1964 Pontiac GTO Convertible - Jay Leno's Garage

yeah you one episode of Jay Leno's Garage today's car and 1964 Pontiac GTO 4-speed yorktown blue is the color and for those of us that grew up in this era this is a car that really started the muscle car craze I mean there were big fast powerful cars certainly before this but there always in the full-size car they you know the New Yorker the Chrysler 300 the Galaxie the Impala this is the one that sort of violated the band that General Motors had about putting big engines in smaller cars how they got around it is quite clever but this is really the car that started it all 1964 Pontiac GTO this car is owned by Tim Miller who owns Surf City Garage Tim come on in thanks for bringing this okay I was here I've always had a thing for these cars these are just this is really the lows of us a certain age this is a car that started all in it well it really is I think it was a pretty good description this car really opened some doors and not only General Motors but the other manufacturers too now what was the rule the rule was at the time you couldn't put the big motor into the smaller car but what was the reason for that well you know Pontiac in particular earned its living on the racetrack and I hate 50s and early 60s but they all of a sudden you know ed Cole was in charge at GM and they closed the door on all that so they had to figure another way to sell these cars so they simply did it on the street instead of the racetrack because Pontiac used to be soda the old man's car in the early 50s then they come out with a wide track certainly in in 59 and then John DeLorean was he made head of Pontiac is that what it was he was a engineer at the time that he that he launched the GTO this car gave him his first promotion to head engineer oh okay and how did he convince them to put the big 389 into the tempest he actually didn't what he did a covert operation there's some debate on whether he instructed his own engineers to put in a 389 into the tempest platform which could only get a 326 right at the time or if they did it and then said check this out but no matter how it happened once he saw it he had to get it approved by a top brass a new model would require GM top chiefs of each division signing off of it he knew wouldn't he wouldn't get that all right so what he did is he made it an option package right so for $290 you could check the little box and you got a GTO at it onto your tempest LeMans right so you ordered a temple of the months and if you action why they'd stick on the thing and put the 389 with this four-speed in the three two bars right and it I think even Joe motors are surprised about what I hit it was one well interesting side to that is Pete Estes was John DeLoreans boss and he's the one ultimately would take the heat for it right they told him not to make more than 5,000 units because they didn't wanna get stuck with right they sold 35,000 the first the first year Wow they doubled that in 65 because don't forget 64 the Mustang gauges come out that's right there was no Camaro yet that was years away right so this was this was really GM's only answer to sort of the youth revolution or whatever they want to call it at the time and plus you could still today it looks like a huge car but Bosch back when we were kids this was like a midsize car yeah it really is and as you mentioned earlier they weren't the first John DeLorean wasn't the first to put a big engine in the small car actually you could look back to 1961 when a Dodge Dart received a 413 from a big Chrysler Lepanto and Chrysler Imperial that really preceded this by two or three years yeah what the difference was though that made this successful is dodge back then Chrysler was a small competitor to a giant GM so GM pulled out all the stops and they were able to kind of consumer eyes this car if you will the Superstock dodge the typical guy would be at the drag strip cigarettes rolled up in his t-shirt and he's driving the Superstock dodge you could find a woman driving a gto just as well as a man right that was the key right right yeah and really a good-looking car because it's really just a tempest with the stylized hubcaps and the non-functioning hood scoops and all the other stuff and this is a really rare car because this has this a convertible with a stick with power steering and air condition that's right yeah according to the experts there's less than 10 of these left on the planet with air conditioning and these these combinations so it is pretty rare car okay and this has the 3d nine for viral right because I couldn't get the tripower with air conditioning right I've owned this car for 22 years I bought it from the original owner in Dallas and he told me his story which is a pretty common tale when you click the box for air conditioning you couldn't get tripower I got a four-barrel 325 horse 389 right but the dealer sold you the tri power out of the parts department and they delivered it in the trunk oh and this one is actually it's got it in the traffix yeah well we'll take a look at that in a minute can we open hood now you've restored the car correct yes yeah yeah okay let's see 64 had an alternator yes yeah yes it did have an altimeter okay and then factory air although a 50 year old factory air is not like your air conditioning in there now it's amazing because when you get we use vintage air and most of the cars here in the units like this big and look at the size of this thing it looks like it would be a deep freezing unit for a refrigerator for a restaurant or something funny you say that because it's made by Frigidaire yeah yeah that's what it was it was a refrigeration unit Wow very very nice but still looks best with the tripower with the three little well it really does you know they added all of this is factory on the chrome big chrome valve covers and the breather they dressed it up a little bit but it was essentially a it did have a high lift cam but