The G T O Tiger Times
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The G T O Tiger Times April 2017 Volume 22 Issue 4 The Voice of the G T O and Pontiac Enthusiast in Central Pennsylvania Preidnt Mesag Is This the Least Collectable Pontiac, Ever?? Even longtime Pontiac collectors will tell you that for In 2019 the 2004 GTO will debut in the GTOAA concours every car that deserved the Pontiac pennant, there was showfield, followed by the 2005 GTO in 2020 then in another car that had no business wearing it. The un- 2021 the 2006 GTO. Model years for GTOs to be added wholesomeness that was the Pontiac G3 is evidence to the concours field become eligible 15 years after they enough for the latter part of this proposition, though are offered for sale to the public. Lots of preparation by we've met more than one Sunfire owner who was close the GTOAA accumulating documentation on these cars to tears when describing the long -term quality of their and hundreds of photographs have been ongoing for daily drivers. the past several years. While many people still harbor ill feelings of these cars and feel they are not deserving of To be fair, a lot of the duds that received the Pontiac their moniker the fact is they are GTOs and are pennant were not borne of sketches on paper napkins recognized as such. by Pontiac engineers. The same individuals and philoso- phy that gave the world the GTO did not experience a We will be introducing the 4 th gen GTO to our concours eureka moment that resulted in the Chevette gaining field at our convention in 2018 in Valley Forge. The the Pontiac badge along with some wood siding : They GTOAA will have concours judges do a mock concours were the doing of the General Motors bureaucracy that judging on those cars selected to be on display. This will wanted to spread the goodness that was the Chevette better prepare those judges for 2019 when the around to all GM divisions. Fortunately for everyone, the inaugural introduction of the 2004 GTO kicks off. The Pontiac T1000 has faded from roads and from collective standards will be the same as those of the current field, memory, reminding us of its existence only briefly as the both stock, and modified. One of the aspects of having possible namesake for the liquid -metal Terminator in the your car judged and attaining the ‘GOLD ’ status is its popular 1991 sequel to the original film. potentially added value worth. I ’ve seen many GTO for sale advertisements and those who achieved a silver or This brings us to an even more obscure GM badge - gold status mentions it in the ad as sellers make it a engineering exercise: the Pontiac Sunburst. selling point. How much does a gold or silver status of GTO offered for sale add to the value of a car? I suppose it depends on who is interested and willing to pay for it. I have watched the market on these cars and have seen the prices of them vary downward to what appears the value in the market now seeing higher asking prices. Once these cars begin taking home GTOAA concours awards it will be interesting to see if the sales price of The Isuzu Gemini was offered as the Pontiac Sunburst and Chevrolet Spectrum in Canada for these cars drives the market worth on them upward. four short years. ~~~~ Vic There's a perfectly good reason you might not have seen one of these: The Sunburst was only sold under the Pontiac badge in Canada when GM was going through a phase of gluing Pontiac badges to its captive imports and other budget wares. Continued on pg 7 SVGTO.COM The GTO Tiger Times, A 2006 -16 GTOAA Award winner for Chapter Newsletter Excellence April 2017 Club News Meeting Notes 3/19/2027 Gary Cave is also hosting an open house on May 6 th . In Attendance: Random Pontiacs If anyone is interested in driving at the Vic & Geri Schreck Mecum action this year, please contract Russ Esenwine Vic to get your name on the list. Brian Little Bob Krewson Remember there will be a 2018 Doug Warble Convention update meeting following the Ed Sloan th Andy Kear club meeting on Sunday April 9 . Jim Eyer Meeting Adjourned Jeff Jukes Mike & Cindy Martin Wilson Wolfe Bob Krewson presented the Treasurer ’s Report, which was accepted by Doug Warble, with second by Ed Sloan. Car show committee updated preparations for the 2017 show. Rest assured, all details are being tended to, to assure another great SVGTO event. As 2017 is our 10 th Anniversary show, we are still looking for