Pontiac’s 1965 Hurst GeeTO Tiger Is Probably The Most Famous GTO Out There

Back in 1965, Pontiac’s advertising executive Jim Wangers teamed up with Royal Pontiac, George Hurst and Petersen Publishing to boost the sales of performance parts and the GTO. It resulted in a famous song called the ‘GeeTO Tiger’, signed by ‘The Tigers’.

The big prize of the contest was a special 1965 Pontiac GTO, finished in Hurst Gold, with gold-plated shifter and fitted with plenty of factory options, including the four-speed manual transmission. It was won by a last-minute entrant 19-year old Alex Lampone of West Allis, Wisconsin, who got the keys to the car at the NHRA Indy Nationals from George Hurst himself and drove it for a few years, before parting ways with it.

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Over the years, the 360 HP V8-powered car changed hands a few more times and had its engine rebuilt by its third owner, while the fourth owner had it repainted in 1982. After 22 years, it ended up in the possession of collector and author Colin Comer, and a year later, it was joined by the 1965 Hurst/Motor Trend Magazine Riverside 500 GTO Pace Car, which was also bought by Comer. The two were sold to collector Bob Marvin of Minnesota a few years later, where they remained for roughly 10 years, before Dana Mecum bought them.

Now, Mecum has the famous Pontiac GeeTO listed for sale at the Indy 2020 auction that takes place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds between May 12 and 17. Apart from the aforementioned work, it remains all-original, with 59,000 miles (94,950 km) on the clock.

It’s also worth noting that it was featured in many books and magazines, and its fame led to the reproduction of a limited edition model by Performance Years Enterprises in the mid-2000s. It had its fame on the big screen as it was featured in a road-test episode on Spike TV’s ‘Musclecar’ show, but this is something that those interested in placing a bid will find out more about next month. In the meantime, they can take a closer look at it in the image gallery shared below.