GTO: Pontiac's Great One Book

What do you do when you’ve created an overwhelmingly successful new genre of automobile? If you’re General Motors and Pontiac, you bungle it of course!

Riding high on the success of their new GTO, the overlords at GM did everything in their power to sabotage their hot-selling new muscle car. And the car succeeded, in the showroom and on the racetrack, in spite of their best efforts to kill it. Starting with a zero-exposure marketing effort and then pulling the rug from beneath the racing effort just as it was gaining traction with enthusiasts, the GTO quickly established itself as The Great One, the car by which all other muscle cars were judged.

Never one to sugarcoat, in GTO, Pontiac’s Great One, author Darwin Holmstrom tells the backstory that led to the creation of Pontiac’s most successful nameplate. He delves into the division’s inner turmoil and struggle to stay with the competition while being hamstrung by the corporation’s timid policies. GTO’s long, slow fade into mediocrity (and worse) is chronicled, along with its brief, ill-fated return as a rebadged car with Australian roots.

David Newhardt’s brilliant photography highlights the purposeful design and beautiful styling in sharp, dramatic settings. GTO, Pontiac’s Great One tells the story of the birth, life, and death of America’s greatest muscle car, and pulls no punches along the way.