The pinnacle in sales for the Pontiac GTO came in 1966 when they closed in on building 100,000 copies of the hot muscle car. But competition was in full swing by then and stole some of the GTO’s thunder, so they cooked up “The Judge” edition in 1969. They added flashy graphics to the car and borrowed the name from Sammy Davis Jr.’s Laugh-In catchphrase, “Here Comes the Judge.” The seller has a PHS-documented Judge finished in Carousel Red paint; the color most often associated with the car. It looks quite tidy, but is it show quality?
GTO Judges were supposed to help bring more traffic into Pontiac showrooms, but it didn’t seem to work out that way. Just over 11,000 Judges were built from 1969 to 1971, a small fraction of the overall GTO population. So, Pontiac would move on from the option going into the 1972 model year. It was mostly an appearance package as the 400 cubic inch V8 was the same one available in other GTOs. Pontiac sold more of them in 1969 (nearly 7,000 Judges), but under 400 in 1971.
The seller doesn’t provide many details in his/her description of the car leaving it to the photos to carry the load. Besides The Judge package and Ram Air III induction, this GTO doesn’t appear overloaded with options. One PHS document says it came with a bench seat, yet bucket seats appear in the photos. A 4-speed manual transmission was ordered, and the Pontiac has power front disc brakes, which are almost a necessity with this much power. The indicated mileage is below 39,000, but the seller suggests that the odometer doesn’t work, and the true mileage and number of owners aren’t known.
This GTO seems nice enough, though the photos may not show it in the best light (for example, does the orange paint need a coat of wax to make it shine?). And the seller doesn’t even pop open the hood for a pic or two. Located in Norman, Oklahoma, the opening bid for this GOAT is $65,000 here on eBay. No one has yet clicked the bid button and there’s a reserve somewhere north of that figure. How much of this car is original compared to an earlier restoration?
Would you believe? A local Judges son had one of these. Frequently his mother (about 55) drove that Judge (the car) like 🎵 The little old lady 🎶 from Pasadena! I thought it was a hoot! You be The Judge 👨⚖️.
I wonder if Sammy Davis Jr. had a GTO Judge..
Clint Eastwood bought & drove the ’73 t/a from “Thunderbolt & Lightfoot” after the movie was over.
Interesting the Judge in the above ebay magazine ad has blackwall tires, but has a hood tach.
It’d be nice to see at least one engine compartment pic. I’d assume it is an older restoration judging by that goofy door mirror. Other than that and the missing antenna mast, the only other issues I can see is both the hood and deck lid could use a little tweaking to get alignment and gap more consistent. Rear bumper could too. Perhaps a bit nitpicky on my part, but overall from what I can see, looks like a pretty clean car that could stand some small details addressed.
Add the Endura bumper fit and the rear window stainless trim to list of items to correct as well!
Price seems a tad high. A member of an organization that I belong to recently bought what would appear to be a better example for 50,000
The seller is doing himself no favors with the presentation of the car and lack of important photos. Give it a good detailing including the engine compartment if needed. He’s not asking crazy money but needs to raise his game. If any support for the mileage can be obtained it would help a lot too.
Classic Orange Judge 👨⚖️ 4sp is great👍
It’s actually Red – Carousel Red.
I know, I don’t get it either.
Even later Pontiac Buccaneer red is a somewhat orange red.
I wonder if it was an inside joke at Pontiac, because the following year the signature Judge color was Orbit Orange…which is actually yellow! They should have come full circle in 1971 by having the signature color be called something like Fire Yellow, and actually be red. LOL.
BTW Carousel Red is the same color as Chevrolet’s Hugger Orange.
In 1969 my brother had just come back from Vietnam. He wanted a new car so he went to the Chevrolet dealership in ordered a SS Chevelle. For some reason there was a delay and the delay got longer and longer. So my brother decided to go to the Pontiac dealership downtown. He bought a 1969 Judge identical to the car shown. He did have cutouts put on it so he could drag race it. My father never knew. After my brother got married he traded the GTO for a Firebird because his new wife did not want to learn how to drive a straight gear. A decision he always regretted.
Was supposed to be a cheaper model to complete with the Road Runner but things got out of hand. Adding wheels (that appear too dark here), spoiler and graphics increased the price instead of reducing it. I must have mistakenly believed that the R/AIII was standard. Nice looking car. The bench seat would have added to the rarity/uniqueness. Good feature for tall drivers who don’t get support from buckets.
The write up is incorrect, in 1969 the base engine for the Judge was Ram Air III, optional was the Ram Air IV. In 1970 the Ram Air III was also the base engine in the Judge, however the Ram Air IV and 455 were optional. Every 1972 Judge came with a 455 HO.
Steve R
Correct, though I assume you meant to write 1971 and not 1972.
BTW although later on often referred to as the “Ram Air III,” Pontiac never called it that back in the day. The standard Judge engine(optional in the regular GTO) was called “400 Ram Air” in 1969 and simply “Ram Air” for 1970. All Judges of all three years were equipped with Ram Air. This engine was in all important respects the same as the 400 HO of 1968 just with the addition of the driver-controlled outside air induction system. The 400 HO had been introduced as optional in the 1967 GTO, when it was called the “Quadra-Power 400.”
I think Pontiac actually missed an opportunity there. The Judge could have been clearly defined as a high-end version, perhaps along the lines of the Hurst Olds, by putting in the 390 hp 428 HO with Ram Air(surreptitiously installed on the assembly line like Olds did with their 455) and maybe some dress-up items like body-colored Rally II wheels with the trim rings and flashy body-color mirrors and standard concealed headlamps.
Then Pontiac could also have taken a basic Tempest Sports Coupe(post, bench seat) and threw in the standard GTO 400 and 400 HO optional, body-color painted steel bumper, blacked-out grilles, stripe(s), GTO taillights, and maybe black or body-color steelies with chrome acorn lug nuts w/out hubcaps(a la MoPar A12 cars) and called it the ET as originally considered and have a great Roadrunner fighter too.
Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought that the Judge was intended to be a fairly low budget answer to the Roadrunner, not high end competition for something like the Hurst Olds.
The description said it’s Carousel Red, (plus, are these things really pulling that kind of money?)
Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought that the Judge was intended to be a fairly low budget answer to the Roadrunner, not high end competition for something like the Hurst Olds.
Charles, Delorean and his team had been kicking around the idea of a low cost performance Tempest for a while, originally going to be powered with a 350 HO and called the ET. At one point it was even going to have two hood tach pods, one for the hood tach and the one on the passenger side as an outside air inlet for the engine. Eventually it stopped being a Tempest and instead was to be a stripper version of the GTO and Delorean said that putting less than 400 cubes in a GTO would only happen over his dead body. So in went the 400s and it morphed into an extra cost top-of-the-line GTO. Only the deleted trim rings remained from the earlier low-cost proposals.
What I was suggesting is that they should have done BOTH, the Judge as a top-of-the-line version and snuck in a 428 HO the way Olds did it with the Hurst Olds(GM management was told the 455 was not installed at the factory but it actually was) and then the low-cost ET post coupe too.