Mike Noun's List of Pontiac Road Tests

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Pontiac Road Tests

Compiled by Mike Noun

The following is a list of Pontiac road tests from 1961-1974. I will be adding to this list as time permits. I have always had a fascination with original road tests (well, especially Pontiacs). These old magazines seem to capture the very essence of what a Musclecar really was. The cars were brand new, and the magazine testers thrashed them to their full potential, a feat very few current owners of classic Musclecars can do because of the scarcity and value of their machine. There is a reason we hold classic Musclecar principle so sacred. These cars were built to go fast. They were built to do battle at stoplights. They were status symbols of power. Regardless of the Musclecar you own, and regardless of how you drive it, we all have an insatiable curiousity to know how our cars compare against other Musclecars. I hope the information contained below will allow us all to "bench race" a little bit more.

The format I chose for this list was to include all the relavant information contained in each road test rather than just listing ¼ mile times. I'm hoping that if a particular road test sparks your interest, you'll be inspired to track the issue down at the next car show or swap meet. There is obviously much more in each article than I can summarize here, and of course the photos are priceless.

I have tried to include all the relevant infomation regarding options or irregularities in each test, and you will find those under the "Notes". You will notice that under the "Options" column, I have listed ptions witch may have affected the outcome of a test. Heavy options such as a/c, p/s, etc. Obviously, options like hood tachs or optional interiors do not affect performance, but in some cases I have included this information.

The tests listed below are from the original magazine(s) covering the Pontiac as a new car. I have not included any contemporary road tests because I wanted to show an accurate representation of how these potent Pontiacs ran when they were new. Because of this, I have also bypassed articles and road tests where an older Pontiac may have been tested in the same issue as a "new" Pontiac was tested. For instance, I have a road test of a 1962 SD 421 Catalina, but the test was run in 1969, or I also have a 1969 test of a 1965 Royal Bobcat 1965 GTO. Because of advancements made in technologly, these types of tests are not truly representative of how these particular cars would have run brand new, so I did not include them in this listing. Also note that some of these Pontiac tests were conducted against another Musclecar, and in some cases, another Pontiac! I have split these tests individually. I have also bypassed tests of full size luxury Pontiacs, and Pontiacs not intended for dragstrip duty such as the Sprint 6 and 326 Lemans/Firebirds. These were great cars, but were not intended for quarter mile tests.

Pay special attention to the "weight" data in each test. Frequently, a magazine would give a curb weight and a test weight. More often than not, the test weight was with 200 lbs. of test equipment in the trunk and 2 people aboard. The curb weight is the car without driver or equipment. Occasionally, there is a shipping weight listed, which is the weight of the car as delivered to a dealership (minus fluids). Many times the weight will explain why a particular car was so fast or so slow.

What's a Royal Bobcat?

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Royal Pontiac was a dealership located in Royal Oak, Michigan. Founded by dragracer Ace Wilson, Royal Pontiac began making modifications to Pontiacs back in 1959, and selling these cars to customers. As Royal's popularity grew, the modifications they performed took on a name: "Bobcat". In 1961, Royal removed the individual "Pontiac" letters from the tail panel of a 62 Catalina, and used "CAT" from Catalina, the "O" from Pontiac, and the small and large "B" from "Bonneville" to spell out "BOB CAT". A legend was born when Motor Trend tested this car in their 9/99 issue.

When GM pulled out of racing in 1963, Royal Pontiac saw a great opportunity to modify and tune Pontiacs on a larger scale for their customers. In 1964, Royal began performing their famous supertune to new 64 GTO's. Already the most powerful car in the mid-size line, Royal's Bobcat GTO's was now gaining a strong reputation on the streets in and around Detroit. Car and Driver tested a pair of 64 GTO's for their famous "Ferrari GTO vs. Pontiac GTO" test in March 1964. This one test was by far the most controversial road test of the 60's, and changed Car & Driver's image forever. The shear audacity of comparing the legendary Ferrari GTO to an American 4 passenger car sent shock waves through the industry, and subsequently put the Pontiac GTO on the map. There were two GTO's tested, and both were modified by Royal. The exposure Royal Pontiac obtained through this one article was priceless. Oddly enough, all the hoopla about this one road test was somewhat overblown. The Ferrari wasn't even present for the road test. During 1964 and 1965, the GTO dominated automotive magazines. Royal Pontiac seemed to always get a mention in these articles, whether they had modified the test car or not.

