- Is the sky falling?
Is the world truly ending?
Did Call of Duty stop sending 90 gigabytes
worth of updates to their games?
No.
Okay?
Then, why is Fitment Industries back on the chopping block
to talk about another muscle car?
And that's a good question.
Me, I asked it.
When it comes down to it,
there are cars that've been around for a block or two.
Cars that have had a spotty relationship
with staying in production for more than 10 years.
Apparently that's only a Japanese car thing
that manages to stay alive for more than two generations.
Anyway, I'm Alex, Alex.FI on Instagram
and today we've going to be talking about a car
that has been a car that is touted as almost the reason
every other domestic brand started
to even creating an affordable muscle car,
a car that for the most part
was pretty damn slick
and making you have loose bowels around pretty much
every corner you could possibly imagine
and sounds like an angry box of bees
that take too much creatine.
I don't know.
It's just an obnoxious noise
and I feel bad for any neighbors
that happen to have a GTO.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen,
we're going to be talking about
you wanting to own a Pontiac GTO.
(hip hop music)
(cars doing burnouts)
And if you're just jumping into a Fitment Industries video,
what's poppin'?
That's apparently a casual way of saying hello.
Don't forget to subscribe
so we keep making banging videos like this.
We promise we will not disappoint you,
maybe once or twice in a while,
but besides that, we're usually pretty good.
Of course, if you're looking for
aftermarket wheels, tires or suspension,
be sure to hit us up over at fitmentindustries.com
where we have literally everything
you could possibly imagine.
I'm not joking, for your newly acquired
Pontiac GTO or otherwise.
If you haven't watched our new series
called Opposite Lanes, you should do it,
where we compare two things
and I drive them and I drink coffee.
I love the series because I can
drink coffee pretty much the whole time.
It's also pretty slick.
The good old Pontiac GTO had an interesting history.
Here's the history in probably
just about two or three minutes.
Kind of like the spark notes version
but we'll give you the answers
that you were actually looking for.
Know what I'm saying?
I see you quizlet.
You've probably had a spike in session usage
over the past few months.
The Pontiac GTO was like a relationship between
a good home schooled Christian gal
and a dude that welded a tractor exhaust to his Impala.
It was secretive.
It was exciting
and if caught you probably would've had limbs removed.
You see, general motors banned
like motor sport racing in their companies.
They just didn't want to do it anymore,
had to do the voluntary ban on it
from another boring company division thing.
But pretty much this meant that the performance division
of Pontiac really didn't get or have any legs to stand on.
But Pontiac didn't really want to let that stop them
because they found a good old loophole in the GM banning.
They found out that if you created a vehicle
and met the requirements that GM had set forth,
and offered performance variants as an option,
you could get away with it.
The Pontiac GTO was built around that loophole
taking the framework of the Pontiac Tempest,
the big ass engine and crossed fingers behind the back
that nobody would really notice.
They made the GTO essentially
a trim model that you could use.
Now, taking the GTO verbiage
from the Gran Turismo Omologato, homologated.
Okay?
It was the good old classic Ferrari 250 GTO nomenclature
that they took it from,
but GTO didn't actually mean that,
it meant Grand Touring Car, because...
Just kidding, it didn't mean that either.
It meant Grand Tempest Option.
Yeah, that's what it meant.
In all honesty, Pontiac was just like
that one little (beep) in class
that got away with everything because he stayed just enough
next to the line of troublemaking
but not actually doing anything wrong
that you really could be mad at them.
The GTO continued to be an option
throughout the initial years of the 60s and into the 70s,
while also developing into it's own model.
It was a fast car that at it's origin was pretty darn good.
It was a budget muscle performance coupe thing
that younger kids wanted.
Over time, it did suffer a little bit of like sequel disease
where they started making it into things
that people never really asked for.
Kind of like a muscle compact car.
It was really kind of ugly in all honesty,
but everything about the GTO
was to try and skirt under the radar
to make a muscle performance vehicle.
Either way, this car started with good intentions
but as the car got older, it began to lose it's luster,
and then it took a couple decade hiatus,
then it came back,
and boy was it lovely.
Mostly for me.
I love these cars the rest of the world,
not really actually so much.
So, maybe I'm just (mumbles).
New generation GTO came to the United States
after a GM chairman by the name of Bob Lutz
took it for a drive around in the good old Aus.
Okay?
Bob would take the fight to the hierarchy of GM
to explain that a performance coupe like the Commodore,
aka Holden Morano, aka whatever
it's going to be named in the states,
was necessary to bring a new performance oriented vehicle
into the freight to compete with the likes of the Dodges
and all the other muscle oriented domestic vehicles
that were coming out of the woodwork.
This battle would end up taking literally three years.
Much longer than they initially anticipated,
because by the time the car
actually was entered into the States,
it was a little bit too late.
Ever notice how the GTO actually looks dated for it's years?
That's because of the battle to get that Morano
into the States took that long
and the improved design couldn't be updated
to actually get it not looking like an early 2000s car,
even though it was in 2004.
Now, early 2000s cars had a tough time
with the good old aging
but GTOs still got released despite the concern.
When it was released, people anticipated it
like they anticipated a free soda on an airplane,
like it was there, but it wasn't anything
that they were overly stoked about.
The Corvette powered Pontiac was assembled in Australia
which made for some good marketing,
but the higher than competition price due to inflation
and the dated styling immediately
put it back at a little bit of a disadvantage.
As the years progressed, you'd think that it'd get better.
I'll tell you what they did guys.
