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1968 Pontiac GTO

Posted by David Kinney

In 1968 the archetypical muscle machine, Pontiac’s GTO, got a newly designed frame underneath completely fresh styling featuring the “Endura” front end - a steel-reinforced bumper with an ABS plastic covering.

Many considered this to be a serious styling mistake made by GM’s Wide-Track division. Squeezing the front bumper of a new GTO became the thing to do when you saw one parked on the street. Those who hated the Endura nose could pony up another $25 for the “Endura-delete” option and wind up with a Tempest face on their GTO, but few did.

Today, few think of the Endura bumper as a revolutionary idea, but it turns out to be a look that has stood the test of time.

A less well-remembered feature first seen on the 1968 GTO was an electric testing system known as “Sercon,” co-developed by GM and the Sun Electric Company. With the Sercon system, your Pontiac mechanic could plug your car into his diagnostic machine, and by reading a panel of colored lights, diagnose any electrical system problems. At least that was the theory. Sercon was high-tech for the time - in 1968, even the marvel of Pong was years in the future.

Although the GTO was favorably compared to the Jaguar XKE in the domestic automotive press of the time (not to mention the famous, but now well-known-to-be-fraudulent Ferrari GTO vs. Pontiac GTO comparo that Car and Driver pulled off), up until 1968 it had problems with both frame flex and rear axle hop. The redesigned frame fixed the former, and a new design to the rear end helped with the latter. Interestingly enough, although the A-body GTO shared some sheet metal and chassis parts with the Oldsmobile 4-4-2, the Pontiac had no rear stabilizer bar even though one was available on the Olds. Instead, Pontiac went the route of stiffer shocks. Adapting the 4-4-2 bar to the GTO is not a bolt-on task; it involves quite a bit of fabrication.

Pontiac offered two 400-cid V8 engines. The “economy” option gave you a two-barrel carb good for 265 hp, while the standard setup came with a four-barrel and 350 hp. The hot motor was the four-barrel version fitted with the Ram Air system for 10 extra ponies. Ram Air I and Ram Air II were both available in the 1968 GTO, depending on the production date of your vehicle. Ram Air I was discontinued mid-year when Ram Air II, featuring redesigned heads with round ports, became available.

(From the January 2004 issue of Sports Car Market magazine.)