There were three distinct levels of modifications that Royal Pontiac performed for a customer.

The Royal Bobcat "kit" could be ordered through the mail by any enthusiast. It consisted of a large box containing thinner head gaskets, blocked heat riser intake gaskets, distributor recurve kit, larger jets for the carb(s), rocker arm locknuts, colder spark plugs (Champion J10Y), and the necessary gaskets (valve cover, valley pan) to perform the modification. It also included Royal Racing Team club decals, Royal Bobcat body stickers, a "GR-RRR" lisence plate, and "Royal Pontiac" license plate frames. This was a very popular kit in the mid to late 60's.

This was a car prepared and sold through Royal Pontiac. The Royal Bobcat kit listed above was installed by Royal, but they went a little further by blueprinting, cc'ing, and milling the cylinder heads. The purpose of this was to have equal compression iand chamber volume in all 8 cylinders. In conjunction with the thinner head gaskets, this modification usually lifted compression well over 11 to 1. The valve springs were measured and shimmed so all 16 springs were at the exact same installed height. These mods were nothing extravagent, just simple blueprinting that Pontiac could not do in a mass produced car. Cars prepared and sold through Royal Pontiac were called "Royal Bobcat" cars, and had the special Royal Bobcat stickers applied by Royal.
This level is the most drastic, and subsequently, the most expensive. Before even taking delivery of the car, Royal would transplant a 421 tri-power (during the 64-66 era) into a GTO, and later, the 428 (67-69) in either the Firebird or GTO. Not many "transplant" cars were sold.

Jim Wangers talks quite a bit about the atmosphere in and around Royal Pontiac's service department in his wonderful book, "Glory Days". It seems surreal now, but imagine groups of street racing kids just hanging around Royal's service department just wanting to see and feel the Royal mystique. In those days, cars were not simply transportation, they were a way of life. Most of Royal's notoriety came from extensive coverage in major magazines, but in and around Woodward Ave., they're famous supertunes were downright legendary.

When a manufacturer gives a car to magazine to test, they naturally want it to perform at its' best. If it didn't, once the article hit the newsstands, there wasn't much a manufacturer could do about it. Naturally, the fit and finish of the overall test car was checked out (usually) before handing it over to a magazine. But mechanically, the old "give it a once over" was about all that was done to assure that the car would run satisfactorily. But in the Pontiac world, whose very image was that of pure performance, the mechanical side of the car needed to be perfect. This is where Royal Pontiac came into the picture. Not every Pontiac tested went through Royal, but if it did, you could be assured whether it had a Bobcat kit on it or not, it was going to run well.

One thing that is certain, and that is if a car was tuned by Royal before a road test, that information was disclosed up front to the magazine. There were no "ringers" given to magazines. That could not be said of other manufacturers, who frequently snuck "ringers" into road tests (most notably Ford) in hopes of getting a good review. As the 60's wore on, it was more and more common for a manufacturer to supertune a car before given it to a magazine. This usually involved the car being sent a factory tech center, and everything was checked and re-checked so it was in razor sharp tune. The competition was extremely fierce among manufacturers when it came to ¼ miles times in road tests. The best reviews obviously garnered the greatest sales, not to mention bragging rights, and everyone was gunning for the mighty GTO from 1964-1966. For a dragstrip test, it was not uncommon for a manufacturer to send their test car to their own tech center to have an advance curve kit installed, a stronger clutch, or in extreme cases, a complete engine blueprint. Sometimes items on the chassis were changed depending on the type of test that was to be conducted. This was touchy subject amongst the manufacturers, especially in a head-tohead comparison test between different manufacturers. Sometimes the magazine testers would catch them on a few points, and state in the article that this particular car "was a quite a bit quicker than the one we tested with the same engine last year." Occasionally, a manufacturer would send a "lightweight" version of their car, innocently absent of sound deadener, and equipped with the most basic features to save weight. While these types of cars generated great ¼ mile times, they were often chastised by magazine testers for being noisy, rattly cars, and not much fun to drive around on the street. So the war was on, all started by Royal Pontiac's well-known preparation of Pontiacs. It was a vicious game when it came to combating the industry leading GTO, and sometimes manufacturers would show no restraint in order to topple the king.

