THE HOOD SCOOP March 2014

THE HOOD SCOOP March 2014 GTO of the Month The W40 GTO By Chris Winslow With 2014 being the 50th anniversary of the 1964 GTO and the 10th anniversary of the 2004 GTO, I wanted to put together an article that tied the two events together. In looking for a way to do that, I ended up looking back to the launch of the 2004 GTO. On January 3, 2003, Pontiac unveiled the rebirth of the GTO in Los Angeles. The official press release read in part: LOS ANGELES -- Giving the public its first look at the rebirth of a legend, Pontiac, General Motors’ “excitement division,” introduced show car versions of the 2004 GTO to audiences at the Los Angeles Auto Show and the North American Interna- INSIDE THIS ISSUE: tional Auto Show in Detroit. The production version of the GTO will be available in Pontiac showrooms in late 2003. GTO of the Month 1 The Presidents Scoop 10 “The public’s interest in the GTO has been everything we Tech Article 12 hoped it would be, and more,” said Bob Lutz, GM vice chair- man of product development. “This car is a strong statement Calendar 22 from both Pontiac and GM that we are determined to re- GTO Marketplace 23 energize the car market with vehicles that command attention and excite the customer’s senses.” GGTOA Info Page 25 THE HOOD SCOOP GTO of the Month Pontiac plays an especially large Pontiac did not have at the time) and an role in this strategy in the 2004 engine compartment that could accept a model year with three new prod- sizable V8 engine. This was the same ba- uct launches. The new Grand Prix sic formula that the legendary John debuts in the spring and the V-8- DeLorean had used in 1963 to create the powered Bonneville GXP will bow 1964 GTO when he stuffed a 389 V8 en- in early 2004. gine in the relatively small (for its time) Tempest. “The GTO is really the ‘exclamation point’ on the new As we now know, Meyers green Pontiac line for the 21st century,” lighted the project and the GTO team was said Lynn Myers, Pontiac-GMC born. The team, made up of members general manager. “Together with from both North America and Australia, the Grand Prix and the Bonneville was given a incredibly short 18 month GXP, the GTO will help define the time frame to bring the new GTO to the evolution of Pontiac with fresh, US. As was noted in the press release, contemporary styling, high- this tight deadline was necessary as Lutz performance excitement and ex- and Meyers were planning the GTO and ceptional driving characteristics.” the new V8 powered (although still front wheel drive) Bonneville GXP to be the Of course, little did anyone at that Pontiac Halo cars intended to signal to the event realize that in a little over 7 years, world that Pontiac was back in the per- (2858 days to be exact) Pontiac would formance business. cease to exist. This made the unveiling of the new GTO one of the last new product Fortunately, Holden had a left introductions (or re-introductions) in the hand drive configuration of the Monaro division’s history. because they were already selling versions of the car in countries in the middle As most people know, the 2004 east, so that part of the job would not be GTO was based on the Monaro Coupe, an difficult. What would turn out to be more excellent vehicle developed by GM’s of an issue was adapting the car to the Holden Division in Australia. GM’s harsh North America winters and meeting newly minted Vice President of Product US safety standards as well as GM corpo- Development, Bob Lutz, was already rate standards for North America. As all aware of the vehicle when he assumed his of us who own these cars know, the big- new position at GM in September of gest sacrifice made to the latter was the 2001. It was, however, during a trip to relocation of the gas tank into the trunk Holden in February of 2002, when he fi- behind the rear seat. This can make it a nally had the opportunity to drive one of challenge for those of us who drive these these vehicles. Based on that experience, cars to GTOAA conventions because it is he returned to the States and proposed to tough to get all the luggage and car show then Pontiac-GMC General Manager, supplies needed for week long events Lynn Myers, that the Monaro would loaded in the remaining space! make the perfect donor vehicle for a rebirth of the GTO. His reasoning on this The GM Chief Engineer for this project point was clear. Holden already had an was Bob Reuter. Bob took his role very seri- excellent rear drive chassis (something ously and spent a significant amount of time THE HOOD SCOOP 2 GTO of the Month researching the history of the GTO to make sure that this latest incarnation was worthy of We decided that it needed more the GTO nameplate. Bob discussed this with torque, and one way to achieve that is Mr. Gary Witzenburg for an interview in the to change the cam. But, there was re- book The Legend Returns, when he stated: sistance to that at Holden because it degraded the idle quality. It was a “One of the first things we did trade off. Same thing with the exhaust was have the Pontiac Historians come note. They said, “You don’t want the in and we looked at the old Pontiac ads exhaust that loud.” We said volume is to make sure we understood the heri- good, as long as the note is correct. It tage, and we got a ’64 GTO and spent took them a while to understand that the day driving it. And we clearly un- this was important for a GTO. derstood there were going to be issues if we didn’t do a retro style, didn’t do a We created a driving experi- hood scoop, didn’t split the exhaust on ence for this car very much in line with different sides in the rear, didn’t put a the original GTOs. What’s really im- tachometer on the hood. pressive is not so much the 350 hp and the 365 lb-ft of torque, but that you’ve But when we looked at what got that torque under your foot all the was most important, it all came back to time, over 300 lb-ft of torque every- 1 power train performance, so that’s where past 1200 rpm.” where we put all of our eggs. We said we’ll do whatever it takes to get that There are a number of interesting right – get the exhaust note, the launch things to take away from these comments. feel and the power levels where they First, for those of us who were fortunate needed to be to make it a legitimate enough to hear John Sawruck talk about the GTO. The focus for the program was new GTO before his untimely passing on No- straight line performance and that’s vember 12, 2008 know, he was one of the his- where we ended up. Some of those torians about which Bob was speaking. John other things we’re evolving into a 40th discussed these sessions more than once during year concept.”1 talks at GTOAA events. Second, the engineer tasked with bringing the new GTO to life was Bob went on to say, when talking about well aware, even in those early days, that there the LS1 engine and the overall driving experi- would be a lot of critics of the styling because ence: it was not a retro car but instead a modern in- terpretation of the original GTO formula. “What did we do to get this en- Third, he dispels the myth that the GTO team gine up to350 horsepower? First and just took the LS1 engine and shoehorned it into foremost we made it breathe better. On the car without considering the importance of the inlet side, we’ve got a much freer- the way the engine performed and the way the running intake then we had on the engine sounded. They were in fact very con- Monaro. On the exhaust side, we’ve cerned with the heritage and making sure that got true dual exhausts, separate muf- engine was right for the car. Dropping in a flers and catalysts and resonators all higher lift cam was certainly a risky proposi- the way to the back of the car. And we tion from the point of view of the Bob’s but- put in a higher-lift cam to provide more toned down bosses back in Detroit, but his torque. team knew it needed to be done and they did it. THE HOOD SCOOP 3 GTO of the Month There is one other very interesting sideration, but was he also saying that other comment that Bob makes in these quotes for things such as a hood tack and a more retro The Legend Returns. That is the sentence looking fascia also part of the mix? where he states in relation to things such as retro styling, hood scoops, and the hood tach: As we now know, Bob Reuter and his “Some of those other things we’re evolving team pulled off something of a minor miracle into a 40th year concept.” and were able to meet the 18 month deadline imposed on them by Lutz and Meyers.

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