As jg mentioned, I was also refering to the 1st Chevelles from 1964. These were not performance cars in the way the "SS" versions became late in the decade. The biggest engine you could get in a Chevelle SS was a 327 till the 396 became available in 1966 (2 years after GTO's success).

There are plenty of people who mistakenly assume that every car from that era was purpose built as muscle cars, but that simply isn't true. As automakers pulled out of racing in the early 60s, their performance departments began using regular production cars as their outlet. Take a low cost, budget, "fleet" or "rental" car, add a strong engine, then run figures that show what the car could do if you bought performance pieces from the factory.

Although hundreds of thousands of Chevelle sedans & station wagons and low level coupes were sold, it's only the high performance version remembered. Why? Because those were the only ones people cared enough about to maintain, or salvage & restore. These were only a fraction of the actual cars sold, but because these are the only ones at shows today, people get the wrong impression that all cars were like this, and that everyone bought them. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Just think, in another 35 years, there will be people who thing ALL Grand Ams were GTs, all front drive Impalas were SSs, and Bonneville GXPs were the only Pontiac Bonnevilles ever made.

 

I hate to nitpick, but actually, the 396 was available in 1965, albeit in limited production.

Also, the top 327 (L79) engine was no slouch, rated at 350+ hp.

Isn't this the point? It's not what the cars were actually like, but the way the public perceives them.

 

Alright, we are knd of drifting from my original point which is that the design of the SS concept takes a "model for every need" philosphy and puts it in one package. Which fits with what the Chevelle/Malibu line becamen my opinion. Look at the SS concept, you have four doors to make it more family friendly and with a base 6 and a performance 8 or s.c.6 you cover the needs of most pretty well. Now, if you use the Sigma Lite platform (for example) for this car and for the next gen Camaro, you've spread delevopment cost over multiple models (as with the CTS, STS, and SRX).

 

However, the suspension of the SS concept is built off Corvette parts. Sure there are Chevelle styling cues, however there are just as many Camaro and Corvette cues as well. Are we going to see a 4-door Corvette, or Camaro? Certainly not. However, if I wanted to secretly develop a new 2-door RWD V8 Chevy Coupe, I could easily add an extra set of doors to throw people off and hide it in plain sight.

That aside, if GM wants their next Chevy Coupe to be taken seriously as a pony car to go head-to-head against the rival Mustang; then it needs to be a pony car. Sure you can have a 6-cylinder base model, and heck why not have as many trim models as the Ford; but offer it also as a 4-door family sedan!?! You might as well kill the thing before you ever put it into production.

Sure there is a place for performance 4-door sedans, however not as the Camaro replacement. Besides, you're missing the beauty behind the Zeta platform. There can be several variations off the platform from Camaro to GTO to Velite to large 4 door RWD luxury sedan... BUT none of them have to look anything alike on the surface.

Just because they can, doesn't mean they will.

 

Dude...shut up.

This guy has been full of it since he registered on this board, and has been proven wrong time and time again...just look through his history. He always claims to have "inside info" He just takes what has alreaddy been said in rags and message boards and rewords it to make it seem like its 'news' to any of us. He is a poser and is desperate for attention.

 

Oh really???? Proven wrong on what? Poser? LOL!! Attention!! LOL. Get a grip pal.

Hey why don't you ask Red Planet or GuionM about the LS7 being proposed for the next gen GTO's. Go ahead, ask them.

Or how about this one. 06 GTO to possibly be built in Mexico. Ask them about that one also. Poser!! funny, very funny stuff.

 

Not saying you are wrong about anything at all but....why would the ls7 in the gto be news? The ls7 is suppose to be in the next z06 so it would make sense to put it in Pontiacs halo car as well. Even if you are guessing you are likely right.

 

Not that I necessarily take Meccadeth's comments too seriously....and not flaming you....but I don't understand how that statement makes your case.

 

All right then I will say this.

1. Official GM memorandum about LS7 business case for 07 GTO
2. 2 GTO Test Mules using the current platform with LS7

Now, If I'm full of ****, Red Planet can say so.

 

Um.... don't shoot yourself in the foot just to prove a point.

You really shouldn't spill stuff just to prove a point because you get riled up. Even Redplanet was doubted for a long time before he "outed" himself.

If you have inside info, & are right about something, you'll wind up being credible over time as your claims pan out. But never let anyone get your goat (bad pun) over something like that. Take it all with a grain of salt

FWIW (since you dragged me into this): The 2006 GTO will be a continuation of the 2005 (built in Oz), and may even skip a year or a portion of one when it's production ends & is replaced by another. Also, GM engineers often screw together "what-if" cars just for S**** & Giggles. Anything's possible, and I'm sure it's being looked at, but it's not at a point where I'd be willing to post anything about it (LS6 anniversary Trans Ams were farther along).

As for your other claims, I'm not going to touch on them & you can bet the farm that Red's not either.

 

Yup and I posted earlier on where they are showing off one of those GTO mules today.

 

Your right GuionM, time will tell.

Regards

 

Yes, very cool.

 

A bit off topic, but that has to be the most beautiful GTO I've ever seen. WOW!

 

Yeah but the sad part is it would have been far easier to simply add the cross-bar and bowtie to the Monaro grill.