Gto Pontiac's Great One - Hardcover

Darwin Holstrom; David Newhardt

4.53

15 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 076033515X ISBN 13: 9780760335154

Publisher: Motorbooks International, 2009

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

In 1963, Pontiac's Chief Engineer John DeLorean and his two favorite staff engineers came up with an inspired way to keep Pontiac cars in the performance limelight: bolt a big engine into Pontiac's upcoming Tempest intermediate body. Thus was the GTO born. Through cunning, resourcefulness, and outright trickery the minds of Pontiac managed to get this rocket into dealerships and out onto America's highways, and to introduce that most iconic of American automobiles, the muscle car, to the world, and start a revolution in car design, driving, and racing. This is the story of the GTO, of the people who made it a reality and a sales sensation, of those who owned and loved it. Full of stunning archive and contemporary photographs, technical details, construction progress, and with a full behind-the-scenes history, this is the book on the Muscle car.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Product Description:

Review:

The story of the birth of the GTO and Pontiac s wild success in the 1960s has been told time and again. But this latest, timely release, which features large color photographs of GTOs and other hot Ponchos on nearly every one of its 348 pages, manages to capture the cars immense visual impact as well --Automobile magazine, July 2009--General Motors may have killed the division, but Pontiac will live on through the care and concern of the brand's enthusiasts. Giving wings to the memories is a new coffee-table tribute: 'GTO: Pontiac's Great One.' The timing of the book's release is unintentional, but it is right to eulogize the brand. Author Darwin Holstrom and photographer David Newhardt have produced a showcase hardback 1012 inches wide and a foot tall with 336 pages of heavy-gauge stock filled with dramatic photography, engaging layouts and a story told for enthusiasts --San Diego Union Tribune, June 2009--When this monstrous volume showed up at Chez Murilee- and this is one freakin' huge slab-o-musclecar-porn, displacing 206 cubic inches- I figured I'd find nothing but pretty pictures within. Such was not the case.GTO: Pontiac's Great One is a real history book (albeit a glandular case that won't fit on any normal bookshelf and might even overstress your coffee table's legs), and Darwin Holmstrom does an excellent job of describing Pontiac's path to its smash 1964 hit. We all know the basic equation of the GTO: [powerful engine from full-sized car] + [mid-sized coupe] + [$2.98 worth of hood scoops and emblems] + [relentless youth-centric marketing] x [Baby Boomers finally old enough to buy new cars] x [nuclear annihilation looming over the horizon] = JACKPOT! The story of the GTO was really all about corporate politics and marketing, and Holmstrom walks us through the crafty efforts of "Bunkie" Knudson and John Z. DeLorean (yes, that DeLorean) to reinvent Pontiac's image, all the while fending off the sclerotic shamblings of 14th Floor overlords (I recommend DeLorean's On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors to anyone puzzled about how GM's 40-year downward spiral really got rolling). The story is blessedly free of hypersimplified and/or head-slappingly nostalgic nutshell descriptions of the sociopolitical climate of the 1960s- all too common in car books- and for that alone it deserves praise. We get technical details of Pontiac's tough-but-flawed Strato-Streak engine and the engineering magic that turned it into a solid performer, and of course we get the complete account of the GTO's 1964-72 glory years... followed by unflinching documentation of the not-so-glorious Malaise Era GTOs, which your truly zealous GTO fanatics will no doubt slice out of the book while wearing rubber gloves and a respirator.That's not to say that this book skimps on the pretty pictures; in addition to the drool-inducing arty shots of showroom-condition Goats done by David Newhardt, we get countless vintage ads, drag-racin' shots, and so on; why, there's even a big fold-out reproduction of Car & Driver's original review of the '64 Tempest GTO. This is an easy Four Rod Review (out of a possible five, the Mercedes-Benz OM617 representing the pinnacle of enginehood). Murilee says check it out!--jalponik dot com--The book is large. Its thick hardcover, large-format layout, and 300-plus pages of high-quality stock mean that this book could be used to support the weight of your GTO for an oil change. The physical size of the book belies the fact that it is chocked full of great photography, chronicling every stage, phase, and development of every year GTO built. The text is top notch as well with Holmstrom taking us from the first meeting with John DeLorean and his engineers at the proving grounds -- --Classic American, July, 2009

Darwin Holstrom's insightful 336-page tome tells the complete story behind arguably the most influential Pontiac ever, the GTO. The story begins with the genesis of the 1964 models and chronicles the corporate politics and shenanigans that enabled 'Bunkie' Knudson and John Z DeLorean to reivent Pontiac's image. --Hegarty's magazine, October, 2009

If you get an opportunity to own a copy, you will not be disappointed--Autoworld, May 2009----This is a great book, one that you can't put down and so well written that you find yourself skipping the photos and captions and having to go back and read it over again. And that's what you will do with this anthology on the 'Goat.' You'll pick it back up just to remember, to reminisce the good-ole days when the GTO was king of the streets, and G.M. was the king of automakers around the world. Reading Pontiac's Great One, GTO is like reading a letter from a long-lost friend. It should be arriving in bookstores about now and we suggest you get a copy, find a shady seat under a tree, and take a few days off-- --AutoNews, May 2009--

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.