23k-Mile 1967 Pontiac GTO Is Too Good To Be Ignored; Is It Too Pricey To Find a New Owner?

Between its market announcement (as a performance package for the Tempest Le Mans of 1964) and the end of the decade, the GTO moved a staggering 446,396 units. From 1970 onward, sales collapsed into a come from which the model would never recover. In its 11-year production run, the GTO (in all trims, shapes, forms, sizes, and versions) sold 515,797 units.

It doesn’t take the brainiacs from Cape Canaveral to tell us that the instigator of muscle car-ness was the first victim of its rebellion. The Grand Tempest Option (as John Zachary DeLorean himself decreed among its trusted acolytes) ended up in a shameful disembowelment as an option for the Pontiac Ventura (a badge-engineered Chevy Nova) in 1974.

When it was awarded its standalone model promotion in 1966, the GTO became a sales magnet, luring customers like bees to honey – 97,000. The following year was also good, considering that it had to face serious competition from across the General Motors field. Let us drop two names into the conversation, and then we’ll agree that the GTO did an excellent job: Camaro and Firebird.

The two muscle cars thundered over the United States of Automobile in 1967 – the Chevy as a late and angry response to the Mustang and the Pontiac as the division’s reply to the pony craze. While they weren’t direct threats with the mid-size GTO, the two newcomers stirred enough talk to fill the already overcrowded Detroit air with a confusing haze of motor dazzle.

Aware that the original 389 V8 that fired the first shot in 1964 was rapidly outgunned by Detroit’s finest, Pontiac upped the ante by boring the displacement to 400 cubes (6.6 liters). The new powerplant was the sole motor in the GTO in 1967, offering four outputs, from 255 to 360 hp.

The standard setup consisted of a 10.75:1 compression with a four-barrel carb, resulting in a 335-hp and 441-lb-ft (340 PS, 598 Nm) potency. The same engine, with two-throat carburetion, reduced compression (8.6:1), smaller valves, and a much larger combustion chamber (90 CCs, as opposed to 65 CCs in all other versions of the engine), only managed 255 hp (258 PS) and 397 lb-ft (657 Nm).

The two other versions of the V8 (the Quadra-Power 400 and the Ram Air) were curiously credited with identical values (360 hp, 438 lb-ft / 365 PS, 594 Nm). The cams’ durations and overlaps were higher, but no other drastic changes were made.

Perhaps that’s why the 335 hp was duly appreciated by the bulk of the GTO buyers – over 64,000 of them opted for the base powerhouse. Body-wise, the two-door muscle Pontiac put three choices on the table: the hardtop coupe, the sports coupe, and the convertible. Apparently, the first of these had the best appeal since 65,000+ prospects filled out an order form for it.

One of those cars drew the long stick and survived to this day with an irreproachable tenure. Its three-owner history (including the current one) is an excellent argument in favor of its originality, and the 26,000 miles on the odometer (almost 42,000 metric clicks) is another one. This time, for the car’s asking price of $67,970 on eBay, one week before the bid closes.

This GTO is too red to be ignored, too original to call it expensive, and too well-preserved to remain hidden. Why remain? The beautiful dual-gate automatic console console was part of a collection for almost half its life (25 years, to be exact). The seller doesn’t mention whether the paint is original, but the sheet metal and floors are (allegedly).