PONTIAC GTO HISTORY
It’s the car that launched the muscle car movement. In early spring of 1963, Pontiac were making their final plans for their new 1964 Tempest line, which was an intermediate-sized car. At the time, they had planned on the use of a 326cu in V8 as the largest-optioned engine. On a Saturday morning at the GM Proving Grounds, with a 326 cube prototype Tempest up on a lift, an engineer named Bill Collins casually mentioned to John DeLorean (then Pontiac’s chief engineer) that in about 20 minutes, the more powerful 389cu in from the Bonneville could be easily bolted in as it shared the same outside dimensions and motor mount points. That was the thought that sparked and got the GTO in motion.
The very next week, that car received the engine swap, and along with it a few things were added. John DeLorean spoke about this in his 1985 book DeLorean: “I had taken a Tempest, Pontiac’s compact car, dumped a 389 in it, and added
