 73 was worst looking.I always liked the 74.I remember going to the local Pontiac dealer with my parents back in 74 and taking a new one for a test drive.It was red/white,a 4 speed car.I was 13 then and thought that car was bad-ass.My dad said it ran like sh*t.

[Ron Landis]

Originally Posted by b-man

Okay, so it ain't all that pretty.

But at least it runs.

She's beautiful to me!!!! At least she doesn't look like a used bar of soap! lol Ron

[Ron Landis]

of the "lowly" '73... had they put the rubber nose that ended up on the Grand Am on her along with a SD 455 and a four speed, we would ALL have fonder memories! Also, in fairness to Pontiac...look at the other offerings in '73 and tell me which IS your favorite! You couldn't run fast enough to give me even a Corvette that year! Pontiac was trying to hang in there, but those were tough times for the automakers, without a doubt. JMHO.Ron

[DINO1]

Originally Posted by Ron Landis-formerly Jegstek

She's beautiful to me!!!! At least she doesn't look like a used bar of soap! lol Ron

Ron,
I still miss that car, lookin good.

[Goathead]

Originally Posted by Ron Landis-formerly Jegstek

She's beautiful to me!!!! At least she doesn't look like a used bar of soap! lol Ron

Yep, better email me your address and I'll have my Ugly Car hauler down there to get it our of the way for you....can't really say where it will wind up, but if you see a dark blue one on the road, that's not it...

[Cobrabill]

Originally Posted by Ron Landis-formerly Jegstek

of the "lowly" '73... had they put the rubber nose that ended up on the Grand Am on her along with a SD 455 and a four speed, we would ALL have fonder memories! Also, in fairness to Pontiac...look at the other offerings in '73 and tell me which IS your favorite! You couldn't run fast enough to give me even a Corvette that year! Pontiac was trying to hang in there, but those were tough times for the automakers, without a doubt. JMHO.Ron

If the 74 got the SD-455 like it was suppose to,then the history books would be a lot different.

[ctgross]

Originally Posted by Goathead

Some things never change....

O.K., guess it'd have to be a southern owned irish mistie colored 65 that's missing it's fine look'n rally 1's