GTO: The Goat or the Tiger? Ongoing battle

[Dyno247365]

Neither my dad or I have a GTO but we love muscle cars and of course love the gto but he brought up one day that the pontiac GTO stands for 'goat' and I didn't think much of it till I saw the old commercials for GTO's on SPEED and they called the GTO the 'Tiger' so I kept telling him it was a tiger because there was a tiger jumping out from under the hood or transforming into the car. He INSISTS, that's what we called them, we called them the Goat.

So we're at a car show and I see a tiger plush toy on top of a GTO and i'm like AHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! IT'S THE TIGER!!!!!! I WAS RIGHT!!!!!!! and then I saw my dad start to get a bit discouraged and I figured, it doesn't really matter.

So, tonight dad told me to watch the show Overhaulin with him, I didn't like how they kept stalling with these theatrics, someone's gonna die one of these days, just like someday on fear factor. Anyway, this woman, Sharon, a mother gets the GTO back and she says the words "Gas, Tires, Oil" after I said I didn't think it meant anything and this young guy(older than me though) shakes his head "Yeah, Goat" OHHH F*** YOU and I exited the room. HE GOT ME BACK. But Pontiac meant it as the Tiger.

So who's right? An what word does the majority here use? I have to know, thank you!

[MrPbody]

"GTO" means "Gran Turismo Omolagato", which in English translates to "Grand Touring, Homogenized". The '62 Ferrari was the first to use the marque on a "production" car (less than 500 made). Since they had no copyright on the name, Pontiac used the name for the '64 option on Tempest. It was an option on LeMans in '65, and was it's own "model" from '66 to '71, when it again became an option on LeMans for '72/'73, and Ventura for '74.

The name comes from building a "new" car from "off the shelf" parts (thus the "homogenized"). The '64 fit right in, as it was made up from Tempest and Catlina (engine) parts. The current model also fits the description, as it is made up of the Holden body and GM power train, both in "off the shelf" configuratons, with a bit of badging and "styling" (a debatable subject, to be sure) unique to itself.

The "Tiger" was an ad campaign for '65 and '66 (maybe surfaced late in the '64 model run). Pontiac dropped the connection in '67, when it was felt politically, "Tiger" would "lead to more street racing" Duh...... GTOs would lead to more street racing simply by their existance...

"Gas, tires and oil", "Get tools out", "Garbage truck optional", "Go through Oscar's" (never quite figured that one out...) are all "nicknames" that surfaced over the years, along with "Goat".

Jim

[BNaylor]

Here's a sample of that ad campaign back in 1966:

http://www.pontiacserver.com/66gto_ad.html