42 Year Lie Uncovered
FINALLY THE TRUTH AFTER 42 YEARS
The year was 1963. Car and Driver was a small automotive enthusiast magazine looking for a interesting article to increase their sales. They approached Pontiac with an idea: pit their new Pontiac Tempest GTO vs. a Ferrari GTO. Pontiac marketing, jumped at the chance and sent the magazine two "prepared" GTO's. Meanwhile, the magazine couldn't locate any Ferrari GTOs to test, so they just tested the Pontiac's and compared them to fictional Ferrari GTOs. To be on the safe side Pontiac built a faster one." The "official" test times were unbelievable: 0-60 in 4.6 seconds and the quarter mile in 13.1 seconds @ 115 mph. These results made the Pontiac Tempest GTO a sensation overnight and made Car and Driver the "every man's" magazine.
Although the article pointed out that the GTOs that were tested were only "mildly" prepped by Royal Pontiac, no other magazine or customer could match those test numbers with stock GTOs. Both Pontiac and Car and Driver insisted that the numbers were accurate. It wasn't until 30 years later that the truth came out: the numbers were not as accurate as they should have been. First of all, Car and Driver, in its infancy, was testing with stop watches. There was plenty of room for human error, and looking back, you can see that human error certainly did exist in these testing procedures. But the main reason for the unbelieveable times was that both GTOs test were ringers. Jack "Doc" Watson of Hurst Performance fame, made this statement in a 1994 interview in MuscleCars magazine regarding the GTO that was actually featured in the pages of Car and Driver: "That car had a 421 in it, not a 389, and if anyone tells you different, they are full of hot air!" But it was Jim Wagners, five years later in his book "Glory Days," that finally confessed that the test cars were indeed specially prepped by Royal Pontiac and included 421 engines. Jim Wagners noted that "yes, I did install a 421 H.O. Tri-Power engine in the red Royal Bobcat Car and Driver test car."
The year was 1963. Car and Driver was a small automotive enthusiast magazine looking for a interesting article to increase their sales. They approached Pontiac with an idea: pit their new Pontiac Tempest GTO vs. a Ferrari GTO. Pontiac marketing, jumped at the chance and sent the magazine two "prepared" GTO's. Meanwhile, the magazine couldn't locate any Ferrari GTOs to test, so they just tested the Pontiac's and compared them to fictional Ferrari GTOs. To be on the safe side Pontiac built a faster one." The "official" test times were unbelievable: 0-60 in 4.6 seconds and the quarter mile in 13.1 seconds @ 115 mph. These results made the Pontiac Tempest GTO a sensation overnight and made Car and Driver the "every man's" magazine.
Although the article pointed out that the GTOs that were tested were only "mildly" prepped by Royal Pontiac, no other magazine or customer could match those test numbers with stock GTOs. Both Pontiac and Car and Driver insisted that the numbers were accurate. It wasn't until 30 years later that the truth came out: the numbers were not as accurate as they should have been. First of all, Car and Driver, in its infancy, was testing with stop watches. There was plenty of room for human error, and looking back, you can see that human error certainly did exist in these testing procedures. But the main reason for the unbelieveable times was that both GTOs test were ringers. Jack "Doc" Watson of Hurst Performance fame, made this statement in a 1994 interview in MuscleCars magazine regarding the GTO that was actually featured in the pages of Car and Driver: "That car had a 421 in it, not a 389, and if anyone tells you different, they are full of hot air!" But it was Jim Wagners, five years later in his book "Glory Days," that finally confessed that the test cars were indeed specially prepped by Royal Pontiac and included 421 engines. Jim Wagners noted that "yes, I did install a 421 H.O. Tri-Power engine in the red Royal Bobcat Car and Driver test car."
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** Partial article taken from story printed on Muscle Car Club.com
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posted by Thomas Bennett at
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