As a 10-year-old CCN (Certified Car Nut) in 1965, I thought it was a banner year of styling for Detroit. The Big Three all had good-looking, restyled models; many with stacked vertical quad headlights and new cool, metallic paint colors. Pontiac was on a roll, too. They had clearly hit a home run the year before with the GTO, the first mid-sized muscle car for the masses, and the Pontiac Motor Division won the prestigious Motor Trend Car of the Year for its entire lineup in 1965. Just feast your eyes on this stunning ’65 GTO. I can’t remember ever seeing one in this color combination: Iris Mist with a Starlight Black top. It wasn’t a typical high-performance car color, so I’m guessing not too many left the factory in Code P. But, wow, what a beauty. This gorgeous “Goat” is available here on eBay and is in Clearwater, Florida at PJ’s Auto World. The asking price is $45,900. A big thanks to Larry D for herding this well-groomed Goat our way.
For its sophomore year, the GTO (in its last year as an option package for the Tempest LeMans), was given a facelift and it’s my favorite year as far as GTO styling. With its stacked headlights (leaning slightly forward), split grille, faux hood scoop, and new rear fascia with wraparound taillights and dual exhausts, it was stunning. The buying public agreed and a then-record 75,352 GTO’s were sold that model year; 55,732 of which were hardtop coupes like this one.
There’s not a lot of information about this restored GTO’s story or history on the eBay site. When you go to the PJ’s Auto World website, a little more information is shared: “400 Cubic-Inch V8 engine (WC suffix code block), Edelbrock AVS 4 barrel carburetor, aluminum intake, HEI electronic ignition, Crowler 60916 cam, 68 date code number 16 heads, roller rockers, Doug’s ceramic coated headers, dual exhaust, power steering, front power disc brakes, upgraded tubular front control arms, boxed rear control arms, 4-speed manual transmission, 17” Ridler alloy wheels, Rare factory Iris Mist and Starlight Black exterior, chrome driver’s sport mirror, Pearl parchment bucket seat interior, Hurst Shifter, Retro Sound AM/FM radio, woodgrain steering wheel.” This GTO current houses a 400-cubic-inch V8 and probably left the factory with the standard 389-cubic-inch 4-bbl V8 that cranked out 335 horsepower. A Tri-Power option was also available with three Rochester two-barrel carburetors that upped the horsepower to 360. Three-speed manual transmissions came standard in 1965, but this GTO has the optional four on the floor which is another plus. The mileage listed on its current drivetrain is 27,533 miles.
The interior of this GTO is just as pleasing on the eyes as the sparkling exterior. Finished in the Parchment and Black interior option, the bucket seats show some waves, but the back seat, door panels, black carpet, dash, woodgrain steering wheel and the rest of the interior looks near perfect. And it’s a tasteful compliment to the Iris Mist and Starlight Black exterior. While not bone stock, this 1965 GTO is impressive nonetheless and its rare Iris Mist and Starlight Black color combo and handsome styling would look great in anybody’s garage. How about yours?
I believe this color was used throughout the GM line in ‘65 (‘66??). I love it on every example I’ve ever seen. It’s not my thing to choose a color first buying a car but this would be the one…..
Steve, it looks like a similar color, Evening Orchid, was also offered that year by Chevrolet, Buick, and Olds…
Personally it reminds me of gray head women tainting their hair purple but it’s a matter of taste…however this color does trigger the car geek in me
Strictly speaking Iris Mist/Evening Orchid was available on Chev/ Pontiac only but I know I’ve seen Buicks and Oldsmobiles wearing it. If you were prepared to spend the extra $ and had the time to wait you could order your new GM car in any other GM color (non-GM color for that matter). There was different practice amongst the divisions/plants on how they would denote special order hues in the cowl tag. Pontiac for instance could use 1(GM color),2(non-GM color), 3(Cadillac Firemist color), ‘0’ or sometimes even the mix code or simply ‘SPEC’ on the tag.
On this Starfire they apparently stuck to Pontiacs system to denote the special order Iris Mist (no ‘P’ color code on Olds ’65)
https://carscoms.com/1965-oldsmobile-starfire-convertible-142404.html
Only Chevrolet and Pontiac had this color for 1965 Model Year.
Chevrolet called it Evening Orchid, and it was available on Impala only. The Caprice being a late Model Year introduction, it was likely also available on Caprice.
I only ever saw ONE ’65 Caprice(4 door only for ’65), but tons of other ’65 Impalas, Bel Airs & Biscaynes.
& just 1 ’68 Caprice with hideway headlites.
I still remember exactly where i saw both, back when they were new!
It was also available for the Chevelle Malibu SS and Corvair Corsa.