Who are these guys?

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The practice of having a factory representative present during a road test was relatively new in the early 60's. Very often, a manufacturer would simply send their car to a magazine and let the over-zealous road testers have their way. What this resulted in was the occasional poor road test, sometimes due to the fact that the road tester/editor was not proficient with a manual transmission, but more often it was because the car was slightly out of tune. Of course, the magazine testers did not have a clue how to remedy these problems, nor did they care. Their job was to test the car and report on their findings. You can imagine how much of an impact a poor review may have on sales if a particular Musclecar fell on its' face at the dragstrip. Manufacturers started paying special attention to rear end gear and transmission selections when supplying a car for a road test. They of course had to balance this with driveability, and equip the car with necessary luxury options to please the road testers. Royal Pontiac made sure that the cars tested by magazines were equipped properly, and more often than not, had a representative present during the actual test. This assured Royal and Pontiac themselves that if the car was having slight mechanical trouble during a test, the problem could be remedied at that time with twist of the screwdriver. As well as having a mechanically sound test car, it was prudent of Royal Pontiac to send an experienced driver.

Properly equipping a test car may be hard to comprehend in today's era of modern, computer controlled engines. Computer controlled Musclecars straight off the showroom floor will run very close to what a magazine test car generates. There are three reasons for this. First, new computer aided design, manufacturing, and assembly has allowed mass-produced vehicles to be virtually identical from one example to the next. Gone are the days when a particular engine just happened to come through with "all the right clearances", and was noticeably quicker than an identical car. Second, new Musclecars have very few performance and drivetrain options compared to 60's Musclecars. This means that for the most part, you can't go too wrong when ordering a new Musclecar when only 2 rear gear ratios are offered, or 2 transmissions (auto or stick), and virtually no significant engine performance options. In the 60's, each Musclecar had dozens of drivetrain, gear ratio, and engine performance options to tailor a car to a specific customer. Third, adverse weather conditions do not affect new computer controlled cars in a significant way. The computer adjusts for fuel quality, humidity, air temperature, etc. In the 60's, adverse weather conditions could wreak havoc on a carburated Musclecar. Because of these reasons, Royal Pontiac liked to send a representative along with the car when it was being tested to either remedy the situation, or answer questions.

Royal definitely had some "hot shoes" when it came to tuning and driving their Pontiacs. The most proficient of these tuners and drivers was Milt Schornack, a wiry individual with a flare for tuning and a tremendous knowledge of what it takes to make a Pontiac run at it's full potential. Milt did quite a bit of street racing in and around the Woodward Ave. area in Detroit for Royal Pontiac, and was very well respected among the street crowd. Two other individuals, Sid and Dave Warren, were also instrumental in the success of the Royal Pontiac legacy. On occasion, Dave Warren attended a particular road test with Milt Schornack, especially when more than one Pontiac was being tested. Dave was another experienced "hot shoe" when it came to shifting a manual trans, so it was assured that if two 4-speed cars were to face off, Milt and Dave were the two most capable people to drive. You will see these names mentioned in the road tests below.

Magazine Abbreviations

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CC = Car Craft, CD = Car & Driver, CL = Car Life, CR = Cars Magazine, CI = Cars Illustrated,

DR = Drag Racing, HC = Hot Cars, HR = Hot Rod, MT = Motor Trend, PHR = Popular Hot Rodding,

SS = Super Stock, S&S = Speed and Supercar

Other Abbreviations used

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OPTIONS : HH = hideaway headlights, P/S = power steering, PB = power brakes,

PDB = power disc brakes, 8L = 8-lug wheels, A/C = air conditioning, P/W = power windows,

P/DL = power door locks

DRIVETRAIN : TP = Tri-power, T-400 = Turbo 400

1961 - 1967