Pontiac’s GTO was the creation of John Z. DeLorean, long before the former Detroit maverick’s debacle with his snake-bitten Irish gullwing. History is on his side, crediting his brainchild—the 1964 GTO—with being the first purpose-built muscle car ever made. Any similarity to the Prancing Horse’s Gran Turismo Omologatois illusory: pure Detroit marketing at its ’60s-era best. In fact, Pontiac’s top performer earned an affectionate nickname—Goat—by admirers and detractors alike. It’s hard to beat the first GTOs, made from 1964 to 1967, for rugged good looks and unabashed, good-natured, tire-shredding fun.
From the article by Robert Ross, Bryan Hood, Erik Shilling
