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This Promotional Film For The 1974 Pontiac GTO Is Retro Cool, But Still Highlights The Lameness Of The Car


This Promotional Film For The 1974 Pontiac GTO Is Retro Cool, But Still Highlights The Lameness Of The Car

The 1974 Pontiac GTO was the final gasp of the GTO nomenclature from Pontiac (before the revival in the 2000s) and it certainly was a shell of the car that arrived on the scene in 1964 and set the US automotive industry on its ear and lit the wick on the public’s explosive thirst for muscle cars. Like all things, there was a beginning and ending point of the arc and the 1974 GTO was certainly the end point. In many ways it was the beginning of the end for Pontiac as well. The brand was moving ever closer to becoming largely dominated by rebadged Chevrolets . Yes, the 1974 GTO had a Pontiac 350 engine but it was a weak sister as compared to the cars produced even a couple of years earlier. The car was a product of its time and when viewed in the context of the era it was about as good as any “performance” car of 1974.

The goat’s last couple years were kind of a weird period. The 1973 model was a much larger car than the ’72 and was a mid-sized Colonnade styled car. As had been the case for years, there was a 400ci base engine and a 455ci optional engine. The big 455 made a whopping 250hp but only about 500 were sold with that engine in it. There was a three and four speed manual transmission option with the 400 but the 455 was stuck with an automatic only. The sales numbers for the car were bad with only 4,800 of them sold. The gas crunch and the malaise of the 1970s had begun to settle in and the net effect of both things were the death of the muscle car and the big time desire for young guys with money to buy a muscle car.

The 1974 model offered only a 200hp engine that displaced 350ci, sales “lept” to 7,000 units, and the car could hustle the quarter mile in 16.5 seconds. Right off the bat, the questions about the car’s right to have the GTO name were present in media outlets of the day. The machine was the best effort that Pontiac could put forth at the time, which sadly was not all that impressive. The fact that they discontinued the GTO after ’74 was a welcomed mercy killing to many Pontiac fans.

This video is a promotional film that touts the good parts of a ’74 GTO as Pontiac saw them. We can watch the video and smile now, but at the time it must have been tough for the die-hard Pontiac devotees to swallow. We’re actually shocked that they compared this car to a ’64 in the film. Why? Because they’re NO comparing that car to a ’64 in real life! From the looks to the performance, they were worlds apart. Don’t believe us? Watch this.

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THIS 1974 PONTIAC PROMOTIONAL FILM FOR THE GTO!


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One thought on “This Promotional Film For The 1974 Pontiac GTO Is Retro Cool, But Still Highlights The Lameness Of The Car

  1. Wolf

    the new Grand Am, Grand Prix and Firebird/Trans Am all sucked sales away from the GTO in the ’70’s. Pontiac certainly didn’t suffer as a whole in the ’70’s; actually the Firebird/Trans Am ruled the ’70’s. The ’80’s and ’90’s however, is when Pontiac really went to crap, starting with the Chevy engines…

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