- BODY: Aurora Model Motoring
- WHEELS & TIRES: Vincent
It is your humble blogger’s humble opinion that the GM A-Body is the platform which provided a good number of the coolest cars ever to grace our roads. Introduced in 1964 for the Chevy Chevelle, Pontiac Tempest, Olds Cutlass and Buick Skylark, the template provided for a huge variety of products to fit nearly every need. That included-of course-the performance market, exploding into a more massive gold mine than ever at just around the time the A-body went into production. All “General” fans have their favorites, but regardless of yours, its hard to argue that one car lead the pack: the Pontiac GTO was the poster child for the A-body cars. We all know the formula: take a base Tempest, load it with a big engine, some sway bars and a 4-speed floor shift option and watch them fly off the lots!
Since I’m opining, I’ll go a little further: all those A-body cars-including the GTO-had their pinnacle years in 1966 and ’67. The flowing rear fender lines (which would be mimicked by Chrysler a year later), stacked headlamps and angled openings of the twin-nostril front grille gave the GTO an attitude that was at once elegant and aggressive, and the slightly enlarged dimensions allowed for a car that was just big enough but not too big to rock n’ roll. The ’66 and ’67 models were more commonly seen with some luxury and convenience features, since the GTO ceased to be a trim level for the Tempest and moved uptown to its own series. Some GTOs were nicely equipped enough that they were essentially high performance Grand Prix’s, while others were stripped down, stacked up, track-ready cars fitted with insane amounts of power.
Imagine being a teenager in the mid-1970’s, when these cars were getting old enough to start showing up at buy here/pay here lots. That was the experience of 15 year old Aaron Adams of Carlsbad California, who was on the verge on getting his driver’s license in 1975 when he found his car on the lot of a just such a local car dealer: a 1967 GTO in code N Burgundy Poly with black interior and a black vinyl top with a “high output” 365HP 400 mated to an M21 close ratio 4-speed and a 3.90-geared Safe-T-Track rear. It even had the ride and handling package. He enquired on the price and it was too high at the time for a kid who had only just started working, but he made a promise to own it, and when it was sold, he did some sneaky detective work around his neighborhood to find out who bought it and introduced himself to the new owner and kept track of it during his high school years. Fast forward 2 years and a 17 year old Adams had the money needed to become the car’s 3rd owner. It made for a great senior year, and over the years that followed he put continuous work into the car, doing almost all the work himself with the help of friends, often laying on his back in his garage (which earned him the nickname “Airjack.”) Pretty soon the car had enough of a reputation that he knew it was time to take it racing, first to the drags, and then to the road course. Here toward the close of the 1984 racing season, “Airjack” Adam’s GTO, named “Paladin,” is highly modified but still carries its original engine block and driveline and still looks very stock. A good thing, that, since it is a GTO lover’s dream, equipped with nearly every performance goody including the desirable hood-mounted tach but, other than a radio, has virtually no weight adding comfort and convenience features: with its bare black interior with a 4-speed lever on the trans tunnel sans console, it is a true factory-made street brawler, and in an uncommon color besides.
Despite both driver and car having super-cool nicknames, Adams has not been one of the more successful drivers at DC Mk IV. “Paladin” is fast, there’s no doubt, but as one of the youngest drivers regularly seen at the muscle car races his technique is still being honed. Even so, the car’s sheer beauty has won him plenty of fans, and he keeps coming back to the track getting better-and faster-all the time.
I have owned several of these GM A-body cars over the years and I can tell you that the interior dimensions, ride height, and drivability of these cars in amongst the best I have ever experienced; in short, driving one just makes you feel good. When was the last time you could say that about a car?