Some cars were born with a clear purpose in
mind.
This gorgeous Goat was definitely
destined for street-racing ...
Words: Dave Smith Photography: Anton Meller,
Model Chrystal Lee
For many people, the
original will always be the best. And so it
is with cars; many believe that the Pontiac
GTO is the original muscle car, and therefore
it must be the best. And looking at this amazing
’65 it’s not hard to see why. But
what makes this particular example a muscle
car among muscle cars is under the skin. A
muscle car should be a mid-size two-door coupe
or hardtop, it should have a big V8 up front
driving the rear wheels, and it shouldn’t
carry any more weight than is absolutely necessary.
Air conditioning? Just an extra accessory
for the engine to drive. Leather buckets?
Not if a vinyl bench is lighter. Radio? Why?
You can’t hear it when you’re
on open headers. Power steering? But the drag
strip is straight!
That said, there are some option boxes that
self-respecting street racers should tick.
The highest horsepower engine option is the
place to start. Large or multiple carburettors?
Tick. Biggest wheels and tyres? Tick. Lowest
diff ratio with a limited-slip unit? Tick.
And while the majority of quarter-pounders
these days prefer an automatic, the four-speed
manual was the hot ticket back in the Sixties.
So, heavy-duty running gear, and go light
on everything else. Now that’s a muscle
car!
This GTO definitely fits that bill, making
it a muscle car in the purest sense of the
word. It belongs to Tim Arrowsmith, a car-nut
and petrolhead from Cheshire, who was prompted
towards American muscle by his car-nut petrolhead
buddy Andy Craig. Now Tim is into TVRs and
VWs (he still has a ’59 Beetle and a
Tuscan too), while Andy has always been into
Italian and American machinery, as well as
racing Legends. The guys met while Andy was
test-driving an Iso Rivolta (which combines
both his passions!), and Andy persuaded Tim
to look for some classy American power. Tim
took this on board, and between them they
started going to look at Mopars all over the
North-West. ‘Everything we looked at
was either not the right car or not the right
money,’ Andy says. ‘The whole search
was about to stall – Tim was losing interest
in Mopars – until I found this Pontiac.’
Andy found the GTO on the Internet about six
months ago,’ says Tim. ‘It was owned
by a Mancunian oil worker who had bought the
car whilst out in Utah in August 1994. He
had some work done on it, then took it with
him to New Orleans, then to Norway, then Aberdeen,
then to Newcastle as his job moved around.
He never showed it and hardly ever used it
– it covered less than 2000 miles in
12 years.’
So what had Tim bought? It’s a 1965 Montero
Red GTO with a Parchment vinyl interior. It
has the 389cu.in. V8 motor that has been mildly
worked-on over the years – it was bored
0.030in. over in around 1990 and has ’67
GTO heads – plus the $116 Tri-Power triple
carburettor option that was worth 360bhp right
off the showroom floor. It also had the $188
four-speed Muncie manual with a Hurst shifter,
Rallye wheels, two-speed wipers, a push-button
AM radio and tinted glass. But it’s what
the car came without that is most telling
– no power brakes, no power steering,
no console etc. And it’s all survived
in fairly original condition, too. It was
repainted in its original colour in Salt Lake
City in 1991, and among the sheaf of bills
Tim found a very comprehensive breakdown from
the paintshop of all the layers of paint and
lacquer that were used! The carpet, wood dash
panel and rear parcel shelf have also been
replaced, and while most of the chrome is
original, the back bumper was removed, straightened
and replated after a bump a few years ago.
Underneath, the Goat has been poly-bushed
and fitted with KYB gas shocks, springs and
sway-bars all round. In the boot is the original
1965 spare tyre, complete with chalk marks,
from when it was first sold new in Wyoming!
Tim fell in love with the car as soon as he
saw the photographs,’ said Andy. ‘A
deal was struck and we went to collect it
in early June 2006. Within a week of collecting
it, Tim told me he was going on holiday, chucked
me the keys and asked me to look after it.
What a bind, having to look after a Tri-Power
GTO during a few weeks of sunshine!’
In fact it was Andy who brought the car along
to Stars and Stripes at Tatton Park, where
we first spotted it. ‘I drove onto the
showfield at Tatton,’ says Andy, ‘and
there was a phalanx of Mopar, a phalanx of
Mustangs, but this was the only GTO. It’s
that added exclusivity that makes me adore
the car even more! As far as muscle cars go,
in biblical terms, the GTO is Genesis. Nothing
gets the love and attention the GTO gets,
from truckers, traffic wardens, bikers …
the response is just overwhelmingly positive.’
That’s true,’ adds Tim, ‘I
use it a lot – though I’m backing
off a bit now it’s getting wintry –
and I love it. Everywhere you go, people shout
“nice car, mate!” Lots of people
ask if it’s expensive to run, and I tell
them it’s cheap – you pay zero road
tax, suffer zero depreciation, and the insurance
is cheap.’
Whenever people ask me about it, I reply that
a night out on the beer gets 0mpg, a holiday
to Tenerife gets 0mpg, but this gets 10mpg
and is loads more fun than any of those things!’
adds Andy. ‘You may have to take the
GTO to the fuel station a lot, but at least
you can; you can’t take a Honda Accord
to a character station and fill it up!’
