Car Spot: 2004 Pontiac GTO

Pontiac’s last shot at a muscle car

It has to be the godfather of muscle cars. It kicked off an era in the 60’s when all four automakers were puting gobs of horsepower in their cars. What began as an optional package on the Pontiac Tempest in 1963 grew into a full-blown muscle car in 1966 thanks to John DeLorian. This is a 68 I spotted at the Automobile Gallery in Green Bay.

The GTO would evolve through four generations until 1974 thanks to government regulations on fuel economy. Does that sound familiar? Yup, regulations killed the V8. Ah but not quite. In 2004 it was revived thanks to Bob Lutz and is the main focus of this week’s spot. I could have definitely worked with this guy. He was not only a lover of cars with plenty of horsepower, he was also a pilot holding a Private Pilot License (PPL) with a fixed-wing and helicopter ratings. He owned a L-39 jet and MD-500 helicopter regularly flew it to work. I love this story because I love Australian cars. Down under they go nuts for horsepower. This iteration came from GM’s Australian Division, Holden.

Lutz had read a story about the Holden Commodore SS around 2000 in Car & Driver magazine calling it one of the best vehicles that GM offered at the time, but could not be purchased in the United States. It took several years for Lutz to convince GM brass to play nice with its Holden Division. When it was released in 2003 the rebadged Morano it was immediately up against two handicaps. Released in the newly revived muscle car era its styling appeared dated and because of the exchange rate with the Australian dollar sold at a much higher price that planned, $25,000, to well over $34,000.

Assembled by GM’s Holden subsidiary at Elizabeth, South Australia, it was equipped with the 5.7 L LS1 V8 engine for the 2004 model year, the same engine found in the Chevrolet Corvette. It could be ordered with 6-speed manual transmission or a 4-speed automatic and was able to go 0–60 mph in 5.3 seconds and a 13.8 second quarter mile.

RELATED Spot: When Pontiac made big cars, the Catalina.

GM had hoped to sell 18,000 units, but it was a case of them missing the mark. Critics give a thumbs down saying this is not a GTO but just a rebadged Holden. Saying styling was to conservative and “anonymous”. Wow, ouch, anonymous, that’s rough. It was also up against some stiff competition from the newly-launched Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Ford Mustang. Some of GM’s dealers were not playing well either initially charging large markups and denying requests for test drives of the vehicle. How an you possibly sell a performance car without letting a prospective buyer drive it? 2004 models ended up selling at a significant discount and only 13,569 of the 15,728 imported cars for were sold.

RELATED Spot: Travel back in history with the Trans Am Firebird.

Hood scoops were added the next year along with some other tweaks but sales never met expectations. On February 21, 2006 GM saying the inability to meet new airbag deployment standards for 2007 pulled the plug and in 2006, the GTO was dead. The last Pontiac GTO, came off the assembly line in Australia on June 14, 2006. Total production for all three years amounted to 40,808 vehicles. Holden was eventually shut down in 2020.

What are they worth now? According to Hagerty, a 2004 GTO Base in Fair Condition is just over 10 grand while one in Concours, $38, 200. Actually, its stablemate, the G8, another Holden import, fairs better with the 2009 G8 GT SLP Firehawk Supercharged in Concours Condition will sell for just over $71,000. This was meant to replace the Bonneville but died when GM declared Chapter 11 in mid-2009 and killed the Pontiac brand.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out this week’s spot. I have lots of others on our site so go and click around those. Come back next Friday for another one of my spots along with some of its history. Have a super weekend.