ideas to celebrate 10 years of what has become the premier All Pontiac Show in the region. We are calling on all members to throw us suggestions on what might make our 10 th show a special and memorable one. Please pass along any thoughts, ideas or ATTENTION! suggestions to any club officer. There is a current list of upcoming events Be sure to check out the on page 3. Please check the website, website Facebook or Twitter for updates. www.svgto.com The cruise to Gary Caves is scheduled for Saturday, April 15 th . There will be an For the latest information of email coming shortly with detail about upcoming events. meeting time and place for a caravan. If weather is an issue on that date, then the cruise will likely be postponed until Fall. Next Meeting: The next regular club meeting will be Sunday, April 9th, 12 noon, at the Hillside Café. There will be no car show committee meeting. There will be a 2018 Convention update meeting immediately following the regular club meeting. Membership Update Total Members; 71 62 members are GTOAA members several who don ’t own a GTO are also GTOAA mem- If you have comments bers. about, or suggestions to Nine members from 2016 chose not to renew for 2017. We have 9 non GTOAA -members help improve The GTO who do not own a GTO and have the option to join the GTOAA or not but pay higher Tiger Times, please membership dues. Renewals for 2017 end March 31. Any person, including those who contact Russ Esenwine. didn ’t renew by March 31 who elects to join SVGTO as of April 1, will be recognized as a new member. We gained 3 new members for 2017 and 2 new GTOAA members so far. [email protected] Page 2 Recent & Upcoming Events SVGTO.COM Our 2017 Pontiac Show Update Could Pontiac come back as a Performance Awards are being worked on. We ’ve added a Best 4 th Division of GM? Gen GTO to our Best of Show Awards. Could use some help acquiring door/raffle prizes. Mem- For decades, the Pontiac brand was known as GM's per- bers: 5.00 per show car, format is the same as years formance brand. From the 1964 Pontiac GTO, to the past, we ’ll show in our usual spot. Members can register 1967 Firebird, to the 1984 Fiero, to the 2006 Solstice via our Members Area on our website. Turbo, and 2009 G8 GXP, Pontiac had a reputation for building exciting cars, with bold styling and performance to back it up. GTOAA News When the Camaro was killed off in 2002, the Pontiac Latest Membership numbers are at 3880. Membership Firebird died off with it, and the last Pontiacs were built numbers are at an all -time high. 2017 Convention June in early 2010. But with names like G3, G4, and G6, Pon- 26 -July 1 hosted by the Gateway GTO Association at the tiac's performance image had long faded from it's earlier Crowne Plaza in Springfield Illinois. Compete information glory days. can be found at the Event Website My idea for Pontiac's revival would be to bring it back as 2017 Refer -A-Friend Win a jacket and a free 12 month a dedicated performance marque, similar to Chevy's extension to the GTOAA ends June 15. The member who Super Sport (SS) line up of years past. refers the most new GTOAA members will be named the winner at the 2017 Convention. Minimum of 5 new mem- First, and most obvious would be to bring back the Pon- bers needed to qualify. tiac Firebird. Offering the entry -level model with the Camaro's 275HP turbo 4 -cylinder engine, then having the Camaro SS's 455HP V8, but also offering a halo East Coast Regional at Max Performance/Pypes June model Trans Am that is a revamped Camaro ZL -1 along 16 -17. We ’ll need volunteers to help with this event. For- with its tire -shredding 650HP, supercharged V8 and race mat the same as in the past. Friday cruise -in parking lot tuned suspension. party and that Saturday the main event. Use the SVGTO promo code to save 5.00 off preregistration by June 6. Secondly, I would bring back the GTO. Which I would Proceeds from those using our discount code help benefit base on the current Chevy SS, but I would use the full the Ronald McDonald House and SVGTO. Discount lodging 455 -horsepower LS4 V8 (rather than the 415 -hp setup is available at the Holiday Inn by calling; 215.368.3800 that it has now). Furthermore, I would add the impres- and on line at; Courtyard Marriott using the PYG group sive 650 -hp supercharged V8 to provide real competition code for both hotels. Both have cut off dates in May. to the Charger Hellcat.