What does GTO mean? And who used it first?

The name GTA was used first by Alfa Romeo. The glorious Alfa GTA was produced between 1965 and 1967 as a street and race car. Unit production was approximately 500 cars with a twin plug 1600 cc engine rated at 133 hp and weighting only 1650 lbs. It easily won the European Manufacturer's Championship in 1966-67-68 as well as the Trans AM B sedan class innumerable times.

 

In 1984 C&D repeated the "test" with actual cars, not just statistics. This time the 288 GTO won hands down.

 

Car and Driver actually ran two "cover stories," first in 1964 comparing the Ferrari 250 GTO with the Pontiac Tempest "GTO," then in 1984 comparing the Ferrari 288 GTO with the Pontiac "GTO" of the time. Full story at http://www.web-cars.com/gto/c-d_pf-gto.php

The 1964 article claimed that they did, in fact, drive both cars, but were unable to do so simultaneously. C&D came out heavily in favor of the Pontiac, claiming that it was faster not only than the GTO, but "any Ferrari street machine, including the 400 Super America." (!)

C&D did give the caveat that only a "heavily optioned" Pontiac GTO, including the heavy-duty suspension, qualified for such praise.

Later, C&D editors essentially admitted that it was all a publicity stunt, "The hook on which we hung our magazine."

And twenty years later, C&D repeated the stunt - this time with a more balanced view, admitting that there was essentially no contest in the looks department ( :0 ) and really no contest on the road course, either. The Pontiac's average speed was 77.7 mph as opposed to Ferrari's 84.9. The Ferrari also pulled a far faster quarter mile, emerging as the clear winner across the board (unless you count price.)

Furthermore, it turned out that the original 1964 test was hardly unbiased:

"It turns out the Pontiac GTO tested by car and driver was quite a ringer. It actually featured a Super Duty 421 featuring 370 hp and was breathed on quite heavily by Royal Pontiac, a noted Pontiac GTO tuner with connections to the Pontiac engineering staff. Since the 421 is visually identical to the 389, the fix was believeable. For more info, visit http://www.contes.com/ccvmore.htm and scroll to the bottom."

 

"...If you're into drag racing Ferraris - you've got bigger problems." - C&D, Ferrari 575M test.