The Pontiac GTO is generally considered to be the first factory produced "Musclecar". It was produced from 1964 to 1974, and went through many changes during that time. The one thing that all GTO's had in common was eye peeling acceleration and awesome styling!
The 1964 GTO started it all!
Prior to the mid '50's, Pontiac was generally considered a stodgy, reliable, boring old man's car, complete with miles of chrome and light up Indian head hood ornament. Pontiac, as a marque, was in danger of being shut down, due to it's "image" similarities with Buick and Oldsmobile. Starting with the '56 models, Pontiac's new General Manager, Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen, wanted to change that image, so he brought in a bunch of "car guy" type executives, to breathe some excitement into the Pontiac line. The mid to late '50's saw some real innovative products rolling off the Pontiac production lines! The stamped steel rocker arms, which many people wrongly credit to Chevrolet engineers, were actually designed by Pontiac. Chevy and the other GM divisions used them on their overhead valve V-8s as well. Tri Power, fuel injection, Super Duty, "Wide Track" etc. were but a few innovative ideas that made it into production on late '50's/early '60s's Pontiac cars. In just a few years, Knudsen brought Pontiac up to number 3, behind Ford and Chevy in sales.\
John Z. Delorean
The genesis of the GTO is generally credited to several people. John Delorean, who was head of engineering at Pontiac in 1963, and a few engineers (Bill Collins and Russ Gee) had the idea to put the 389, which was only used in the big cars, into the smaller A body. He had an engineering team install a "Big Car" 389 in place of the 326 (the blocks are identical in external dimensions) in the newly restyled/reengineered '64 Tempest and drove it around for a few months, letting friends drive it too. Everyone loved the power of the car, and he was persuaded to put the car into production. One major problem confronting this project was that GM had a corporate edict restricting the engine displacement in an "A" body to 330 cubic inches (interestingly, the 326 was actually 336 cid. until 1964. It started out as a powerplant for GMC trucks. Pontiac called it a 326 to skirt the 330 cid edict.) After some late night brainstorming sessions with several engineers and marketing guys, and with the blessing of Pete Estes (Pontiac's general manager) they decided to offer the GTO as an OPTION package on the Tempest without seeking permission from the GM corporate offices! Originally, the GTO was to be a limited production item, meant to jumpstart sales of the previously poor selling Tempest line. Pontiac's marketing director was against the option, calling it a "pain in the ass". By the time that the brass at GM found out about the GTO, it was too late to stop it. The GM brass were a bit steamed, and bet Delorean and friends that they couldn't even sell 500 Tempest GTO's. Delorean put Jim Wangers, who was an ad executive with the ad agency representing Pontiac, on the project. Jim was perfect for this project, as he was not only a talented ad writer, he was also an avid drag racer and a regular "car guy". (Jim wrote an excellent book a few years back, called Glory Days, When Horsepower and Passion Ruled Detroit, all about the golden years of Musclecars). They got their orders very quickly, in fact they couldn't build enough GTOs the first year! Pontiac really struck a nerve with this new car. The ads were full of tire squealing burnouts, revving engines and such, and were quite effective! By checking the GTO option on the dealer's order form, you got (among other things!) a standard 4 barrel (Carter AFB), 335 HP, 389 C.I. engine, 3:55 Safe T Track rear end, heavy duty 3 speed transmission, bucket seats plus all other Le Mans options. Optional drivetrain items included a 348 hp Tripower, close and wide ratio 4 speed transmission, as well as a 2 speed automatic. All sorts of optional rear end ratios were also available.
The GTO started off as a one time promotion to kick off Le Mans and Tempest sales, and ended up starting the muscle car craze!