I'll tell you right now.
They added more colors, a couple more features,
made it a 6.1 liter to try and grow interest in the vehicle.
(laughing)
It didn't work.
Okay?
The GTO would end it's short stint in 2006
as Pontiac continued to hit road block after road block
until it essentially (mumbles)
itself later in the decade.
But, we're not here to talk about the history
of the GM slash Holden slash Pontiac slash VX
slash step child of a muscle car, all right?
We're going to talk about you wanting
to own one of these bad boys.
Okay?
So, you want a Pontiac GTO.
Well, sit down your limited edition set of Breaking Bad
and grab your favorite beard cream,
because we're going to talk about
what it's like to actually own one of these Kangaroo loving,
high horsepower yet odd looking cars,
which by the way, speaking of beard cream,
I did forget to clean my face
in terms of the facial hair that's coming out.
It's not that I'm trying to grow this, it's that I forgot.
The old Pontiac GTOs are jam packed with history,
with names of people that led the companies from a garage
and believe in pretty much one thing,
going fast and having fun.
That's two, I don't care.
Well, the initial years of these cars
are quite fun to look at at a car show.
They aren't that common anymore in terms
of new generation modification or ownership,
however, they are a beaut
and if you can find one for a good deal,
buy it and keep it forever.
Really.
Really, our focus is on you wanting to own one
from the 2004 to the 2006.
Now, the GTO's a little bit of an odd fish.
It's styling doesn't inherently match it's years.
The exhaust note of these cars
can make you question if you should really race one ever,
if you're against it, not if you're driving it.
If you're driving it, you want to race everyone
and they still aren't incredibly low priced.
They're okay, but they're not a steal.
So, should you buy one?
Well, I mean, to buy a GTO,
you need to know the following things.
Okay?
The car does have some interesting quirks
in terms of reliability.
Batteries are iconic to drain to pretty much dead.
They just do that.
Apparently something with the infotainment.
When it's not started for a few weeks,
it's just dead, just a constant draw,
they just didn't think that was an issue.
The weight doesn't match for the spec built
in terms of the suspension,
which can cause the car to actually sag over time.
Sagging results in excessive tire wear
which can get pricey.
If you ever notice GTOs usually have
a tendency to do this as they get older.
You can tell which ones have
been maintained if they don't do that.
There are components in the car which rub metal
like fuel lines that can and may
burn the whole thing to the ground.
That's actually a thing.
To fix this, you need to pull the side engine cover off
and replace that fuel line with a braided line
so that it can handle being rubbed up against.
Like a Friday night dance club.
You need to put a wire protector on your wiring harness
behind the glove box, otherwise it'll break
and cause a ton of issues as well.
That is actually a rough one
which really doesn't make sense these things,
you thought they would've caught in cue A,
but that is why they are no longer producing cars.
So, probably not that surprising.
And the weather stripping isn't that fantastic
and can cause leaks into the inside of the vehicle.
Automatic (mumbles) gas mileage
and that's pretty much really everything
you would need to know about a 2004 to a 2006.
Does that mean it's a bad car?
No.
It's a domestic.
It's what it's supposed to be doing.
It's built like it should be.
The '04s to '06 GTOs have a fun 5.7 liter or 6.1 liter
which give you plenty of smiles,
but what really makes this car fun is the sound
and it sounds just...
It sounds beautiful.
(engine revving and tires screeching)
It sounds lovely.
Rip to your neighbors, rip to anyone
that you're trying to talk to
while you're around the car being on, but it sounds lovely.
By the way, they weren't actually produced in America,
so the domestic joke doesn't make sense, but anyway.
Not only that, but they are incredibly quick
and aren't your typical Corvette actually
which makes them a bit more unique and fun
if you don't just want to buy a Corvette for the power.
The interiors are nice for a Pontiac,
and as long as you fix the issues above,
these cars are known for running for a really long time.
People with these cars mostly run VMRs
or multi spoke style wheels
like the V701s or ESR RF2s from, yeah, ESR.
Most are on lowering springs as well
and most people will stay with the lowering springs
because that's really all you need to do.
In terms of tires, well, it really depends on
if you like to do burnouts
or if you like to party, okay?
People like to run Achilles and nang hangs all day
because you can just roast them.
If you want to go to a drag race
and actually just whoop some ass,
you can probably just go get some NTO5s
that are almost always on these cars.
The Pontiac GTO's a little bit of an odd bird.
They aren't as popular as you would think,
especially when you don't see them that constantly anymore,
but they don't stand out enough to where you'd spot it
if it was driving by you,
they're just oddly, slightly under priced
version of a Corvette.
They're cool, but they're cool for what
shortcomings the car had from the get go.
They're a car that'll behave
as long as you fix the issues
that would literally start the car on fire.
It's like they took a cue book out of Ferrari.
They're fun, but they aren't as affordable as others.
They sit in the area of like I might as well try one
before spending my money on a full trimmed out Corvette.
But what do you guys think about the Pontiac GTO?
Drop your old two cents below
and of course if you're looking for aftermarket wheels,
tires or suspension, be sure to check us out
over at fitmentindustries.com.
I love the Pontiac GTO.
Just because it starts on fire
doesn't mean I don't like it.
It's fun.
Get a manual, get the 6.1 and just roll
those tires all night
and you'll never not be happy.
Just know that if you do buy one,
you're going to get a ticket
in about 72 hours after you take ownership.
You just do, trust me.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
Don't forget to subscribe.
We will see you later.
Peace.