By "the cars" I'm guessing you mean the Pontiac, as opposed to the '62
Ferrari GTO. I don't think anybody used GTO before that. I wonder if that
is what Ferrari intended it to stand for as well. What's interesting is
that Ferrari made only 39 GTOs and 100 were required for homologation at
the time. Of course, they raced them anyway, but I guess if you're Ferrari,
you can get away with that.
It may have been fairly low-production by US standards, but there is no
doubt that Pontiac built enough of their GTO so that anybody would be
satisfied that it is a production car type.
Ferrari also did things that would seem odd, like calling a type the
"250GT" (the number is the volume of one cylinder in cc's) and then
having two or three bodies available in spider (roadster) berlina (coupe)
styles by different coachbuilders. I don't think GT meant "Tourer" to
Ferrari, as in a body style, but was used to designate cars not build
strictly and specifically for the race track.
To see some pretty Ferrari's you can go to:
http://www.pirro.com/english/All.Ferraris/summary/Street_cars.htm
I also want to correct something else that I said in this car-type thread.
The boats that inspired the term "barchetta" were not vaporettos,
apparently they are larger ferry-type things, so I don't know the name of
the type of boat I'm talking about. Not that it matters much, but when I'm
wrong, I like to promptly admit it.
Phil Vanner
No, I'm not really a Ferrari nut but you can't like Sports Cars without
paying some attention to them.
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Byers [SMTP:byers@cconnect.net]
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 1999 4:34 PM
To: j kleemeyer; spridgets@triumph.cs.utah.edu
Subject: Re: GTO
At the time the cars were being marketed, GTO was defined in the ads as
"Gran Turismo Omologato".
Steve Byers
Havelock, NC USA
'73 Midget GAN5UD126009G "OO NINE"
"It is better to remain silent, and be thought a fool
than to speak, and remove all doubt" -- Mark Twain
----------
> From: j kleemeyer <jkk@adams.net>
> To: spridgets@autox.team.net
> Subject: re: GTO
> Date: Wednesday, January 13, 1999 11:36 PM
>
> Wow, I always thought that stood for "Gas, Tires, and Oil'. JK
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