Legendary Head-to-Head Set for 2010 Rematch!

BangShift.com

The year was 1964 and Pontiac was hot on promoting it’s new GTO. The car now credited with officially ushering in the muscle car era was flying off of dealer lots and into the hands of hot rodders and horsepower obsessed young men across America. The hype machine would find a new gear when an issue of Car and Driver came out, pitting the Pontiac GTO against the Ferrari GTO from which it got its name. The Pontiac won.

It launched the career of a young magazine editor by the name of David E. Davis and gave the big Poncho lots of cache with people who not only wanted to drag race but also wanted to hit the road course.

As it turned out, the car involved in the test, supplied by Pontiac publicity maven Jim Wangers, was a total ringer. It was equipped with a very strong 421 that allowed it to run from 0-100 in 11 seconds and trip the clocks at the drag strip in a tick over 13 seconds. At the time, the only guys who knew that were Wangers and the guy’s who gave it the Royal Bobcat treatment.

In the early 1980’s the magazine re-ran the test using a GTO from a collector and a pristine Ferrari. This time the Ferrari won. Pontiac fans cried foul because the car used in the test was a not-so-fresh 80,000 mile original. Dan Gurney drove both cars, which is pretty cool in itself.

The battle rages on and round three will take place during the weekend of May 1, 2010 in Williamsburg, VA. The actual Pontiac used in the first magazine test will be on hand to duke it out with a Ferrari GTO to answer the question once and for all…

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Posted at 1:01 am in BangShift.com, Brian Lohnes, Ferrari GTO, pontiac gto, StreetFirehp

Comments

SK8ERB0Y
Nov 30, 2009 at 12:23 pm

They should do a Pontiac G8 GXP vs Ferrari California battle instead.

firebirdmuscle
Nov 28, 2009 at 9:23 pm

i agree with legacy camaro, the gto would be a easier for someone to work on, GTO has my vote.

ACCORD2HARMONY
Nov 27, 2009 at 11:17 am

Ferraris are beautiful cars handcrafted everything for a baseball glove fit Inside the car and inside deep curves. But i think (in my opinion) this Pontiac GTO looks “better” than that year Ferrari and as far as power, i think weve all seen a couple of tuned muscle cars I.E. Montecarlos SS cheveles run down Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Although these were just track comparisons… on the highway i know itd go down a completly different way.

father1014
Nov 27, 2009 at 10:34 am

i second joe cool. i’ll vote for the gto lmao

KrashingV8
Nov 26, 2009 at 4:45 pm

HA!! 74Furyous, that was good! i’d go with the pontiac hands down. the itallian stallion is nice and all, but would YOU really want to drive one!? i’d be afraid of it being scratched by a flying stone on the highway. the pontiac id go with a flat black paint job and careless about the rock scratches. just touch it up and off ya go!

PIMP-666
Nov 26, 2009 at 10:19 am

Ferrari GTO 4 sure, so much sexier n aggressive lookin!

leojmcca
Nov 26, 2009 at 9:50 am

Based on the price of muscle cars, I wonder if the Pontiac is worth more than the ferrari!

74Furyous
Nov 26, 2009 at 4:54 am

Pontiac? What is this “Pontiac” that you speak of?

JoeCool97Formula
Nov 25, 2009 at 7:00 pm

I vote for the GTO! LOL