Pontiac GTO (1964-1974, 2004-2006)
The "muscle car" era could be said to have started with the debut of the 1964 Pontiac GTO. GTO stands for Gran Turismo Omologato, which translates from Italian into Grand Touring Homologated. The term "homologation" signifies the granting of approval by an official authority. The acronym was borrowed from Ferrari's 250 GTO. The Ferrari was given the GTO suffix so it may be sanctioned for racing as a grand tourer in "production" races. A grand tourer is any high-performance luxury automobile designed for long-distance driving.
There were other V8 mid-sized cars available from most all manufacutrors, but the 1964 Pontiac GTO had a new style and attitude to fit: a bigger V8, hood scoops, dual exhausts, a Hurst shifter, an overall racier appeal, and of course, Farrari's "GTO" nametag. Many Farrari purists were not happy with that. GM had regulations about larger V8 enginges placed into mid-sized cars, but they got around that by offering the GTO as a package added on to the Pontiac Tempest.
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