I had the twin in 86. Mine was missing it's engine though and must have been an american block as i had to change the engine mount towers to accept a small block 350 I put in instead. Few other small changes with mid sixties bellhousing flywheel and clutch parts and I had a fun winter car for a few years. Back then it was just another twelve year old car with no engine I picked up cheap, boy do I wish I'd kept that one. Hindsight is 2020.

Yes they were more like Pontiac's version of a Nova SS, nice car but not a GTO.

Even though it wasn't really much of a GTO I always thought this was a pretty cool package Pontiac put together. if anybody is looking at this car to restore he says the original heads are missing. Crazy as it sounds I have a set of original 74 GTO heads for sale cheap! Maybe he has the rest of the original engine but not the heads.

long stroke wrote:

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I have always had a very difficult time considering this car as a GTO. The only thing GTO about this car is the name. 

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I remember thinking the same thing when these cars were new.  Retrospectively, when you think about the void of exciting vehicles that followed, it now seems pretty neat.

Maybe they should have called it something else, like Ventura GT or something, but regardless a Ventura with a shaker and 4-speed is a cool ride.

unruhjonny wrote:

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I actually rather like them;
they went back to the roots of what made the GTO popular, even if they had a less spectacular 350 vs the old 389 or 400...
They were a compact car, when the GTO just the year before was getting to be bloated - I'd put my money on a 1974 4 spd GTO being faster than a 1973 4 spd GTO;
It seems that most cars tended to increase with size and curb weight as they aged - where the GTO started out as a 'sport compact', this one went back to being a 'sport compact'.

But hey, I only have the luxury of hindsight.

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 Good points!