The Iris Mist color was only in 1965,but this baby is a beauty irregardless if it doesn’t have the original engine or some may say”a girly color”.I wouldn’t mind this one bit sitting in my driveway (to replace a Buick GN that won’t start).
Very nice but get rid of the rims
There are many reasons why I haven’t bought a car, wrong engine, wrong transmission, wrong colour, too much rust or roached interior. I have never not bought a car because of it’s wheels or tires. Simplest thing in the world to change.
Compared to the old, stale, wheel cover look with whitewalls, I’ll take these. But would prefer a new Torque Thrust in grey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE-FV8bUw_E&ab_channel=SarahBorges-Topic
If only ONE of my Powerball tickets had ever had all matching numbers I’d be buying this beauty! That is a gorgeous color! Pontiac fanatics, help us out; didn’t the Pontiac Motor Division keep records on their builds? That could answer the question as to the engine, right?
They did. I believe it was called PHS. Pontiac Historical Services.
The 400 didn’t debut until 1967.
A high school friend of mine grew up with GTOs in the family and was fortunate enough after a lot of hard work and earning his engineering degree to make a name for himself in the construction business. He bought every GTO he could run down. He found in a small rural town outside Chattanooga, an original ’65 in Iris Mist with a factory ram air hood. One of the big reproduction companies, I think it was Year One, paid him a pretty penny to make a fiberglass mold in order to sell them.
I owned two 66s and one 67 Goat, but to me the ’65 in Hollywood Knights was the epitome of the GTO.
While I can’t resist thinking about gray head women who tint their hair purple when I see this color (read:it’s not my favorite hue) the car geek in me is intrigued. Particularly as – strictly speaking – this was solely a ’65 Chev/Pontiac color however I remember seeing it grace other GM cars previously:
https://carscoms.com/1965-oldsmobile-starfire-convertible-142404.html
https://barnfinds.com/rare-dual-quad-1966-buick-riviera-gs/
https://www.streetsideclassics.com/vehicles/6640-cha/1965-buick-skylark-convertible
While the Starfire apparently uses the Pontiac color code (no ‘P’ color used by Olds for ’65), I’m a lot more unsure about the Skylark. While I’d think ‘Y2’ would mean Bamboo Cream lower color with black top indicating a color change, I also observe there’s no ‘-‘ between the Y and 2, but unsure whether that makes any difference. Pontiac used a system of typing either ‘1’ (color available from other GM divisions), ‘2’ (non-GM color), ‘3’ (Cadillac Firemist color) in the paint code field while other times the paint mix code or simply ‘SPEC’ when non-standard hues were ordered. How Buick would indicate non-standard colors is unknown to me
I suspect that black top may have originally been a black vinyl top.
My brother ordered a 65 Impala in this color. I loved it but it was a very polarizing color especially with a guy behind the wheel.
Beautiful car
I sent a eBay link of this car to a Corvair forum. The Evening Orchid is a sought after color. 65 only and I know of several people seeking this color in a Corvair. I personally like the gloss black roof and think it works nicely with this body style. Either way it’s a polarizing color where people either love or hate.
The painted top is unusual but not unheard of. ‘Back in the day’, I worked at a service station (remember those??!!). One of my customers, an older lady, drove a 65 GTO coupe (post). Burgundy w/black painted roof. What made this car even more unusual (besides the ‘post’) was that it was an automatic, with PW and fact AC. Had to be a one of one combo on that car.
Although I’d lose the wheels, I love the car. :)
Absolutely stunning. I like this color on any vehicle I’ve seen it on. The black top and parchment interior really sets it off.
The local GM dealers in Norfolk/Virginia Beach did a “Teen Ambassador” program in the fall of 65, and all the cars were this color, emblazoned with the recipients name. One from each High School. They were all from socially prominent/wealthy families, the “cool kids” imagine that. Vaguely recall that it may have continued the following year with Burgundy cars.
And painted roofs were an option, predating vinyl. My father’s first Cadillac, a 57 Sedan de Ville, was white with a medium gray painted roof.
I was the fortunate son (also ten years old in ‘65) of a successful car dealer and from our inventory books we sold over 5,000 muscle cars from ‘63 to ‘83. Hundreds were GTOs. One that stands out was the twin to this sans the black top. Nowadays almost every ’64-‘66 GTO has Tri-Power but in reality back then was maybe 20% had the setup. This one was so equipped and had 4.11 gears and four speed. I also found out how much better the 400 was that came out in ‘67 vs the 389. We had a drag race with a friend’s stock 335 HP 400 four speed. His had 3.73’s so Dad jumped him out of the gate but he went by us halfway through second gear like we had the brakes on. The Tri Power 389 had a more radical cam, better exhaust manifolds and was rated at 360 HP but the 400’s new head design made up for all of that. But a ‘65 Tri Power GTO in Iris is still my favorite GTO.