Doug Harden

I believe that if you buy one of these limited edition cars you are an enthusiast....we all have our own reasons for modding or not modding cars.........

Quote:

Why would anyone want to depend on the GM designers to come up with THEIR ideal design. Just buy the car and mod it to your freakin satisfaction. A aftermarket Holden hood scoop isn't going to void the warranty... so why bitch about a scoop.

Actually, this is isn't entirely true either......to get a good color match, most good shops want to blend the paint into the surrounding panels....so your factory paint warranty just got voided............that and add the cost of a good (very few available out there) aftermarket hood ($750++) and the cost to paint it (I spent $650 to paint the SS hood on my Z/28) and the cost of your brand new car just went up by almost $1500.00!!

Finally, I honestly believe that if GM had chosen most any other nameplate.....especially one without a legendary past.....we would have had nothing substantial to complain about....

Darth Xed

Interesting.... maybe you should shoot the NCRS (National Corvette Restorer's Society) an email explaining to them how their organization (one of the largest automobile clubs in the world) is not an organization for automotive entusiasts.

Chuck!

What about people who race bone stock cars?

And compare the GTO to the Monaro, its basically the exact same car with a little pontiac emblem between a split grille. I dont know what everyone was expecting...

Monaro

ProudPony

AMEN And just use copy/paste in another letter to the SAAC (Shelby American Automobile Club) and tell the Shelby 427 SC owners how they need to "mod" their $400K roadsters to be called "car entusiasts" too. I've been quietly reading this old rehashed material, but I gotta pipe-in here.

I am not about to "mod" my '72 Cobra Jet Ram-Air car and ruin it's $20k-plus market value, but I WILL get in it and melt some tires, or run you down 1320 in 13 or less with it - no probs. For a measly 1-1.5 seconds on a 1/4, cars like mine - but modded - are only bringing 1/2 the price... to me it's just foolish to trade that value for a little (very little) gain in performance.

I do have a '71 Mach 1 that I have modded extensively, with a full race engine, custom grind cam, chrome and nickel plating on everything, etc. BUT - that car was a basket case when I got it, and it has very little collectible value. It was a common Mach 1, no PS, no PB, no AC, a 351-2V, FMX tranny, and 2.75:1 9" rear. In other words, it was common and cheap.

So I am a good example of both sides of this little argument - I think I am DEFINITELY a car enthusiast, and I have some very modified rides, but I also have the utmost respect for stock equipment and an unmolested peice of history. pu12en12g, as you get older, you too will begin to appreciate things that are unmolested just as much as things that are modded to your taste. You don't have to own or buy them, but appreciate them for what they are.


Can I get another AMEN

You and I are still standing on the same tiny island here Doug. I have written about the GTO-heritage thing so much on this board and others that I'm just tired of it all.

It boils down to this for me... younger folks that weren't even born back when there were many GTOs still running at the Saturday night bracket races, cruising for girls on the strip, or just driving around in general will never understand the feelings you are trying to illustrate for them. I remember smelling rich mixtures from the car in front of you at a stoplight because there were no cat/cons back then. Cherry bombs rumbled all up and down the 3-mile strip of Stratford Road we used to cruise on. There were always several 100'-plus tire marks on an old hardtop road nearby where we used to go and smoke 'em for show. And once in a while, we'd have a street race (which is incredibly STUPID looking back now) but I grew out of that real fast (there are no excuses when you are both on a track with lights and clocks! ). My point is that the feelings we felt in those old cars are lost on the new crowds - they have a new feeling, one that's great unto itself and I like too BTW, but it's just different.

My one question to those who love the new GTO we now have coming is...
Would you love it any less if it were called a Pontiac Monaro?

I think it would be better deserving of that name because...
1) That's what it really is.
2) That's what the designers at Holden saw fit to design and call it.
3) It would help Holden begin to establish it's other fine work in new markets.
4) It would eliminate the conflicts between the younger crowd that could care less about what GTO was and the crowd like me that likes to wax-nostalgic about +30-year-old cars.

NAME-PIMPING - it's getting as old on GM cars as
RETRO is getting on FORD cars.

kizz

A factory condition car is clearly a better investment. If you buy a car and you KNOW that you will NEVER have to sell it, then feel free to mod it out till you're blue in the face. But the fact is that nobody can predict the future, and the fact is that most people will run into a future situation where they are FORCED to sell or at least pass on the car to someone who cannot appreciate its highly customized nature. In that case, a highly modded car is worthless, because it's custom-tailored to you and you only, and to the next guy it's just a roided-up hot rod. People buying used cars tend to want factory original cars, and there's even a few like me who want originals regardless of if I'm going to sell it or not.

305fan

I like it! It doesn't shout out at you---it whispers...then screeches it tires and takes off in a cloud of tire smoke!

Cerwin Vega Fan

How much is the GTO suppose to cost?

whuzizname

Absolutely true. If it was called "Grand TranSport" or something we'd all love it and there would be no controversy. Instead, the Pontiac marketing dept. will be working overtime to convince us that this is a direct descendant of the classic GTO. From what I've read on some GTO websites, Pontiac has succeeded (then again, many of the classic GTO fans are eager for any attention given to GTOs so they are very receptive).

This is a cool car on its own merits, but the ugly reality is that it's a badge-engineered rush job done to plug a gap in Pontiac's product line.

IZ28

Then people would say "why don't they call it GTO??" Don't you think?!

Anyway they'd have to come up with something new and you know that won't happen. They'd rather do something stupid with an established or legendary name.

Ude-lose

here is another GTO pic - http://www.msnbc.com/news/854107.asp

landro

The Monaro started as a after hours project without Management knowledge. Within Holden the Monaro is known as the 'V2 Coupe' the head designer didn't want to call it the Monaro but the media and public won.

IZ28

I think the more I see of it the more I dislike it. Or maybe its just the picture or something.

Pentatonic

OK guionM, I think I actually agree with you here.

BUT, like I said before, my problem is with the WHOLE car. It looks like a dull Grand Am/ Dodge Stratus hybrid.

EDIT: I just noticed that this thread is getting a bit lengthy and monotonous, so here is a joke:

Mike Tyson was feeling down on his luck after losing to Lennox. So he goes to a club where celebrities often hang out, and meets this fine looking women. Later on, he ends up sleeping with her. Afterwards, Mike Tyson says to her "You know, I just can't get rid of this depressed feeling." She says to him:

"Aw, cheer up! You were much better in bed than Magic Johnson."

cobra-killer

What would a controversial post be without some expert fire kindling from your friendly neighborhood cobra-killer . Just kidding folks. But if I could be serious for a moment, me personally I think it looks pretty good. I mean it may favor some of the other pontiac models but lets be realistic, it is distinguishable. If someone had just posted it at random with no name or anything, most of you would probably be like "whats this".

But I mean we got a 300+hp rwd gm vehicle that doesnt look like your autistic aunt designed it. We got somethin respectable to hold us over until the camaro gets revived.

Why dont you boys quit arguing and sit back and say- Gee, arent we lucky to have a NEW 300hp vehicle to hold us over until are beloved camaro returns. Chew on that for awhile okay fellas.