It's kinda like Trans AM... the '70 BOSS was built to run in the Trans Am (Trans American) races, but Pontiac put the namesake on their own pony car. [/b][/quote]
Pontiac used all of the great race names on their cars.. Trans Am, Grand Prix, Grand Am...

 

I promised him I would take him for a ride around town when she came home.....Get him outta Expedition Hades for a few minutes.

Thats like my son -
Hes talking about stuff he wants and cars so.......
I ask him: How much is my car gonna cost?
Him: I dunno- Maybe $100? (Gawd I wish)

To a 9 year old, $100 may as well be a million.

 

I promised him I would take him for a ride around town when she came home.....Get him outta Expedition Hades for a few minutes.

Thats like my son -
Hes talking about stuff he wants and cars so.......
I ask him: How much is my car gonna cost?
Him: I dunno- Maybe $100? (Gawd I wish)

To a 9 year old, $100 may as well be a million. [/b][/quote]
lol, yes that's true.

 

Pontiac used all of the great race names on their cars.. Trans Am, Grand Prix, Grand Am... [/b][/quote]
Perhaps Ford should hurry up and jump on the Mario Cart name sake before Pontiac snags it and renames the GTO.

 

Gran Turismo, or Grand Touring, were generally thought of as more civilized and comfortable performance cars than pure race or sports cars, which were often somewhat spartan in those days. Thus, they had more interior refinements and comfort features inside while the suspensions and chassis were tuned more for longer drives over a variety of roads and conditions, much as one might due while touring over Europe.

The Mustang's adoption of that term early in the '60's for their performance version reflected the original, more European conceptualization of the Stang as quite distinct from the "muscle cars" or the day, i.e., reflecting a broad perforance envelope and dynamic prowess over simple big motor straight line acceleration. The original Mustang developer's quite purposefully tried to integrate the concept of a European GT sports coupe into an American vernacular of V8, affordability and mechanical simplicity. The Mustang GT was even slated to later offer a rather clever IRS option (presaging the '99 SVT Cobra putting a clever IRS into a live axle chassis), but skyrocketing sales anyways lead them to drop that in basically a "why bother" move.

The moniker "GT" has been used on just about every other performance car of just about any stripe, whether or not such car comported much at all with the GT concept. The term has become a somewhat trite and vacuous performance cliche, sort of the naming convention's counterpart to the cliched performance rear spoiler or air dam.

The Mustang GT has veered at times away from this original Gran Turismo concept, both in design and customer perception, sometimes tending a bit more towards a more narrow, muscle car like focus on acceleration and simple engine performance at the diminishment of overall dynamic capabilities.

The SN95 GT's were a good example of this with a big, healthy V8 but hopelessly archaic chassis and interior ergonomics.

The latest GT, I think, better reflects the GT concept, excepting the live axle rear perhaps as a sop to bean counters primarily and the singular venue of the drag strip.

The SVO and SVT versions, however, have tended to be truer to the GT concept, if sometimes tending more towards the pure sports/race car edge of the ideal such as the Cobra R. They focused a great deal on chassis dynamics and interior comfort and ergonomics in good balance to their increased engine performance.

SVT has also generally taken a more clean, refined and well integrated - European if you will - approach to styling too, eschewing for the most part the cheap and garish tack-on, stick-on fast car styling cliches found on too many obstensible performance cars today.

 

'GTO' and 'GT' are European racing classifications. The Italian term, 'Gran Turismo Omologato', means Grand Touring class production vehicle, homologated for racing. The name came to mean a large, high-performance sports car comfortable enough for long trips or 'touring', as opposed to the smaller, less comfortable 2-seater 'true' sports cars.


I had a friend that had a 67 GTO in the late 60's. He found out that GTO means Gas, Tires and Oil...

 

Ford Escort GT

 

I don't think the term originally refered to a specific race or racing class per se, like, say, Le Mans or Trans Am, but later, racing classes did develop around GT cars.

Probably the truer "GTO" cars might have been the Boss 302s and Z28s, not to mention the AAR Cudas -- as opposed to the Pontiac GTO, which was a bit more a gentlemans muscle car -- to allow them to run in the 5 liter Trans Am class. AMC also had a car in here too, but the name escapes me (morning caffiene yet to soak into brain).

The Boss 429 got the Omologato (homologation - please excuse attempt at Italian spelling) part, but was solely to allow the "semi-hemi" 429 motor itself to be eligible for use in NASCAR rather than the car as a whole to be elegible in any particular racing class. Why they just didn't put the Boss 429 motor in the Torinos (I think it was the Torinos) then campaigning in NASCAR I'm not sure.

 

Ford Escort GT [/b][/quote]
I see that and raise you one Focii SVT

 

Thanks rhumb..............your info was amazing, and I really really appreciate you taking the time to write it all down.




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Are you thinking of the Javelin?... or perhaps the Gremlin... just kidding

 

I'm not sure who started it, but Alfa Romeo has to be one of if not the first to use it. Possibly sometime in the 1930s, but James is correct in that it was used more as a generic term at first.

 

it wasn't his info..... sounds like he plagerized it

 

GT-------Gm Trounced!!!!!
GTO------GetToolsOut

 

This is one GT that I wouldn't mind having.

 

it wasn't his info..... sounds like he plagerized it [/b][/quote]
Well, as they say, expertise is not necessarily coming up with the information in the first place as much as knowing where to find it.

 

well said rhumb...............either wat it is much appreciated . thanks again.............




Moderated Post

 

Thanks rhumb..............your info was amazing, and I really really appreciate you taking the time to write it all down.




Moderated Post

 

a non-issue for a 9 year old.

 

a non-issue for a 9 year old. [/b][/quote]
Absolutely- they got no concept of money.......Mama(mooooooooammma in the south) and Daddy are the bank most of the time.

Mine also thinks a dirt bike is affordable on his allowance. He says: I have prolly $50 thats enough...