# love the late model gto



## aardennc (Jan 27, 2013)

Hey you late model fans. late model GTOs rule; folks called them corvette killers not very long ago. I know the classics are great looking but my 2006 looks better and it can romp all over any classic on the track, or any other place for that matter. Agree or disagree with any of that?

 :shutme


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## FNG69 (Nov 15, 2009)

OLYMPIA.WA. My brother lives up that way in Sequim just visited him in 2011 driving my 04. The new generation GTO's really do hook up nice but if you do the right stuff to an older one it will. So I will agree to disagree. Is that what you are looking for? Have you posted a picture of yours here yet? Les


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

Two different cars both built for a different purpose. Can't compare the two. Many of these 40+ year olds properly restored mechanically can hang with a new one in a straight line. Nearly half a century in technology advances when comparing the 2 one would hope a new one would out perform. Comparing these 2 cars is like comparing a B-17 to a B1-B stealth bomber.


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

I think the 'folks that called them corvette killers' were misinformed, if not just partially.
There are a few 'Vettes throughout the eras that a modern GTO couldn't touch. I've owned a few muscle cars during my time that would outrun my GTO easily in a straight line and one that might have even beat it on a road course. I didn't buy the 05 for that, however.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

GTO JUDGE said:


> Two different cars both built for a different purpose. Can't compare the two.* Many of these 40+ year olds properly restored mechanically can hang with a new one in a straight line.* Nearly half a century in technology advances when comparing the 2 one would hope a new one would out perform. Comparing these 2 cars is like comparing a B-17 to a B1-B stealth bomber.


Right on!! That just goes to show how _RIGHT_ Pontiac had it back then.


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## aardennc (Jan 27, 2013)

At least someone is alive out there. Was beginning to think only the classics were being represented here and still might think that. What was the original GTO made for by the way? Had a big engine and was a “small car” for the time. Thought it was for going fast but...??? Guess the manufacturer got it part right. 

I have some pictures posted elsewhere on this site but this thread does not want to cooperate. Thanks for the feedback.


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## silversport (Mar 23, 2007)

I think Judge and others are talking about the Corvette being a purpose built sports car while the new GTO is more a GT (Grand Touring) car...far too heavy in stock trim to run with the newer Corvettes in much more than a straight line for awhile...

I enjoy mine...

Bill


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

Would kick neither out of my garage, but when built the classics from Pontiac were cutting edge and are truely an "American Icon". Without the Ram Air, you would not have your OTRCAI. Tri-Power is nothing more than an attempt to meter gas to each intake port more efficiently for better mileage and performance similar to fuel injection. Both variants were based on stuffing as much HP as they could in a midsize platform. And as for Vettes, same motor better suspension than a stock GTO and built to straighten out the twisty's. So sorry to say without the classics the "New" GTO would not exist. Ohhh, and how much of the new GTO was made in the USA?? You asked for it!!


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

:agree :rofl: :cheers

Saw an 05 here recently with "American Muscle" in huge letters right above the rockers  ; not quite but i respect what a desperate Pontiac was trying to do (and I believe for quite a few years always having to kow tow to GM and Chevrolet hierarchy) and the car was (is) fantastic for what it is but was marketed completely wrong. O4's are nearly 10 years old now and will soon be "classics" in their own right. Heck, even Fiero's are "classics" now.  

I agree with Instig8tor , and I would like to put one in my garage someday. 

Or may be the Vette........


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## silversport (Mar 23, 2007)

the new GTO did follow the original GTOs recipe of putting a big American V8 (LS1/LS2) in a smaller car...(Holden Monaro...think Cadillac Catera to get the era this car was imagined)...

...American Muscle isn't really off the mark...just that GM Australia imagined it and Bob Lutz gifted us (unintended pun) with it  ...

Bill


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

I have one of each. Both have their place. Both are fun both are fast and perform fantastic but both are far different than the other. 

The muscle car craze was started by Pontiac by accident. I am not gonna go through the history of it. Briefly: DeLorean took some of his engineers to his private garage and secretly dropped the 389 in a tempest he did so knowing if Pontiac found out about it they'd shut it down. Back then HP had to equal CI ratio numbers and could not exceed and DeLorean went outside the box... When Pontiac found out about it they were pissed. Knowing it would fail, they allowed DeLorean to market it. 

Pontiac couldn't keep up with production. Sales were astounding. Pontiac went with it. Then the competitors got involved. It evolved. It went to what it was from that point. Credit DeLorean with the muscle car craze NOT the Vette. The vette had its own niche. Had DeLoean not done this, no one will ever know if the muscle car craze would have started.

The 2004 GTO came out as completely different car. GM didn't re-market the car as the old. Buyers and publishers did this. The reputation comparing new to old was done by everyone else. The debate + and - comparing the new to old is not fair to either car. At a car show the OLD rules, on the streets now the old still rules but for a different reason from its design back then. Nostalgia now..... performance then, but still performance wise people want to see it perform and they do. 

New gen got a bad rap because it doesn't resemble a classic. Driving one? It's superior to the classic and resembles one performance wise. It oughta. All around combining every factor the old over rules the new..... its not fair to the new gen GTO just as the performance end of the new gen is not as fair to the OLD gen. 2 completely different cars in different eras built for 2 different purposes.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

Yep, by the time The "New GTO" project came to fruition, Pontiac, GM'S performance division had been effectively neutered. With the F-body taken by the firebird and Gems such as the TransVan and the Aztec rolling off the line, they had to look elsewhere for a platform. The two generations also share one thing, they are both woefully traction deficient and need modification to put the power to the ground and not into the air as a blinding billow of smoke And isn't that why we love them. If Pontiac had survived and the current design cues of retro style as with the Mustang, Camaro and Challenger had been in place i think we would have seen a much truer outward appearance to the late 60's style car and it would have been a much more popular crossover and us classic guys would have been lining up in droves to get one.


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## 6QTS11OZ (Mar 27, 2005)

aardennc said:


> Hey you late model fans. late model GTOs rule; folks called them corvette killers not very long ago. I know the classics are great looking but my 2006 looks better and it can romp all over any classic on the track, or any other place for that matter. * Agree or disagree* with any of that?
> 
> :shutme


Disagree.


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## aardennc (Jan 27, 2013)

great discussions, thanks. as far as the late model not resembling the classic, i'll say this; to me it looks most similar to the 69 or 70's gto judge. saw a late model with the same goofy side stripe a while ago. never liked the stripe much, still don't.


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

6QTS11OZ said:


> Disagree.


Well, I will admit that my 05 GTO would have 'killed' the 84 C4 that I used to have......


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## 68greengoat (Sep 15, 2005)

aardennc said:


> great discussions, thanks. as far as the late model not resembling the classic, i'll say this; to me it looks most similar to the 69 or 70's gto judge.


:confused


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## aardennc (Jan 27, 2013)

i have several hot rods. one is a 425 hp, big block, 1973 corvette. now i'm comparing old and newer school vehicles but my '06 gto would leave the vet in the dust if it came to a race situation. the vette is a beast, the gto a ***** cat but the gto takes it no question.


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