For Sale
2005 Pontiac GTO Coupe
$21,500
- 6.0 litre (364cid) 400hp V-8
- Upgraded with K&N air intake, Kooks headers, reprogrammed PCM eliminating the hated 2nd gear skip-shift, Magnaflow cat-back exhaust
- Original catalytic converters installed, passed CT Smog in January 2024
- 6-speed
- One-piece aluminum driveshaft (original 2-piece driveshaft included)
- 17” aftermarket alloy wheels, Continental Extreme Contact all-season tires
- Includes four original GTO alloy wheels with old Blizzak winter tires
- Original wheels rechromed years ago and are now flaking
- 113,000 miles
- One owner and about 83,000 miles since December 2011
- Driven year-round
- Continuously maintained for safety, reliability and performance
- Everything works, except the not connected aftermarket oil temp and pressure gauges
- Cold A/C
- LED aftermarket headlights
- Hard wired Escort 9500ix radar detector
- Solar powered tire pressure monitor
- Clean Connecticut title, no liens
- Clean CarFax
- Photography to come
In 2011 I was looking for a new car and I had two in mind, the alpha and omega of cars, a Honda S2000 or a Pontiac GTO. The S2000 failed on one point: I intended to drive it year-round and its clearance made it a sled in even moderate snow.
I looked and looked online.
I looked at beater GTOs. I considered some in the middle of the U.S. – buy a plane ticket, look at the car and be prepared to fly home if it was hammered. In December I thought, “I’m trying too hard and I’ll make a mistake.” I put the search on hold.
But on the day after Christmas (a Sunday in 2011) I thought, “Well, I’ll just take a look.” This car turned up. Not in Kansas. Not in Arizona. It was in Newport, RI at a BMW dealer. On Tuesday I called. We agreed tentatively and on Wednesday, while taking my family to Logan Airport in Boston, we swung by the dealer. I inspected the car, drove it and bought it.
It had two prior owners. The first was the selling dealer who retained it, then the second owner who traded it at the BMW dealer for a Z06 Corvette they’d taken in trade.
It was equipped largely as it is today with Kooks headers, Magnaflow cat-back and K&N cold air intake. It had the catalytic converters it still has today.
I have driven it year-round since then through some memorable snow storms but mostly on fine days where its performance, sound, comfort and handling are continuously rewarding.
This is a fine, refined, automobile but in Phantom Black over Black leather interior it looks like a mundane Honda or Hyundai. No one notices it until it reaches wide open throttle and sounds, and goes, like the Hammers of Hell.
Over the past fourteen years I have spent whatever it took to maintain it, preserving its safety, reliability and performance even though I’ve driven it 12 months a year on trips long and short. Tires and brakes are current. The A/C works. The service receipts file is almost an inch thick.
This is, however, an old Pontiac. It was built in Australia by Holden (a lefthand drive Holden Monaro, from an Opel chassis design) and sold in the U.S. for only three years 2004-06. The engine is a GM LS2 and the 6-speed is by Tremec. Other than that parts are a problem, one that is largely resolved by resorting to the internet where Goat owners coalesce to keep these delightful cars going. It has not been trouble free:
- Windshield (sand pitted and stone chipped) October 2013
- Transmission tailshaft housing and 1-piece driveshaft September 2016
- A/C compressor June 2016
- Clutch/Flywheel balanced unit January 2017
- Fuel line and filter
- P/S piping and aftermarket P/S cooler September 2019
- Differential cover replaced due to a broken wheel speed sensor bracket January 2022
- Battery January 2022
- Strut mounts April 2022
- Front brake calipers and discs 2023
- Steering rack and tie rods 2023
I don’t sell it lightly. Every time I fire it up in the barn, back out and merge onto the street in front of my house then click a gentle cold-gearbox shift into second it is a gratifying experience, but my wife no longer drives and we have three cars, all of which will soon be gone to be replaced by a single 4-door sports sedan.