First Year Goat: ’64 Pontiac GTO

We’ve had only one other GTO on Mint and that was a ’65. The ’65 is significant because it was the first year the GTO was an actual separate model. And this ’64 is significant because it was the first year and it was an option package called Grand Touring Omologato. That option cost less than $300 when new and makes a gigantic difference in valuation today. The GTO was born out of the marketing department at the Pontiac division. General Motors banned racing involvement in 1963 severely hampering their ability to promote high performance vehicles. The engineers and marketing folks in the Pontiac Division knew they had to wage war against Ford’s Mustang and how they were going to do that became a big topic of conversation around the water cooler. They decided to do battle on the street. There are 3 fathers of what would become the GTO – Russell Gee, Bill Collins and John DeLorean. DeLorean is credited with selecting the name. No matter how Pontiac pushed the international sounding GTO name, loyal followers called it the Goat. Go figure. Today’s featured car represents one of the better restorations of an original GTO option. So well executed, it became a subject of a Hagerty Magazine article last year. The folks at Hagerty know a thing or two about valuations and quality. This tri-power car, with the original window sticker, has all the right options. It was a nut and bolt restoration. The seller rightfully wants to recoup the money spent and might given the right circumstances like a public auction with 3 or 4 people dying to have it. The seller is looking for $65,000. The SCM Auction database shows a few ’64s selling in the mid to high $50,000 for perfect trailer queens. So $65,000 might be a record. One unlikely to be achieved. Click here for the Craigslist ad.