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GT6 Why was the GT6 killed off?

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swift6 said:
Just pointing out why people might believe that. Especially with Pontiac unapologetically taking marketing ideas from other Europeans automakers in the mid 60's. BMW's may not have been known in every household, but they were definitely known of in Automotive circles and by those that read any sort of sport car oriented automotive magazine.
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Hm, seems odd that they would purposely do that. I mean they were competing against Ford and Mopar, and for some reason, the rest of GM. They were targeting a certain market. I'm not sure if back then BMW were considered a status symbol, but if so wouldn't caddillac take notice? I know BMW raced, but as you mentioned with magazines, were they known for their performance? I believe that the American public back then, wishing for performance, desired a huge American boat, with the biggest v8 on the market, and therefore wouldn't be interested in whatever BMW had to offer during that time. It would be as if Ford tried to mimic styling cues of a Skoda or SEAT. Just doesn't make much sense to me
 
Not every American, if that had been the case your GT6 would never have been imported. There were still plenty of sports car fans in the US and the US automakers still wanted in on that market. BMW was not a status symbol as they have become (even though the driving dynamics of a BMW are still top class, most do seem to be used more for status than driving enjoyment) but with the help of American sports car importer Max Hoffman, had just created the iconic BMW 507 in the late 50's. The styling of that car turned heads all over the world. It also had a long horizontal split grill style much like you see on the early 60's GTO's. BTW, GTO doesn't actually mean anything on the Pontiac but does actually mean something on the Ferrari from which Pontiac lifted the term solely for marketing. The Ferrari 250 GTO was a homologation model for a specific GT racing class for the FIA. The 250 describes the cubic centimeter displacement of each cylinder of its V12 engine (giving a total displacement of 3.0 litres), GTO stands for Gran Tourismo Ommologato (Homologation, Grand Touring par Italiano).

The "Wider is Better" marketing campaign of the early 60's was one trying to promote handling over straight line acceleration and gather some of that sports car/road racing crowd. Pulling styling cues from a European design as well as terminology from one of the worlds greatest sports car makers/racers was all part of the strategy. Car & Driver Magazine even did a theoretical comparison of the Ferrari and Pontiac GTO's and much commentary on the Pontiac marketing machine. During that same time frame, Ford was also sending Galaxies and Falcons to Europe and competing in Touring Car championships and Rallye's. Ford was also trying hard to buy Ferrari at the time. It wasn't all muscle cars and drag racing with US automakers.
 
swift6 said:
The "Wider is Better" marketing campaign of the early 60's was one trying to promote handling over straight line acceleration and gather some of that sports car/road racing crowd.
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Actually, 1959 was the first year of the Wide-Track Pontiac; I think J Z DeLorean had input into that. My folks had a '59 Catalina coupe: 2 adults, 4 kids, no seatbelts. Crazy!
 
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