Art Marshall didn’t plan to buy a car when he went on a shopping trip in 1967 with his married brother, who was looking for a family auto.
Then his eyes gazed upon it: A new bronze-colored convertible Pontiac Gran Turismo Omologato (GTO) with a 400 ci, V-8 engine, four-speed transmission, black vinyl seats and black double pinstripes down each side.
It was love at first sight.
“I felt proud. What kid wouldn’t feel good driving a fast car, a car girls would notice,” Marshall said Saturday during the GTO Show and Shine display in Littleton.
“There’s nothing like a convertible; it’s something unique. We ended up buying two cars that day — one for his family — but my car . . . oh, mine is so special,” he added at the event, put on by the Classic GTO Association of Denver at Alpine Pontiac.
The retired Lockheed Martin rocket scientist, who lives in Castle Rock, has many stories to share about his GTO, including the time someone stole it while he was attending college in Memphis.
Marshall, who paid $3,600 for his ride, said he was determined to find it. He searched Memphis streets until he saw it “lying on the ground” with all four of its mag wheels stolen, the convertible top slashed, and the transmission gone along with tools from the trunk.
But the thieves didn’t mess with the engine and the car had no visible body damage.
“It has a lot of history. It’s kind of my baby and I don’t want to abuse it,” said Marshall, who ended up restoring the car to mint condition after spotting other GTO aficionados showing off their cars.
There are 44 active chapters of the GTO Association of America in the U.S., including two in Colorado, the Classic GTO Association of Denver and the Northern Colorado GTO Association.
The Denver chapter began in the early 1980s and today has about 65 members, including president Sharlene Jung, who bought her first GTO, a 1969 green convertible, in 1970 for $2,000.
Since then Sharlene and her husband, Norman Warling, who is an assistant concourse judge for the GTO Association of America, hold GTO car shows and gatherings in Colorado and elsewhere.
GTOs were produced by General Motors from 1964 to 1974, then again in 2004 to 2006. This year GM announced it is going to discontinue the entire Pontiac brand next year.
The news left many GTO collectors unhappy, including Marshall.
“GM is stupid. It did not know how to advertise their vehicles,” he said.