it came right out of station wagon or a Catalina that's one thing you don't see anymore you know back in the day the fact used to sell engine dress-up kits right Ford you got the Cobra valve covers that were find--and you know all that going up the hood now you open the hood you go oh doesn't look like any whereas this is a rather impressive very nice let's see in custody 64 had the dual braking system right 4-speed transmission is that the same transmission that's in the Chevy Corvette the Muncie 4-speed is it different yeah no it's exactly the same in 20 and m21 close-ratio wide ratio they call it a rock crusher if it's in a right really but the interesting thing about the Pontiac though is it didn't come stock with that even when you ordered a GTO you got a three-speed you had to upgrade to a four that's right but not Pontiac nor Chevrolet had a three-speed so every GTO that you see on the street that was a factory three-speed came from Dearborn as a Ford oh is that right right wow that's an interesting piece of history okay let's check this again now one of the great this is probably one of the best marketed cars of all time because those of us of a certain age remember there was Car and Driver magazine was maybe April 64 in around the spring right they raced a Pontiac GTO against a Ferrari GTO which is which is ridiculous then as it sounds now and surprisingly the Pontiac GTO won right but the Pontiac GTO they raced was it would had what a 421 well you know they kept it a secret all of these these guys kept it a secret for more than 40 years right everybody thought that that Ferrari had lost except for a handful of folks that knew that they had replaced the engine with a 421 Super Duty which was putting out about a hundred and ten horsepower more than the stock yet yeah but it was one of the it's really the magazine I know I know CSU's a made car driver but certainly must have done tremendous for their circulation because everybody bought that issue the idea just seemed cry what a Ferrari GTO Pontiac what what because don't forget it's the first year of the car nobody ever heard of it and it beat well the Ferrari GTO is a 34 million dollar car minimum now right so that's it that's pretty amazing let's take a look the wheel covers I love you know I love this better than even putting mags on it I just like to stock look at that is that fake knockoff punny this is a this is a another option this car has 31 options on it but that's one of them yeah they have those slots in there kind of like the fake hood scoops they do a little bit of cooling for the brakes but that's the design package but no disc brake on this no disparate no no no yeah okay let's and of course this was considered very cool back in the day those are called splitters and that's each side had two of them right right the side exhaust let's let's open the trunk up and take a look at what's in there he's got some good weed material here right here well you got it right here okay oh it's funny okay so you got all the all the GTS that is a try power setup and how much is that new and probably like Sydney dollars yeah it's like a hundred and forty bucks brand from the parks department yeah and if you want to buy one of those setups now what would it cost well between four and five thousand restored yeah yeah okay now i remember these is SL gasoline if you filled up and you had a GTO or something you can put this tiger and your tiger in your tank thing yeah which is it yeah it's kind of funny but even the Pontiac dealers they had the longer ones that would hang out of the from under the hood that's this one here yeah so you went into a dealership and you saw GTO it have one of these hanging out of a close to it and it's so authentic looking really it really just looks like a tiger's tail donut I mean it just looks like some brothers well never mind I'm going to go there but and of course the brochure and I remember although we're off subject remember the Sprint had the overhead cam barracks you can't find one of those no they're very rare and they're pretty cool aren't they they really are I mean it's a Cosworth design it's a it's a great engine what it was was I think that was the Lauren's idea again but they made a six cylinder overhead cam it was basically GTO with the six on a four-speed it was in the tempest I guess right yeah I always wanted one of those but no been able find one but they're really pretty cool and of course the the Grand Prix is at the top of the line but the fastest was still the GTO it was only because of weight yeah yeah yeah yeah and you know it's so funny this looks like something from a hundred years ago I mean just the way it's all black and white I remember these when they came out the pictures are all black and white no some look guys Wow people's along here Wow as Jim Wangers he was he was advertising exec and charge a six cylinder engine with John DeLorean for those too young to remember those even a song little GTO by Johnny and the Daytona so it was but that was part of the marketing - yeah it was put out to be just a you know a pop recording but it's done by the Pontiac advertising division that's where I sell it became like a number one song which was pretty smart and the only one they ever made yeah it's the only song ever made yeah but yeah eagerly give each other a two-lane blacktop yeah with that yeah Oakes War notes and those guys I saw that movie not that long ago James Taylor was in it that's right yeah that's funny that's funny but this is this and this has got to be a rare book - it is that's the first edition yeah it's very cool we can now explain what that little pad is so before there were bucket seats everybody road and cars would bench seats right so your girl slid all the way over it was common practice nearly sitting in your lap I was you drove okay then bucket seats came out and consoles like a GTO yeah so ace Wilson who owned the Royal Pontiac in Royal Oak Michigan