The Pontiac GTO was the King of Muscle Cars, creating a template for the market and being the top seller for most of the decade. But, for 1969, the market was somewhat different, and the GTO was no longer the best-seller in the segment. Our Pick of the Day is one of those falled Goats, a 1969 Pontiac GTO that’s listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a dealership in Volo, Illinois. (Click on this link to view the listing)
The best model year for the Pontiac GTO in terms of sales was 1966, just when things were ramping up for the rest of the market: an amazing 96,946 cars built. That’s a record that no other model in the segment ever came close to matching during the era. The second-best model year was 1968 with 87,685, which also was impressive when you consider the segment was much more crowded, and that many competing models also had their best year in sales.
But along came the Plymouth Road Runner. Like the GTO, it was a mid-sized vehicle with a performance engine in the mid-six-liter range. The difference was marketing courtesy of the product planners: the Road Runner was based on a model (Belvedere) with low content, while the GTO was based on the nicely trimmed LeMans and not the Tempest, a car more analogous to the Belvedere.
Plymouth realized the performance market had a bunch of kids that were trying hard to bag groceries and save their pennies, but the price of the GTO, GTX, GT, GS, SS, etc. was not very friendly to them. In fact, Car and Driver’s Brock Yates had written about the need for an affordable, stripped-down mid-size performance car with a big engine. Plymouth rose to the challenge and created the 1968 Road Runner while also exploiting the appeal of a cartoon character that was larger than the automotive concept itself.
Needless to say, the 1968 Road Runner was a hit at 44,599 built. The following year, the number rose to an astounding 84,420. This was when everyone else in the market was suffering a decline in sales . . . or were they? Chevrolet produced 86,307 Chevelle SS 396s, meaning not only was 1969 the first year that the GTO was not King (72,287), but that also the GTO was surpassed by two competing models. This, a model year when all mid-size performance models in the market had been redesigned for 1968 so there were only marginal changes to the vehicles themselves.
This frame-off restored, Mayfair Maize 1969 Pontiac GTO may have been unsuccessful in maintaining its status as the King, but everything that was great about the GTO was still intact: fine styling, good power options, unique features, and industry envy. In many ways, this car is typical of the GTOs sold in 1969 based on its feature mix of standard 350-horsepower 400, automatic transmission with console, bucket seats, air conditioning, and three-spoke steering wheel. This clearly is more of an adult Goat (note the Deluxe wheel discs on the PHS invoice below, though it currently wears standard hubcaps), but there were adults who enjoyed the youthful performance image of the GTO. Plymouth understood this too, which is why more creature comfort features were available for 1969 despite the Road Runner’s austere origins.
“2024 Toronto Motorama and Pontiac Nationals award winner,” says the seller. “It’s nice enough to park in your living room but I hope you drive it! It’s nicely optioned and will be a pure pleasure to cruise!” This Goat looks fantastic and glows in ways that would make other cars envious. At $78,998, we hope you understand that no longer being the King was not a compromise one bit.
Click here for this ClassicCars.com Pick of the Day.