Random Car Wednesday: 1965 Pontiac GTO

Welcome to this week's RCW on Shifting Gears. Today I'm highlighting a classic American muscle car: The 1965 Pontiac GTO. The GTO is often considered to be the first true muscle car, as it appeared in Pontiac's lineup as early as 1964. Cases could be made for the Galaxie 500XL and Impala SS 409, but the GTO was the first purebred performance machine. 1965 marked the second year of production for the GTO, and it got a major facelift. It also became it's own model, as opposed to being a trim level for the Tempest Le Mans in 1964. The GTO was handsome despite being a bit squarish, and featured some great styling cues such as stacked headlights, a split grille, and a large one-piece taillight section. Backing up those looks was a variety of performance options. This particular car has the most desirable engine choice, the Tri-Power V8. It put out approximately 360 horsepower, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 424 pound-feet of torque. That meant that 0 to 60 came in under 6 seconds, and the car could thunder along to a top speed of 114 miles per hour. In 1965, those were serious figures. This particular GTO is very well cared for, and looks quite sharp in bright red. Its also had a set of Cragar S/S rims mounted for that classic muscle appeal. Whether you consider the GTO to be the first muscle car or not, there's no denying that it's one of the best street machines ever to come out of Detroit.

1965 Pontiac GTO