The original GTO was back-doored into production by PMD, so the first commericals were with women drivers, cruising around town, etc.
Later ads showing GTO preformance were killed by GM within weeks of airing.
The last GTO commerical was made in 1969 and started with a GTO and ended with a T37. By 1969 the death bell had already rung.
Notice how few FBody commericals there were in 2000 and 2001.
One of the performance commericals at a proving ground they broke both upper control arms flying out of a dip in the road.
If you ever get a chance to hear Jim Wangers talk about the GTO and the ads DO IT.

 

Awwww... you're makin' me all misty over here thinkin' about my '65 Le Mans 'vert. That 2-speed was quite a fun car.

 

There were also the famous early GTO "Tiger" commercials which GM didn't like. The later commercials dropped the tiger analogy and instead went to "The Great One" as a weak play on the GTO name.

When you think about it, you never really see ANY performance car commercials. Anyone recall a commercial for the Mustang, Corvette, Viper? They tend to be very few and far between or they just insert images of these cars into general commercials for the auto maker's line-up.

Anyone paid attention to the new trend in SUV's? Auto makers are now producing PUV's - Performance Utility Vehicles - i.e. the Infiniti FX45 & FX35, Porchse Cayenne...etc. For the Yuppie who will never take his SUV off road and who now wants to think he's Mario Andretti while taking the kids to soccer practice.

 

speaking of commercials, what commercial was the "wider is better" theme. i remember it was a pontiac and they said wider is better, but i was to young to remember if it was a thirdgen or fourth gen...

 

"Wider is Better" was for the Pontiac Grand Prix Wide-Track.

 

Actually, the 'wide-track' dates back to at least the early/mid-'60's when Pontiac switched platforms for the Tempest/Le Mans line in 1964. I have an original ad from a 1964 issue of Life magazine touting the benefits of the new 'wide-track' Le Mans. Previous ('63 and earlier) Tempest/Le Mans' were much shorter, narrower, and had a transmission located in the rear, but I believe they also used the 'wide-track' marketing scheme with earlier Grand Prix's/Catalinas.

 

Yes, thats correct. However the 'wider is better' thing is a recent play on the 'wide track' theme.

 

1959 was the first year for the "wide track". Many car washes could not put the 59 and newer Pontiacs thru, so that is when car washes went to the single left side guides.

62 and 63 Tempests were trans axles, with cable dirve shafts.
the 64 was a considerable change over the 63 then in 66 was another size increase.
The 65 GTO is actually longer than my 86 Grand Prix.
Bret is right about the Tiger, it took 40LBs of raw meat to get the Tiger to jump into and out of the engine bay.

Trivia- What is the "Tiger Switch". Only an option for less than one year as GM killed it, according to Pontiac Historical only 38 cars were made with this option.

 

The Tiger Switch on the '70 GTO opened an exhaust cut-out right after the headers/manifolds.

 

Gee Alex!
I wonder how you knew that????

George

 

see how much i remember, i must have been like 5. most of you people are talking about the 60's...all i know of the 60's in the cars.

 

82firebirdTA
Close, but no cigar. At least that is not how Jim Wangers described it.
I'll give you guys till fri nite, then I will enlighten you.

 

According to Jim Wangers the "Tiger Switch" on the GTO when pulled out (it was actually a cable) changed the angle of the baffles in the muffler to make the car louder. Did not improve performance.

 

A similar explanation goes with the "Ram Air" hood on the GTO. According to Mr. Wangers in an interview I once saw, the scoop on the hood is located in a low pressure zone. Therefore there is little, if any, performance gain. The scoop was applied mainly for cosmetic reasons to give the GTO a more sporty/agressive look.