This ’69 Pontiac GTO isn’t just the judge, it’s the jury and executioner too.

The Pontiac GTO is the godfather of all muscle cars, the one that started the big engine in medium body trend.

The initials that make up its name stand for Gran Turismo Omologato, but more commonly the car is known as ‘the great one’.

From when production began in 1964 until the last GTO rolled off the production line in 1974, no fewer than 514,793 GTOs were sold. And that doesn’t even include the late-model Holden Monaros that were rebadged and sold as GTOs.

Pontiac engineer Russell Gee and chief engineer John DeLorean had the brainwave to create the GTO in 1963, after General Motors had banned the company’s divisions from becoming involved in motorsport.

At the time, Pontiac’s image was largely built around high-performance vehicles, and the key marketing plan was to win races on Sunday to help sell cars on Monday. Chances are if it were not for these engineers who went against GM’s non-competition policy, the Pontiac name would have disappeared long before it did.

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There’s been a lot of rather unique land speed records coming out of the Bonneville Salt Flats recently. We saw American nutter Bobby Cleveland reclaim his lawnmower LSR (read news) but this is just as good. The tuning team at P4 by Norwood, an American Ferrari shop, are laying claim to the title of the World’s Fastest Ferrari with a record run of 275.4 mph (443kph) averaged over two sprinting runs. By using a stock-bodied 1985 288 GTO, owner Steve Trafton managed to achieve not only the title of world’s fastest Ferrari, but the world’s fastest sports car (AA/BFMS) at the same time. He also resisted the urge to grow a moustache and wear a Hawaiian shirt. Trafton’s special Prancing Horse beat out the previous record holder by 5kph.

To achieve this amazing feat, Thrafton skipped using a high-dollar Italian mill for this car’s powerplant. Taking its place is a 540 cubic-inch big block General Motors V8 shoe-horned into that slinky body. Two Borg Warner 80-mm turbos help out by shoving a full 17 pounds of boost into the deep eight-pot head. Thrafton was coy about exactly how much power the Italian-American car is laying down, but it will definitely be enough to make a grown man scream for his mother.

Check out the video of the record setting run below. (more…)

The one-of-one Pontiac GTO Judge convertible seen here is about to hit the block over in the states and will prove to be a closely watched auction.

It’s a triple black 1969 GTO Judge convertible and is being released for auction by the Pontiac Historical Society, this one-of-a-kind machine was produced out of 108 Judge convertibles in the big 6-9.

Riding on redlines, this masterpiece comes with a Ram Air III-equipped 400-cubic inch (6.6-litre) V8 putting down 366 horsepower through a 4-speed tranny. Its option list includes Rallye gauges, a wood rim steering wheel, an 8-track player and a bonnet mounted tachometer.

In terms of value, the car has been through a complete restoration with almost all new old stock parts and has since had zero miles on it.

If you’re a Pontiac fan you’d already have cried your tears about the brand’s death. But today there’s something to smile about, as a new to market classic Pontiac GTO, Firebird, Trans Am, and a Holden Commodore HSV GTS-R are all on sale.

These enviable selection of cars comes from the personal collection of Jim Wangers, who was Pontiac’s chief marketing manager during the brand’s glory days of muscle cars, sportscars and a favourable position right behind Chevrolet in General Motors’ brand line-up. With that history the 10 machines for sale are expected to be excellent examples of the breed.

First car up is a 1965 GTO Sport Coupe, this car represents the second year of the model’s existence and stands as a tribute to the early muscle car. If you’re after drop-top motoring there’s a 1966 Goat also for sale. Also available are two Carousel Red GTO Judges from 1969.

If you prefer the F-body you can choose from a first-year 1967 Firebird, a very rare 1969 Trans Am, a 1979 Trans Am 10th Anniversary car with less than 100 miles on the odometer, a 20th Anniversary Trans Am with the turbocharged V6 engine from the Buick Grand National from 1989 and finally, a white and blue 30th Anniversary Trans Am convertible.

Finally, hiding away in Wangers collection is some Aussie muscle in the form of a 2000 Holden Commodore HSV GTS-R, which Wangers has described as “the very car that inspired Bob Lutz to seek from Holden a car for U.S. buyers — the ’04 Pontiac GTO.”

To find out more click here to visit the Jim Wangers Collection website. Check out images of the cars in the gallery below.

Video of a very mean 1970 Pontiac GTO

This car features a custom SQPbuilt WarHawk block 402 running the LS7 port ETp cyl heads, Ross pistons, Oliver rods, Callies crank, in the LS2 block, MWS custom made supercharger system using a Vortech V7ysi compressor, Twin plate cerametallic clutch, 2″ headers and a twin 3.5″ exhaust and a super tough 4L80e transmission with a Yank high stall and lots lots more. Dyno run was with a manual fitted.

Rotisserie restoration, this Judge in black has the Ram Air III engine and more

All rise for the Judge. Paul Revere and Riders doing the soundtrack