Most classic of all 1966 Pontiacs is the Tempest GTO, the first car to which was referred to as a "muscle car", a nickname that was to became a class of its own by the end of the sixties. The GTO designation was first used in 1964 for a sporty option package available on the Tempest coupe, hardtop coupe and convertible. This package rapidly gained popularity amongst the younger car buyers and in 1966 the GTO became a model line of its own. It really struck a nerve with the US car buyers and it sold a total of 96,946 units, the highest one year total for a muscle car ever.
The 1966 GTO was available as a pillared coupe, a hardtop coupe and as a convertible, but in Europe only the hardtop coupe was available as standard. The GTO abbreviation (short for "Gran Turismo Omologato") was originally used for thoroughbred Italian approved production-based racingcars. Pontiac boldly used it for its big and powerful roadgoing sport coupes, which was okay in the US, but in Europe strict sportscar fans felt it demeaned the term. Nowadays it is pretty common to use all kinds of fancy designations on cars that don't refer to their proper meaning, both in Europe and abroad. At the time however a great deal of people took offense to the GTO name on the Pontiac, giving the car a hard time outside the US.

But now, in the odd way time works, the 1966 Tempest GTO appears on the wish list of more and more European car enthusiasts. European car journalists often name this Pontiac to be their favorite American car of all times. And that's not surprising, because fitted with the right choice of original options the GTO is fast, powerful, offers a good roadholding and has a true sportscar feeling to it in many ways. Plus it's nice to look at...
Here you see a German-owned GTO hardtop coupe at a recent Dutch car show.

The rear of the GTO is reminiscent of the top-of-the-line full size Pontiac Grand Prix model with its special "louvered" tail lights. This car was in an excellent condition and for sale. The owner didn't state the price he wanted for it, but generally the value of these cars is still quite modest in Europe. This combined with the good availability of parts for these cars makes it an very affordable classic.

The export-version of the GTO was fitted with a 6370 cc V8, producing 365 hp @ 5200 rpm.and giving this 1640 kg car a top speed of an interesting 205 kph. The car was both available with a 4-speed manual gearbox or a 3-speed automatic one. You had to be a bit misguided to choose the automatic transmission, because it brought the engine power down to a 339 hp @ 5000 rpm and effectively removed many of the cars sporty characteristics.
The GTO measured 524 x 189 x 135 cm (length x width x height), which wasn't very sportscar-like at all. But on the other hand it offered a limited slip differential, quick power steering, stiff shocks and a heavy-duty power-assisted braking system as standard to make op for that.

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