came out with the idea that he made a sweetheart seat and so that's a little issue let's just hit on that yeah it goes in between the the bucket seats on the console if I'm a girl whose butt fits on that see you good bye - oh my god Mike you have a desert all right and what do we have here this is GTA well that's the what the club magazine right and this is an original brochure of the the 64 GTO the interesting thing about that is remember this was a covert operation right no one was supposed to know about a GM so all of the other cars got these big beautiful foldouts that were six feet wide when you folded them out and DeLorean got this one look at notice it's not even pause attractions bright rubber on one wheel well if you read the copy on that is pretty interesting this is written you wouldn't write this today Oh with us where I floss bar on tap traction can be a sometime thing We strongly recommend safety track an optional limited slip differential see so they even add edgy marketing yeah yeah well my cousins any I think that movie isn't yeah I remember I remember it had to didn't have a closet fact that's right yeah very cool 63 tempers Wow well it's fun to have all this bits of memorabilia let's say and of course right under here is that standard GM your gas tank is right there I was about it 20 gallon 21 21 gallon tank okay and you got all the original sticker so this one has a limited-slip yes it does boy this is really optioned out one yeah 31 options Wow okay very nice very nice and let's uh let's take a look well you know something we'll go over the dashboard and all that well we're driving it I think it's about time to take respect we do that let's go okay in 1964 I didn't get much cooler than this you know I mean there really weren't a lot of cool curls around in Sookie but they were starting to come the Mustang the barracuda the GTO that was about it then everything else was from Europe you know everything else is pretty much Falcons and Nova's and all that stuff what was a hostile rating with the tripower 348 okay to a 325 with a four-barrel 348 with a high-power this is California cruising you know a 64 Pontiac GTO I think it really did more than just the muscle car first muscle car that all of the manufacturers back then had the same corporate edict about big engines and small cars right right so you know I think John DeLorean accidentally opened a lot of doors I mean you could make an argument that even Carroll Shelby at that time might not have made the deal afford to take their little Mustang and make it into a gt3 fine so I think that's the most significant thing about this particular year model of car yeah it's a perfect California day perfect California why this is the classic California kind of cruise muscle car from the 60s it's really fun to drive this guy's only got 150 miles on it so that's why we're not doing burnouts and things plus the owners right here I can't really do the burnout here's keeping this eye on me got a little driveline vibration coming through I think that's why I think cuz because we've got two guys in the car I think that's it I think that's probably it yeah yeah that's probably what it is maybe set of air shocks bring it up a bit right so I just want to make sure we don't damage it but let's uh let's put our camera in the back and look over our shoulder and we'll show you what it's like kind of from the drivers point of view as you mentioned early this car is pretty rare because a first year GTO and it's also a stick with air conditioning power steering and a few other options as well is a dash in front of you got a battery well pressure I always loved him back at the 60 if you didn't order the clock that make sure people who he didn't order the clock I put the face in there but without the hand speedometer and the car's gasoline temperature tachometer built in no cars had talked on tachometers back in the 60s except for maybe Shelby's and cobras and European cars so that was pretty exotic AM radio air conditioning vents wood simulated wood trim steering wheel that's pretty cool particular models even got the vibrating seats got the vibrating seats that's right oh boy it dries beautifully it rides nice for 1964 this is a really a sporty car yeah I think that they they got it right the first time yeah what a thrill this was to drive this car this is one of those bucket list cars that I've had for a long time if you wonder why Tim cars Tim's car looks so good it's because he use your own products and what surf city detailing or soda garage don't steal the garage products his own waxes and everything so that's why they look as good as they do but like any car you restore there's always going to be problems this one only has 150 miles on it and we found one today with driving by yourself as he does most of the time it's not a problem two guys in it the springs are sagging and the drive shaft is hitting the body I think a little bit when we put our large buttocks cameraman in the back it really was scraping on the ground so so that's other than fixing that I think you're all set Tim thanks a lot hey thanks Bill so I'm I got to find one of these early GTO pretty cool see you guys next week [Music]

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 433,235

Rating: 4.9392624 out of 5

Keywords: GTO, Pontiac, Jay, Leno, Garage, Surf, City, Tim, Miller, Convertible, car, big, Jay Leno, Jay Leno's Garage, car reviews, compares cars, classic cars, vintage cars, sports cars, super cars, cars, car gear, McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, Camaro Z28, jay leno garage, jay lenos garage, car collection, cnbc, episode, motorcycle, ford, corvette, tour, dodge, lexus

Id: nBlUXG6IYGQ

Length: 20min 36sec (1236 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 30 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/Varryl]

Hey /u/organman91, this doesn't look RCR related. Can you briefly explain to me why you posted it here?