The GTO even gets used in some interesting
films! Tim’s girlfriend is Britain’s
first and foremost female adult entertainment
director, and the car has been pressed into
service as a taxi for some of the UK’s
biggest stars. ‘On the latest DVD there
are interviews with the stars that were conducted
in the back of the GTO!’ says Tim.
'But it’s certainly not just some film
prop – it’s a much loved muscle
car. ‘It looks cool, it sounds cool and
it drives cool,’ says Tim. How could
it be otherwise? It’s the pure essence
of muscle car. Grr-rrr!
10 Things you didn’t know about the GTO
• The GTO was based on the mid-size Tempest,
but the GTO wasn’t the first hot version.
Bill Mitchell designed a two-door, two-seat
roadster Tempest called the Monte Carlo (long
before Chevrolet were using the name) in 1961.
It had a tonneau cover faired into the headrests,
a blown Indy Four engine, and toured the shows
alongside Chevrolet’s Corvair Sebring
Spyder.
• In 1962, Pontiac’s engineering
department created a Tempest GT coupe with
a 389cu.in. V8 under its scooped bonnet, and
submitted papers to the Automobile Competition
Committee of the FIA to certify the model
for sports car racing. Meanwhile, drag racers
like Arnie Beswick and Mickey Thompson were
using Tempests with the 421cu.in. Super Duty
motors in the A/FX Factory Experimental classes.
These were built by Pontiac over Christmas
1962, just before the corporate racing ban
in January 1963!
• The GTO name was ‘borrowed’
quite blatantly from Ferrari. Car and Driver
magazine testers claimed a 0-60mph time of
6 seconds, and a quarter-mile time of 13.1
seconds at 115mph for the Pontiac, and stated
that ‘a Tempest GTO fitted with NASCAR
suspension will take the measure of any Ferrari
other than prototype racing cars or the recently
announced 250LM.’ They did concede that
the $20,000 Ferrari GTO was several seconds
faster around a road circuit than the sub-$3400
Pontiac, though
• The early GTOs were rocket-fast in
a straight line, but the handling wasn’t
up to the job, apparently due to JZ DeLorean’s
refusal to equip them with rear anti-roll
bars. This, coupled with contemporary bias-belted
tyres and brakes that were marginal at best
meant that the GTO was a thrill-ride. Especially
in the days when you could save $11 on your
new Tempest by deleting the seat belts …
• In 1966, Pontiac became the first car
manufacturer to use plastic grilles on their
GTO and Grand Prix models, though there was
a wire mesh insert
• The Ram Air scoop option was introduced
mid-year on the 1966 models, but a little-known
option released in mid-August 1965, the Air
Scoop Package, did much the same trick. The
owner had to fit it himself, though
• Delorean and Wangers conceived a budget
Road Runner-style stripped-down GTO called
the ET (for Elapsed Time, not Extra-Terrestrial)
with a 350cu.in. V8. The ET never happened
- The Judge came along instead
• Uniroyal made tyres specifically for
the GTO. Using a red stripe instead of the
traditional white, they became known as ‘tiger
paws’ and, later, simply ‘red-bands’.
Even by Sixties standards, they were awful
in terms of traction, and with over 400lb.ft.
of torque, and 6x14in. wheels, getting the
GTO’s power down was tricky. Burnouts,
however, were easy ...
• Three Pop songs were written about
the GTO: ‘GTO’ by Ronnie and the
Daytonas, ‘Li’l GTO’ by Jan
and Dean, and ‘GeeTo Tiger’, a shameless
promotional item conceived by Jim Wangers
himself.
• One of the most famous GTOs was the
Monkeemobile, a wild custom created in 1966
by Dean Jeffries for the Monkees to use in
their TV show. As part of the deal, each of
the Monkees (Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Davy
Jones and, appropriately enough, Peter Tork)
got a stock GTO for their own use. Of course
the combination of teenage Pop stars and outrageously
powerful muscle cars could have been a recipe
for disaster, and all of the cars suffered
lots of abuse. In one memorable incident,
a Pontiac official was woken up in the middle
of the night by the Los Angeles County Sheriff.
He had just pulled over a Monkee doing 121mph
in his GTO, and wanted to know if it was stolen.
It made the news, and did the GTO’s reputation
no harm at all.
This fabulous photoshoot was shot on location
in and around Manchester City Centre, mainly
in the Shudehill area which also doubled as
the New York location for much of the recent
movie, Alfie, and in the city's famous Chinatown
area (many thanks to businesses and residents!)
Thanks also to Opus at The Printworks, Manchester
for the wonderful bar location.
Photographer: Anton Meller
Model: Chrystal Lee
Art Director: Tony Crowther
Hair & Make-up Stylist: Holly Fairclough
Wardrobe & Styling: Amrick Ainley
All the fantastic outfits, shoes & accessories
worn by Chrystal in the shoot were supplied
by Amrick's amazing online emporium of Fifties,
Sixties & Seventies clothing. She also
does a great range of original household items
& accesories. Visit the website at www.kittynation.com
