The ’64 Pontiac LeMans GTO started the muscle car business but the 2004 Pontiac GTO ran out of steam – this render recaptures the original spark.
Taking souls is today’s theme, not in the same way that David Goggins – military hero-turned ultra athlete-turned best-selling author – would use the term, but in the way that you can channel a long-lost icon to generate the same trend-shifting kind of power decades later.
Most people can agree that muscle cars spawned from the Pontiac GTO in 1964, but the Pontiac GTO that came around four decades later was not so groundbreaking and marked the end of the nameplate.
If you took the 2004 Pontiac GTO and imbued it with inspiration from the original trailblazing classic car icon, it might look like this: the exclusive render by HotCars artist Rostislav Prokop.
Is A Tempest And GTO The Same Thing?
The Pontiac Tempest’s top-shelf trim got called the LeMans, whereas the base trim was just called ‘Tempest’. On top of the LeMans, you could have the GTO package which offered from 325-348 hp thanks to a 6.4-liter V8 engine and opened the doors to a 7-second 0-60 mph time. It also came with stiffer springs, wider tires, hood scoops, dual exhaust pipes and various other features.
It was a package that came around thanks to John DeLorean as the team battled to find a way around internal restrictions on engine capacity. 2004’s GTO was sleek and came with the 5.7 GM V8 or eventually a 6-liter (raising power from 350-400 hp) but it didn’t sell well and got canned around 2006.
Original 1964 Pontiac Tempests are relatively rare today, though not the rarest cars in a classic car catalog and Hagerty suggests an $8,000 average value for the base ’64 model. Of the 32,000 GTOs made those that survive command an average value of $56,000.
This render which comes in a midnight blue, and showcases a front end very reminiscent of the last fifth-gen GTO, with has gotten updated with more aggressive features.
The Sixth-Generation Pontiac GTO Could Bring The Brand Back Into Focus
We know that Pontiac is a defunct brand, but GM could bring it back as the Chevy Camaro ducks out of production and the Corvette range grows during the shift to EVs and SUVs.
This car is an internal combustion engined machine though, with two hood scoops – present on the 2004 GTO as well as the 1964 GTO – and quad exhausts, something the classic car had a pair of.
Another feature that conjures the spirit of the ’64 car is the long rear deck and the long rear light bar; this one looks a lot like the one which features on the Dodge Charger SRT Daytona Banshee concept.
Pontiac’s Tempest LeMans GTO was a large, luxury two-door machine with big V8 power, so this car would need to also bring power to the long coupe design.
You could imagine the GM LT2 engine from the C8 Corvette playing a part, a naturally-aspirated V8 with 490 hp. Otherwise, the LT6 from the C8 Corvette Z06 with 670 hp would provide a revvier experience with more tire-smoking potential, something the GTO had 5 years before the moon landing.
