The Pontiac GTO may have been the surprise hit of the 1964 model year. Introduced as a mid-size muscle car, insiders expected only to sell about 5,000 copies a year. Instead, more than 32,000 were scooped up in its abbreviated debut year, followed by 75,000 copies the following year. The seller’s ’65 GTO is special not only because it has a “Tri-Power” V8, but it also has rare Tiger Gold paint, thought to have been applied to just 100 GTOs. Located near Ocala, Florida, this beauty is available here on craigslist for $75,000.
Since they were holding a tiger by its tail, Pontiac made few changes to the GTO in 1965 other than those made for the LeMans and Tempest. The GTO now sported stacked headlights where horizontal ones sat before. Out of the 75,000 units sold, more than 20,000 GTOs had the 389 cubic inch V8 with triple 2-barrel carburetors, known as “Tri-Power” which was good for an increase in horsepower from 335 to 360. Even though the public couldn’t get enough of the cars already, Pontiac partnered with Hurst Performance for their famed shifter and had the hot cars painted in a unique color, Tiger Gold.
Part of the Hurst GTOs included a black vinyl top and a Muncie 4-speed manual transmission. One of these cars was once owned by baseball great Reggie Jackson and is the focus of the article here on Auto Evolution. This car is said to have less than 50,000 miles, having been rotisserie-restored just after the turn of the century. Since then, it has spent most of its time in a garage with heat and air conditioning.
The seller acknowledges that he/she isn’t anxious to sell the car, and the approach chosen supports that position. It was listed on craigslist which is not the definitive place to sell a classic car. And, only four photos are provided, where an enthusiastic seller would post as many as the site would allow. This seems like a rare and fantastic automobile that you’d be hard-pressed to find a duplicate of anytime soon. Cheaper here than it might sell for on Mecum. Thanks for the bodacious tip, T.J.!
I’m intrigued by this car but puzzled by the seller’s uninspired listing. I thought that this could certainly be a scam, but it could also be an example of a seller who just doesn’t know how to effectively present a car for sale. If it’s legitimate, I don’t expect this to last long.
Two things. Very nice car. Also, anybody notice the dash picture was a taken at 60 mph?
and the tach is approaching redline. The trans must be in third.
The tach is set for a near redline warning buzzer. It appears the car is around 2000 at speed. My memory is not good enough to recall if this year car had the actual warning note or if you were supposed to use your eyes. Still one of the quickest out of the hole cars this old man has ever driven.
and the fuel gauge racing toward “E”…
Think the white needle pointing at 2,000 is one that you can set to set off an alarm if you go past it (note the chrome knob in the middle of the tach for that purpose). The needles that tell whats going on are orange and in the photo is at the red line.
Pontiac V8’s have a very long stroke – even the 350! – no need for overdrive even with automatic on the highway for long engine life.
Don’t get no sweeter then this… Beauty.
The seller is fishing for offers above $75,000, that’s his minimum. Low effort ad, comes across as difficult to deal with, that’s never a good combination, hard pass unless it’s your dream car.
Steve R
Agree with Steve R on this one.
That is a beautiful color. Gold paint is almost always aces with me. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg with this car, as me want! But me doesn’t have $75k lying around gathering dust. And I too wonder about the “seller”. I suspect they are testing the water to see what kind of response they get before putting it up for sale, for real.
The tri-power, 4sp, GTOs were real runners. 🏁
Am I seeing this right that only the Hurst cars were painted this color? A guy that we knew and run around with had one this color, or close to it. It was a tri power car, but had not heard anything about being a Hurst model. He was huge into Pontiacs, so he would have known about the Hurst connection, if it was one.
The tach is not near redline. That’s the adjustable redline pointer.
I love the gold paint especially applied today with our modern paints.
I am not sure I have ever seen the “100” number applied to “Gold” cars but that could be so but over the decades and being into the GTO hobby for over 50 years I have seen quite a few. At least, a rare GTO color. The original 65 Hurst Contest Car is one of the most famous GTO’s ever made. It of course featured Gold Hurst wheels and gold shifter (if I remember right). This car surfaced in the market probably 40+ years ago coming out of Wisconsin. Its changed hands a few times including spending time in the Warroad Minnesota “The Shed” Museum owned by Bill Marvin. It changed hands and went thru Mecum a time or two and someone told me that Dana Mecum may have, or does own it??
John Zeglin is correct. There was only 1 Hurst promotion car. The 100 car limited edition thing is a myth. Inspired by Hurst, Pontiac did add Tiger Gold as a paint choice late in the model year, but it was available for order on any GTO. Royal Pontiac had also pioneered a ram air package and the Fresh Air package was available for purchase over the counter starting in August 1965. This is a nice car. It doesn’t need made up stores to make it a GreaT One.
I was into cars in high school during the mid-sixties. In the Summer of 1964, just before my junior year, a cute little sophomore girl was given a new ’64 GTO by her parents.
The GTO had this exact color scheme, with tri-power, factory air, and a 4-speed. When I inspected it in the school parking lot, it had a radio antenna… but the dash opening was empty. She was waiting for an AM-FM radio that the dealer had ordered separately. She also said there was a spare quart of the special gold paint supplied with the car.
One afternoon I saw her boyfriend, the 6′-2″ school fullback, driving it with her riding shotgun. She didn’t like to drive the stick, but he sure did! On that day he took off from a stop light by dumping the clutch. The car smoked ONE rear tire for about a hundred yards! That GTO didn’t have posi-traction!
The car was gone by the next school year, and I never knew what happened to it. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Especially with her driving it. She was cute as a bug, and well out of my league.
The Reggie Jackson car sold for $66,000 last summer, and that is one automobile armored with documents and a traceable history. It had a little over 23k miles and had been restored to perfection. I can’t say the same about the car on Craigslist—the photos aren’t enough to tell the whole story, and the owner is not a man of many words, judging by the ad.
If it was a Reggie Jackson car, it was nice. I had a ’56 210 sedan that came from his herd.
1965 was the best year for the GTO as far as I am concerned. Best looking and the coolest drivetrain, and this appears to be a really nice one. I’m not really a fan of the color, (a friend had a ’65 six barrel in Evening Orchid and boys and girls, that car was stunning.) I’m a little confused, as are others, about the ad.On one hand, the seller may think that the car will sell itself, but on the other hand, he or she is asking a bunch of spending change for it so I would think that a little more effort into the advertising would be warranted.
No, no, no. Not Evening Orchid. That was Chevrolet.
Iris Mist was what Pontiac offered in 1965 and it’s a very desirable color with Pontiac collectors.
You may very well be correct. I based my comments on my sister’s Evening Orchid.’65 Impala SS.
Two names for the same color. This was common for GM. For example, Carousel Red, signature color on the 1969 GTO Judge, was called Hugger Orange on a Chevy.
I am almost sure Evening Orchid and Iris Mist is the exact same color. I do remember the 65 Impala’s having that color and like the Pontiacs in that color also are very desired in today’s collector world.
I think this gold is also desired, but it does not work for everyone. As I mentioned earlier this gold color painted with today’s paint and technology’s really brings it to life.