The Story of the 1970 Pontiac GTO Humbler, the Car That Angered GM's Management

I could talk about how it wears the same badge as the iconic Ferrari 250 GTO, or about how it introduced functional air scoops in the 1960s. But no, this story is about "The Humbler," a name used for a marketing campaign in the early 1970s. One that advertised the company's then-new vacuum-operated exhaust system and angered General Motors' management.

It all happened at the peak of the muscle car era when customers had at least a dozen of high-performance cars to choose from. In 1969, the Pontiac GTO was in its second generation and it was faster and more powerful than ever. It looked far more aggressive too, thanks to its 1968 redesign.

With a facelifted model on the way for the 1970 model year, Pontiac's marketing department agreed to advertise the muscle car as "The Humbler."

The company's printed ads suggested that the GTO's performance and looks would simply humiliate the competition. Here's one example: "about now, a lot of pseudo performers are wishing they could slither off to a nice, quiet garage."

These threats were backed by an even more aggressive-looking GTO, as well as a newly introduced 455-cubic-inch HO V8 engine. At 360 horsepower, it was slightly less powerful than the existing 400-cubic-inch Ram Air IV mill (370 horses), but the 455 delivered more torque at 500 pound-feet (678 Nm).

Based on numbers alone, the GTO was nowhere near as powerful as Mopars powered by the 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI or Chevrolets fitted with the mighty 454-cubic-inch (7.4-liter) LS6.

So why was Pontiac so vocal about the 1970 GTO? Well, it was all about a dash-mounted button that had the words "exhaust mode" printed behind it.

It was there to activate the company's new and innovative Vacuum Operated Exhaust (VOE). The system activated flaps on both mufflers that bypassed the stock exhaust routing to improve airflow and when combined with the Ram Air induction system, deliver additional power. At the same time, the exhaust note became increasingly louder. Supposedly noisier than any other muscle car available at the time.

The concept was far from new, as hot-rodders and drag racers had been using it for quite a few years. But Pontiac was the first automaker to put it in a production model.

And while drag racers used a similar device to be able to drive their race cars on public roads, Pontiac just wanted to enable GTO customers to drive the loudest production car out there.

Needless to say, the VOE was illegal in several states at the time, but Pontiac had to cancel it for a different reason. Introduced as an option in November 1969, the device was showcased in a TV commercial that aired during Super Bowl IV on CBS on January 11, 1970.

In the ad, a young man drives a GTO in a restaurant's parking lot. He's shown pulling the VOE knob on the dash while revving the engine, hoping to find an opponent to race him. As all the other drivers stare at him in amazement, the GTO driver pulls away and a voice says "The Humbler is here. This is the way it's going to be, baby."

The ad reportedly enraged GM's top executives, who called Pontiac the next morning and asked for the commercial to be pulled from further use. They also ordered the division to discontinue the Vacuum Operated Exhaust option. Needless to say, GM wasn't thrilled about the ad also being aimed at Chevrolet, Buick, and Oldsmobile muscle cars.

Pontiac followed the orders and put an end to the Humbler ad campaign and retired the VOE option, claiming legal exhaust noise requirements in several U.S. states. However, it's believed that about 233 GTOs were fitted with the device before it was canceled in January 1970. That's a very small fraction of the almost 40,000 GTOs built that year.

How many VOE-equipped Pontiacs are still around today, you ask? That's a question no one can answer, but a few of them are still known to exist. A GTO Convertible fitted with this exhaust (one of only 21 built) popped up on Bring a Trailer in 2021, and changed hands for a whopping $177,500.